The last was a Dutch unit of

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...

, and

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

, and a large English unit of

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

, mass, volume, and number. It referred to standardized amounts of

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s' lading and varied by commodity and over time.

Name

The term derives from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

',''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd ed. "last, ''n.²''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2014. ultimately from a

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

root reconstructed as *''hlaþ''- or *''hlað-'' ("to place").''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "lade, ''v.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1901. It is also parallel and probably influenced by the

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or , there was no overarching sta ...

and Middle Low German ', used in identical senses as a load, cargo, or standardized unit.

Weight

The Assize of Weights and Measures, one of the statutes of uncertain date from , defined the as 12

sack A sack usually refers to a rectangular-shaped bag. Sack may also refer to: Bags * Flour sack * Gunny sack * Hacky sack, sport * Money sack * Paper sack * Sleeping bag * Stuff sack * Knapsack Other uses * Bed, a slang term * Sack (band), ...

s' worth, equivalent to 24 weys, 336

London stone London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm (21 × 17 × 12"), the remnant of a once much larger object that had st ...

, or 4,200 merchants' pounds (about ).. & & The last subsequently varied with the different values given to the sack of wool. The

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

and

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

lasts were 1,700 avoirdupois pounds (about ). The English Ordnance Board defined the as 24

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

s of 100 avoirdupois pounds each (2,400 lbs or about ). A Dutch last, or '' Scheepslast'', was Amsterdam ''

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

'', which is . In the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

(, commonly abbreviated to VOC) the last was about in the 17th century, later becoming as much as . The last was also used as a measure of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

Dutch Formosa The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as ''Formosa'', was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence ...

. It was composed of 20 piculs and about equal to .

Quantity

The Assize of Weights and Measures describes the as ten long thousands or 12,000 fish. The

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...

editions describe this as the "red herring" or and compose the herring last out of ten short thousands of twelve long hundreds, still making 12,000 fish altogether. (Elsewhere, the herring last was treated by

.) The comprised 20 dicker of 10 skins each (200 total) or, sometimes, 12

dozen A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or year ...

skins (144 total).

Volume

The English last could also be understood as the volume occupied by the other lasts. In some sources, the last is equated with . The

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

last was 12

s, the

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

last and some herring lasts were also 12 barrels, and the pitch last was 12 or 14 barrels. The Polish last (') used for bulk trade in dry goods from the 16th to 19th century comprised 30 Polish bushels ('). In the early 19th century, this amounted to but varied over time and location. The Dutch last, or '' Scheepslast'', has been equated to essentially of shipping space.

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs = {{cite book, author1-link=Tonio Andrade , last = Andrade , first = Tonio , year = 2005 , title = How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century , url = http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/ , publisher = Columbia University Press , chapter = Appendix A: Weights, Measures, and Exchange Rates , chapter-url = http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/appA.html {{Cite book , title = Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins. , last1 = Cardarelli , first1 = François Cardarelli , last2 = Sheilds , first2 = M.J. , publisher = Springer , year = 2003 , isbn = 978-1-4471-1122-1 , location = London , page = 23 Obsolete units of measurement

Name

Weight

Quantity

Volume

See also

References