HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The last was a
Dutch unit The Dutch units of measurement used today are those of the metric system. Before the 19th century, a wide variety of different weights and measures were used by the various Dutch towns and provinces. Despite the country's small size, there was a l ...
of
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
,
volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The ...
, and
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
, and a large English unit of
weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar quan ...
, mass, volume, and number. It referred to standardized amounts of
ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguishe ...
s' lading and varied by commodity and over time.


Name

The term derives from
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
',''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd ed. "last, ''n.2''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2014. ultimately from a
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bra ...
root reconstructed as *''hlaþ''- or *''hlað-'' ("to place").''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "lade, ''v.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1901. It is also parallel and probably influenced by the Middle Dutch and
Middle Low German Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented in ...
', used in identical senses as a load, cargo, or standardized unit.


Weight

The Assize of Weights and Measures, one of the
statutes of uncertain date The statutes of uncertain date, also known as ''statuta incerti temporis'' or ''Certain Statutes made during the Reigns of K. Henry 3. K. Edward 1. or K. Edward 2. but uncertain when or in which of their times'', are British (previously English) s ...
from , defined the as 12 sacks' worth, equivalent to 24 weys, 336 London stone, or 4,200
merchants' pound The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defi ...
s (about )..  &  & The last subsequently varied with the different values given to the sack of wool. The
flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
and
feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
lasts were 1,700
avoirdupois pound The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defi ...
s (about ). The English Ordnance Board defined the as 24
barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
s of 100
avoirdupois pound The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defi ...
s each (2,400  lbs or about ). A Dutch last, or '' Scheepslast'', was Amsterdam ''
pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or Artificiality, artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% Aquatic plant, emergent vegetation helps in disting ...
'', which is . In the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
( nl, Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, commonly abbreviated to VOC) the last was about in the 17th century, later becoming as much as . The last was also used as a measure of
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domesticate ...
in Dutch Formosa. It was composed of 20 
picul A picul or tam is a traditional Asian unit of weight, defined as "as much as a man can carry on a shoulder-pole". History The word ''picul'' appeared as early as the mid 9th century in Javanese. Following Spanish, Portuguese, British and ...
s and about equal to .


Quantity

The Assize of Weights and Measures describes the as ten
long thousand Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...
s or 12,000 fish. The
Norman French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to describ ...
editions describe this as the "red herring" or and compose the herring last out of ten short thousands of twelve
long hundred The long hundred, also known as the great hundred or twelfty, is the number 120 (in base-10 Arabic numerals) that was referred to as "hundred" in Germanic languages prior to the 15th century, and is now known as one hundred twenty, or six score. ...
s, still making 12,000 fish altogether. (Elsewhere, the herring last was treated by
volume Volume is a measure of occupied three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The ...
.) The comprised 20 dicker of 10 skins each (200 total) or, sometimes, 12
dozen A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or yea ...
skins (144 total).


Volume

The English last could also be understood as the volume occupied by the other lasts. In some sources, the last is equated with . The
beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cer ...
 last was 12
barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
s, the
cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not calle ...
 last and some herring lasts were also 12 barrels, and the pitch last was 12 or 14 barrels. The
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin scree ...
last (') used for bulk trade in dry goods from the 16th to 19th century comprised 30 Polish bushels ('). In the early 19th century, this amounted to but varied over time and location. The Dutch last, or '' Scheepslast'', has been equated to essentially of shipping space.


See also

* lading,
ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
* load


References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs = {{cite book, author1-link=Tonio Andrade , last = Andrade , first = Tonio , year = 2005 , title = How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century , url = http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/ , publisher = Columbia University Press , chapter = Appendix A: Weights, Measures, and Exchange Rates , chapter-url = http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/appA.html {{Cite book , title = Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. , last1 = Cardarelli , first1 = François Cardarelli , last2 = Sheilds , first2 = M.J. , publisher = Springer , year = 2003 , isbn = 978-1-4471-1122-1 , location = London , page = 23 Obsolete units of measurement