Scandinavian mile
AScandinavian mile(NorwegianandSwedish:mil,[miːl],Finnish:peninkulma) is a unit of length common inNorwayandSweden,to a lesser extent inFinland,but notDenmark.Today, it is standardised as 1milbeing 10kilometres(6.2miles), but it had different values in the past.[1][2][3]
The word is derived from the sameRoman sourceas theEnglish mile.In Norway and Sweden, theinternational mileis formally called "English mile" (engelsk mil), although it is sometimes just referred to by the English wordmile.However, in situations where confusion may arise it is more common for Scandinavians to describe distances in terms of the officialSI unitkilometre.
This modern definition of 10 kilometres (km) is equivalent to the obsoletemyriametre,which was onceused in France.
History
[edit]In Norway and Sweden, the old "land mile" or "long mile" was 36,000feet:because of the different definitions of foot then in use; in Norway this was 11,295 m (37,057 ft) and in Sweden 10,688 m (35,066 ft). There was also askogsmil('forest mile') that was half as long as the normalmil.i.e. a bit over 5 km (3.1 mi), and equal to an even older unit of measurement, therast('rest', 'pause'), so named since it was seen as the distance a man would normally be able to walk between rests,[4][1]corresponding to theleaguein other countries.
When themetric systemwas introduced, themilwas redefined to be exactly 10 km (6.2 mi). The metric system wasintroduced in Norway in 1875and Sweden in 1889, after a decision by the parliament in 1876 and a ten-year transition period from 1879.[5]
In 1887 the metric system was introduced toFinland.The traditional Finnishpeninkulma(Estonian:penikoorem,Võro:pinikuurma), calledmilin Swedish (that defined the same length), was then redefined to be exactly 10 km (6.2 mi). In Finland, however, it has been much less in use than in Sweden.
Usage
[edit]Themilis currently not used onroad signs,and kilometre is the standard for most formal written distances. However, it is very common incolloquial speech,including 5 km, which is referred to in Swedish as "half amil"(en halvmil). Themilhas however not lost all formal uses. Various tax deductions, for example regarding distance travelled for business purposes, are measured inmilby theSwedish Tax Agency(Skatteverket).[6]It is also used in the most common unit for measuring vehicle fuel consumption – "litres permil"– and in Sweden in second-hand car advertisements, whereodometerreadings are often quoted inmilthough the car itself records kilometres.
InIran,an indigenous unit of measurement, equivalent to the Scandinavian mile, is used, known asfarsang.It is originally a Persian unit of measurement, equivalent to the Europeanleague,known asparasang(4.8 or 5.6 km), which was redefined as 10 kilometer 31 May 1926.[7]
In literature
[edit]Naomi Mitchison,in her autobiographic bookYou May Well Ask,relates an experience during a walking tour in Sweden: "Over inGotlandI walked again, further than I would have if I had realized that the milestones were in old Swedish miles, so that my disappointing three-mile walk along the cold sea edge under the strange ancient fortifications was really fifteen English miles ".[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^absnl.no
- ^Old Swedish Units of Measurement - Linear Measure
- ^Suureet ja yksiköt. SI-mittayksikköjärjestelmäQuantities and units. The International System of Units (SI)
- ^SAOB 1956.Svenska Akademiens Ordbok.Retrieved 10 July 2018
- ^ "Riksdagens antagande af det metriska systemet".14 May 1876.Retrieved16 November2019.
- ^Belopp och procent - inkomstår 2010/taxeringsår 2011
- ^"farsakh or farsang".Retrieved26 April2024.
- ^Naomi Mitchison,You may well ask ", London, 1979, Part I, Chap 7.