Swedish units of measurement

Traditional Swedish units of measurement were standardized by law in 1665, prior to which they only existed as a number of related but differing local variants. The system was slightly revised in 1735. In 1855, a decimal reform was instituted that defined a new Swedish inch as 1⁄10 Swedish foot (). Up to the middle of the 19th century, there was a law allowing the imposition of the death penalty for falsifying weights or measures. After a decision by the parliament in 1875, Sweden adopted the metric system on 22 November 1878, with a ten-year transition period until 1 January 1889.

As part of the transition, the Swedish mil measurement was maintained, but was shortened from alnar – the equivalent of Template:Cvt – to exactly . This measurement is still in use in both Sweden and Norway (which were in a union at the time).

Old length units

The Swedish units of length included the following:

• aln – "forearm" (cf. ell) (pl. alnar). After 1863, . Before that, from 1605, 59.38 cm as defined by King Carl IX of Sweden in Norrköping 1604, based on Rydaholmsalnen.
• famn – "fathom", 3 alnar.
• fot – "foot", 1⁄2 aln. Before 1863, the Stockholm fot was the commonly accepted unit, at Template:Cvt.
• kvarter – "quarter", 1⁄4 aln.
• tum or verktum – "inch", 1⁄6 kvarter or 1⁄12 fot, making it .
• linje – "line", after 1863 1⁄10 tum, Template:Cvt. Before that, 1⁄12 tum or 2.06 mm.
• mil – "mile", also lantmil. From 1699, defined as a unity mile of alnar or Template:Cvt. The unified mile was meant to define the suitable distance between inns. After the 1889 metric conversion the Swedish mil is defined as exactly 10 kilometers.
• nymil – "new mile" from 1889, 10 km exactly. Commonly used to this day, only referred to as mil.
• kyndemil – the distance a torch will last, approx Template:Cvt.
• skogsmil, rast – distance between rests in the woods, approx. Template:Cvt.
• fjärdingsväg – 1⁄4 mil.
• stenkast – "stone's throw", about Template:Cvt, used to this day as an approximate measure.
• rev – 160 fot, for land measurement, was 100 fot after 1855.
• stång – 16 fot, for land measurement.
• tum – "thumb" (inch), 1⁄12 fot, Template:Cvt. After 1863 decimaltum, 1⁄10 fot, 2.96 cm, not much accepted by professional users in mechanics and carpentry who later switched to English inch (2.54 cm, abandoned only late 20th century) and metric system.
• tvärhand – "hand", Template:Cvt.

Old area units

• kannaland – 1000 fot ², or Template:Cvt
• kappland – Template:Cvt.
• spannland – 16 kappland
• tunnland – 2 spannland or Template:Cvt, about 1 acre
• kvadratmil – Square mil, 36 million square favnar, from 1739.
• hektar - 100x100m, still commonly used for land area of farms.

Old volume units

unit	relation to previous	metric value	Imperial Value
pot	-	0.966 L	Template:Cvt
tunna	2 spann	-
ankare	-	39.26 L	Template:Cvt
ohm	155 pottor	149.73 L	Template:Cvt
storfamn	-	3770 L (3.77 m³)	( or )
kubikfamn	-	5850 L (5.85 m³)	( or )

Old weight units

• mark – 1/2 skålpund. Was used from the Viking era, when it was approx. Template:Cvt.

unit	relation to previous	metric value	Imperial Value
skeppspund	20 lispund	170.03 kg
bismerpund	12 skålpund	5.101 kg.
lispund	20 skålpund	8.502 kg
skålpund	2 mark	0.42507 kg
mark	50 ort	212.5 g
ort		4.2508 g

Nautical units still in use

unit	relationship	metric value	Imperial Value
nautisk mil		1852 m
distansminut		1852 m
sjömil (modern)		1852 m

Old monetary units

• daler – From 1534, Swedish thaler. From 1873, replaced by the krona.
• riksdaler – From 1624, 1+1⁄2 daler, from 1681 2 daler, from 1715 3 daler, from 1776 6 daler
• skilling – From 1776, 1⁄48 riksdaler
• mark – From 1534, 1⁄3 daler. From 1604, 1⁄4 daler.
• öre – From 1534, 1⁄8 mark. Subsequently replaced by the skilling, but from 1855 reintroduced as 1⁄100 riksdaler.

See also

• Historical weights and measures
• Petrograd Standard
• SI
• Weights and measures

External links

• Scandinavian units
• Swedish units