Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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ELN

  • noun [ feminine ]
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Grammar
ELN, e; f.
an ELL, a measure of length, the space from the point of the elbow to the end of the middle finger, eighteen inches. This is the Heb. המָּאַ [amma] a cubit: the Lat. cŭbĭtus a cubit, ulna an ell. Liddell and Scott say πῆχυς = cŭbĭtus, and ulna an ell properly contain twenty-four δάκτυλοι [δάκτυλος the breadth of a finger, about 3/4 of an English inch]
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the Royal Persian ell, or cubit, is very nearly 20-1/2 inches; for Herodotus says that the πῆχυς βασίλειος, bk. i. § 178, is 3 δάκτυλοι longer than the common Grk. πῆχυς= cubit or ell: 24 δάκτυλοι, i. e. 24 + 3 = 27; 27δάκτυλοι × 3/4 of an inch and 1/12 of an 8th, δάκτυλος a finger's breadth = about 75/100 of an inch, that is 3/4 of an inch and 1/12 of an 8th = 3/4 + 1/96 = 72/96 + 1/96 = .76] .76 = 20-50/100 [ = 20-1/2 inches, and 2/100 or 1/50 of an inch]
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the ell in A. Sax. was sometimes about 24 inches, or 2
feet
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ells of different lengths were used in Anglo-Saxon times; and, even in the present day, 3 sorts of ells are known in England
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Linked entries
v.  eln-gemet.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “ELN.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/9274.

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Full form

Word-wheel

  • ELN, n.

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