Traditional

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

units of measurement were standardized by law in 1665, prior to which they only existed as a number of related but differing local variants. The system was slightly revised in 1735. In 1855, a decimal reform was instituted that defined a new Swedish inch as Swedish foot (). Up to the middle of the 19th century, there was a law allowing the imposition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for falsifying weights or measures. Sweden adopted the metric system in 1889, after a decision by the parliament in 1875 and a ten-year transition period from 1879. Only the

Swedish mile A Scandinavian mile (Norwegian and sv, mil, [], like "meal") is a unit of length common in Norway and Sweden, but not Denmark. Today, it is standardised as 1 being , but it had different values in the past. The word is derived from the same ...

, ''mil'', has been preserved, now measuring .

Old length units

The Swedish units of length included the following: * ''aln'' – Forearm (cf.

Ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') 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 ...

) (pl. ''alnar''). After 1863, . Before that, from 1605, 59.38 cm as defined by King Carl IX of Sweden in

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linköp ...

1604, based on ''Rydaholmsalnen''. * ''famn'' –

Fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

, 3 ''alnar''. * ''fot'' – Foot, ½ ''aln''. Before 1863, the

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

''fot'' was the commonly accepted unit, at . * ''kvarter'' – Quarter, ''aln'' * ''tum'' or ''verktum'' – Inch, ''kvarter'' or ''fot'' (making it 2.47 cm or 0.97 in). * ''linje'' – Line, after 1863 ''tum'', . Before that, ''tum'' or 2.06 mm. * ''mil'' – Mile, also ''lantmil''. From 1699, defined as a unity mile of 18000 ''alnar'' or . The unified mile was meant to define the suitable distance between inns. After the 1889 metric conversion the

Swedish mil A Scandinavian mile (Norwegian and sv, mil, [], like "meal") is a unit of length common in Norway and Sweden, but not Denmark. Today, it is standardised as 1 being , but it had different values in the past. The word is derived from the same ...

is defined as exactly 10 kilometers. * ''nymil'' – New mile from 1889, 10 km exactly. Commonly used to this day, only referred to as ''mil''. * ''kyndemil'' – The distance a torch will last, approx . * ''skogsmil'' – Also ''rast'', distance between rests in the woods, approx. . * ''fjärdingsväg'' – ''mil'' * ''stenkast'' – Stone's throw, about , used to this day as an approximate measure. * ''rev'' – 160 ''fot'', for land measurement, was 100 ''fot'' after 1855. * ''stång'' – 16 ''fot'', for land measurement * ''tum'' – Thumb (inch), ''fot'', 2.474 cm. After 1863 ''fot'', 2.96 cm, not much accepted by professional users in mechanics and carpentry who later switched to English inch (2.54 cm, abandoned only late 20th century) and metric system. * ''tvärhand'' – Hand, 4 inches.

Old area units

* ''kannaland'' – 1000 ''fot''², or * ''kappland'' – . * ''spannland'' – 16 ''kappland'' * ''tunnland'' – 2 ''spannland'' or , about 1 acre * ''kvadratmil'' – Square ''mil'', 36 million square ''favnar'', from 1739. * ''hektar'' - 100x100m, still commonly used for land area of farms.

Old volume units

Old weight units

* ''mark'' – 1/2 ''skålpund''. Was used from the Viking era, when it was approx. .

Nautical units still in use

Old monetary units

* ''daler'' – From 1534, Swedish

thaler A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...

. From 1873, replaced by the '' krona''. * ''riksdaler'' – From 1624, ''daler'', from 1681 2 ''daler'', from 1715 3 ''daler'', from 1776 6 ''daler'' * ''skilling'' – From 1776, ''riksdaler'' * ''mark'' – From 1534, ''daler''. From 1604, ''daler''. * ''öre'' – From 1534, ''mark''. Subsequently replaced by the ''skilling'', but from 1855 reintroduced as ''riksdaler''.

References

External links

Scandinavian units

{{systems of measurement Systems of units Science and technology in Sweden Units of measurement by country