Man (unit)

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The man ( Arabic منّ, in early Arabic texts also Manā  /مناcalled, Persian من Man ) was a medium-sized weight measure used in various Islamic countries. The name is derived from an ancient oriental unit of weight, whichwas called Manû or Manāʾu in Akkadian and was also common as a mine in the ancient Mediterranean and pre-Islamic Persia. While the manonly played a subordinate role alongside the ratl in Egypt and Syria , it wasone of the most important units of weightin Iran , Arabia , Iraq and Islamic India . The Syrian author Ibn Fadlallāh al-ʿUmarī (d. 1349) reports that in his time in Iran grain was almost exclusively weighed with the man.

The weight of the man has varied greatly in the course of Islamic history and depending on the region. Only the canonical man, who is called “Manā of Baghdad” in the medieval Arabic sources and has a metric weight of just over 800 grams, is of supraregional importance . But this was in the 13./14. In the 19th century, in practice, in most regions, it was replaced by man-units of considerably higher weight. The man units with the highest weight are occupied for Chuzestan . There were a few places there in the 19th century with man weights over 100 kilograms .

In European representations there are also the spellings Maund , Mand , Maon , Mun , Mönn for the man . The anglicized form Maund , which was mainly used in British India , has been documented since 1611. It is explained by the fact that the word man was conveyed to the British via the Portuguese form mão and then possibly a mixture with the Old English word ma and 'basket' took place.

The canonical man

For the canonical man: 1 man = 2 ratl = 40 istār = 260 dirhams . Since, according to Hanafi doctrine, the mudd also corresponded to 2 ratl, the Hanafites regarded it as identical to the man.

As can be seen from the geographic manual of al-Istachrī , this canonical man of 260 dirhams was known as the Manā of Baghdad in the 10th century . It was used throughout Persia and in most of the Muslim cities al-Istachri had entered, even if they had other units of weight as well. Its use in Mecca , Egypt , Syria , Multan , Sindh and India is documented well into the Middle Ages . It was probably also prevalent in the Rumeljuk empire . When Ghazan Chān reformed the measures and weights of the Ilkhan Empire around 1300 , he raised the 260 dirham man to the imperial norm. Confirmation of the application of this standard is provided by the Mamluk encyclopedist Ibn Fadlallāh al-ʿUmarī (d. 1348), who reports in his work Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār that at his time the man in Tabriz = 2 Baghdad Ratl = Was 260 dirhams. As early as the middle of the 14th century, however, this canonical man in Iran was supplanted by other man sizes.

Based on the standard dirham of 3.125 grams, the 260 dirham man corresponds to a metric weight of 812.5 grams . Since the dirham was slightly higher in weight in Syria, the man's weight was also slightly higher there at 819 grams.

Some authors define the canonical man in terms of his relationship to Mithqāl by equating it with 180 Mithqāl. This 180 mithqāl weight is already mentioned as Manā or Mannā in al-Chwārizmī (10th century) and Elias of Nisibis (11th century). Al-Chwārizmī mentions the following chain of ratios: 1 Manā = 2 Ratl = 40 Istār = 180 Mithqāl = 257 1/7 Dirham. Taking the canonical Mithqāl weight of 4.465 grams as a basis, the metric weight for this 180 Mithqāl man is 803.7 grams.

Regional man weight units

Iran

As early as the 10th century, there was a large number of local man weights in Iran in addition to the canonical man, as is evident from the reports of the Arab geographers Ibn Hauqal , al-Muqaddasī and al-Istachrī . You mention the following man sizes (the conversion is based on a dirham of 3.2 grams):

  • the man for 300 dirhams (= 960 grams), used in Fasā and in the military camps (aǧnād) of Isfahan ,
  • the man at 400 dirhams (= 1280 grams), used in Kerman , Istachr and Hamadan ,
  • the man for 600 dirhams (= 1920 grams), used in Tabaristan , Dailam , Rey and Urmia ,
  • the man at 1040 dirhams (= 3328 grams), used in Ardabil (also called Ratl here) and Schiras (called big man there),
  • the man at 1200 dirhams (= 3840 grams), used according to al-Muqaddasī in Ardabil. This weight size is also mentioned by Abū l-Qāsim az-Zahrāwī as Ardabiler Mann (mann ardabīlī) to 9 ratl .

