The batman () was a unit of mass used in the Ottoman Empire and among Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire. It has also been recorded as a unit of area in Uyghur-speaking regions of Central Asia. The name is Turkic (; ), but was also sometimes used for the equivalent unit in Persia ( ). The equivalent unit in British India was anglicized as the maund (Bengali: and Hindustani: ). The value of the batman (or maund) varied considerably from place to place.
Origins
The man as a unit of weight is thought to be of at least Chaldean origin, The Hebrew () and the Ancient Greek () are thought to be cognate. It was originally equal to one-ninth of the weight of an artaba of water, or approximately four kilograms in modern units. İnalcık believes the ancient Persian patimāna may have come from the late Assyrian word for 'mana of the king'. The man or batman spread throughout Arabia and Persia: it was adopted by the Ottoman Empire, and brought to India by the Mughal Empire. The first attestation which gives a comparison to European weights was by Pegolotti in his Pratica della mercatura, written about 1340. He reported the batman as the main unit of mass in Ayasluğ ("Altoluogo di Turchia" to Pegolotti; modern Selçuk, in western Turkey), equivalent to 32 Genoese pounds (). 1821 in Baghdad and in 1850 in Constantinople.
! rowspan=2 | Local
! colspan=3 | Imperial
! rowspan=2 | Metric<br/>kg
|-
! lb
! oz
! dr
|-
| Bayt al-Faqih
| frazil
| align=right | 2
| align=right | 0
| align=right | 10
| 0.9249
|-
| Jeddah
| 30 uqiyyas
| align=right | 2
| align=right | 3
| align=right |
| 1.0092
|-
| Mocha
| 40 uqiyyas
| align=right | 3
| align=right | 5
| align=right | 0
| 1.5025
|-
| colspan=6 | Source: Kelly's Oriental Metrology (1832)
Turkey
The Turkish system of weights and measures was metricated in 1931. The oka was redefined as exactly one kilogram, while the batman became ten okas (10 kg). In Khiva in 1740, there were said to be two batmans (as in Persia): the "great batman" of 18 Russian pounds (, funt; approx. 7.4 kg) and the "lesser batman" of 9¼ Russian pounds (approx. 3.8 kg). The man was divided into mithqals (the number depending on the locality): larger subdivisions included the abbassi and the ratl.
Notes
References
External links
- Sizes.com