Danish units of measurement


The units of measurement in use in Denmark are currently part of the metric system. A variety of other historical weights and measures have been employed throughout the nation's history.

History

The Danes started with a system of units based on a Greek pous of which they picked up through trade in the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. Some early standards of measure can be recovered from measured drawings made of the Hjortspring boat, which though dating to the early Iron Age exemplifies plank-built vessels of the late Bronze Age and the Nydam ship. Thwarts are typically spaced about 3 fod apart.
King Christian V of Denmark introduced an office to oversee weights and measures, a justervæsen. This was first led by the royal mathematician Ole Rømer, who established a national system of weights and measures on May 1, 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
  • the Danish pound as of the weight of a cubic Rhineland foot of water
  • the Danish ell as 2 Rhineland feet
Rømer also suggested a pendulum definition for the foot, and invented an early temperature scale.
The metric system was introduced in 1907.

Length

mil – Danish mile. Towards the end of the 17th century, Ole Rømer, Gerardus Mercator and other contemporaries of the great Dutch cartographer Thisus began following Claudius Ptolemy 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 Sjællandsk miil of 17,600 alen or 11.13 km.palme – palm, for circumference, 8.86 cm alen – ell, 2 fodfod – foot, about 313.85 mm in most recent usage. Defined as a Rheinfuss 314.07 mm from 1683, before that 314.1 mm with variations.rut – 5026 mm, 16 fod.kvarter – quarter, alentomme – thumb, fodlinie – line, tommeskrupel – scruple, ''linie''

Area

tønde land – Barrel of land, 8 ''skæpper land''

Volume

pægl - peg a quarter pot, 242 mLpotte - pot, from 1683 cubic fod, about in 19th and 20th centuriessmørtønde - barrel of butter, from 1683, 136 potterkorntønde - barrel of corn, from 1683 144 ''potter''

Weight

pund – pound, from 1683 the weight of cubic fod of water, 499.75 g

Miscellaneous

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