Lan ( Polish: ''łan'' ;

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Lahn'';

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''laneus'') is an old unit of

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

measurement used in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Since the 13th century, its value has varied from one location to another. A ''greater łan'' (also

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n, King's, Old Polish) consisted of 43.2

morg Morg is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as a herald of Galactus. He was created by Ron Lim and Ron Marz and first appeared in ''Silver Surfer'' (vol. 3) #69 ...

s = 23 to 28

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. A ''lesser łan'' (

Chełmno Chełmno (; older ; , formerly also ) is a town in northern Poland near the Vistula river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the Chełmno County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Due to its regional importance ...

łan) was 30 morg ≈ 17,955 hectare. The term eventually derives from German ''Lehen'', "

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

" (

feudal land tenure Under the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold if they were hereditable or perpetual or non-fr ...

).Aleksander Brückner: Słownik Etymologiczny Języka Polskiego. Kraków: Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, 1927, p. 306. The term ''łan'' was also used to indicate an average size of a peasant's tenured farm. Łan was further subdivided into ''zagony'' ("belts") and further into ''skiby'' ("slices"). In

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times the size of a ''łan'' was anywhere between 3 and 50 hectares, but from the 13th century to 1857 in ''Great

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

(with Podkarpacie)'', the Franconian ''Łan'' was consistently used.

References

Units of area History of agriculture in Poland Science and technology in Poland {{Measurement-stub