The
quintal or
centner, from Latin
centenarius ("hundredlike"), is a historical unit of
massIn physics, mass commonly refers to any of three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent: inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass...
in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units of either
poundThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
s or
kilogramThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
s. If based on the pound, it is equivalent to the Imperial
hundredweightCentum weight or hundredweight is a unit of mass with two definitions: the Imperial hundredweight, equal to 51 kilograms, and the U.S...
.
Both terms share their roots in the
Classical LatinClassical Latin in simplest terms is the sociolinguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...
centenarius, meaning
hundredlike, but the
quintal has a convoluted etymology: It became
Late LatinLate Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD. extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...
centenarium pondus, then in succession,
Late GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
,
κεντεναριον (kentenarion),
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
,
qintar.
The
quintal or
centner, from Latin
centenarius ("hundredlike"), is a historical unit of
massIn physics, mass commonly refers to any of three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent: inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass...
in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units of either
poundThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
s or
kilogramThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
s. If based on the pound, it is equivalent to the Imperial
hundredweightCentum weight or hundredweight is a unit of mass with two definitions: the Imperial hundredweight, equal to 51 kilograms, and the U.S...
.
Etymology
Both terms share their roots in the
Classical LatinClassical Latin in simplest terms is the sociolinguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...
centenarius, meaning
hundredlike, but the
quintal has a convoluted etymology: It became
Late LatinLate Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD. extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...
centenarium pondus, then in succession,
Late GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
,
κεντεναριον (kentenarion),
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
,
qintar. The
qintar was reimported to Europe by traders during the Middle Ages, where it became
Mediæval LatinMedieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
quintale, and finally
Old FrenchOld French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 900 to 1300...
quintal before passing into the
English languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
from French.
The word
centner, on the other hand, is simply a
GermanicizedThe Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
form of its original Latin name
centenarius.
Languages drawing its cognate name for the weight from Arabic
qintar include French
quintal, Italian
quintale, Portuguese
quintal, Ukranian
квінтал (kvintal), Esperanto
kvintalo. Languages taking their cognates from Germanicized
centner include German
ZentnerThe zentner is an old name for a unit of mass used predominantly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, although it is also sometimes used in the United Kingdom; for example, as a measure of the weight of certain crops including hops for beer production...
, Swedish
centner, Polish
cetnar, Russian
центнер (zentner), Estonian
tsentner, and Spanish
centena.
Many European languages have come to translate both the Imperial and US
hundredweightCentum weight or hundredweight is a unit of mass with two definitions: the Imperial hundredweight, equal to 51 kilograms, and the U.S...
as their cognate form of
quintal or
centner.
Pound-based vs. kilogram-based
The concept has resulted in two different series of masses: Those based on the local pound (which after
metricationMetrication refers to the introduction and use of the SI metric system, the international standard for physical measurements. This has involved a long process of independent and systematic conversions of countries from various local systems of weights and measures. Metrication began in France in...
was considered equivalent to half a kilogram), and those uprated to being based on the full kilogram.
In
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, the quintal as equivalent to 100 kg was imported via Arabic influence and is a standard measurement of mass for agricultural products.
In
FranceIn France, before the decimalised metric system of 1799, a well-defined old system existed, however with some local variants. For instance, the lieue could vary from 3.268 km in Beauce to 5.849 km in Provence...
it used to be defined as 100
livres (pounds), about 48.95 kg, and has later been redefined as 100 kg (
mesures usuellesMesures usuelles were a system of measurement introduced to act as compromise between the metric system and traditional measurements....
), thus called
metric quintal with symbol
qq.
In
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, the
centena is still defined as 100
libras, or about 46 kg, but the
metric quintal is also defined as 100 kg ; in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
a quintal is 128
libras or about 58.75 kg.
The German
Zentner is pound-based, and thus since metrification is defined as 50kg, whereas the Austrian and Swiss
Zentner since metrification has been re-defined as 100kg.
Common agricultural units used in the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
were the 100-kilogram centner (центнер) and the term "centner per
hectareA hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for measuring land area....
". These are still used by countries released from the former Soviet Union.
In Anglo-American countries
In
EnglishEnglish units refers to the historical units of measurement in medieval England, which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxon and Roman systems of units. They were redefined in England in 1824 by a Weights and Measures Act, which retained many but not all of the unit names with slightly...
both terms
quintal and
centner were once alternate names for the
hundredweightCentum weight or hundredweight is a unit of mass with two definitions: the Imperial hundredweight, equal to 51 kilograms, and the U.S...
and thus defined either as 100
lbThe avoirdupois system is a system of weights based on a pound of sixteen ounces. It is the everyday system of weight used in the United States, and is still widely used to varying degrees by many people in Canada, the United Kingdom, and some other former British colonies despite the official...
(exactly 45.359237 kg) or as 112 lb (about 50.84 kg). Also, in the
Dominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are occupied by two countries...
it is about 125 lb. The German
Zentner was introduced to the English language via
Hanseatic tradeThe Hanseatic League was an alliance of trading cities and their guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period...
as a measure of the weight of certain
cropsAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
including
hopsHops are the female flower clusters, commonly called cones or strobiles, of the hop plant . The hop is part of the family Cannabaceae, which also includes the genus Cannabis . They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, though hops are also used for various purposes in other...
for
beerBeer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely...
production.
The
quintal was defined in the United States in 1866 as 100 kilograms. However, this is not in use and though it still appears in the statute, it has been declared obsolete by NIST.