Jugerum
Thejugerumorjuger(Latin:iūgerum,iūgera,iūger,oriugus)[a]was aRoman unit of area,equivalent to a rectangle 240Roman feetin length and 120 feet in width (about 71×35½m), i.e. 28,800 square Roman feet (Latin:pedes quadratum)[1]or about1⁄4hectare(0.623acre).
Name[edit]
It was the double of thesquare actus,and from this circumstance, according to some writers, it derived its name.[2]It seems probable that, as the word was evidently originally the same asiugum,ayoke,and asactus,in its original use, meant a path wide enough to drive a single beast along, thatiugerumoriginally meant a path wide enough for a yoke of oxen, namely, the double of theactusin width; and that whenactus quadratuswas used for a square measure of surface, theiugerum,by a natural analogy, became the double of theactus quadratus;and that this new meaning of it superseded its old use as the double of the singleactus.
Pliny the Elderstates:
That portion of land used to be known as a "jugerum," which was capable of being ploughed by a single "jugum," or yoke of oxen, in one day; an "actus" being as much as the oxen could plough at a single spell, fairly estimated, without stopping. This last was one hundred and twenty feet in length; and two in length made a jugerum.[3]
Pliny (Book VIII, Chapter 16) also used jugerum as a measure of length. The translator (Bostock) speculated that the jugerum length measurement was equivalent to the Greekplethron,about 30 meters or 100 feet. This was based on Pliny translating Aristotle's "plethron" to "jugerum".
The uncial divisionaswas applied to theiugerum,its smallest part being thescrupulumof 100 sq ft or 9.2 m². Thus, theiugerumcontained 288scrupula(Varro, R. R. l.c.). Theiugerumwas the common measure of land among the Romans. Twoiugeraformed anheredium,a hundred heredia acenturia,and fourcenturiaeasaltus.These divisions were derived from the original assignment of landed property, in which twoiugerawere given to each citizen as heritable property.[4]
Columellastates:
The square actus is bounded by 120 feet each way: when doubled it forms a iugerum, and it has derived the name iugerum from the fact that it was formed by joining.[5]
InGaul,half of ajugerumwas called anarepennis( “head of a furrow” ). It was the measure of a plowed furrow before the plowman turned the plow to cut a new parallel furrow. It was the origin of the later French unit of area, thearpent.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^The formiugusas a neuter noun[dubious–discuss]of the third declension is very common in the oblique cases and in the plural.[citation needed]
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^Colum. R. R. v.i § 6; Quintil. i.18.
- ^Varro, L. L. v.35. Müller, R. R. i.10. [Actus.]
- ^Pliny the Elder:The Natural History(Book XVIII, Chapter 3). Translated by John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.
- ^Varro, l.c.; Niebuhr,Hist. of Rome,vol. II, pp. 156– and Appendix II.
- ^Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella:On Agriculture(De Re Rustica,Book V). Translated by Forster and Heffner. Heinemann London MCMLIV.