The width of your palm is about 4 inches 10 centimeters. The exact length varied according to whose arm was being used and could be from 18 to 22 inches. Using your body to estimate length your hand. The width of your four fingers where they meet. English possesses several measurement words that derive from body parts. It probably goes without saying that the unit foot was based on the length of a mans foot.
Here are a few more. Your forearm from elbow to fingertip. The quantity and the weight of the substance can be roughly identified. The distance between your nose. An average foot is about 12 inches long. The handful measurement of objects using body parts.
From nose to finger tip. Stretch out the fingers of your hand. This is the distance from a mans elbow to the tip of his middle finger which would be about 18 inches for the. Your forearm is about 15 feet 46 centimeters. Eight body based units of measurement cubit. A handful is a rough measurement of the quantity of dry substances that can fit into a cupped hand.
Cubit from latin cubitum the elbow a cubit was a measurement based on the forearm from elbow to fingertip. It probably goes without saying that the unit foot was based on the length of a mans foot. Quinaria the cross sectional area of a pipe created from a flat sheet of lead 5 digits wide stremma the amount of land a person can plow in a day. Stretch out your hand so that the tip of your thumb is as far away as possible from the tip of your pinky.