It has been seen, under Troy weight, that there are two classes of grains:
The heavy grain 1/(20 × 24) = 1/480 ounce as in English Troy.
The light grain 1/(24 × 24) = 1/576 ounce as in French Troy.
The ounce of 576 light grains was used in France, some Italian states, Spain and Portugal. Elsewhere, throughout Europe, the mint and medicinal ounce was 480 heavy grains, the scruple being 20 grains.
The heavy and light grains have been connected respectively with the barley-corn and the wheat-corn. They may have been so originally, but it is more probable that the grain, at first a seed-weight, came to mean a division of the scruple into either 20 or 24 parts.
In Dutch mint-weight the Troy ounce was of 20 dwt. or Engels, each of 2 mail, 4 vierling, 8 troisken, 16 deusken, 32 azen or aces. The Aas was the wheat-corn of our mint-legend. In the Spanish Netherlands the Engel was increased to make the ounce 24 × 24 grains. The Engel thus became (Antwerp 1580) = 28·8 grains = 1-1/5 English dwt. The word Engel means ‘angel,’ not the angel coin weighing 3 engel 10 azen, but Angle—‘Angli, non Angeli.’
4. The Tun and the Fother
These words belong to an onomatopœic class:
1. Bung—akin to ‘bomb,’ to Fr. bonbonne, a more or less globular vessel giving out a ‘bom’ sound when struck. In Somerset the bung-hole of a cask is the bum-hole; a ‘bun’ is a puffed somewhat semi-globular cake. Bung was probably a cask; the word is applied to a portly publican fancifully resembling one of his casks. Bumboat probably meant a boat carrying ‘bums’ or casks to ships.
2. Ton, tun—a large cask giving a thundering sound. L. tonitru, Fr. tonnerre, whence Fr. tonne, our ton for weight, tun for capacity.