Russian units of measurement
A native system of weights and measures was used in Imperial Russia and after the Russian Revolution, but it was abandoned in 1924 when the Soviet Union adopted the metric system.
The Tatar system is very similar to the Russian one, but some names are different.
The system existed since ancient Rus', but under Peter the Great, the Russian units were redefined relative to the English system. Until Peter the Great the system also used Cyrillic numerals, and only in the 18th century Peter the Great replaced it with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
Length
The basic unit is the Russian cubit, called arshin, which has been in use since the 16th century. It was standardized by Peter the Great in the 18th century to measure exactly twenty-eight English inches (71.12 cm). Thus, 80 vershoks = 20 piads = 5 arshins = 140 English inches.[1]
A piad (пядь, “palm”, “five”) or chetvert (че́тверть, “quarter”) is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger.
| Unit | Russian | Translation | Ratio | Metric Value |
English units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tochka | то́чка | point | 1/2800 | 0.254 mm | 1/100 inch |
| liniya | ли́ния | line | 1/280 | 2.54 mm | 1/10 inch; cf. line |
| diuym | дюйм | inch | 1/28 | 2.54 cm | 1 inch |
| vershok | вершо́к | “tip” or “top” | 1/16 | 4.445 cm | 1 ¾ in; cf. 19" rack unit |
| piad, chetvert | пядь, че́тверть | “palm”, quarter | 1/4 | 17.78 cm | 7 in; cf. span |
| fut | фут | foot | 3/7 | 30.48 cm | 1 ft |
| arshin | арши́н | yard | 1 | 71.12 cm | 2 ⅓ ft |
| sazhen | са́жень | fathom | 3 | 2.1336 m | 7 ft |
| versta | верста́ | turn (of a plough) | 1500 | 1.0668 km | 3,500 ft |
| milia | ми́ля | mile | 10,500 | 7.4676 km | 24,500 ft |
Alternative units:
- Swung sazhen ([маховая сажень, makhovaya sazhen’] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), distance between tips of arms stretched sidewards) = 1.76 m
- Skewed, or oblique sazhen ([косая сажень, kosaya sazhen’] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), distance between tip of a raised arm and a tip of an opposite leg slightly put away) = 2.48 m
- Double versta or border versta, ([межевая верста, mezhevaya versta] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), used to measure land plots and distances between settlements = 2 verstas (comes from an older standard for versta)
Area
- Desiatina (десяти́на, “a tenth” or “ten”)
- Treasury/official desiatina ([казённая десяти́на, kazionnaya desiatina] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) = 10,925.4 m² = 117,600 sq ft = 2,400 square sazhen
- Proprietor's ([владе́льческая десяти́на, vladelcheskaya desiatina] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) = 14,567.2 m² = 156,800 sq ft = 3,200 square sazhen
- 3 proprietor's desiatinas = 4 official desiatinas
Volume
As in many ancient systems of measurement the Russian distinguishes between dry and liquid measurements of capacity. Note that the chetvert appears in both lists with vastly differing values.
Dry measures
| Unit | Russian | Translation | Ratio | Cubic inches (exact) |
Metric value |
Imperial value |
US Customary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chast | часть | part | 1/30 | 20/3 | 109.33 ml | 0.219 pt | 0.263 pt |
| kruzhka | кру́жка | mug | 2/5 | 80 | 1.312 L | 2.309 pt | 2.773 pt |
| garnets[1] | га́рнец | pot | 1 | 200 | 3.279842 L | 2.886 qt | 3.466 qt |
| vedro | ведро́ | bucket | 4 | 800 | 13.12 L | 2.886 gal. | 3.466 gal. |
| chetverik | четвери́к | quarter | 8 | 1600 | 26.239 L | 2.886 p. | 2.978 p. |
| osmina | осьми́на | one-eighth | 32 | 6400 | 104.955 L | 2.886 bsh. | 2.978 bsh. |
| chetvert | че́тверть | quarter | 64 | 1280 | 209.91 L | 5.772 bsh. | 5.957 bsh. |
Liquid measures
| Unit | Russian | Translation | Ratio | Cubic inches (exact) |
Metric value |
Imperial | US Customary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| shkalik | шка́лик | measure | 1/200 | 3¾ | 61.5 mL | 2.16 fl. oz. | 2.08 fl. oz. |
| kosushka | косу́шка | shot | |||||
| charka | ча́рка | wine glass | 1/100 | 7½ | 123 mL | 4.33 fl. oz. | 4.16 fl. oz. |
| butylka (vodochnaya) | буты́лка (во́дочная) | bottle (vodka) | 1/20 | 37½ | 615 mL | 1.08 pt | 1.3 pt |
| butylka (vinnaya) | буты́лка (ви́нная) | bottle (wine) | 1/16 | 46⅞ | 768.7 mL | 1.35 pt | 1.625 pt |
| kruzhka | кру́жка | mug | 1/10 | 75 | 1.23 L | 1.08 qt | 1.3 qt |
| shtof | штоф | flagon | |||||
| chetvert | че́тверть | quarter | 1/8 | 93 ¾ | 1.537 L | 1.35 qt | 1.624 qt |
| vedro[1] | ведро́ | bucket | 1 | 750 | 12.29941 L | 2.71 gal. | 3.249 gal. |
| bochka | бо́чка | barrel | 40 | 30,000 | 491.98 L | 108.22 gal. | 129.967 gal. |
Weight/mass
Two systems of weight were in use, an ordinary one in common use, and an apothecaries' system.
