The

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

started with a system of units based on a Greek ''pous'' ("foot") of which they picked up through trade in the late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

/early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. Some early standards of measure can be recovered from measured drawings made of the

Hjortspring boat The Hjortspring boat ( da, Hjortspringbåden) is a vessel designed as a large canoe, from the Scandinavian Pre-Roman Iron Age. It was built circa 400–300 BC. The hull and remains were rediscovered and excavated in 1921–1922 from the bog of ''H ...

, which though dating to the early Iron Age exemplifies plank-built vessels of the late Bronze Age and the

Nydam The Nydam Mose, also known as Nydam Bog, is an archaeological site located at Øster Sottrup, a town located in Sundeved, eight kilometres from Sønderborg, Denmark. History In the Iron Age, the site of the bog was a sacred place, where the ...

ship. Thwarts are typically spaced about 3 ''fod'' apart. King

Christian V of Denmark Christian V (15 April 1646 25 August 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699. Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decr ...

introduced an office to oversee weights and measures, a ''justervæsen''. This was first led by the royal mathematician

Ole Rømer Ole Christensen Rømer (; 25 September 1644 – 19 September 1710) was a Danish astronomer who, in 1676, made the first measurement of the speed of light. Rømer also invented the modern thermometer showing the temperature between two fi ...

, who established a national system of weights and measures on May 1st, 1683. Rømer's system, which he updated in 1698, was based on the Rhine foot. Its definitions included the following: * the Danish mile as 24,000 Rhineland feet (i.e. 4 minutes of arc latitude) * the Danish pound (''pund'') as of the weight of a cubic Rhineland foot of water (499.7 g) * the Danish ell (''alen'') as 2 Rhineland feet (630 mm) Rømer also suggested a pendulum definition for the foot (although this would not be implemented until after his death), and invented an early temperature scale. The metric system was introduced in 1907.

Length

:''See also Danish rute (rod)'' * ''mil'' – Danish

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

. Towards the end of the 17th century,

Gerardus Mercator Gerardus Mercator (; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented ...

and other contemporaries of the great Dutch cartographer Thisus began following

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importa ...

in connecting the mile to the great circle of the earth, and Roemer defined it as 12,000 ''alen''. This definition was adopted in 1816 as the Prussian ''Meile''. The coordinated definition from 1835 was 7.532 km. Earlier, there were many variants, the most commonplace the ''

Sjælland Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

sk miil'' of 17,600 ''alen'' or 11.13 km (6.92 mi). * ''palme'' –

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

, for circumference, 8.86 cm (3.49 in) * ''alen'' – ell, 2 ''fod'' * ''fod'' –

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg mad ...

, about 313.85 mm (12.356 inches) in most recent usage. Defined as a ''Rheinfuss'' 314.07 mm (12.365 inches) from 1683, before that 314.1 mm (12.366 in) with variations. * ''rut'' – 5026 mm, 16 fod. * ''kvarter'' – quarter, ''alen'' * ''tomme'' – thumb (

inch Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth ...

), ''fod'' * ''linie'' –

line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

, ''tomme'' * ''skrupel'' – scruple, ''linie''

Area

* ''tønde land'' –

Barrel of land A barrel of land ( Danish: ''tønde land'', Norwegian: ''tønneland'', Swedish: ''tunnland'', Finnish: ''tynnyrinala'') is a Scandinavian unit of area. The word may originate from the area of fields one could seed with a barrel of grain seeds. ...

, 8 ''skæpper land''

Volume

* ''potte'' – pot, from 1683 cubic ''fod'', about in 19th and 20th centuries * ''smørtønde'' – barrel of butter, from 1683, 136 ''potter'' * ''korntønde'' – barrel of corn (grain), from 1683 144 ''potter''

Weight

* ''pund'' – pound, from 1683 the weight of cubic ''fod'' of water, 499.75 g (1.1 lb)

Miscellaneous

* ''dusin'' – dozen, 12 * ''snes'' – score, 20 * ''skok'' – 60 * ''ol'' – 4 , 80 * ''gros'' – gross, 144

Length

Area

Volume

Weight

Miscellaneous

References

See also