Wey (unit)
{{Short description|Unit of weight}}
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The wey or weight (Old English: {{lang|ang|ƿæᵹe}}, waege, {{abbr|lit.|literally}} "weight"){{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictW.html |title=How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement: W |last=Rowlett |first=Russ |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811212038/http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictW.html |archive-date=11 August 2018}} was an English unit of weight and dry volume by at least 900 AD, when it began to be mentioned in surviving legal codes.
Weight
A statute of Edgar the Peaceful set a price floor on wool by threatening both the seller and purchaser who agreed to trade a wool wey for less than 120 pence{{refn|2 Edgar c. 8{{ Citation |last=Thorpe |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Thorpe | title=Ancient Laws and Institutes of England; Comprising Laws enacted under the Anglo-Saxon Kings from Æthelbirht to Cnut, With an English Translation of the Saxon; The Laws called Edward the Confessor's; The Laws of William the Conqueror, and those ascribed to Henry the First: Also, Monumenta Ecclesiastica Anglicana, From the Seventh to the Tenth Century; And the Ancient Latin Version of the Anglo-Saxon Laws. With a Compendious Glossary, &c. | publisher=Commissioners of the Public Records of the Kingdom |date=1840 |contribution=The Laws of King Edgar |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIdCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA113 |location=London |page=113}}. {{in lang|ang}} & {{in lang|la}} & {{in lang|en}}}} (i.e., ½ pound of sterling silver per wey), but the wey itself varied over time and by location. The wey was standardized as 14 stones of 12½ merchants' pounds each (175 lbs. or around 76.5 kg) by the time of the Assize of Weights and Measures {{circa|lk=no|1300}}. This wey was applied to lead, soap, and cheese, as well as wool. 2 wey made a sack, 12 a load, and 24 a last.The Assize of Weights and Measures. {{circa|lk=no|1300}}.
The wool wey was later figured as 2 hundredweight of 8 stone of 14 avoirdupois pounds each (224 lbs. or about 101.7 kg).{{Cite book|title = Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins.|last = Cardarelli| first=F. |publisher = Springer|year = 2003|isbn = 978-1-4471-1122-1|location = London|pages = 49}}
The Suffolk wey was 356 avoirdupois pounds (around 161.5 kg). It was used as a measure for butter and cheese.{{Cite book|title = Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins.|last = Cardarelli|first = F.|publisher = Springer|year = 2003|isbn = 978-1-4471-1122-1|location = London|pages = 46}}
Volume
As a measure of volume for dry commodities, it denoted roughly 40 bushels or {{convert|320|impgal|L|lk=on|abbr=off}}.{{Cite book|title = Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins.|last = Cardarelli|first = F.|publisher = Springer|year = 2003|isbn = 978-1-4471-1122-1|location = London|pages = 23}}