Palm (unit)
The palm is an obsolete anthropic unit of length, originally based on the width of the human palm and then variously standardized. The same name is also used for a second, rather larger unit based on the length of the human hand.[1]
The width of the palm was a traditional unit in Ancient Egypt, Israel, Greece, and Rome and in medieval England, where it was also known as the hand,[2]Template:Efn handbreadth,[3] or handsbreadth.[3]Template:Efn
The length of the hand—originally the Roman "greater palm"—formed the palm of medieval Italy and France. In Spanish customary units Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". was the palm, while Script error: No such module "Lang". was the span, the distance between an outstretched thumb and little finger. In Portuguese Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". was the span.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
History
Ancient Egypt
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| Template:Trim |
| PalmScript error: No such module "String".(D48) in hieroglyphs |
|---|
| Template:Hiero/era | Era: Template:Hiero/era |
The Ancient Egyptian palm (Template:Langx) has been reconstructed as about Script error: No such module "convert"..Template:Efn The unit is attested as early as the reign of Djer, third pharaoh of the First Dynasty,[4] and appears on many surviving cubit-rods.[5]
The palm was subdivided into four digits (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert"..
Three palms made up the span (Script error: No such module "Lang".) or lesser span (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Four palms made up the foot (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Five made up the Script error: No such module "Lang". of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Six made up the "Greek cubit" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Seven made up the "royal cubit" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Eight made up the pole (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert"..
Ancient Israel
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The palm was not a major unit in ancient Mesopotamia but appeared in ancient Israel as the Script error: No such module "Lang".,[6] Script error: No such module "Lang".,[7] or Script error: No such module "Lang".[7] (Template:Langx, lit.Script error: No such module "String"."a spread").[8] Scholars were long uncertain as to whether this was reckoned using the Egyptian or Babylonian cubit,[6] but now believe it to have approximated the Egyptian "Greek cubit", giving a value for the palm of about Script error: No such module "convert"..[7]
As in Egypt, the palm was divided into four digits (Script error: No such module "Lang".[6] or Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert". and three palms made up a span (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert"..[7] Six made up the Hebrew cubit (Script error: No such module "Lang".[6] or Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert"., although the cubits mentioned in Ezekiel[9] follow the royal cubit in consisting of seven palms comprising about Script error: No such module "convert"..[7]
Ancient Greece
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The Ancient Greek palm (Template:Langx, palaistḗ, Script error: No such module "Lang"., dō̂ron, or Script error: No such module "Lang"., daktylodókhmē)[10] made up ¼ of the Greek foot (poûs), which varied by region between Script error: No such module "convert"..[11] This gives values for the palm between Script error: No such module "convert"., with the Attic palm around Script error: No such module "convert"..[12]
These various palms were divided into four digits (dáktylos) or two "middle phalanges" (kóndylos).[12] Two palms made a half-foot (hēmipódion or dikhás); three, a span (spithamḗ); four, a foot (poûs);[12] five, a short cubit (pygōn);[13] and six, a cubit (pē̂khys).[12]
The Greeks also had a less common "greater palm" of five digits.[14]
Ancient Rome
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The Roman palm (Template:Langx) or lesser palm (Script error: No such module "Lang".) made up ¼ of the Roman foot (Script error: No such module "Lang".), which varied in practice between Script error: No such module "convert".[15] but is thought to have been officially Script error: No such module "convert"..[13] This would have given the palm a notional value of Script error: No such module "convert". within a range of a few millimeters.[16]
The palm was divided into four digits (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert". or three inches (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".. Three made a span (Script error: No such module "Lang". or "greater palm") of about Script error: No such module "convert".;Template:Efn four, a Roman foot; five, a hand-and-a-foot (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert".; six, a cubit (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert"..[17]
Continental Europe
Script error: No such module "Hatnote". The palms of medieval (Template:Langx)[18] and early modern Europe—the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Script error: No such module "Lang". and French Script error: No such module "Lang".—were based upon the Roman "greater palm", reckoned as a hand's span or length.
In Italy, the palm (Template:Langx) varied regionally. The Genovese palm was about Script error: No such module "convert".;[14][10]Template:Efn in the Papal States, the Roman palm about Script error: No such module "convert". according to Hutton but divided into the Roman "architect's palm" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert". and "merchant's palm" (Script error: No such module "Lang".) of about Script error: No such module "convert". according to Greaves;[10]Template:Efn and the Neapolitan palm reported as Script error: No such module "convert". by Riccioli but Script error: No such module "convert". by Hutton's other sources.[14] On Sicily and Malta, it was Script error: No such module "convert"..[19]
In France, the palm (Template:Langx or Script error: No such module "Lang".) was about Script error: No such module "convert". in Pernes-les-Fontaines, Vaucluse,[19] and about Script error: No such module "convert". in Languedoc.[14]
Palaiseau gave metric equivalents for the palme or palmo in 1816,[19] and Rose provided English equivalents in 1900:
| City | Lignes | Metric equivalent | Inches [20] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florence (for silk, Palaiseau p.146) | 131.63 | [297] mm | |
| Florence (for wool, Palaiseau p.146) | 128.38 | 289.6 mm | |
| Genoa (cloth measure, Palaiseau p.148) | 106.9 | 241.1 mm | |
| Genoa (linear measure, Palaiseau p.91) | 107.43 | 242.3 mm | |
| Genoa (Rose) | 247 mm | 9.72 | |
| Livorno (for silk, Palaiseau p.157) | 128.41 | 289.7 mm | |
| Livorno (for wool, Palaiseau p.157) | 130.08 | 293.4 mm | |
| Malta (cloth measure, Palaiseau p.160) | 114.49 | 258.3 mm | |
| Malta (linear measure, Palaiseau p.98) | 115.28 | 260.0 mm | |
| Naples (Rose) | 263.6 mm | 10.38 | |
| Palermo (cloth measure, Palaiseau p.168) | 107.16 | 241.7 mm | 9.53 |
| Portugal (Palaiseau p.109) | 96.36 | 217.4 mm | 8.64 |
| Rome (cloth measure, Palaiseau p.173) | 109.52 | 247.1 mm | |
| Rome (linear measure, Palaiseau p.111) | 99 | [223] mm | |
| Sardinia (Rose) | 248 mm | 9.78 | |
| Spain (Rose) | 219 mm | 8.64 | |
| Metric equivalents from Palaiseau here rounded to 0.1 mm | |||
From 19th C. Italian sources[21][22][23][24] emerges that :
- the ancient Venetian palm, five of which made a passo (pace), was equivalent to 0.3774 metres.
