Ausonian units of measurement: Difference between revisions

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Ausonian customary units of measurement (French: unités de mesure ausoniennes) are a system of measurements commonly used in Ausonia. Inherited from the ?? system, which in turn was derived from the ancient Valessian measures, the system was later redefined in the 17th century, during the reign of Charles X, which became the standard of the Kingdom replacing local variations. It would later spread to the rest of Ausonia following the War of the Provinces, and has since been continuously updated and refined over the centuries to the present day. Today, Ausonia is one of the few countries (and the only one in Adria) that have not adopted the metric system as their official system of weights and measures.

Ausonians primarily use Ausonian units in commercial activities, as well as for personal and social use. In science, medicine, many sectors of industry, and some of government and military, metric units are used. For newer units of measure where there is no traditional customary unit, international units are used, sometimes mixed with customary units, such as electrical resistance of wire expressed in ohms (SI) per tour.

Length

  • 1 lieue = 5 tours = 60 arpents = 1,500 toises
Unit Relative Value
(verges)
SI
value
English value
French Translation
point point 1512 1.5875 mm 116 inch
ligne line 1256 3.175 mm 18 inch; cf. line
pouce inch 132 2.54 cm 1 inch
poinette tip, top 7128 4.445 cm 1​34 in; cf. 19" rack unit
paume palm 14 20.32 cm 8 in; cf. span
quartier quarter
pied foot 38 30.48 cm 1 ft
coude elbow 916 45.72 cm 1​12 ft; cf. cubit/ell
pas pace 1516 0.762 m 2​12 ft; cf. step
verge yard 1 0.8128 m 2​23 ft
toise fathom 2 1.6256 m 5​13 ft
perche perch, rod 6 4.8768 m 16 ft
arpent 60 48.768 m 160 ft
tour turn (of a plough) 600 487.68 m 1,600 ft
lieue league 3,000 2.4384 km 8,000 ft
mille mile 6,000 4.8768 km 16,000 ft

Area

Unit Relative Value
(pieds carrés)
SI value English value Notes
French Translation
pied carré square foot 1 ~0.093 m2 1 sq ft This is the Ausonian square foot.
toise carré square fathom 28​1125 ~2.64 m2 28.44 sq ft This is the Ausonian square fathom.
perche carrée square perch 44 ~4.09 m2 44 sq ft It is a square 22 pieds on each side.
vergée 6,400 594.58 m2 6,400 sq ft This is a square 5 perches on each side, or one quarter of an acre.
acre 25,600 2378.32 m2 25,600 sq ft This is a square 10 perches (or one arpent) on each side.
arpent carré square arpent
dîme royal royal dîme 153,600 ~14,269.91 m2 or
~1.4270 hectares
153,600 sq ft or
~3.5262 acres
The royal dîme (from Old French *dixme, ultimately from Latin decimus) is comprised of an area of 6 square acres.
dîme possessoire proprietor's dîme 204,800 ~19,026.54 m2 or
~1.9026 hectares
204,800 sq ft or
~4.7016 acres
This is comprised of an area of 8 square acres.

Volume

As in many ancient systems of measurement, the Ausonian distinguishes between dry and liquid measurements of capacity. Note that the quartier appears in both lists with vastly differing values.

Liquid measures

Table of (liquid) volume units
Unit Relative
value
(pintes)
Cubic inches
(exact)
SI
value
Customary
value
Imperial
value
Notes
roquille 116 1​1116 ~27.653 ml 0.935 fl oz 0.973 fl oz One quarter of a posson.
verre 18 3​38 55.306 ml 1.870 fl oz 1.946 fl oz One half of a posson.
posson 14 6​34 ~110.613 ml 3.74 fl oz 3.893 fl oz
demiard 12 13​12 221.225 ml ~0.922 cup ~0.779 cup Etymologically, demi in French means "half": in this case, half a pinte.
pinte 1 27 442.45 ml 0.935 pint 0.779 pint Although etymologically related to the pint, the Ausonian pint is about twice as large. It was the main small unit in common use, and measured ​136 of a cubic pied.
quade 2 54 884.901 ml 0.935 quarts 0.779 quarts
chopine 4 108 ~1.77 L 1.87 quarts 1.557 quarts
velte 8 216 ~3.54 L 0.935 gallon 0.779 gallon
quartaut 72 3,456 56.634 L 14.961 gallons 12.458 gallons The quartaut was equivalent to 9 veltes, or two cubic pieds.
seau 144 3,456 113.267 L 29.922 gallons 24.915 gallons
muid 288 13,824 226.535 L 59.844 gallons 49.831 gallons The muid is defined as eight cubic pieds.
tonneau 576 27,648 453.07 L 119.688 gallons 99.661 gallons The tonneau is defined as sixteen cubic pieds.
cubic
pouce cube 127 1 16.387 ml 0.554 fl oz ~0.577 fl oz This is the Ausonian cubic inch.
pied cube 64 1,728 ~28.317 L 7.48 gallons ~6.229 gallons This is the Ausonian cubic foot. In ancient times, a cubic foot was also known as an amphora when measuring liquid volume.

Dry measures

Weight/mass

Two systems of weight are in use in Ausonia, an ordinary one in common use, and an apothecaries' system.

General System

Traditionally, the Ausonian pound (livre) was defined as the mass of exactly ​​170 of a Ausonian cubic foot of water. Various provinces, cities, and even guilds often had their own physical standards of measurement, many of which were not consistent with one another as well as the main standard used in Savonnes. It would not be until the late 18th century that the Savonian standard would be standardised using SI definitions and adopted universally across the whole Commonwealth.

Unit Relative Value
(livres)
SI value Avoirdupois value
livre 1 489.788 g 17.277 oz (1.08 lb)

Apothecaries' system

Unit Ratio SI value Avoirdupois value Ordinary value