According to Yāqūt ar-Rūmī (d. 1229), the 600 dirham man was also used in Jurdjān in his time . As Ibn Fadlallāh al-ʿUmarī reports, it was also in use in the 14th century in the Ilkhanid imperial capital Soltaniye . This middle man at 600 dirhams has remained at home in northern Iran and has spread from there to the area of ​​the Golden Horde in southern Russia.

In addition, around the middle of the 14th century, a new tall man weighing around 3 kilograms was introduced. This man was given the name Man-i Tabrīz (' Tabriz Man') from the 16th century . It was divided into 40 sīr by 16 mithqāl .

Under the Safavids , a Man-i Shāh ('King's Man') with a weight of around 6 kilograms came into use. Walther Hinz suspects that this unit of weight goes back to the Hasan-Pādishāh- Batman of 1920 dirham, which was introduced in the third quarter of the 15th century by the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan . In the Safavid period there was also a special man for weighing liquids with a weight of around 4.3 kilograms. In Herat , on the other hand, a man of 280 Mithqāl (= 1250.2 grams) was used.

In the 19th century, the Man-i Tabrīz and the Man-i Shāh were primarily used in Iran , but there were also a large number of local Man units, among which the following were particularly well-known:

  • One of the Bird Chand 40 SIR 9 mithqáls = 1.6704 kg.
  • the one of Shiraz to 720 mithqāl = 3.3 kilograms.
  • the small Man-i Rey = 2560 Dirham = 11.8 kilograms.
  • the man of Hoveizeh = 36 Oqqeh = 46.4 kilograms.

In 1926, the Man-i Tabrīz was made the standard in Iran by stipulating that 1 Man = 3 kilograms.

Arabia

In the late Middle Ages, in addition to the Baghdad man, the following man units existed in Mecca :

  • Yemen man (man al-Yaman) : 1 man = 320 dirhams. So it corresponded to about 1 kilogram.
  • Meat-man (Mann al-laḥm) , was used for weighing meat, fat, fat tails and harīsa . In the early 13th century, 1 meat man = 400 dirhams. So it was equivalent to about 1.25 kilograms. By 1320, however, a man of considerably greater weight was used in meat . The rule was: 1 man = 6 2/3 Egyptian Ratl. So the man was equivalent to 3 kilograms. Around the middle of the 15th century, an even higher value was valid: according to Shams ad-Dīn as-Sachāwī , at this time there was 1 meat man = 7 Egyptian Ratl, i.e. equivalent to 3.15 kilograms.
  • Clarified butter man (Mann as-samn) , was used to weigh olive oil, sesame oil, vinegar, and clarified butter. In the early 13th century, 1 clarified butter man = 800 dirhams. So it was equivalent to 2.5 kilograms.
  • Cheese and honey man (mann al-ǧubn wa-l-ʿasl) . The rule was: 1 man = 3 Egyptian Ratl, which corresponds to 1.35 kilograms. This unit was also used for wheat and dates in the early 14th century .

In mocha in 1612 the man fluctuated between 2.3 and 2.4 pounds avoirdupois = 1.0425 to 1.08064 kg. So on average it was 1.06 kilograms.

For Jeddah in the early 19th century the following is given: 1 man = 1/10 Frasil = 5 Ratl = 750 Ūqīya = 830 grams.

In Oman , various Mann units were used side by side until the 1970s, including in particular

  • the man from Muscat with a weight of 144 Maria Theresa thalers = 4.046 kg. It was used in Muscat, Matrah and the Bātina Plains and was standardized by the authorities by means of cast iron man weights;
  • the man from Oman with a weight of 36 Maria Theresa thalers = 1.012 kg. This was used in the rest of the country.

