Avoirdupois#short quarter

{{nowrap|The word avoirdupois}} is from Anglo-Norman French {{lang|xno|aveir de peis}} (later {{lang|fro|avoir du pois}}), literally "goods of weight" (Old French {{lang|fro|aveir}}, as verb meaning "to have" and as noun meaning "property, goods", comes from the Latin {{lang|la|habere}}, "to have, to hold, to possess something"; {{lang|fro|de}} = "from"/"of", cf. Latin; {{lang|fro|peis}} = "weight", from Latin {{lang|la|pēnsum}}.{{sfn|Wedgwood|1882|p=14}}) This term originally referred to a class of merchandise: {{lang|xno|aveir de peis}}, "goods of weight", things that were sold in bulk and were weighed on large steelyards or balances.

Only later did the term become identified with a particular system of units used to weigh such merchandise. Inconsistent orthography throughout history has left many variants of the term, such as {{lang|xno|haberty-poie}} and {{lang|xno|haber de peyse}}. (The Norman {{lang|xno|peis}} became the Parisian {{lang|frm|pois}}. In the 17th century {{lang|xno|de}} was replaced with {{lang|fr|du}}.){{cite OED|id=13805|avoirdupois|access-date=March 27, 2012}}

The current spelling of the last word is {{lang|fr|poids}} in the current standard French orthography,{{cite dictionary| title=Système avoirdupoids: définition et synonyme de système avoirdupoids en français | publisher=TV5Monde|dictionary=Découvrir le français - Dictionnaire|url=https://langue-francaise.tv5monde.com/decouvrir/dictionnaire/s/systeme%20avoirdupoids | language=fr|access-date=13 December 2024}}{{Cite book|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1189716/f402.image.r=avoir%20de%20pois|title = Ordonnances des rois de France de la troisième race |volume=8: Charles VI, 1395–1403 |editor-last=Secousse |editor-first=Denis-François|year = 1750}} but the spelling avoirdupois remained as is in the anglosphere.

File:Europe mediterranean 1190.jpg and the Low Countries during the end of the High Middle Ages, as population growth and the Renaissance gave rise to an increasingly numerous town population and a newly established middle class.]]

The rise in use of the measurement system corresponds to the regrowth of trade during the High Middle Ages after the early crusades, when Europe experienced a growth in towns, turned from the chaos of warlordism to long-distance trade, and began annual fairs, tournaments and commerce, by land and sea. There are two major hypotheses regarding the origins of the avoirdupois system. The older hypothesis is that it originated in France.{{sfn|Marsh|Marsh|1912|p=79}} A newer hypothesis is that it is based on the weight system of Florence.{{cite book|author=United States. National Bureau of Standards|title=weights and measures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ycgOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA22|access-date=1 January 2012|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=22|id=GGKEY:4KXNZ63BNUF}}

The avoirdupois weight system is thought to have come into use in England around 1300.{{fact|date= June 2022}} It was originally used for weighing wool. In the early 14th century several other specialized weight systems were used, including the weight system of the Hanseatic League with a Pound (mass)#London pound and an 8-ounce mark.{{fact| date= June 2022}} However, the main weight system, used for coinage and for everyday use, was based on the 12-ounce tower pound of {{val|5400}} grains.{{fact| date=June 2022}} From the 14th century until the late 16th century, the system's basis and the prototype for today's international pound, the avoirdupois pound, was also known as the wool pound or the avoirdupois wool pound.

The earliest known version of the avoirdupois weight system had the following units: a pound of {{val|6992}} grains, a stone of 14 pounds, a woolsack of 26 stone, an ounce of {{frac|16}} pound, and finally, the ounce was divided into 16 "parts".{{sfn|Skinner|1952|p=186}}

The earliest known occurrence of the word "avoirdupois" (or some variant thereof) in England is from a document entitled Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris ("Treatise on Weights and Measures"). This document is listed in early statute books under the heading 31 Edward I dated 2 February 1303. More recent statute books list it among statutes of uncertain date. Scholars nowadays believe that it was probably written between 1266 and 1303.{{sfn|Erasmus|2003|p=607}} Initially a royal memorandum, it eventually took on the force of law and was recognized as a statute by King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.

