Dear John, Apparently the word, gallon, is from the Old Norde French. See http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gallon
I don't think that Bishop John Wilkins used the old King Alfred the Great standardised decimal measures to guide his decimal divisions for his "universal measure". I am more inclined to the view that he picked the decimal idea up from Simon Stevin's Decimalle Arithmeticke of 1585 as it was translated into English, by Robert Norton, in 1608. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia On 2011/06/24, at 16:43 , John Frewen-Lord wrote: > Hi Pat: > > I have been reading your recent posts on just how un-British imperial > measures are , viz: > > Farenheit degrees were invented by a German (who got it wrong), whereas > Celsius degrees were invented by a Brit, who got it right (I can assure you > that I have every admiration for Germany and its citizens, just that this > anti-German sentiment plays into the anti-metric stance portrayed by the > tabloid newspapers here); > > The metre was probably derived from an English 10th century measuring stick > (the wand you described recently), that was a mere fraction over the current > metre in length and was divided into 100 parts, and then later picked up > (speculation or fact?) by Bishop Wilkins, who proposed it as a new standard > (not forgetting of course that the original metre bar was made in England); > whereas the foot came from the French pied, and has been altered willy-nilly > since; and the mile came from the Italian miglia; > > The litre was derived from the (English) metre, whereas the pint was derived > from the French pinte. What about gallons? Do they have an original > un-British root? > > Not sure about the kilogram - does that have a British/English root > somewhere, which was subsequently usurped by the libra? > > The electrical industry has of course only ever been metric. > > All this might be a good article for Metric Views, or even a newspaper! (and > I think I'll put something on these lines on my blog) > > Cheers > > John > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Pat Naughtin > To: U.S. Metric Association > Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 1:38 AM > Subject: [USMA:50727] French Weights and Measures Association (FWMA) > > Dear All, > > As you know the Royal Court of England spoke only in French from the 1066 > invasion until the late 1700s. In fact, George III (who lost the American > colonies) was the first English king to use English as his first language. > See > http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/KingsandQueensoftheUnitedKingdom/TheHanoverians/GeorgeIII.aspx > where they write: > > He became heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding > his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and > the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first language. > > Naturally the weights and measures the foreign kings and their courts used > were derived from the culture they brought with them from France to England. > This set included: le pied du Roi (later translated from pied to foot); the > French pinte (later translated to pint); and the livre (later translated to > pound with the Italian/Latin abbreviation lb. from libra). Even later (1303) > the livre was standardised by English traders as the avoir du pois livre that > is now known as the avoirdupois pound. > > As these are the principle measuring words encouraged by the British Weights > and Measures Association, maybe that organisation could consider changing > their name from the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA) to the > French Weights and Measures Association (FWMA). > > It seems to me that this would be a more accurate description of their > activities. > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see > http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html > Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY > PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, > Geelong, Australia > Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 > > Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped > thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric > system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands > each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat > provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and > professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in > Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian > Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the > UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication > information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the > free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: > http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
