![]() The rod is a historical unit of length equal to 5½ yards. At the turn of the 14th century (1300), England by decree standardized a long list of measures, including important units of distance and length, for example: foot, yard, rod, furlong and mile.ġ. These ancient Roman units of measurement were built on the Hellenic (Greek) system, which had been based on the Egyptian system, and were comparatively consistent and well documented.Īfter the fall of Rome, Medieval Europe continued with the Roman system, which proceeded to “diversify” leading to serious complications in trade, taxation etc. The furlong (660 feet) has historically been viewed as equivalent to the ancient Roman unit of measurement “the stadium” (625 feet), which in turn derived from the Greek System. An acre (in old usage) is an area that is one furlong long and one chain (22 yards) wide. The system of long furrows arose because turning a team of oxen pulling a heavy plough was difficult. Dating back at least to the 9th century, it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of ploughed open field (a medieval communal field which was divided into strips). The name furlong derives from the Old English words of furh (furrow) and lang (long). In the picture above the medieval ploughman on the right appears to carry a goad, a traditional farming implement used to spur the oxen on from time immemorial. because it was established that a furlong (furrow length) (40 rods) was the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. A miniature from an early-sixteenth-century manuscript of the Middle English poem God Spede ye Plough, held at the British Museumĭo oxen get bated breath? The answer is ‘they must’. J K Rowling in Harry Potter uses the spelling “baited breath” thus, while Shakespeare uses “with bated breath, and whispring humblenesse” in ‘A Merchant of Venice’ (1596). The time is over - the moment is here no more waiting with bated breath for a posting on how a farmer turns his oxen! Extraordinary question. Well - that’s the question I was asked by Jannie as she commented on my recent post on Books, books, Glorious books.
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