Length/Distance 

Convert from barleycorn to shaftment

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Unit Definition (barleycorn)
The Barleycorn is an old English unit of length. The custom of using seeds as units of length or weight is very common in farming societies. In Anglo-Saxon England, where barley was a basic crop, barleycorns played this traditional role. The weight of a barleycorn, later renamed the grain, is the original basis of all English weight systems including the older troy system and the later avoirdupois system. As a length unit, 3 barleycorns were equal to the Saxon ynce (inch). The English foot was actually defined as 12 of these ynces, that is, as 36 barleycorns.

Unit Definition (shaftment)
A shaftment, when used as a unit of length, is usually six inches or two palms, i.e. 15.24 cm (for the international inch). It is thought to be the distance from the tip of the outstretched thumb to the other side of the palm.In English this unit has mostly fallen out of use, as do others based on the human arm: digit (1/8 shaftment), finger (7/48 shaftment), palm (½ shaftment) hand (2/3 shaftment), span (1½ shaftments), cubit (3 shaftments) and ell (7½ shaftments).


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