Historical Russian units of measurement

Historical Russian units of measurement were standardized and used in the Russian Empire but were abandoned in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after 1918, and officially replaced on 21 July 1925, when the Soviet Union adopted the metric system.

History

Before the reign of Peter the Great, Russia had its own traditional systems of measurement. From the 12th to 15th centuries, during the period of political fragmentation, Russian systems of measurement were diverse until the emergence of an all-Russian system of measurement.
Although Peter is sometimes believed to have replaced Russian units with English units, in reality, he did not significantly change Russian units. Instead, the Russian units were redefined relative to the English system. He also did not apply Russian units in areas where the Russians had limited experience, such as in shipyards. The system also used Cyrillic numerals until the 18th century, when Peter the Great replaced it with the Hindu–Arabic numeral system.
The metric system was used from 1899 and remained legally optional from 1900 until it was made compulsory in the Russian SFSR in 1918.

Length

The basic unit was the Russian ell, called the arshin, which is known in sources from the 16th century. The lokot was replaced around this time. The Ivansky lokot, dating to the 11th or 12th century and used in Novgorod, was about 547mm. The arshin was originally the length of a man's arm from the shoulder. It was standardized by Peter the Great in the 18th century to measure exactly twenty-eight English inches. Thus, 80 vershoks = 20 pyads = 5 arshins = 140 English inches.
A pyad, known since the 12th century, or chyetvyert is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger.
Alternative units:

Swung sazhen' = 1.76 m;
Skewed, or oblique sazhen' = 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,, used to measure land plots and distances between settlements = 2 vyerstas.
Area
Desyatina, approximately one hectare;
* Treasury/official desyatina = 10,925.4 m² = 117,600 sq ft = 2.7 acres = 2,400 square sazhen';
* Proprietor's = 14,567.2 m² = 156,800 sq ft = 3,200 square sazhen';
** 3 proprietor's desyatinas = 4 official desyatinas;
Sokha, major unit for land tax calculation.
Volume

As in many ancient systems of measurement, the Russian one distinguishes between dry and liquid measurements of capacity. Note that the chyetvyert' appears in both lists with vastly differing values.

Dry measures

Liquid measures

Unit	Russian	Translation	Ratio	Cubic inches	Metric value	Imperial	U.S. Customary	Source
shkalik	шка́лик	measure			61.5 ml	2.16 fl oz	2.08 fl oz
kosushka	косу́шка	shot			61.5 ml	2.16 fl oz	2.08 fl oz
charka	ча́рка	wine glass			123 ml	4.33 fl oz	4.16 fl oz
butylka	буты́лка	bottle			615 ml	1.08 pints	1.3 pints
butylka	буты́лка	bottle			768.7 ml	1.35 pints	1.625 pints
kruzhka	кру́жка	mug		75	1.23 L	2.16 pints	1.3 quarts
shtof	штоф	flagon		75	1.23 L	2.16 pints	1.3 quarts
chyetvyert	че́тверть	quarter			1.537 L	2.70 pints	1.624 quarts
vedro	ведро́	bucket	1	750	12.29941 L	2.71 gal	3.249 gal
bochka	бо́чка	barrel	40	30,000	491.98 L	108.22 gal	129.967 gal

Weight/mass

Two systems of weight were in use, an ordinary one in common use, and an apothecaries' system.

Ordinary system

The pood was first mentioned in documents in the 12th century. It may still be encountered in documents dealing with agricultural production, and has been revived in determining weights when casting bells in belfries following the rebirth of the Orthodox Churches in the former Soviet lands.

Apothecaries' system

The Imperial Russian apothecaries' weight was defined by setting the grain to be exactly seven-fifths of a dolya. The only unit name shared between the two was the funt, but the one in the apothecaries' system is exactly seven-eighths of the ordinary funt.

Unit	Russian	Translation	Ratio	Metric value	Avoirdupois value	Ordinary value
gran	гран	grain	1	62.210 mg	0.96004 gr	1.4 dolya
skrupul	скрупул	scruple	20	1.2442 g	19.201 gr	28 dolya
drakhma	драхма	dram	60	3.7326 g	57.602 gr	zolotnik
unciya	унция	ounce	480	29.861 g	1.0533 oz or 460.82 gr	7 zolotnik
funt	фунт	pound	5760	358.328 g	12.640 oz or 5529.8 gr	84 zolotnik

Idiomatic expressions

The obsolete units of measurement survived in Russian culture in a number of idiomatic expressions and proverbs, for example:

italic=unset: can be heard a verst away – about something very loud
italic=unset: 7 versts is not a detour for a mad dog – about excessive energy or hassle, usually ironical
italic=unset: 7 versts is not too far for a darling friend
italic=unset: Kolomna verst – about a very tall and slim person
italic=unset: A slanted sazhen in the shoulders – about a strong, wide-shouldered person
italic=unset: To gauge everybody by the same yardstick
italic=unset: To swallow an arshin – about standing very straight and still
italic=unset: Two vershok above the pot – a very young child
italic=unset: a hundred poods – a very large amount. In modern colloquial Russian it is used in a generic meanings of "very much" and "very", as well as "most surely". The adjective stopudovy and the adverb stopudovo derive from this expression.
italic=unset: Seven pyad across the forehead – very smart
italic=unset: Not seven pyad across the forehead – not so smart
italic=unset: A zolotnik is small, but expensive: when quality rather than quantity is important
italic=unset: To walk in 7-mile steps – any kind of very fast progress, e.g., of improvement
italic=unset: To learn how much a pound of likho costs – to experience something bad
italic=unset: Do not give up a pyad of land
italic=unset: To eat a 'pood' of salt – to have a long common experience with somebody