3. The Pán of Marseilles
Marseilles, a city of Greek origin, always in extensive commercial relations with the Mediterranean countries using the Arabic system of weights and measures, had an almost perfect system of its own, entirely sexdecimal, and dating from about the tenth century. This system is still extant, so far as the French law can be evaded (see [Chap. XXI]: Old Weights and Measures of France). Wine and corn measures were in the usual Southern water-wheat ratio of 1 to 1·22, and the principal of these was the Escandau for wine and oil, and the Panau for corn. Now Escandau means ‘standard’; and this measure was 1/4 of the Mieirolo, the half wine-load or ‘wey’ which corresponded in water-wheat ratio to the half-load or wey of wheat. The load of wheat, the cargo, was the cubic cubit of Al-Mamūn, brought from Egypt by the corn-trade. The unit of length was the Pan (pronounced páng), a word apparently similar to the palmo of Italy and Spain, but really different. Palmo becomes paume in Provençal, while Pan is from L. pannus, a side, pane or panel;[[11]] and the Marseilles Pan = 9·9 inches is exactly the measure of the side or pan of an Escandau of cubical form. The filiation of the Escandau is evident, while the Pan is not derived from any antecedent measure. That the Pan was the measure of the pan or panel of a cubical Escandau is supported by the name of the corn-standard, the Panau, corresponding to the fluid standard of the Escandau, and of the land-measure, L. Panalata, the peck-land, originally the extent usually sown with a Panau of wheat.
Escandau = 16·096 litres = 3·54 gallons.
∛16096 = 25·24 centimetres, the Pan = 9·9 inches.
The evidence of the Pan seems to me to remove any doubt as to the medieval evolution of linear measures from imported standards of weight or capacity. The meaning of Pan as ‘side, panel’ is conclusive, especially when supported by the Panau measure and by other Provençal derivatives:
Panard, a limping man, leaning to one side as he walks.
Lou Panard, the star Antares which, rising late and setting early, not appearing much above the horizon, is visible only on one side of it.
4. The Filiation of the English Foot, of the
Rhineland Foot, and of the Marseilles Pan
In the description of the ancient cubits and talents and of the Roman system derived from them, the filiation of the English system of weights and measures, and of the Scots and other cognate systems, is clearly seen. There was no taking of a King’s heel-to-toe as a foot, no pound imported from some unknown country at an unknown period, no wheat-quarter preserved in the dimensions of an Egyptian sarcophagus, not even a pint from the Roman sextarius; legend disappears, the course of evolution, and, at one point, of involution, is clear, and as thoroughly scientific as in any system invented by an Academy of Sciences. Here are the links of filiation of the English foot:
1. The Egyptian meridian cubit.
2. The royal cubit, increased from the meridian cubit.
3. The royal foot, two-thirds of the royal cubit.
4. The cubic royal foot.
5. The Alexandrian talent, the weight of a royal cubic foot of water.
6. The Roman ounce, 1/1500 of the Alexandrian talent.
7. The English talent, 1000 Roman ounces.
8. The volume of 1000 Roman ounces of water, the original wine-bushel.
9. The 1000-ounce Quadrantal becomes the cubic foot, its side giving the English foot.
For the Rhineland and Scots system we have:
1. The Egyptian meridian cubit.
2. The Arabic or Black cubit, 7 palms of the meridian cubit’s 6 palms.
3. The Arabic foot, two-thirds of the Arabic cubit.
4. The Arabic talent or Cantar, the weight of an Arabic cubic foot of water.
5. The Troy ounce, 1/1500 of the Cantar, and coinciding with 10 lesser dirhems of about 48 grains.
6. The Rhineland talent of 1000 Troy ounces Amsterdam standard.
7. The Quadrantal containing 1000 Troy ounces of water becomes the cubic Rhineland foot, its side giving the measure of the Rhineland foot.
For the Provençal system we have:
1. The Egyptian meridian cubit.
2. The Arabic cubit, 7 palms of the meridian cubit’s 6 palms.
3. The Arabic cubit cubed, in the corn-measure of medieval Egypt, the Cargo of Marseilles, the Setier of Paris.
4. The half-cargo reduced to wine-measure in wheat-water ratio becomes the Mieirolo; of which one-fourth is the Escandau or Standard measure.
5. The Quadrantal containing an Escandau gives, as the measure of its side or panel, the Pán of Marseilles.
The evolution of the English foot, of the Rhineland or Scots foot, of the Pán of Marseilles, being now made clear, we can proceed to English and other linear measures. The origin of the Ounce, the foot, the cubic foot or wine-bushel is explained. That of Troy weight has been seen, and its predecessor, Tower weight, came from another ounce of the Arabic cantar. The origin of every measure and weight used in the civilised world will be found in the stories of the ancient cubits and talents.
[10]. Quadrantal, the Roman standard of capacity, a cubic vessel measuring one foot on each of its inside panels.
[11]. The French word pan has the same meaning, while Fr. empan, a span, is a corruption of espan.