Editing Ell

{{Short description|Unit of length}}
{{About|the unit of length|the letter|L|other uses|Ell (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Aune|the surname|Aune (surname)}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox unit
| bgcolor      = 
| name         = Ell
| image        = Ell.jpg
| caption      = The ell was originally a [[cubit]], later replaced by the cloth-ell or "double ell".
| standard     = 
| quantity     = Length
| symbol2      = 
| namedafter   = 
| extralabel   = 
| extradata    =
| units_imp1   = Inch
| inunits_imp1 = 45
| units_imp2   = Metre 
| inunits_imp2 = 1.143

}}
[[File:Regensburg - Altes Rathaus - Masse - 2016.jpg|thumb|upright|Historic standard units of the city of [[Regensburg]]: from left to right, a [[fathom]] (''Klafter''), [[foot (unit)|foot]] (''Schuch'') and ell (''Öln'')]]
[[File:Bad Langensalza, Preußische Elle und Preußisches Fuß am Rathaus.jpg|thumb|right|Prussian ell]]

An '''ell''' (from [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] *''alinō'', cognate with [[Latin]] ''[[ulna]]'')<ref>[http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/60511 "ell, n.1"]. OED Online. December 2011. Oxford University Press. (accessed February 20, 2012).</ref> is a northwestern European [[Units of measurement|unit of measurement]], originally understood as a [[cubit]] (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and survives in the modern English word "elbow" (arm-bend). Later usage through the 19th century refers to several longer units,<ref name="The Diagonal">{{cite book|title=The Diagonal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BudNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22the+ell+was+originally+the+same+measure+as+the+cubit%22&pg=PA98|access-date=6 February 2012|year=1920|publisher=Yale University Press|page=98}}</ref><ref name="LewisKingery1918">{{cite book|author1=Charlton Thomas Lewis|author2=Hugh Macmaster Kingery|title=An elementary Latin dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_2ncKAAAAIAAJ|quote=forearm, ell, cubit.|access-date=6 February 2012|year=1918|publisher=American book company|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_2ncKAAAAIAAJ/page/n204 198]}}</ref> some of which are thought to derive from a "double ell".<ref name="Boston.)1857">{{cite book|author=James Robinson (of Boston.)|title=The American elementary arithmetic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klYMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA94|access-date=6 February 2012|year=1857|publisher=J.P. Jewett & co.|page=94}}</ref><ref name="O'Gorman1853">{{cite book|author=Daniel O'Gorman|title=Intuitive calculations; the readiest and most concise methods|url=https://archive.org/details/intuitivecalcul00ogogoog|access-date=6 February 2012|year=1853|page=[https://archive.org/details/intuitivecalcul00ogogoog/page/n54 48]}}</ref>

An '''ell-wand''' or '''ellwand''' was a rod of length one ell used for official measurement.   [[Edward I of England]] required that every town have one.  In Scotland, the [[Belt of Orion]] was called "the King's Ellwand".<ref>[http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/ell-wand.html infoplease.com], ''OED'' ''s.'' Ell-wand.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/89685.html |title=The measurements of cricket |author=AR Littlewood |publisher=ESPN cricinfo }}</ref> An iron ellwand is preserved in the entrance to [[Stånga Church]] on the Swedish island of [[Gotland]], indicating the role that rural churches had in disseminating uniform measures.<ref name=stanga>{{cite book |last= Andrén|first= Anders|language=sv|title= Det Medeltida Gotland. En arkeologisk guidebok|trans-title=Medieval Gotland. An archaeological guidebook|year= 2017|edition=2nd |location=Lund |publisher=Historiska Media |page=206|isbn= 978-91-7545-476-4}}</ref>

Several national forms existed, with different lengths, including the [[#Scots|Scottish ell]] {{nowrap|(≈{{convert|37|in|cm|0|disp=or}})}}, the [[Flanders|Flemish]] ell [el] {{nowrap|1=(≈{{convert|27|in|cm|1|disp=or|abbr=on}})}}, the [[French language|French]] ell [aune] {{nowrap|1=(≈{{convert|54|in|cm|1|disp=or|abbr=on}})}},<ref name="Brayshaws">Brayshaw, Tom S., ed. ''Brayshaw's Mathematical Desk Companion''. Chesterfield, England: Thomas Brayshaw Ltd., Edition 16, 1955</ref> the [[Poland|Polish]] ell {{nowrap|(≈{{convert|31|in|cm|1|disp=or|abbr=on}})}}, the [[Denmark|Danish]] alen {{nowrap|(24 [[Danish units of measurement#Length|Danish]] inches or 2 Danish fod: 62.7708 cm)}}, the [[Sweden|Swedish]] aln {{nowrap|(2 Swedish fot 59.38&nbsp;cm)}} and the German ell [{{lang|de|Elle}}] of different lengths in Frankfurt (54.7&nbsp;cm), Cologne, Leipzig ([[Kingdom of Saxony|Saxony]]) or Hamburg.

