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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 for falsifying weights or measures. Sweden adopted the
metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...
in 1889, after a decision by the parliament in 1875 and a ten-year transition period from 1879. Only the Swedish mile, ''mil'', has been preserved, now measuring .


Old length units

The Swedish units of length included the following: * ''aln'' – Forearm (cf. Ell) (pl. ''alnar''). After 1863, . Before that, from 1605, 59.38 cm as defined by King
Carl IX of Sweden Charles IX, also Carl ( sv, Karl IX; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric ...
in Norrköping 1604, based on ''Rydaholmsalnen''. * ''famn'' – Fathom, 3 ''alnar''. * ''fot'' – Foot, ½ ''aln''. Before 1863, the Stockholm ''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 is defined as exactly 10
kilometer The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...
s. * ''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. 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''.


See also

*
Historical weights and measures A system of measurement is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to each other. Systems of measurement have historically been important, regulated and defined for the purposes of science and commerce. Systems of measurement i ...
*
Petrograd Standard A standard or standard hundred was a measure of timber used in trade. The ''standard'' varied in number, size and composition from country to country so the term is usually proceeded by the region or port of origin. The countries of the Balt ...
* SI *
Weights and measures A unit of measurement is a definite magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other quantity of that kind can be expressed as a multi ...


References


External links


Scandinavian units


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