Both man units were divided into kiyās units of 169 grams. The Muscat man corresponded to 24 kiyas and the Oman man to 6 kiyas.

India

In Delhi in the 14th century the following was valid: 1 man = 40 Sēr = 2800 Indian Mithqāl = 4106.666 Dirhams. This corresponds to a metric weight of 12.824 kilograms. A statement going in the same direction can be found in Ibn Battūta , according to which the man from Delhi was 25 Egyptian Ratl , which corresponds to 11.25 kilograms.

In the Mughal Empire , a new man was introduced in the second half of the 16th century with 40 Sēr and 30 Dām each . This Akbar -Man (Man-i akbarī) corresponded to a metric weight of 25.155 kg. The Man from Agra later was 33.56 kg.

In British India , the size of the Maund varied from place to place (from 8.5 to 74 kg). In his Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modern, Horace Doursther provides a complete list of the Maund weight units used in the various Indian cities with conversion to the metric system. The particularly well-known Maund units included:

  • The Maund of Bengal , also called Bázár Maund by the British : 1 Bengal Maund = 40 Seer = 3200 Sicca rupees. It corresponded to a weight of 82 avoirdupois pounds, that is the equivalent of 37.251 kg.
  • The Maund of Gujarat and Bombay , which also consisted of 40 seers, but those of lighter weight. It was the equivalent of 28 avoirdupois pounds, or about 12.699 kg.
  • The Maund of Madras on the Coromandel Coast with 40 Seer initially corresponded to 24.114 Avoirdupois pounds (= 10.937 kg) and was then set by the government of Madras at 25 Avoirdupois pounds, which corresponds to 11.339 kg.

Because of the great local differences, the British East India Company made several attempts to standardize the Man. In 1787 she introduced a new factory maund in Bengal at 74 2/5 Avoirdupois pounds. So it corresponded to a weight of 33.865 kg. In 1833 the East India Company replaced the earlier Maund sizes with Regulation VII with a new Mun or Bazar Maund at 100 Troy pounds and 82 2/7 Avoirdupois pounds. This corresponds to a weight of 37.3242 kg. The Maund was divided into 40 seers of 80 tola each. However, this new Maund standard was slow to gain acceptance.

Iraq

There were three man weights in Iraq in the early 20th century:

  • little man to 6 Okka = 7.649 kg
  • medium man to 12 okka = 15.388 kg
  • tall man at 12 1/2 okka = 16.036 kg

In Baghdad there was also a man of his own with 19 okka = 24.396 kg.

Information in the medical literature

In the Arabic medical literature various ancient definitions for the mine are also mentioned under the name Mann . Abū l-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī writes that the man in the Rhomeans consists of 20, 18 or 16 ounces . Also, I have Galen noted that in Alexandria corresponded to 30 ounces. With the druggists, however , the man consists of 21 ounces.

