From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Former unit of length
A
toise
(
French pronunciation:
[twaz]
; symbol:
T
) is a unit of measure for
length
,
area
and
volume
originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early
New France
,
French Louisiana
(
Louisiane
),
Acadia
(
Acadie
) and
Quebec
. The related
toesa
(
Portuguese pronunciation:
[tu?ez?]
) was used in
Portugal
,
Brazil
, and other parts of the
Portuguese Empire
until the adoption of the
metric system
.
The name is derived from the Latin
tensa brachia
, meaning "outstretched arms".
[1]
In this illustration from 1702, "B" marks the place outside the
Grand Chatelet
in Paris where the standard toise was displayed. "A" shows a straight toise ruler, "D" a folding one.
Definition
[
edit
]
Unit of length
[
edit
]
- 1 toise was divided in 6
feet
(
French
:
pieds
) or 72
inches
(
pouces
) or 864
lines
(
lignes
) in France until 1812.
- In 1799 the metre was defined to be exactly 443.296
lignes
or
13,853
⁄
27,000
toise, with the intention that the metre should equal
1
⁄
10,000,000
of the distance from the pole to the equator. This had the effect of making the toise approximately 1949.03631 mm.
- According to an article written in 1866, during measurement of various standard length artefacts from several countries, the toise was measured as 1,949.03632 mm.
[2]
: 180
- Since before 1394, the standard for the toise of Paris was an iron bar embedded in the wall of the
Grand Chatelet
. But a little before 1667 the pillar in which the standard was embedded bent and distorted the standard. In 1667 officials constructed a new standard, but there were complaints that the new standard was about 0.5% shorter than the previous one. Nevertheless, the new standard was mandated. The old standard was since called "toise de l'Ecritoire".
- From 1668 to 1776 the French standard of length was the Toise of Chatelet, which was fixed outside the Grand Chatelet in Paris. In 1735 two geodetic standards were calibrated against the Toise of Chatelet. One of them, the Toise of Peru, was used for the
Spanish-French Geodesic Mission
. In 1766 the Toise of Peru became the official standard of length in France and was renamed Toise of the
Academy
(
Toise de l'Academie
). In 1799, after the remeasurement of the
Paris meridian
arc (
Meridienne de France
) between
Dunkirk
and
Barcelona
by
Delambre
and
Mechain
, the metre was defined as 3
pieds
(feet) and 11.296
lignes
(lines) of the Toise of the Academy.
[3]
Unit of area
[
edit
]
- 1 toise was about 3.799 square metres or, of course, a square French toise, as a measure for land and masonry area in
France
before 10 December 1799.
Unit of volume
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"toise"
.
Oxford English Dictionary
(Online ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
(Subscription or
participating institution membership
required.)
- ^
Clarke, A. R.; James, Henry (1867). "Abstract of the Results of the Comparisons of the Standards of Length of England, France, Belgium, Prussia, Russia, India, Australia, Made at the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton".
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
.
157
: 161?180.
doi
:
10.1098/rstl.1867.0010
.
S2CID
109333769
.
- ^
"Histoire du metre"
.
Direction Generale des Entreprises (DGE)
. Retrieved
27 December
2017
.
External links
[
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]