The Evolution of Measurement and the Words to Describe It
Various tools and units of measurement have served ancient and modern civilizations alike in helping to build, travel, and develop land. The earliest measurements were often based on materials directly available to people — namely, body parts and nature. But discrepancies arose from there. For instance, one person’s hand might
be larger than another’s, so one man’s “12 hands” could be very different from his neighbor’s. As more precise measurements were needed, units of measurement were standardized. While the various amounts changed over time, we still use many of these early words for measurements today. The human body has always...