In the Tractatus, the word "avoirdupois" refers not to a weight system, but to a class of goods, specifically heavy goods sold by weight, as opposed to goods sold by volume, count, or some other method. Since it is written in Anglo-Norman French, this document is not the first occurrence of the word in the English language.{{sfn|Ruffhead|1763|pp=148-149}}[http://www.sizes.com/library/British_law/ponderibus.htm Tractatus de Penderibus et Mensuris]

The Tractatus and other "ancient units" were repealed by the Weights and Measures Act 1824 (5 Geo. 4. c. 74). The division and mass of the Avoirdupois units were not significantly changed, but they became tied to actual physical objects and (as a backup) definitions based on physical constants. These definitions proved insufficient for recreating the physical prototypes after the 1834 Houses of Parliament fire, and a new Weights and Measures Act 1855 was passed which permitted the recreation of the prototypes from recognized secondary standards. The Act of 1855 also made the avoirdupois pound the primary unit of mass.{{cite book|author=Great Britain|title=A collection of public general statutes passed in the 18th and 19th years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1YMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA273|year=1855|pages=273–75}}

These are the units in their original Anglo-Norman French forms:{{sfn|Ruffhead|1763|p=264}}

Three major developments occurred during the reign of Edward III (r. 1327–1377). First, a statute cited as 14 Edw 3 Stat. 1 c. 12 (1340) "Bushels and Weights shall be made and sent into every County."{{sfn|Ruffhead|1763|p=227}}

{{quote|style=padding-left:0.8em|

{{verse translation|style=margin-left:-1.5|lang=xno|& acorde qe deſore en auant vn meſure & vn pois ſoit parmy toute Engleterre & qe le Treſorer face faire certaines eſtandardz de buſſel de galon de poys darreiſne & les face mander en cheſcune countee par la ou tielx eſtandardz ne ſont pas auant ces hures mandez

|(4) it is assented and accorded, That from henceforth one Measure and one Weight shall be throughout England; (5) and that the Treasurer cause to be made certain Standards of Bushels, Gallons, of Weights of Auncel, and send the same into every County where such Standards be not sent before this Time;}}}}

The second major development is the statute 25 Edw 3 Stat. 5 c. 9 (1350) "The Auncel Weight shall be put out, and Weighing shall be by equal Balance."{{sfn|Ruffhead|1763|p=264}}

{{quote|style=padding-left:0.8em|

{{verse translation|lang=xno|qe le ſak de leine ne poiſe qe vint & ſys peres & cheſcun pere poiſe quatorze livres

| so that the Sack of Wooll weigh no more but xxvi. Stones, and every Stone to weigh xiv. l.}}}}

The third development is a set of 14th-century bronze weights at the Westgate Museum in Winchester, England. The weights are in denominations of 7 pounds (corresponding to a unit known as the clip or wool-clip), 14 pounds (stone), 56 pounds (4 stone) and 91 pounds ({{frac|4}} sack or woolsack).{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120426091329/http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&mwsquery=%7Btotopic%7D=%7Bweights%20and%20measures%7D&id=200 "A bronze Edward III standard weight of 14lb (1327–1377)"]}}. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120426091437/http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&mwsquery=%7Btotopic%7D=%7Bweights%20and%20measures%7D&id=197 "A bronze Edward III standard weight of 91lb ({{frac{{!}}4}} sack) (1327-1377)"]}}. The 91-pound weight is thought to have been commissioned by Edward III in conjunction with the statute of 1350, while the other weights are thought to have been commissioned in conjunction with the statutes of 1340. The 56-pound weight was used as a reference standard as late as 1588.{{sfn|Skinner|1952|p=186}}{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150518094202/http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&mwsquery=%7Btotopic%7D=%7Bweights%20and%20measures%7D&id=198 "A bronze Edward III standard weight of 56lb (1327-1377)"]}}.

A statute of Henry VIII (24 Hen 8 c. 3) made avoirdupois weights mandatory.

In 1588 Queen Elizabeth increased the weight of the avoirdupois pound to {{val|7000}} grains and added the troy grain to the avoirdupois weight system. Prior to 1588, the "part" ({{frac|16}} ounce) was the smallest unit in the avoirdupois weight system. In the 18th century, the "part" was renamed "drachm".

In the United Kingdom, 14 avoirdupois pounds equal one stone. The quarter, hundredweight, and ton equal respectively, 28 lb, 112 lb, and 2,240 lb in order for masses to be easily converted between them and stone. The following are the units in the British or imperial version of the avoirdupois system:

Note: The plural form of the unit stone is either stone or stones, but stone is most frequently used.