Select customs were observed by English [[import]]ers of Dutch [[textiles]]; although all cloths were bought by the Flemish ell, [[linen]] was sold by the English ell, but [[tapestry]] was sold by the Flemish ell.<ref name="Brayshaws"/>

The Viking ell was the measure from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, about {{convert|18|in}}. The Viking or primitive ell was used in Iceland up to the 13th century. By the 13th century, a law set the "stika" as equal to two ells, which was the English ell of the time.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Nancy Marie Brown |year=2007 |title=The Far Traveller: Voyages of a Viking Woman |publisher=Harcourt |pages=236, 276 |oclc=85822467}}</ref>

== Historic use ==
=== England ===
In England, the ell was usually exactly {{convert|45|in|m|3|abbr=on}}, or a yard and a quarter. It was mainly used in the [[tailoring]] business but is now obsolete. Although the exact length was never defined in English law, standards were kept; the brass ell examined at the [[Exchequer]] by Graham in the 1740s had been in use "since the time of Queen Elizabeth".<ref name=knight>{{cite book|last=Knight|first=Charles|title=The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Volume 9|year=1840|publisher=Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BHnAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

Other English measures called an ell include the "yard and handful", or 40 in. ell, abolished in 1439; the yard and inch, or 37 in. ell (a cloth measure), abolished after 1553 and known later as the Scotch ell=37.06; and the cloth ell of 45 in., used until 1600.<ref name=enbrit_ell>Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "[[Wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Weights and Measures|Weights and Measures]]" (free fulltext), from the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Vol. 01 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.</ref> See [[yard]] for details.

===Scots===
The '''Scottish ell''' ({{Langx|gd|slat Albannach}}) is approximately {{convert|37|in|m}}. The Scottish ell was standardised in 1661, with the exemplar to be kept in the custody of Edinburgh.<ref>''Concise Scots Dictionary'', chief editor Mairi Robinson, Aberdeen University Press, 1987, p 817</ref> It comes from [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|elle}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=2873&startset=14827060&query=Ell&fhit=ell&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit |title=Dictionary of the Scots Language |access-date=2011-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321185041/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=2873&startset=14827060&query=Ell&fhit=ell&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit |archive-date=2012-03-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It was used in the popular expression {{lang|sco|Gie 'im an inch, an he'll tak an ell}} (equivalent to "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" or "... he'll take a [[yard]]").

[[The Ell House|The Ell Shop]] (1757) in [[Dunkeld]], [[Perth and Kinross]] ([[National Trust for Scotland]]), is so called from the 18th-century iron ell-stick attached to one corner, once used to measure cloth and other commodities in the adjacent market-place. The shaft of the 17th-century Kincardine [[mercat cross]] stands in the square of [[Fettercairn]], and is notched to show the measurements of an ell.

Scottish measures were made obsolete, and English measurements made standard in Scotland, by an Act of Parliament, the [[Weights and Measures Act 1824]].

[[File:About the Dunkeld ell - geograph.org.uk - 1505823.jpg|thumb|centre|The [[Dunkeld]] ell explained on an information board outside [[The Ell House|The Ell Shop]]]]
[[File:The "Ell" on the side of the National Trust for Scotland shop. - geograph.org.uk - 1138039.jpg|thumb|centre|The [[The Ell House|Ell Shop]] iron ell attached to the wall]]

=== Other ===
Similar measures include:<ref name=enbrit_ell/>
*Netherlands: el, 1 metre (Old ell=27.08 inches)
*Jersey: ell, 4 feet
*N. Borneo: ella, 1 yard
*Switzerland: elle, 0.6561 yard
*Ottoman Turkey: Arşın, ~69 cm

==In literature==
In the epic poem ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', the Green Knight's axe-head was an ell (45 inches) wide.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Burrow |editor-first=J. A. |date=1972 |title=Sir Gawain and the Green Knight |location=Harmondsworth, England |publisher=Penguin |pages=22 |isbn=0140806679 |oclc=1136028 |quote=The lenkthe of an elnyerde the large hed had}}</ref>

Ells were also used in the medieval French play [[La Farce de maître Pathelin|''The Farce of Master Pathelin'']] to measure the size of the clothing Pierre Pathelin bought.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/ebh410b2451866.pdf |title=The farce of Master Pierre Patelin|website=sas.ac.uk|access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref>  

Ells are used for measuring the length of rope in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref name="TLotR">{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |author-link=Tolkien |title=The Lord of the Rings |title-link=The Lord of the Rings |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-261-10368-7 |pages=595–6 |quote=Sam paid it out slowly, measuring it with his arms: 'Five, ten, twenty, thirty ells, more or less, ... Thirty ells, or say, about eighteen [[fathom]]{{'-}}}}</ref> Since Sam declares that 30 elles are "about" 18 fathoms (108 feet), he seems to be using the 45-inch English ell, which would work out to 112 feet.

[[Halldór Laxness]] described [[Örvar-Oddr]] as twelve [[Danish units of measure|Danish ells]] tall in ''[[Independent People]]'', Part II, "Of the World".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laxness |first=Halldór |author-link=Halldór Laxness |title=Sjálfstætt fólk |publisher=[[Vintage Books|Vintage]] |others=Introduction by [[Brad Leithauser]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-679-76792-4 |location=New York |page=201 |translator-last=Thompson |translator-first=J. A. (James Anderson) |trans-title=Independent People <!--|chapter=Part II, Of the World--> |orig-date=1946 |translator-link=J. A. Thompson}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

; Attribution
* {{Dwelly}} ''See [https://archive.org/details/Dwelly/page/850/mode/2up p. 861].''

==Further reading==
* ''Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland''
* ''Scottish National Dictionary'' and ''Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue''
* ''Weights and Measures'', by D. Richard Torrance, SAFHS, Edinburgh, 1996, {{ISBN|1-874722-09-9}} (N.B.: The book focusses exclusively on Scottish weights and measures.)

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}

{{Systems of measurement}}

[[Category:Human-based units of measurement]]
[[Category:Obsolete units of measurement]]
[[Category:Obsolete Scottish units of measurement]]
[[Category:Units of length]]