АРШИНЪТ - СТАРА МЯРКА ЗА ДЪЛЖИНА
THE "ARSHIN" AN OLD MEASURE OF LENGTH

Summary/Abstract: In the historical sources on the period of Ottoman rule, the researchers come in touch with the striking variety of one of the most popular measures of length - the arshin. Never the less it is possible to make a systematization by stating several basic kinds of arshin: "building arshin", called also "master's", "masons", "architectonical", "carpenter's", which has the value of 85 cm; the next is "merchant's", "bazaar" or "market arshin" with the value of 68 cm; and the third kind is "endese" or "tailor's" arshin equal to 60 cm. The archin is linear measure, used in all kind of crafts, and in each of them it has a different value. Besides these kinds of arshin, systematized on functional and applied principles, there were also other kinds of arshin on the Balkan peninsula, for example "big" or "little". There was another very popular kind - "stambolski" arshin. known also as "Constantinople", or "royal" one. There was also a distinction between "old" and "new" arshin measure. The arshin is one of the longest used measures by our people, and in everyday life sphere it is useful even today.

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