Anthropic unit of length, based on the width of the human palm
A diagram of various units derived from the human hand. The palm (3) was originally the width of the palm but was standardized as the somewhat smaller width of four digits (6). The related shaftment (1) and hand (2) were the width of the palm plus an open or closed thumb. The other units are the span (4) and finger (5).
The palm is an obsolete anthropicunitoflength, 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 length of the hand—originally the Roman "greater palm"—formed the palm of medieval Italy and France. In Spanish customary unitspalmo menororcoto was the palm, while palmo was the span, the distance between an outstretched thumb and little finger. In Portuguesepalmoorpalmo de craveira was the span.[citation needed]
The palm was subdivided into four digits (djeba) of about 19 mm (0.75 in).
Three palms made up the span (pedj) or lesser span (pedj-sheser) of about 22.5 cm (9 in). Four palms made up the foot (djeser) of about 30 cm (1 ft). Five made up the remen of about 37.5 cm (1 ft 3 in). Six made up the "Greek cubit" (meh nedjes) of about 45 cm (1 ft 6 in). Seven made up the "royal cubit" (meh niswt) of about 52.5 cm (1 ft 9 in). Eight made up the pole (nbiw) of about 60 cm (2 ft).
The palm was not a major unit in ancient Mesopotamia but appeared in ancient Israel as the tefah,[7]tepah,[8]ortopah[8] (Hebrew: טפח, lit."a spread").[9] Scholars were long uncertain as to whether this was reckoned using the Egyptian or Babylonian cubit,[7] but now believe it to have approximated the Egyptian "Greek cubit", giving a value for the palm of about 74 mm or 2.9 in.[8]
As in Egypt, the palm was divided into four digits (etzba[7]oretsba) of about 18.5 mm (0.73 in) and three palms made up a span (zeret) of about 22.1 cm (9 in).[8] Six made up the Hebrew cubit (amah[7]orammah) of about 44.3 cm (1 ft 5 in), although the cubits mentioned in Ezekiel[10] follow the royal cubit in consisting of seven palms comprising about 51.8 centimeters (1 ft 8 in).[8]
The Ancient Greek palm (Greek: παλαιστή, palaistḗ, δῶρον, dō̂ron, or δακτυλοδόχμη, daktylodókhmē)[11] made up ¼ of the Greek foot (poûs), which varied by region between 27–35 cm (11 in – 1 ft 2 in).[12] This gives values for the palm between 6.7–8.8 cm (2.6–3.5 in), with the Attic palm around 7.4 cm (2.9 in).[13]
These various palms were divided into four digits (dáktylos) or two "middle phalanges" (kóndylos).[13] Two palms made a half-foot (hēmipódionordikhás); three, a span (spithamḗ); four, a foot (poûs);[13] five, a short cubit (pygōn);[14] and six, a cubit (pē̂khys).[13]
The Greeks also had a less common "greater palm" of five digits.[15]
The Roman palm (Latin: palmus) or lesser palm (palmus minor) made up ¼ of the Roman foot (pes), which varied in practice between 29.2–29.7 cm (11.5–11.7 in)[16] but is thought to have been officially 29.6 cm (11.7 in).[14] This would have given the palm a notional value of 7.4 cm (2.9 in) within a range of a few millimeters.[17]
The palm was divided into four digits (digitus) of about 1.85 cm (0.7 in) or three inches (uncia) of about 2.47 cm (1.0 in). Three made a span (palmus maior or "greater palm") of about 22.2 cm (9 in);[d] four, a Roman foot; five, a hand-and-a-foot (palmipes) of about 37 cm (1 ft 3 in); six, a cubit (cubitus) of about 44.4 cm (1 ft 5.5 in).[19]
The palms of medieval (Latin: palma)[20] and early modern Europe—the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguesepalmo and Frenchpalme—were based upon the Roman "greater palm", reckoned as a hand's span or length.
In Italy, the palm (Italian: palmo) varied regionally. The Genovese palm was about 24.76–24.85 cm (9.7–9.8 in);[15][11][e] in the Papal States, the Roman palm about 21.05 cm (8.3 in) according to Hutton but divided into the Roman "architect's palm" (palmo di architetti) of about 22.32 cm (8.8 in) and "merchant's palm" (palmo del braccio di mercantia) of about 21.21 cm (8.4 in) according to Greaves;[11][f] and the Neapolitan palm reported as 20.31 cm (8.0 in) by Riccioli but 21.80 cm (8.6 in) by Hutton's other sources.[15]OnSicily and Malta, it was 24.61 cm (9.7 in).[24]
^Over time, the hand has developed into a separate unit now used especially for measuring the height of horses. This hand, including the width of the thumb, is reckoned as 4 inches or 102 millimeters.[2]
^In present usage, a "handbreadth" or "handsbreadth" is no longer taken as a proper unit but as a simple vague reckoning based on the human hand.[3]
^More specifically, the 14 cubit-rods described by Lepsius in 1865 show a range from 74.7–75.6 mm (2.94–2.98 in).[4]
^Despite the equality of this unit with other systems' spans, the Encyclopédie glossed the "greater palm" as the length rather than the breadth of the hand.[18]
^Unlike Greaves, who used the Guildhall standard foot, Hutton based his measurements on the fractured yard at the Exchequer,[21] about 1% of an inch shorter than the present yard.[22] Hutton's line is reckoned as the 1⁄12th part of an inch.[23]
^A sign in Vaucluse, France, claims the Roman palm was identical to its own 24.61 cm (9.7 in) standard.[24]
^An exact figure since the adoption of the international yard and pound agreement during the 1950s and '60s by the nations using the English system.
^Mortimer, e.g., notes that during his time "The hand among horse-dealers, &c. is four-fingers' breadth, being the fist clenched, whereby the height of a horse is measured",[31] showing a confusion of the notional separation of "palms", "hands", and "fists".
^Rose, Joshua (1900). Pattern Makers Assistant (9th ed.). New York: D. van Nostrand Co. p. 264.
^"Antichi pesi e misure" [Ancient weights and measures (PDF), retrieved via Wayback Machine] (PDF). www.calitritradizioni.it (in Italian). Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
^ abEdward Phillips, John Kersey (editor) (1706). [https://archive.org/details/b30452600The 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.
