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
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...
, but anywhere from 8 ounces to 8 pounds depending on the time period and region).
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
and 13th century Andalusia.
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.
The ratl was a part of a sequence of measurements ranging from a grain of
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley ...
through the dirham (used as a common point of reference in both medieval European and Middle Eastern regions)
on up to the
Sa (Islamic measure)
The Sāʿ (Arabic: صَاعًا and ''صَۡع'' in spelling, and ''sa'e'' in the Latin alphabet, literally: "one") is an ancient measurement of volume from the Islamic world, with cultural and religious significance. While its exact volume ...
.
measurement
1
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
Mithqāl ( ar, ) is a unit of mass equal to which is mostly used for measuring precious metals, such as gold, and other commodities, like saffron.
The name was also applied as an alternative term for the gold dinar, a coin that was used throug ...
=10 dirham.
1 mithqal=72 grains of average barely both edges cutted.
1 mithqal=20 qirat
قِيراط of makkah=21+3/7 qirat of Damascus.
1 dirham=14 qirat of makkah=15 qirat of Damascus.
1
mil= 4000
zira.
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.
References
Customary units of measurement
Units of measurement
Cooking weights and measures
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