{{Main|United States customary units}}

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2025}}

The thirteen British colonies in North America used the avoirdupois system, but continued to use the British system as it was, without the evolution that was occurring in Britain in the use of the stone unit. In 1824 there was landmark new weights and measures legislation in the United Kingdom (Weights and Measures Act 1824) that the United States did not adopt. The International yard and pound agreement brought the systems closer; for residual differences, see {{section link|Comparison of the imperial and US customary measurement systems|Weight and mass}}.

In the United States, quarters, hundredweights, and tons remain defined as 25, 100, and {{val|2000|u=lb}} respectively. The quarter is now virtually unused, as is the hundredweight outside of agriculture and commodities. If disambiguation is required, then they are referred to as the smaller "short" units in the United States, as opposed to the larger British "long" units. Grains are used worldwide for measuring gunpowder and smokeless powder charges. Historically, the dram ({{frac|27|11|32}} grains; not to be mixed up with the apothecaries' dram of 60 grains) has also been used worldwide for measuring gunpowder charges, particularly for shotguns and large black-powder rifles.

{{main|Pound-mass|Pound-force|Poundal}}

• Apothecaries' system
• Units of measurement in France
• Imperial units
• Troy weight
• United States customary units
• Weighing scales

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book|title=Collins English Dictionary |edition= Complete and Unabridged, 12th |date=2014|contribution=avoirdupois|access-date=February 9, 2018 |contribution-url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/avoirdupois}}

{{Cite book|url=http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/upload/h4402_appenc.pdf |publisher=United States National Bureau of Standards |chapter=Appendix C |title=NIST Handbook 44, Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices, General Tables of Units of Measurement |page=C–12 |url-status = dead |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20061126120208/http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/upload/h4402_appenc.pdf |archive-date=2006-11-26 }}

{{cite web | url = http://sizes.com/units/pound_avoirdupois.htm | title = pound avoirdupois | access-date = 13 September 2016 | date= 17 April 2012 | website = sizes.com}}

{{cite book|title=Research Highlights of the National Bureau of Standards|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aWN-VRV1AoC&pg=PA13|year=1959|publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards|page=13}}

{{cite book|title=Chambers's encyclopaedia: a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VsxPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA583|year=1868|publisher=W. and R. Chambers|page=583}}

}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|first=Desiderius |last=Erasmus|translator=Alexander Dalzell|editor=Charles Garfield Nauert|title=The Correspondence of Erasmus Letters 1658 to 1801: January 1526-March 1527|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aXk4nHARNuEC&pg=PA607|year=2003|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-4831-8}}
• {{cite book|first1=Horace Wilmer |last1=Marsh|first2=Annie Griswold Fordyce|last2= Marsh|title=Constructive text-book of practical mathematics|url=https://archive.org/details/constructivetex02marsgoog/page/n91|year=1912|publisher=J. Wiley }}
• {{cite book|last=Ruffhead|first=Owen |title=The Statutes at Large |url=https://archive.org/details/statutesatlargef01grea/page/226/mode/2up|volume=1|year=1763|publisher=Printed by Mark Baskett|location=London }}
• {{Cite journal| last=Skinner | first=F.G. | journal=Bulletin of the British Society for the History of Science | title=The English Yard and Pound Weight | year=1952 | doi=10.1017/S0950563600000646 | volume=1 | pages=186| issue=7 }}
• {{cite book|first=Hensleigh |last=Wedgwood|author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood|title=Contested etymologies in the dictionary of the Rev. W. W. Skeat|url=https://archive.org/details/hippolytodesene00triggoog/page/n9|year=1882|publisher=Trübner & Co.}}

{{refend}}

{{Wiktionary|avoirdupois}}

• {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Avoirdupois|volume=3|page=66}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120426091329/http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&mwsquery=%7Btotopic%7D%3D%7Bweights%20and%20measures%7D&id=200 A bronze Edward III standard weight of 14lb (1327-1377)]}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120426091437/http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/index.asp?page=item&mwsquery=%7Btotopic%7D%3D%7Bweights%20and%20measures%7D&id=197 A bronze Edward III standard weight of 91lb (1/4 sack) (1327-1377)]}}

{{systems of measurement}}

{{Imperial units}}

{{United States Customary Units}}

Category:Units of mass

Category:Imperial units

Category:Customary units of measurement in the United States

Category:Customary units of measurement