literature

  • J. Burton-Page: Makāyil and Mawāzīn. 2. Muslim India in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. VI, pp. 121a-122a.
  • Horace Doursther: Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modern, contenant des tables des monnaies de tous les pays. Brussel 1840. pp. 259-263. Digitized
  • Willem Floor: Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran in Studia Iranica 37 (2008) 57-114. Here pp. 93-101.
  • Walther Hinz : Islamic measures and weights. Converted into the metric system. EJ Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1970, pp. 16-23.
  • Ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī: Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār . Ed. Kāmil Salmān al-Ǧubūrī. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmīya, 2010. Vol. III, pp. 80f., 162. Digitized
  • Al-Iṣṭaḫrī : Kitāb Masālik al-mamālik . Ed. MJ De Goeje. Brill, Leiden, 1870. p. 156. Digitized
  • Cengiz Kallek: Men in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi Vol. XXIX, pp. 105c-107b. Digitized
  • Ann KS Lambton: Landlord and Peasant in Persia. A Study of Land Tenure and Land Revenue Administration . Oxford University Press, London, 1953. pp. 405-409.
  • Richard T. Mortel: Weights and Measures in Mecca during the late Ayyubid and Mamluk Periods in RB Serjeant and RL Bidwell: Arabian Studies . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. pp. 177-185. Here p. 180f.
  • MH Sauvaire: Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes in Journal Asiatique VII / 4 (1884) 207–321. Here pp. 280–291. Digitized
  • Wolfgang Trapp : Small manual of the dimensions, numbers, weights and the time calculation. 3rd reviewed edition Reclam, Stuttgart, 1998. p. 227. (Summary by Hinz)
  • H. Wilson: A glossary of judicial and revenue terms and of useful words occurring in official documents relating to the administration of the government of British India . Allen, London, 1855. p. 326a. Digitized
  • Henry Yule, EC Burnell: Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive . New Edition William Crooke. John Murray, London, 1903. pp. 563b-565a. Digitized
  • Abū l-Qāsim az-Zahrāwī : At-Taṣrīf li-man ʿaǧiza ʿan at-taʾlīf . Facsimile edition after Ms. Bašīr Āġā, Süleymaniye Library Istanbul. Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences, Frankfurt / Main, 1986. Vol. II, p. 459.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ See Chicago Assyrian Dictionary . Vol. X / 1, pp. 219-221. Digitized
  2. ↑ See ADH Bivar: Weights and Measures 1. Pre-Islamic in Encyclopaedia Iranica online version .
  3. ↑ Ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī: Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār . 2010. Vol. III, p. 162.
  4. ↑ Cf. Floor: Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran . 2008, p. 100f.
  5. ^ Johann Friedrich Krüger : Complete manual of the coins, measures and weights of all countries in the world. Verlag Gottfried Basse, Quedlinburg and Leipzig 1830, p. 173. Digitized
  6. ↑ R. Klimpert: Lexicon of Coins, Measures, Weights, Counting Types and Time Sizes. Verlag C. Regenhardt, Berlin 1896. p. 234. Digitized
  7. ↑ Yule, Burnell: Hobson-Jobson . 1903, p. 563f.
  8. ↑ Cf. Ibn ʿĀbidīn : Radd al-muḥtār ʿalā Durr al-muḫtār . Ed. ʿĀdil Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Mauǧūd and ʿAlī Muḥammad Muʿauwiḍ. Dār ʿĀlam al-kutub, Riyad, 2003. Vol. III, p. 320. Digitized .
  9. ↑ al-Iṣṭaḫrī: Kitāb Masālik al-mamālik . 1870, p. 156.
  10. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 16f.
  11. ↑ Sauvaire: Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes 1884, p. 286.
  12. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 21.
  13. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 18.
  14. ↑ Ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī: Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār . 2010. Vol. III, p. 162.
  15. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 18.
  16. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 16f.
  17. ↑ See e.g. B. Muḥammad at-Tahānawī: Kitāb kaššāf iṣṭilaḥat al-funūn . Ed. A. Sprenger. 2 Vols. Calcutta 1862. Vol. II, p. 1356.
  18. ↑ Abū-ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad Ibn-Aḥmad al-Ḫwārizmī: Kitāb Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm . Ed. Gerlof van Vloten. Brill, Leiden, 1895. p. 14. Digitized
