Editing Quintal

{{short description|Historical unit of mass (hundredweight variant)}}
{{other uses}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2017}}
The '''quintal''' or '''centner''' is a historical unit of [[mass]] in many countries that is usually defined as 100 base units, such as [[pound (mass)|pound]]s or [[kilogram]]s.<ref name="Rowlett">{{cite web |last1=Rowlett |first1=Russ |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/units/dictQ.html#quintal |title=How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement |website=ibiblio |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |access-date=25 March 2020 |date=2018 }}</ref> It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is commonly used for [[grain]] prices in wholesale markets in Ethiopia, Eritrea and India, where 1 quintal = {{convert|100|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Quintal - Merriam Webster Dictionary|publisher=Merriam Webster Dictionary|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quintal|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref>

In [[British English]], it referred to the [[hundredweight]]; in [[American English]], it formerly referred to an [[Metric Act of 1866#Metric Weights and Measures|uncommon measurement]] of {{convert|100|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}. 
{{anchor|Etymology}}

Languages drawing its cognate name for the weight from [[Romance languages]] include French, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish {{lang|fr|quintal}}, Italian {{lang|it|quintale}}, Esperanto {{lang|eo|kvintalo}}, Polish {{lang|pl|kwintal}}. Languages taking their cognates from Germanicized ''centner'' include the German {{lang|de|[[Zentner]]}}, Lithuanian {{lang|lt|centneris}}, Swedish {{lang|sv|centner}}, Polish {{lang|pl|cetnar}}, Russian and Ukrainian {{lang|ru|центнер}} ({{lang|uk-Latn|tsentner}}) and Estonian {{lang|et|tsentner}}.

Many European languages have come to translate both the [[imperial units|British]] [[hundredweight]] (8 stone or {{convert|112|lb|kg|2|disp=sqbr}}) and the [[US customary units|American]] [[hundredweight]] ({{convert|100|lb|kg|2|disp=sqbr}}), as their cognate form of ''quintal'' or ''centner''.

== Name ==
The concept has resulted in two different series of masses: Those based on the local pound (which after [[metrication]] was considered equivalent to {{convert|0.5|kg|abbr=on}}, and those uprated to being based on the kilogram.

In Albania ({{lang|sq|kuintal}}), Ethiopia ({{lang|am-Latn|kuntal}}), and [[India]], the {{convert|100|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}} definition may have been introduced via Islamic{{Citation needed|reason=and why not occidental influence|date=June 2019}} trade.  It is a standard measurement of mass for agricultural products in those countries.

In France it used to be defined as 100 {{lang|fr|livres}} (pounds), about {{convert|48.95|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}, and has been redefined as 100&nbsp;kg ({{lang|fr|[[mesures usuelles]]}}), thus called ''metric quintal'' with symbol ''qq''. In [[Spain]], the {{lang|es|quintal}} is still defined as 100 {{lang|es|libras}}, or about {{convert|46|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}, but the ''metric quintal'' is also defined as 100&nbsp;kg;<ref>[[Real Academia Española]]'s [http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=quintal definition of ''quintal'']</ref> In Portugal a quintal is 128 {{lang|pt|[[arrátel|arráteis]]}} or about {{convert|58.75|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}.<!-- source? -->

The German {{lang|de|[[:de:Zentner|Zentner]]}} and the Danish {{lang|da|[[:da:Centner|centner]]}} are pound-based, and thus since metrication are defined as {{convert|50|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}, whereas the Austrian and Swiss {{lang|de|Zentner}} since metrication has been re-defined as 100&nbsp;kg. In Germany a measure of 100&nbsp;kg is named a {{lang|de|Doppelzentner}}.

In Italy, the {{lang|it|[[:it:Quintale|quintale]]}} is commonly used to refer to 100&nbsp;kg and is abbreviated to ''q'', but the usage is considered informal and is not considered legally valid since 1990.<ref>https://www.sapere.it/enciclopedia/quintale.html</ref>

Common agricultural units used in the [[Soviet Union]] were the 100&nbsp;kg {{lang|ru-Latn|tsentner}} ({{lang|ru|центнер}}) and the term "{{lang|ru-Latn|tsentner}} per [[hectare]]". These are still used by countries that were part of the Soviet Union.

== English use ==

In [[English unit|English]] both terms ''quintal'' and ''centner'' were once alternative names for the [[hundredweight]] and thus defined either as 100&nbsp;[[Avoirdupois|lb]] (exactly {{cvt|100|lb|6|disp=out}}) or as {{cvt|112|lb|2}}. Also, in the [[Dominican Republic]] it is about {{cvt|125|lb|2}}. The German {{lang|de|Zentner}} was introduced to the English language via [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic trade]] as a measure of the weight of certain [[agriculture|crops]] including [[hops]] for [[beer]] production. Commonly used in the Dominion (and later province) of Newfoundland up until the 1960s as a measure for {{cvt|112|lb}} of salt cod.

The '''quintal''' was defined in the United States in 1866<ref>[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/205- Act of July 28, 1866, codified in 15 U.S.C. §205]</ref> as {{convert|100|kg|lb|0|abbr=on}}. However, it is no longer used in the United States or by the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST), though it still appears in the statute.<ref>"Metric System of Measurement: Interpretation of the International System of Units for the United States", [[Federal Register]] notice of July 28, 1998, 63 F.R. 40333 {{cite web |url=http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/SIFedReg.pdf |title=Metric System of Measurement: Interpretation of the International System of Units for the United States; Notice |publisher=[[NIST]] |access-date=September 28, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060930114423/http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/SIFedReg.pdf |archive-date=September 30, 2006 }}</ref>

In France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Indonesia, and India, it is still in daily use by farmers. It is also used in [[Brazil]] and other South American countries and in some African countries including [[Angola]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The use of Quintal for weight measurements |url=https://www.sizes.com/units/quintal.htm |website=Sizes: the online quantinary |access-date=25 July 2017 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Metric Act of 1866|''Kasson Act'' (1866)]]
* [[Hundredweight]]
* {{lang|de|[[Zentner]]}}

== References ==
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[[Category:Units of mass]]
[[Category:Non-SI metric units]]
[[Category:Customary units of measurement]]
[[Category:Metricated units]]

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