Length Obsolete German units of measurement

1 length

1.1 meile (mile)
1.2 rute (rod)
1.3 wegstunde
1.4 klafter
1.5 lachter
1.6 elle (ell)
1.7 fuß (foot)
1.8 zoll (inch)
1.9 linie

length
meile (mile)

a german geographic mile (geographische meile) defined  ⁄15 equatorial degrees, equal 7,420.54 m (24,345.6 ft). common german mile, land mile, or post mile (gemeine deutsche meile, landmeile, postmeile) defined in various ways @ different places , different times. after introduction of metric system in 19th century, landmeile fixed @ 7,500 m (24,606 ft) (the reichsmeile), before there many local , regional variants (of shown below):

rute (rod)

a standard @ city hall in münster, germany 1816; bar shown 1 prussian half rod long.

the rute or ruthe of carolingian origin, , used land measure. many different kinds of ruthe used @ various times in various parts of german-speaking world. subdivided differing numbers of local fuß, , of many different lengths. 1 source 1830 lists following:

wegstunde

one hour s travel, used 19th century. in germany  ⁄2 meile or 3.71 km (2.31 mi). after 1722 in saxony  ⁄2 post mile = 1000 dresden rods = 4531 m. in switzerland 16,000 ft or 4.88 km.

klafter

originally 6 feet, after introduction of metric system 10 feet. regional variants 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) in baden 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in switzerland.

lachter

the lachter common unit of length used in mining in german-speaking areas. exact length varied place place between 1.9 , 2.1 metres (6 ft 3 in , 6 ft 11 in).

elle (ell)

distance between elbow , fingertip. in north, 2 feet, in prussia  ⁄8 feet, in south variable,  2 ⁄2 feet. smallest known german elle 402.8 mm (15.86 in), longest 811 mm (31.9 in).

fuß (foot)

the fuß or german foot varied place place in german-speaking world, , time. in places, more 1 type of fuß in use. 1 source 1830 gives following values:

zoll (inch)

usually  ⁄12 foot,  ⁄11 ,  ⁄10.

linie

usually  ⁄12 inch,  ⁄10.