  19. ↑ MH Sauvaire: On a Treatise on Weights and Measures by Elia, archbishop of Nisibin. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Volume 9, 1877, pp. 291-313. Here p. 297. Digitized
  20. ↑ See Hinz: Islamic Mass and Weights. 1970, p. 17 and Sauvaire: Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes. 1884, pp. 283-285.
  21. ↑ az-Zahrāwī: At-Taṣrīf li-man ʿaǧiza ʿan at-taʾlīf . 1986, Vol. II, p. 459.
  22. ^ Charles Barbier de Meynard : Dictionnaire géographique, historique et littéraire de la Perse et des contrées adjacentes . Impr. Impériale, Paris, 1861. p. 155. Digitized
  23. ↑ Ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī: Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār . 2010. Vol. III, p. 162.
  24. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, pp. 18f, 22.
  25. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 18.
  26. ^ Lambton: Landlord and Peasant in Persia. 1953, pp. 407, 409.
  27. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, pp. 20f.
  28. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 21.
  29. ↑ Muḥammad at-Tahānawī: Kitāb kaššāf iṣṭilaḥat al-funūn . Ed. A. Sprenger. 2 Vols. Calcutta 1862. Vol. II, p. 1356.
  30. ^ Lambton: Landlord and Peasant in Persia. 1953, p. 408.
  31. ^ Lambton: Landlord and Peasant in Persia. 1953, p. 409.
  32. ^ Floor: Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran . 2008, p. 99.
  33. ^ Floor: Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran . 2008, p. 99.
  34. ^ Floor: Weights and Measures in Qajar Iran . 2008, p. 62f.
  35. ^ Mortel: Weights and Measures in Mecca . 1990, p. 180.
  36. ^ Mortel: Weights and Measures in Mecca . 1990, p. 180f.
  37. ^ Mortel: Weights and Measures in Mecca . 1990, p. 181.
  38. ^ Mortel: Weights and Measures in Mecca . 1990, p. 181.
  39. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 16.
  40. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 21.
  41. ↑ Horace Doursther: Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modern, contenant des tables des monnaies de tous les pays. Brussel 1840. p. 261. Digitized
  42. ^ WJ Donaldson: The pre-metric Weights and Measures of Oman in New Arabian Studies 1 (1993) 83-107. Here pp. 84–86.
  43. ↑ Ibn Faḍlallāh al-ʿUmarī: Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār . 2010. Vol. III, pp. 80f.
  44. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 22f.
  45. ↑ Ibn-Baṭṭūṭa: Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah. Texts arabe, accompagné d'une traduction par C. Defrémery et le BR Sanguinetti . Imprimerie Impériale, Paris, 1854. Vol. II, p. 74. Digitized
  46. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 23.
  47. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 23.
  48. ↑ Hinz: Islamic Measures and Weights. 1970, p. 23.
  49. ↑ See the overview in Wilson: A glossary of judicial and revenue terms . 1855, p. 326a.
  50. ^ Wilson: A glossary of judicial and revenue terms . 1855, p. 326a.
  51. ↑ Doursther: Dictionnaire universel of Weights and Measures anciens et modernes . 1840, p. 260.
  52. ↑ Doursther: Dictionnaire universel of Weights and Measures anciens et modernes . 1840, p. 260.
  53. ^ Wilson: A glossary of judicial and revenue terms . 1855, p. 326a.
  54. ↑ Doursther: Dictionnaire universel of Weights and Measures anciens et modernes . 1840, p. 260.
  55. ^ Wilson: A glossary of judicial and revenue terms . 1855, p. 326a.
  56. ↑ Doursther: Dictionnaire universel of Weights and Measures anciens et modernes . 1840, p. 260.
  57. ↑ A Regulation for altering the weight of the Furruckabad rupee and for assimilating it to the legal currency of the Madras and Bombay Presidencies; for adjusting the weight of the company's sicca rupee, and for fixing a standard unit of weight for India. In: The Sessional Papers of the House of Lords Vol. VIII Accounts and Papers 1837-1838. Pp. 19-21. Here p. 19. ( digitized version in Google book search).
  58. ↑ George Young: Corps de droit Ottoman: recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire Ottoman . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1906. Vol. IV, p. 368. Digitized
  59. ↑ Cf. Sauvaire: Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes 1884, pp. 282, 286-288.
  60. ↑ az-Zahrāwī: At-Taṣrīf li-man ʿaǧiza ʿan at-taʾlīf . 1986, Vol. II, p. 459.