- the Neapolitan palm = 0.26333670 metres (from 1480 to 1840)
- the Neapolitan palm = 0.26455026455 metres (according to the law of 6 April 1840)
which differs from previously cited palm measure equivalents in metres above.
England
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The English palm, handbreadth, or handsbreadth is three inches[25][26][27][28] (7.62Script error: No such module "String".cm)Template:Efn or, equivalently, four digits.[28] The measurement was, however, not always well distinguished from the hand or handful,[25] which became equal to four inches by a 1541 statute of Henry VIII.[26]Template:Efn The palm was excluded from the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 that established the imperial system and is not a standard US customary unit.
Elsewhere
The Moroccan palm is given by Hutton as about Script error: No such module "convert"..[14]
Notes
References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Marshall Clagett (1999). Ancient Egyptian Science, A Source Book. Volume 3: Ancient Egyptian Mathematics. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Bibleverse"., Script error: No such module "Bibleverse"..
- ↑ a b c John Greaves (1647). A Discourse of the Romane Foot and Denarius, from Whence, as from Two Principles, the Measures and Weights Used by the Ancients May Be Deduced. London: William Lee, page 40.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b c d e Charles Hutton (1795). Palm, in: A Philosophical and Mathematical Dictionary, volume II. London: J. Johnson, page 187.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ William L. Hosch (editor) (2010). The Britannica Guide to Numbers and Measurement. New York: Britannica Educational Publications, page 206. Template:Isbn.
- ↑ Sir William Smith, Charles Anthon (1851). A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology, and geography partly based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. New York: Harper & Bros. Table II, page 1025
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1"..
- ↑ a b c Palaiseau, Jean-François-Gaspard (1816) Métrologie universelle, ancienne et moderne: ou rapport des poids et mesures des empires, royaumes, duchés et prinicipautés des quatre parties du monde, présenté en tableaux par ordre alphabétique de pays ou ville, et leur position géographique avec les anciens et nouveau poids et mesures du royaume de France, et l'inverse, avec la méthode pour opérer toutes les conversions par des nombres fixes, etc. ... (in French) Bordeaux: Lavigne jeune p.160
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Antonio Pasquale Favaro. Metrologia o sia Trattato Generale delle Misure, de' Pesi e delle Monete - (in Italian) - [Metrology or General Treatise on Measures, Weights and Coins] - Gabinetto Bibliografico e Tipografico (Napoli 1826)
- ↑ Carlo Afan de Rivera. Tavole di riduzione de' Pesi e delle misure della Sicilia Citeriore in quelli statuiti dalla legge de' 6 aprile del 1840 - (in Italian) - [Tables of Reductions of Weights and Measures of Sicilia Citeriore in those established by the Law of 6 April 1840] - Stamperia e Cartiere del Fibreno (Napoli 1840)
- ↑ Angelo Martini. Manuale di metrologia ossia Misure, Pesi e Monete in uso attualmente e anticamente presso tutti i popoli antichi - (in Italian) - [Handbook of Metrology i.e. Measures, Weights and Coins in Current and Ancient Use by All Ancient Peoples] - Editrice E.C.A. (Roma 1976), facsimile reprint of the original Turin edition of 1883
- ↑ a b Edward Phillips, John Kersey (editor) (1706). [https://archive.org/details/b30452600 The New World of Words: or, Universal English Dictionary. Containing an Account of the Original or Proper Sense, and Various Significations of all Hard Words derived from other Languages ..., the sixth edition, revised ... with the addition of near twenty thousand words ...). London: J. Phillips.
- ↑ a b Thomas Mortimer (1810). A General Dictionary of Commerce, Trade, and Manufactures: Exhibiting Their Present State in Every Part of the World; and Carefully Comp. from the Latest and Best Authorities. London: R. Phillips.
- ↑ [n.a.] (1816). Encyclopædia Perthensis; or Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, etc., intended to supersede the use of other books of reference, volume 16. Edinburgh: J. Brown.
- ↑ a b George Louis Le Clerc, Comte de Buffon; John Wright (translator) (1831). A Natural History of the Globe: Of Man, of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, and Plants, volume 5. Boston; Philadelphia: Gray and Bowen; Thomas Desilver, Jr.
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