A hand's breadth

Length measurements derived from the hand :
2 = hand width with 5 fingers
3 = hand width with 4 fingers
5, 6 = finger width
1, 4 = hand span
Others: fist

The term hand or hand width describes an old measure of length , which is based on the width of the palm of the hand . This also corresponds to the width of a fist (that's a bit bigger). The manageable length corresponds to about 10 cm.

Definitions

This measure has existed since ancient times (the hand as a measure is also mentioned in the Bible ), with different names and definitions:

• 4  finger widths (= ¼  foot , depending on the definition for the foot approx. 7.62 cm)
  • in ancient Egypt: Schesep = 4 Djeba , 7.48 cm
  • in ancient Greece: παλαιστή (palaiste) = 4 δάκτυλοι (daktyloi) = ¼ πους (pous)
  • in ancient Rome: palmus = 4 digitus = ¼ pes á 7.41 cm (but the Italian palmo derived from it was a range of up to one foot)
• 1  decimeter (dm = 10 cm)
• 4  inches = ⅓ feet (depending on the definition of inches or feet, a good 10 cm)
• in the Anglo-American measuring system as hand (large span) or palm (small span, this also in Dutch):
  • 1 hand = 4  inches = ⅓  palm = 10.16 centimeters (exactly. According to definition 1 inch = 25.4 mm, 1956)
  • 1 palm = 3 inches = 7.62 cm
  • as hands or "hands high" in English as a measure of size for horses - this corresponds to the Austrian fist

Dłoń

Dłoń was the hand width in the Polish system of measurements. The measure was the distance on the human hand below the fingers and is commonly referred to as the cross hand. The anthropomorphic unit of measurement was imprecise. The measure varied between 7 and 9 centimeters or in inches between 3 and 4.

• 1 dłoń = 7.44 cm to 9.04 cm

Phrase

The wish “Always a hand's breadth of water under the keel !” Is widespread in seafaring circles . You wish the other good luck and that he always has at least 10 cm of water under his keel, so that he never sits on the ground.

literature

• Johann Georg Zwahr, JCF Zwah: Niederlausitz-Wendish-German concise dictionary. Carl Friedrich Säbisch, Spremberg 1847, p. 58

Web links

Wiktionary: A hand's breadth  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Kaspar Chelius : Measure and weight book. Verlag der Jäger'schen Buch-, Papier- und Landkartenhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1830, p. 237.
2. ^ Edward Wight Washburn : International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology, Volume 1, National Academies, London 1926, p. 13.