Shaftment
Encyclopedia
The shaftment is a unit of length, 6 - 6½ inch
es or 2 palm
s, i.e. 15.24 cm
. A shaftment is the width of the fist and outstretched thumb. The lengths of poles, staves, etc. can be easily measured by grasping the bottom of the staff with thumb extended and repeating such hand over hand grips along the length of the staff.
After the modern foot came into use in the twelfth century, the shaftment was reinterpreted as exactly 1/2 foot or 6 inches (15.24 cm).
It is derived from Old English sceaft, in turn from Germanic skaftaz (shaft) and OE mund, from the Germanic mund, in turn from Indo-European root man (hand.)
Two shaftments make a pes manualis, literally Latin for "a foot fitted to the hand."
This unit has mostly fallen out of use, as have others based on the human arm: digit
(1/8 shaftment), finger
(7/48 shaftment), palm
(1/2 shaftment) hand
(2/3 shaftment), span (1.5 shaftments), cubit
(3 shaftments) and ell (7.5 shaftments).
Inch
An inch is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customary units. There are 36 inches in a yard and 12 inches in a foot...
es or 2 palm
Palm (unit)
The palm may be either one of two obsolete non-SI units of measurement of length.In English usage the palm, or small palm, also called handbreadth or handsbreadth, was originally based on the breadth of a human hand without the thumb, and has origins in ancient Egypt...
s, i.e. 15.24 cm
Centimetre
A centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of . Hence a centimetre can be written as or — meaning or respectively...
. A shaftment is the width of the fist and outstretched thumb. The lengths of poles, staves, etc. can be easily measured by grasping the bottom of the staff with thumb extended and repeating such hand over hand grips along the length of the staff.
History
It occurs in Anglo-Saxon written records as early as 910 and in English as late as 1474.After the modern foot came into use in the twelfth century, the shaftment was reinterpreted as exactly 1/2 foot or 6 inches (15.24 cm).
Spelling and Etymology
Other spellings include schaftmond and scaeftemunde, and shathmont.It is derived from Old English sceaft, in turn from Germanic skaftaz (shaft) and OE mund, from the Germanic mund, in turn from Indo-European root man (hand.)
Two shaftments make a pes manualis, literally Latin for "a foot fitted to the hand."
This unit has mostly fallen out of use, as have others based on the human arm: digit
Digit (unit)
The digit or finger is an ancient and obsolete non-SI unit of measurement of length. It was originally based on the breadth of a human finger...
(1/8 shaftment), finger
Finger (unit)
A finger , is usually seven eighths of an inch or 2.2225 cm . The width of an adult human male finger tip is indeed about two centimetres. The inch, on the other hand, originates in the breadth of a thumb. In English this unit has mostly fallen out of use....
(7/48 shaftment), palm
Palm (unit)
The palm may be either one of two obsolete non-SI units of measurement of length.In English usage the palm, or small palm, also called handbreadth or handsbreadth, was originally based on the breadth of a human hand without the thumb, and has origins in ancient Egypt...
(1/2 shaftment) hand
Hand (unit)
The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...
(2/3 shaftment), span (1.5 shaftments), cubit
Cubit
The cubit is a traditional unit of length, based on the length of the forearm. Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and into Early Modern Times....
(3 shaftments) and ell (7.5 shaftments).