Contents

Norwegian units of measurement

Length[edit]

• skruppel – scruple, 1/12 linje or approx. 0.18 mm.
• linje – line, 1/12 tomme or approx. 2.18 mm
• tomme – thumb (inch), 1/12 fot, approx. 26.1 mm. This unit was commonly used for measuring timber until the 1970s. Nowadays, the word refers invariably to the English inch, 25.4 mm.
• kvarter – quarter, 1/4 alen.
• fot – foot, 1/2 alen. From 1824, 313.74 mm.
• alen – forearm or ell, 627.48 mm from 1824, 627.5 mm from 1683, 632.6 mm from 1541. Before that, local variants.
• favn – fathom (pl. favner), 3 alen, 1.882 m.
• stang – rod, 5 alen or 3.1374 m
• lås – 15 favner, 28.2 m
• fjerdingsvei – quarter mile, alt. fjerding, 1/4 mil, i.e. 2.82 km.
• milorlandmil – Norwegian mile, spelled miil prior to 1862, 18,000 alen (36,000 feet, 7.018 miles or 11.295 km). Before 1683, a mil was defined as 17600 alen or 11.13 km. Another old land-mile, 11.824 km. The unit survives to this day, but in a metric 10 km adaptation
• rast –lit. "rest", the old name of the mil. A suitable distance between rests when walking. Believed to be approx. 9 km before 1541.
• Kaffekok, a similar term to rast used in the north by the indigenous Sami people.
• steinkast – stone's throw, perhaps 25 favner, used to this day as a very approximate measure of a short distance.

Nautical[edit]

• favn – fathom (pl. favner), 3 alen, 1.85 m
• kabellengde – cable length, 100 favner, 185,2 m, or 1/10 international nautical mile, 185.2 m
• kvartmil – quarter mile, 10 kabellengder, 1852 m. Kvartmil was a quarter of a Sjømil.
• sjømil – sea mile, now often (but wrongly) the international nautical mile, 1.852 km, but also used for other nautical miles and the geografisk mil. Sjømil was 3950 fathoms.^[2]
• geografisk mil – 7421 m or 4.007 nautical miles, defined as 1/15 Equatorial degree or 4 minutes of arc.

Area[edit]

• mål – 100 kvadrat rode, 984 m². The unit survives to this day, but in a 1000 m² adaptation, synonym for the metric decare (dekar in Norwegian).
• kvadrat rode – square stang, 9.84 m²
• tønneland – "barrel of land", 4 mål

Volume[edit]

• favn – 1 alen by 1 favn by 1 favn, 2.232 m³, used for measuring firewood to this day.
• skjeppe – 1/8 tønne, i.e. 17.4 L.
• tønne – barrel, 4.5 fot³, 138.9 L.

Weight[edit]

• ort – 0.9735 g (1/512 pund)
• mark (pl. merker) –, 1/2 pund, 249.4 g, 218.7 g before 1683.
• pund – Pound, alt. skålpund, 2 merker 0.4984 kg, was 0.46665 kg before 1683
• laup – used for butter, 17.93 kg (approx. 16.2 L). 1 laup is 36 pund or 4 spann or 72 merker.
• spann – Same as laup, for other commodities such as grain
• bismerpund – 12 pund, 5.981 kg
• vette – 28.8 mark or 6.2985 kg.
• våg – 1/8 skippund, 17.9424 kg.
• skippund – ship's pound, 159.488 kg. Was about 151 kg in 1270.

Monetary[edit]

• skilling – Shilling.
• mark – 16 skilling.
• ort – 24 skilling.
• riksdaler – Until 1813, Norwegian thaler. 1 riksdaler is 4 ort or 6 mark or 96 skilling.
• speciedaler – Since 1816. 1 speciedaler is 5 ort or 120 skilling. From 1876, 1 speciedaler is 4 kroner (Norwegian crown, NOK).

Miscellaneous[edit]

• tylft – 12, also dusin
• snes – 20
• skokk – 60
• stort hundre – Large hundred, 120
• stabelorstort tusen – "stack" / Large thousand 1200 (used about planks)
• gross – 12 dozens (144)

See also[edit]

• Historical weights and measures
• SI
• Weights and measures

References[edit]