Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The various systems of weights and measures used in Portugal until the 19th century combine remote Roman influences with medieval influences from northern Europe and Islam.The Roman and northern European influences were more present in the north. The Islamic influence was more present in the south of the country.
The Mark (from Middle High German: Marc, march, brand) is originally a medieval weight or mass unit, which supplanted the pound weight as a precious metals and coinage weight in parts of Europe in the 11th century. The Mark is traditionally divided into 8 ounces or 16 lots.
Sack – originally a medieval unit of mass, equal to 26 stone (364 pounds, or about 165 kg). Since a unit of dry volume, equal to 24 imperial gallons (about 109 liters). Schoenus – a unit of area or length; Scrupulum – a unit of area, mass, or time; Seam – a unit of mass or volume; Seer – a unit of mass or volume
The medieval English pennyweight was thus equal to 32 Tower grains. When Troy weights replaced Tower weights in 1527, the Troy weights were defined in such a way that the old Tower pound came out to exactly 5,400 Troy grains (also known as barleycorns), the Tower pennyweight 22 + 1 ⁄ 2 Troy grains (and thus approximately 1.46 grams).
1878 41 & 42 Vict. c. 49 — Weights and Measures Act 1878 defined the Imperial standard yard and pound; enumerated the secondary standards of measure and weight derived from the Imperial standards; required all trade by weight or measure to be in terms of one of the Imperial weights or measures or some multiple part thereof; abolished the Troy ...
English-speaking countries also used a system of units of fluid measure, or in modern terminology volume units, based on the apothecaries' system. Originally, the terms and symbols used to describe the volume measurements of liquids were the same as or similar to those used to describe weight measurements of solids [33] (for example, the pound by weight and the fluid pint were both referred to ...
Weights are to be standardised similarly." [1] During the early medieval era, Roman numerals were used in Europe to represent numbers, [2] but the Arabs represented numbers using the Hindu numeral system, a positional notation that used ten symbols.
The avoirdupois weight system is thought to have come into use in England around 1300. [citation needed] It was originally used for weighing wool. In the early 14th century several other specialized weight systems were used, including the weight system of the Hanseatic League with a 16-ounce pound of 7200 grains and an 8-ounce mark.