Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-02-01
inch AND OUNCE.
The Derivation of These Two stahuaro'
of Measurement.

The Derivation Of These Two STANDARDS
of Measurement.
As the Jews had mystical rever-
ence for seven, and the ancient w elsh
and Celts for three, and the Greeks
perfect philosophy constructed out Oh
the harmonies of all sorts OF numbers
SO the Romans fell back upon scale
of-or. more properly, upon scale
with a base of-six. Accordingly, as
they divided the pound into twelve
ounces, SO they also divided the ioot,
which was the standard of llneal
measure, into twelve sections, ana
they called these sections unci9, too.
But how did they get the inch orig
inallyp it may be asked. Rather, how
did they get the poundP for that ana
not the inch, is the unit. There seems
to be no precise information on this
point. They would divide any unit
into twelfths, and prevailing notion
was at one time the linear uncia was
really the original, and was then
transferred as name to weight
This, though plausible, is hardly the
case. Sometimes. especially in old
books, written when philology was not
what it Is now. it was the fashion to
derive uncim from the same word in
the Greek, because, after the revival
of letters in Europe, the admiration OF
the Greek became so great that when
ever similar words were found in Ii
and some other language 1t was al
WAYS said that the other language Dor
rowed them from the Greek. This Ii
very far from being always SO, and in
the present instance the very reverse
appears to have occurred. The ounce
Is literally the twelfth. and thus We
see at once the sense Of speaking OF al
ounce OF land and an inch OF milk, JUS
rs OF an inch of mans will or al
inch OF interest for money on loan
1t was always the twelfth of unit
twelfth OF an hour; twelfth of
jugerum, that half-acre which the TIVE
oxen plowed in II day; twelfth OF
sextarius, or equivalent to our pint
twelfth OF the entire hereditiS
twelfth OF the principal lent on tim
when it was money at usury-that Is
over eight per cent.
1t is, accordingly, as much of mis-
! take to say that the primary meanln
of tho word is linear, which is to sa
that it comes straight from the Gree
into the Latin and thence on to us. III
riddle is plain enough when we get t
the true origin of che word-a twelfth
, Once, indeed, it used to be said tht
, tho true origin was that the wor
: meant q thumb breadth, because il
8 equivalent, pollex, in linear measure
, was often used in its place. But tn
. Is not the case. Some OF the old Latir
, themselves, moreover, thought
n meant literally the unit; but even tn
: will not hold beside the proper signi1
cation of the twelfth.
The pound weight really never d
vided by inches or ounces, it was d
r vided by twelfths. by halves, by third
by fourths and by sixths. And her
8 again, we see what convenient ba
6 system of twelfths is for divisi'
IT compared with a system of tenth
o which could only be divided evenly
l. two ways-by two and five. For sew
= ounces they use the literal seve
IS twelfths; for eight ounces they sa
d two parts-that is, two thirds; for min
10 wanting fourth, which with us rea
Is like u roundabout way of expressil
t. three-quarters; for ten, wanting
I'd sixth; for eleven, wanting a twelfth.
70 Rosfon HerOIJ