A ratl (رطل ) is a medieval Middle Eastern unit of measurement found in several historic recipes. The term was used to measure both liquid and weight (around a pound and a pint in 10th century Baghdad, but anywhere from 8 ounces to 8 pounds depending on the time period and region).[1]
While there were a variety of names for different shapes of cups and mugs in use at the time, the ratl seems to have had a position roughly equivalent to a British pint in that the name of the drinking-vessel also implied a standardized measurement as opposed to merely the object's shape, in both 10th century Baghdad[1] and 13th century Andalusia.[2] However, those standardized measures varied both by region and by purpose: the spice-measuring ratl, the flax-measuring ratl, the oil-measuring ratl, and the quicksilver-measuring ratl all differed from each other.[3]
The ratl was a part of a sequence of measurements ranging from a grain of barley through the dirham (used as a common point of reference in both medieval European and Middle Eastern regions)[3] on up to the Sa (Islamic measure).
measurement
edit1 Mudd=8/6 ratl.
1 Sá =4 mudd=5+1/3 ratl.
1 Ratl =128+4/7 dirham or 128 dirham or 130 dirham.
1 Uqiyyah=40 dirham.
1 Nashsh=20 dirham.
7 mithqal =10 dirham.
1 mithqal=72 grains of average barely both edges cut.
1 mithqal=20 qirat قِيراط of makkah=21+3/7 qirat of Damascus.
1 Dirham= 0.7 mithqal =14 qirat of makkah=15 qirat of Damascus.
1 wasq=60 sá.
In al-Warraq's tenth-century cookbook, different regions used some of the same terms to mean different units of measurement and the relationships between them. Some of those relationships are described below.
| Unit name | Weight [1] | Weight in dirham [1][3] |
|---|---|---|
| Dirham | 8 daniq | 7 mithqal (dinar)=10 dirham |
| Uqiyyah | 40 dirhams | |
| Ratl misri or fulfuli / spice measure | 8 uqiyyahs | 144 to 150 dirhams[3]
(Between 413 and 436 g) |
| Jarwi ratl / oil measure | 312 dirhams
(Between .9 and .95 kg) | |
| Ratl shami | 8 Baghdadi ratls (about 8 lb) |
References
edit- ^ a b c d al-Warrāq, al-Muẓaffar Ibn Naṣr Ibn Sayyār (2007-11-26). Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār Al-Warrāq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. BRILL. ISBN 9789004158672.
- ^ "Andalusian Cookbook: Table of Contents". www.daviddfriedman.com. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
- ^ a b c d Ashtor, E. (1982). "Levantine Weights and Standard Parcels: A Contribution to the Metrology of the Later Middle Ages". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 45 (3): 471–488. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00041525. ISSN 0041-977X. JSTOR 614920. S2CID 140561646.
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