The almude is an obsolete Portuguese unit of measurement of volume used in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and other parts of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

. Etymologically, it derives from the Arabic ''al-mudd'', and ultimately from Latin '' modius''. The almude appears in Portuguese documents since the first half of the 11th century. As in the Iberian regions under Arab rule, its capacity was in the Christian northwest 0.7 liters. In the system of the county of Portucale, the almude was equivalent to 2 alqueires (about 6.7 liters). In the system introduced by

Afonso Henriques Afonso I of PortugalOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French inf ...

, first king of Portugal, and used almost until the end of the first dynasty, it seems that the almude was equivalent to the alqueire of that system (8.7 liters). In the system introduced by Pedro I, the almude was again equivalent to 2 alqueires (about 19.7 liters). In the Lisbon system, adapted and generalized to the whole kingdom by

Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: * Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (1143–1180) *Manuel I of Trebizond, Emperor of Trebizond (1228–1263) *Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), wa ...

, the almude was equivalent to about 16.8 liters. In modern times, the official almude was therefore 16.8 liters. However, in different regions of Portugal, the de facto almude could reach the equivalent of two alqueires. In addition, there could be different almudes for different liquids. Some examples were: * Portugal (modern standard): 16.8 liters * Faro: 17.04 liters. * Madeira: 17.72 liters.Sizes.com
almude
/ref> *

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

: 25.08 liters. *

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...

: 24.60 liters. An almude was often divided in 2 ''potes'' or 12 '' canadas''. In Spain, the unit was called

almud The almud is a unit of measurement of volume used in France, Spain and in parts of the Americas that were colonized by each country. The word comes from the Arabic al-múdd." The exact value of the ''almud'' was different from region to region, and ...

and it was much smaller.

References

{{reflist

Literature

* Monteverde, Emilio Achilles (1861) ''Manual Encyclopedico para Uzo das Escolas de Instrucção Primaria'', Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2000
«Medidas Portuguesas de Capacidade: duas Tradições Metrológicas em Confronto Durante a Idade Média»
''Revista Portuguesa de História'', 34, p. 535-632. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2003
«Sistemas Legais de Medidas de Peso e Capacidade, do Condado Portucalense ao Século XVI»
''Portugalia'', Nova Série, XXIV, Faculdade de Letras, Porto, p. 113-164. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2003
«Medidas de Capacidade na Beira nos Séculos XII a XVI
�, ''Beira Alta'', vol. 62 (1-2), Assembleia Distrital de

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the district of the same name, with a population of 100,000 inhabitants, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões intermunipical community, with 267,633 inhabi ...

, p. 109-141. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2018)
«O Regimento de Pesos e Medidas nos Reinados de Dom Afonso V e Dom João II»
''Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa'', 136, p. 143-168. Obsolete units of measurement Units of volume

See also

References

Literature