thumb|Set of Russian customary units of measurement based on body proportions.

Historical Russian units of measurement were standardized and used in the Russian Empire but were abandoned in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) 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 (1682–1725), 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.

A pyad (, "palm", "five"), known since the 12th century, or chyetvyert (, "quarter") is a hand span, the distance between ends of the spread thumb and index finger.

{| class="wikitable"

! colspan=3 | Unit

! rowspan=3 | Ratio

! rowspan=3 | Metric<br/>value

! rowspan=3 | English value

! rowspan=3 | Source

|-

! colspan=2 | Russian

! rowspan=2 | Translation

|-

! Cyrillic

! Transliteration

|-

|

| toch'ka

| point

|

| 0.254&nbsp;mm

| inch

|

|-

|

| liniya

| line

|

| 2.54&nbsp;mm

| inch; cf. line

|

|-

| (перст)

| dyuym (pyerst)

| inch (finger)

|

| 2.54&nbsp;cm

| 1 inch

|

|-

|

| vyershok

| tip, top

|

| 4.445&nbsp;cm

| in; cf. 19" rack unit

|

|-

|

| ladon'

| palm

|

| 7.62&nbsp;cm

| ; cf. palm

|

|-

| ,

| pyad', chyetvyert'

| quarter

|

| 17.78&nbsp;cm

| 7 in; cf. span

|

|-

|

| fut

| foot

|

| 30.48&nbsp;cm

| 1&nbsp;ft

|

|-

|

| lokot'

| elbow, ell/cubit

|

| 45.72&nbsp;cm

| ; cf. cubit/ell

|

|-

|

| shag

| stride, step

| rowspan="2" | 1

| rowspan="2" | 71.12&nbsp;cm

| cf. step

|-

|

| arshin

| yard

| ft <!--= 28 in-->

|

|-

| ,

| sazhen'

| fathom

| 3

| 2.1336 m

| 7&nbsp;ft

|

|-

|

| vyersta

| turn (of a plough)

| 1500

| 1.0668&nbsp;km

| 3,500&nbsp;ft <!--175/264 mi = 5_10/33 fur-->

|

|}

Alternative units:

  • Swung sazhen' (, , distance between tips of arms stretched sidewards) = 1.76 m;
  • Skewed, or oblique 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, (, ), used to measure land plots and distances between settlements = 2 vyerstas (comes from an older standard for vyersta).

Area

  • Desyatina (, "a tenth" or "ten"), approximately one hectare;
  • Treasury/official desyatina (, ) = 10,925.4 m<sup>2</sup> = 117,600 sq ft = 2.7 acres = 2,400 square sazhen';
  • Proprietor's (, ) = 14,567.2 m<sup>2</sup> = 156,800 sq ft = 3,200 square sazhen';
  • 3 proprietor's desyatinas = 4 official desyatinas;
  • Sokha (, "big plow"), major unit for land tax calculation.

Volume

thumb|Dry volume measures: os'mina, poluos'mina, chyetvyerik, poluchyetvyerik

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

{| class="wikitable"

! Unit

! Russian

! Translation

! Ratio

! Cubic<br />inches<br />(exact)

! Metric<br />value

! Imperial<br />value

! U.S.<br />customary

! Source

|-

| chast'

|

| part

|

|

| 109.33&nbsp;ml

| 4.380 fl oz

| 4.208 fl oz

|

|-

| kruzhka

|

| mug

|

| 80

| 1.312 L

| 2.309 pints

| 2.773 pints

|

|-

| garnyec The adjective and the adverb derive from this expression.

  • : Seven pyad across the forehead – very smart
  • : Not seven pyad across the forehead – not so smart
  • : A zolotnik is small, but expensive: when quality rather than quantity is important
  • : To walk in 7-mile steps – any kind of very fast progress, e.g., of improvement
  • : To learn how much a pound of likho costs – to experience something bad
  • : Do not give up (even) a pyad of land
  • : To eat a 'pood' of salt (with somebody) – to have a long common experience with somebody (with the implication "to know someone well")

See also

  • Petrograd Standard

References

Sources

  • Russian system of measures of length (brief description) by V. A. Belobrov
  • The role of Peter the Great in the development of Russian system of measures of length by V. A. Belobrov