The Ottoman system of measurement was based on the ell.<\/p>\n
And that’s the last simple concept you’re going to get to deal with. The Ottoman Turks never liked to make things easy when they could make them complicated, so they had not one, but three ells–the architect’s ell; the common ell, which was shorter than the architect’s ell; and the cloth ell, which was twice the common ell. They had three words for “ell”–\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n<\/em>, zira’<\/em>, and\u00a0end\u00e2ze<\/em>–which could have mapped neatly to the three types of ell but which are, in fact, identical to each other. Or not. Or maybe? No, not right now. Okay–now<\/em>. Now they’re identical. No, wait, you missed your window, now they’re all different.<\/p>\n To top it off, the length of the ell stretched over the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, from\u00a059.3 cm in 1503 to 67 cm in 1638. To know how long an ell is, you have to know what year you’re in.<\/p>\n I’ll make it as simple as I can from here on out.<\/p>\n Forget about the architect’s ell. It was used only by builders, and is useful if you’re trying to calculate the length of a common ell for a given period, but inapplicable otherwise.<\/p>\n A common ell<\/strong> is\u00a0is divided into 8 rub’\/rubu<\/strong>\u00a0or 16 girih<\/strong>.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n A cloth ell<\/strong> is exactly twice as wide as a common ell, and\u00a0is divided into 16\u00a0rub’\/rubu\u00a0or 32\u00a0girih. (That is, rub’\/rubu and girih were the same length regardless of the type of ell.)<\/p>\n People used common ells and cloth ells side by side.<\/strong> For example, in the 1624 market regulations<\/a>, a type of overcoat called a\u00a0k\u00fcrdiyye was required to be one cloth ell and one girih long, with sleeves one common ell long.<\/p>\n When people used both common and cloth ells, they gave the different ells different names.<\/strong> In the\u00a0k\u00fcrdiyye example above, a cloth ell was called an\u00a0end\u00e2ze, and a common ell was called an\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The names people used vary by source.<\/strong>\u00a0The 1624 market regulations call\u00a0a common ell an\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n and a cloth ell an\u00a0end\u00e2ze. Late 15th century regulations call a common ell a zira’ and a cloth ell either\u00a0an\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n or\u00a0an\u00a0end\u00e2ze.\u00a0The 1600 market regulations call a common ell a zira’ and don’t refer to cloth ells at all. You have to evaluate each source independently to determine which word refers to which type of ell.<\/p>\n The 16th-century ell was much shorter than the modern ell.<\/strong> Most scholars are unaware of this, and use the longer measurements standardized in the late 17th century.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alpay \u00d6zdural has made a heroic effort to determine the true length of 16th- and 17th-century Ottoman measures, as reported in his article “Sinan’s Ar\u015fin: A Survey of Ottoman Architectural Metrology<\/a>.” Using an extraordinary breadth of sources, these are the lengths he extrapolates, by date, for the common ell:<\/p>\n 1503:<\/strong> 59.3 cm<\/p>\n First quarter of the 16th century:<\/strong> 60.1 cm, on average<\/p>\n Last quarter of the 16th century:<\/strong> 61.2 cm, on average<\/p>\n 1614:\u00a0common ar\u015fin or zira’, ****, which was 16 girih; bez\u00a0ar\u015fin, double that, at 32 girih<\/p>\n 1638:<\/strong> 67 cm<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [section in progress]<\/em><\/p>\n The important detail isn’t that the Ottomans needed to get a grip on their units of measurement (although they did), it’s that the 16th-century\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n or zira’ was much shorter than what we now know as the standard\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n. Most sources say the\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n was 65.25 or 68 cm, four to eight centimeters longer than the actual 16th-century\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n.<\/p>\n The bez\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n<\/strong>, or “cloth ell,” was twice the width of the standard\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n. Using the measurements above, that gives us an average of 120.2 cm\/47.3 in. during the first\u00a0quarter of the 16th century and 122.4 cm\/48.2 in. during the last quarter of the 16th century. The\u00a0bez\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n was divided into\u00a016\u00a0rub’ or 32\u00a0girih.<\/p>\n Sources often refer to the\u00a0bez\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n as merely “ar\u015f\u0131n,” leaving you to guess when they mean which type of\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n.<\/p>\n An\u00a0end\u00e2ze<\/strong> is an ell, which is divided into eight rub’\/urub<\/strong>\u00a0or 16 girih\/qirat’\/qirak<\/strong>. According to Ingilzce-Osmanlica<\/a>, this type of ell was 26 inches. According to Wikipedia<\/a>, an endaze was 65 cm (25.59 in.). In the estate records, fabrics measured in endaze tend to cost more than fabrics measured in\u00a0ar\u015f\u0131n, even when the same type of fabric is being measured.<\/p>\n A top<\/strong> is a complete loom-length. The estates mention two ten-ell tops of bez (generic cotton cloth) and one eight-ell top of bez, which gives a general idea of how long a top could be. Other sources specify tops as long as 14 ells.\u00a0Another source<\/a> says a top is a bale.<\/p>\n A\u00a0donluk<\/strong> is a quantity of fabric to be made into a garment–literally don<\/em>, “garment” + -luk\/-l\u0131k\/-lik<\/em>, “-ness.” The same construction is used to make more specific terms. For example, a kaftanl\u0131k is enough fabric to make a kaftan, and a g\u00f6mleklik is enough fabric to make a g\u00f6mlek.<\/p>\n Fabric was typically sold in a piece long enough to make one garment, so figuring out the length of\u00a0a donluk for each type of garment would go a great way toward reconstructing some of the more obscure articles. Currently I have two data points: One, the standard length of a donluk for a kaftan was 11 ells. Two, Rabia Hatun bt. Mehmed owned a “K\u0131rm\u0131z\u0131 donluk \u00e7uka zir\u00e2\u2018 4 rob? 6,” a garment-length of red woolen broadcloth that was 4 3\/4 ells long and cost the princely sum of 1,330 ak\u00e7e. For which garment? Unclear. I’m working to get my hands on the 1600 and 1640 Istanbul narh defteri, the official price lists that gave the accepted dimensions of both fabric lengths and finished garments.<\/p>\n A\u00a0k\u0131t\u2018a<\/strong> is a piece of fabric. Certain fabrics, like kirpas (canvas), were sold by the\u00a0k\u0131t\u2018a, so presumably a\u00a0k\u0131t\u2018a sometimes had a set length.<\/p>\n Mikd\u00e2r<\/strong> is “quantity.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n http:\/\/english.isam.org.tr\/documents\/_dosyalar\/_pdfler\/osmanli_arastirmalari_dergisi\/osmanl\u0131_sy1\/1980_c1_FAROQHIS.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ottoman system of measurement was based on the ell. And that’s the last simple concept you’re going to get to deal with. The Ottoman Turks never liked to make things easy when they could make them complicated, so they had not one, but three ells–the architect’s ell; the common\u2026<\/p>\nDitch This Stuff<\/h4>\n
Here Are the Basics<\/h4>\n
So How Long Was an Ell?<\/h4>\n
Other Useful Measures<\/h4>\n