The ''minot'' () is an old unit of dry

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) ...

, used in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

prior to

metrication Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional Unit of measurement, units of measurement to the metric system. This ...

. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels (''boisseaux''), half a ''mine'', and one quarter of a ''setier''. The size of the ''minot'' is comparable to the US and Imperial

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...

s. The name ''minot'' derives from the larger unit, the ''mine'', with an -ot diminutive suffixed. The term ''mine'' in this case derives from the same

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origin as the word

hemisphere Hemisphere may refer to: In geometry * Hemisphere (geometry), a half of a sphere As half of Earth or any spherical astronomical object * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemi ...

, and refers to half of the larger ''setier''. The volumetric ''mine'' should not be confused with the mass unit mina, which is also called a ''mine'' in French. As the French bushel was defined as 10/27 of a cubic French royal foot, or 640 cubic French royal inches, the ''minot'' was 1920 cubic French royal inches, corresponding to about 38.086

litre 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 ...

s. In

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

the minot was used for

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

and salt measurement. Later on, there was also a minot de Paris based on exactly one cubic French royal foot, which is equivalent to 34.277 litres. The ancient Roman

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

shared a similar definition (one cubic Roman foot). It was itself divided into three units, similar to the ''minot''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minot (Volume) Units of volume

See also

References