Ordinary system
| Unit | Russian | Translation | Ratio | Metric value | Avoirdupois value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dolia | до́ля | part | 1/9216 = 1/962 | 44.435 mg | 0.686 gr |
| zolotnik | золотни́к | “golden one” | 1/96 | 4.26580 g | 65.831 gr (0.152 oz) |
| lot | лот | 1/32 | 12.7974 g | 0.451 oz | |
| funt[1] | фунт | pound | 1 | 409.51718 g | 14.445 oz (0.903 lb) |
| pood | пуд | 40 | 16.3807 kg | 36.121 lb | |
| berkovets | берковец | 400 | 163.807 kg | 361.206 lb (25.8 st) |
The pood was used in Russia, Finland, Belarus and Ukraine. Pood was first mentioned in a number of documents of the twelfth century. It may still be encountered in documents dealing with agricultural production (especially with reference to cereals), and has been revived in determining weights when casting bells in belfries following the rebirth of the Orthodox Churches in the former Soviet lands.
Apothecaries' system
The Imperial Russian apothecaries' was defined by setting the grain Russian: гран to be exactly seven-fifths of a dolia. The only unit name shared between the two was the funt, but the one in the apothecaries' system is exactly seven-eighths of the ordinary funt. This makes the Russian apothecary units just slightly more than 96% of those in the English apothecaries' system.
| Unit | Russian | Translation | Ratio | Metric value | Avoirdupois value | Ordinary value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gran | гран | grain | 1 | 62.210 mg | 0.96004 gr. | 1.4 dolia |
| scrupel | скрупул | scruple | 20 | 1.2442 g | 19.201 gr. | 28 doila |
| drachma | драхма | dram | 60 | 3.7326 g | 57.602 gr. | ⅞ zolotnik |
| uncia | унция | ounce | 480 | 29.861 g | 1.0533 oz. or 460.82 gr. | 7 zolotnik |
| funt | фунт | pound | 5760 | 358.328 g | 12.640 oz. or 5529.8 gr. | 84 zolotnik |
Idiomatic expressions
The obsolete unit of measurement survived in Russian culture within a number of idiomatic expressions and proverbs.
- Слышно за версту: (It) can be heard a verst away - about something very loud
- Бешеной собаке семь вёрст не крюк.: 7 versts is not a detour for a mad dog - about excessive energy or hassle
- Милому дружку семь вёрст не околица: 7 verst is not too far for a darling friend
- Верста коломенская: Kolomna verst - about a very tall and slim person (in this case the reference is to the verst pole road mark: (verstovoy stolb))
- Косая сажень в плечах: Skew sazhen in shoulders - about a strong, wide-shouldered person
- Мерить всех на свой аршин. To gauge everybody by the same one's own yardstick
- Проглотить аршин. To swallow an arshin (yardstick) - about standing very straight and still
- От горшка два вершка. Two vershok above the pot. - Very young kid
- Сто пудов. - Hundred poods - very large amount. In modern colloquial Russian it is used in a generic meanings of "very much" and "very", as well as "most surely";[2] The adjective 'stopudovy' and the adverb 'stopudovo' are derived.
- Семь пядей во лбу. Seven 'pyad' across the chin - very smart
- Не семь пядей во лбу. - Not so smart
- Мал золотник, да до́рог. Zolotnik is small, but expensive : When quality rather thann quantity is important
- Идти семимильными шагами. To walk in 7-mile steps - Any kind of very fast progress, e.g., of improvement
- Узнать, почём фунт лиха. To learn how much a pound of likho costs - To experience something bad
- Ни пяди земли (не уступить). Do not give in no pyad of land
- Съесть пуд соли (вместе с кем-либо). To eat a 'pood' of salt (with somebody) - To have a long common experience with somebody (with the implication to know someone well)
References
- ^ a b c d Cardarelli, F. (2004). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures: Their SI Equivalences and Origins (2nd ed.). Springer. pp. 121–124. ISBN 1-85233-682-X.
- ^ English-Russian-English dictionary of slang, jargon and Russian names. 2012