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An ell (from Proto-Germanic *alinō, cognate with Latin ulna)<ref>"ell, n.1". OED Online. December 2011. Oxford University Press. (accessed February 20, 2012).</ref> is a northwestern European 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">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="LewisKingery1918">Template:Cite book</ref> some of which are thought to derive from a "double ell".<ref name="Boston.)1857">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="O'Gorman1853">Template:Cite book</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>infoplease.com, OED s. Ell-wand.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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>Template:Cite book</ref>
Several national forms existed, with different lengths, including the Scottish ell Template:Nowrap, the Flemish ell [el] Template:Nowrap, the French ell [aune] Template:Nowrap,<ref name="Brayshaws">Brayshaw, Tom S., ed. Brayshaw's Mathematical Desk Companion. Chesterfield, England: Thomas Brayshaw Ltd., Edition 16, 1955</ref> the Polish ell Template:Nowrap, the Danish alen Template:Nowrap, the Swedish aln Template:Nowrap and the German ell [{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}] of different lengths in Frankfurt (54.7 cm), Cologne, Leipzig (Saxony) or Hamburg.
Select customs were observed by English importers 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 Template:Convert. 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>Template:Cite book</ref>
Historic useEdit
EnglandEdit
In England, the ell was usually exactly Template:Convert, 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>Template:Cite book</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). "Weights and Measures" (free fulltext), from the Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 01 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.</ref> See yard for details.
ScotsEdit
The Scottish ell (Template:Langx) is approximately Template:Convert. 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
It was used in the popular expression {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (equivalent to "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" or "... he'll take a yard").
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.
OtherEdit
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 literatureEdit
In the epic poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight's axe-head was an ell (45 inches) wide.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ells were also used in the medieval French play The Farce of Master Pathelin to measure the size of the clothing Pierre Pathelin bought.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Ells are used for measuring the length of rope in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.<ref name="TLotR">Template:Cite book</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 ells tall in Independent People, Part II, "Of the World".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
ReferencesEdit
- Attribution
- Template:Dwelly See p. 861.
Further readingEdit
- Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland
- Scottish National Dictionary and Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue
- Weights and Measures, by D. Richard Torrance, SAFHS, Edinburgh, 1996, Template:ISBN (N.B.: The book focusses exclusively on Scottish weights and measures.)