Topic summary
Sazhen
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Historical Russian units of measurement.
Length
- Swung sazhen' (маховая сажень, makhovaya sazhen', distance between tips of arms stretched sidewards) = 1.76 m;
- Skewed, or oblique sazhen' (косая сажень, kosaya sazhen', distance between tip of a raised arm and a tip of an opposite leg slightly put away) = 2.48 m / 2.4892 m to be exact, since 1 kosaya sazhen' is equal to 3.5 arshins which is equal to 98 inches;
- Double vyersta or border vyersta, (межевая верста, mezhevaya vyersta), used to measure land plots and distances between settlements = 2 vyerstas (comes from an older standard for vyersta).