The almude is an obsolete Portuguese unit of measurement of volume used in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and other parts of the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...

. Etymologically, it derives from the Arabic ''al-mudd'', and ultimately from Latin '' modius''. The almude appears in Portuguese documents since the first half of the 11th century. As in the Iberian regions under Arab rule, its capacity was in the Christian northwest 0.7 liters. In the system of the county of Portucale, the almude was equivalent to 2

alqueire ''Alqueire'' is a traditional unit of measurement in Portuguese. The term has been documented in Portugal since the 12th century. It is derived from the Arabic word أَكْيَال ''(al-kayl)'', which roughly means 'measure'. It was originally us ...

s (about 6.7 liters). In the system introduced by

Afonso Henriques Dom Afonso IOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' ( Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on the Spanish or French influence ...

, first king of Portugal, and used almost until the end of the first dynasty, it seems that the almude was equivalent to the alqueire of that system (8.7 liters). In the system introduced by Pedro I, the almude was again equivalent to 2 alqueires (about 19.7 liters). In the Lisbon system, adapted and generalized to the whole kingdom by

Manuel I Manuel I may refer to: *Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned ov ...

, the almude was equivalent to about 16.8 liters. In modern times, the official almude was therefore 16.8 liters. However, in different regions of Portugal, the de facto almude could reach the equivalent of two alqueires. In addition, there could be different almudes for different liquids. Some examples were: * Portugal (modern standard): 16.8

liter The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cu ...

s * Faro: 17.04 liters. *

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

: 17.72 liters.Sizes.com
almude
/ref> *

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

: 25.08 liters. *

Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a concelho, municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo District, Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region, Portugal, Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2021 was 85,778, in an area of . The urbanized are ...

: 24.60 liters. An almude was often divided in 2 ''potes'' or 12 ''

canadas The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, two historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the British Parliament passed the '' Constitutional Act'', ...

''. In Spain, the unit was called almud and it was much smaller.

References

{{reflist

Literature

* Monteverde, Emilio Achilles (1861) ''Manual Encyclopedico para Uzo das Escolas de Instrucção Primaria'', Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2000
«Medidas Portuguesas de Capacidade: duas Tradições Metrológicas em Confronto Durante a Idade Média»
''Revista Portuguesa de História'', 34, p. 535-632. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2003
«Sistemas Legais de Medidas de Peso e Capacidade, do Condado Portucalense ao Século XVI»
''Portugalia'', Nova Série, XXIV, Faculdade de Letras, Porto, p. 113-164. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2003
«Medidas de Capacidade na Beira nos Séculos XII a XVI
�, ''Beira Alta'', vol. 62 (1-2), Assembleia Distrital de

Viseu Viseu () is a city and municipality in the Centro Region of Portugal and the capital of the Viseu District, district of the same name, with a population of 100,105 inhabitants in the entire municipality, and center of the Viseu Dão Lafões Interm ...

, p. 109-141. * Seabra Lopes, L. (2018)
«O Regimento de Pesos e Medidas nos Reinados de Dom Afonso V e Dom João II»
''Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa'', 136, p. 143-168. Obsolete units of measurement Units of volume

See also

References

Literature