Ausonian units of measurement

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	​1⁄512	1.5875 mm	​1⁄16 inch
ligne	line	​1⁄256	3.175 mm	​1⁄8 inch; cf. line
pouce	inch	​1⁄32	2.54 cm	1 inch
poinette	tip, top	​7⁄128	4.445 cm	1​3⁄4 in; cf. 19" rack unit
paume	palm	​1⁄4	20.32 cm	8 in; cf. span
quartier	quarter
pied	foot	​3⁄8	30.48 cm	1 ft
coude	elbow	​9⁄16	45.72 cm	1​1⁄2 ft; cf. cubit/ell
pas	pace	​15⁄16	0.762 m	2​1⁄2 ft; cf. step
verge	yard	1	0.8128 m	2​2⁄3 ft
toise	fathom	2	1.6256 m	5​1⁄3 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​11⁄25	~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	​1⁄16	1​11⁄16	~27.653 ml	0.935 fl oz	0.973 fl oz	One quarter of a posson.
verre	​1⁄8	3​3⁄8	55.306 ml	1.870 fl oz	1.946 fl oz	One half of a posson.
posson	​1⁄4	6​3⁄4	~110.613 ml	3.74 fl oz	3.893 fl oz
demiard	​1⁄2	13​1⁄2	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 ​1⁄36 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	​1⁄27	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.

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 ​​¹⁄₇₀ 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