[Sca-cooks] Dimensions

[margaret]

A finger (length) is 2 nails or about 4.5 inches.  A nail is 1/20 of an ell.

A finger (width) is roughly 3/4 of an inch.  A thumb (width) is roughly 1 
inch.

The Roman foot is roughly 11.7 inches.  A competing measure, the natural 
foot is 9.8 inches.  The modern foot of about 12 inches began to be used in 
England some time after the Conquest and has roughly remained the same since 
1300.  However, since the book is using fingers and hands, it is likely that 
the foot mentioned is the manual foot, a Northern European measure 
determined by two hands on a shaft, thumbs extended and touching, estimated 
at 13.1 inches.

In the German states, the foot varied.  The Viennese foot is about 12.4 
inches, the Rhine foot is about 12.36 inches and the Bavarian foot is about 
11.6 inches.

Bear

>
> I'm reading "On Divers Arts" and looking at the forge in the third book,
> chapter 3. Can anyone tell me how they're measuring here?
>
> Many of the measurements are in "fingers". Are we talking length or width? 
> I
> know the measurement, "hands" was started, for horses, as the width of the
> palm, and has been standardized to 4 inches by equestrians, but I'm not 
> sure
> about fingers.
>
> Also, does anyone know, had they standardized "feet" by then? The book
> itself is believed to be 12th century, more German than anything else.
>
> Saint Phlip,