Sometimes even today you can hear words from the Old Russian language. They are so deeply entered into everyday life that without them speech becomes dull and colorless. However, using such expressions, we often do not know about their true meaning.
Let's understand in this article what the word span means, what is its length, and where did this term come from.
The meaning of the word, and the types of spans
Among the Slavs this term had several meanings. The first three (“foot”, “brush” and “small measure of area”) were distributed quite narrowly - in some dialects and dialects.
The last value - a measure of length - was used very widely and has survived to this day. In its classical understanding, a span is the distance between the tips of the index and thumb, which are spread apart.
If we correlate it with other measures of length in Ancient Russia, we get the following picture. A span is the twelfth part of a fathom, a quarter of an arshin or four apex. If we talk about Western measurements, it will be seven inches.
The approximate value of this measure of length is 18 centimeters. But there are different types of spans, we will talk about this later.
Etymology
Scientists believe that this word comes from the pro-Slavic root “ped”, which subsequently migrated to many languages.
The main meanings of the words of which this root is a part are as follows.
Lithuanian and Latvian terms related to the installation of snares and traps. West Slavic languages have similar words with the meanings “five”, “one fourth of the arshin” and “stretch”.
That is, you can notice that the span is a measure of length, to measure which you need to stretch something. In fact, it turns out to be fingers. A synonym is the word "quarter".
History of occurrence
In written monuments of the history of Russia, a similar term is used for the first time in the twelfth century. However, even its approximate value was difficult to determine until records of pilgrims to the Holy Land were discovered.
In these documents the measurements of the Holy Sepulcher were recorded. Pilgrims, being in Palestine at different times from the twelfth to sixteenth century, called similar numbers. Thanks to this, it was deciphered what the span is equal to. This is how many monks went not just to bow to the shrine, but also to fix it documented to leave data for posterity!
As we will say further, there were three species in all. "Big", "small" and "somersault." The first was about twenty-three, the second was eighteen, and the third was twenty-seven or thirty-one centimeters.
Many people wonder why it is "with somersault." Very simple. This meant that at the starting point we put the end of the thumb, then put at the maximum distance the end of the index finger (it will be about 18 cm). And then, as if continuing to move by inertia, we release the thumb and put the index finger on the side where the nail is. Thus, we measure two or three more phalanxes further. It turns out a kind of somersault.
By the way, the last measure of length was determined by academician Rybakov, studying construction. In Russia, bricks were measured precisely by an inch with a somersault.
Starting from the sixteenth century, it gradually leaves urban use. Remains in the villages (mentioned in the records of the thickness of the snow layer in the fields) and in the religious sphere (the size of the images in the churches was measured).
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the word "span" officially appears in documents. The measure of length is now equal to the twelfth of the fathom. But her official life was short, and soon a similar length was called the “quarter”.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Peter the Great “cut” a window to Europe and changed everything in a Western manner. Since that period, this length is seven inches, and fathom is seven feet.
But in popular use, the span lived until the beginning of the twentieth century and was eliminated only in Soviet times.
Nevertheless, this word can be heard now. But today you are likely to hear a bewildered question: "And how many a span?"
System of measures
If you try to find a match, you can make a small tablet.
In fact, in Russia there was no decimal number system, as is customary now. Therefore, such an approach will be interesting to those who are trying to understand the ancient written historical sources.
So, we remember that during the time of Ivan the Terrible, the span is the twelfth part of the sazhen, which in turn consisted of three arshins. Fathom, by the way, was ordinary - 2 meters 13 centimeters - and oblique - 2 meters 48 centimeters.
Thus, it turns out that the top is a quarter span. Foot (foot) - about two spans, elbow - three, arshin - four, measure (half-height) - six. The verst was about six thousand spans (although who wants to measure a kilometer in quarters ?!)
In modern science, the official span is 17.78 centimeters.
An interesting fact is that a similar method of measuring distance is not very common. In the English tradition, this is “spen” (approximately 23 centimeters), the length from the end of the little finger to the thumb.
In African tribes, measure with the thumb and middle finger, and the value is called "unguru".
Span in literature and music
This measure of length is mentioned by different authors. In the twentieth century, it “surfaced” in the work of Vladimir Vysotsky, in the song “We Rotate the Earth”.
There is also a span in the work How Steel Was Tempered by Nikolai Ostrovsky and The Captain's Daughter by Alexander Pushkin.
In addition, it is mentioned by such authors as Voronel, Ladinsky, Ilichevsky, Grigoryev, Vyazemsky and many others.
Not always, however, in the works a span is a measure of length. Sometimes a synonym for a brush, foot, or small piece of land, as mentioned above.
Mention in folklore
In folklore, this word is used in diametrically opposite cases.
On the one hand, a span is something small in terms of area. "Do not give an inch of land."
On the other - a measure of growth. "7 spans in the forehead." This does not mean that someone’s head is more than a meter high. A forehead was called a teenager. It is believed that 1 meter 30 centimeters is the approximate growth of a thirteen-year-old boy in ancient Russia.
Also, these words can mean in an allegorical sense a very intelligent person. "If a large forehead, then a lot of mind in the head," thought before. Therefore, such an expression appeared.
Thus, from the article you learned not only the meaning and size of the span, but also the history of its occurrence, the ratio with other units and examples from the work.
Good luck, dear readers!