Toise

<h2 id="definition">Definition</h2>
<h3>Unit of length</h3>
<ul><li>1 toise was divided in 6 <a href="/facts/French_units_of_measurement/JBpPBB1o">feet</a> (<a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a>: <i>pieds</i>) or 72 <a href="/facts/Units_of_measurement_in_France_before_the_French_Revolution/dWe1rosd">inches</a> (<i>pouces</i>) or 864 <a href="/facts/Units_of_measurement_in_France_before_the_French_Revolution/dWe1rosd">lines</a> (<i>lignes</i>) in France until 1812.</li></ul>
In 1799 the metre was defined to be exactly 443.296 <i>lignes</i> or 13,853⁄27,000 toise, with the intention that the metre should equal 1⁄10,000,000 of the distance from the pole to the equator. This had the effect of making the toise approximately 1949.03631 mm.
According to an article written in 1866, during measurement of various standard length artefacts from several countries, the toise was measured as 1,949.03632 mm.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>: 180 
Since before 1394, the standard for the toise of Paris was an iron bar embedded in the wall of the <a href="/facts/Grand_Ch%C3%A2telet/H7CkzD3M">Grand Châtelet</a>. But a little before 1667 the pillar in which the standard was embedded bent and distorted the standard. In 1667 officials constructed a new standard, but there were complaints that the new standard was about 0.5% shorter than the previous one. Nevertheless, the new standard was mandated. The old standard was since called "toise de l'Écritoire".
From 1668 to 1776 the French standard of length was the Toise of Châtelet, which was fixed outside the Grand Châtelet in Paris. In 1735 two geodetic standards were calibrated against the Toise of Châtelet. One of them, the Toise of Peru, was used for the <a href="/facts/French_Geodesic_Mission/DD0U4IVe">Spanish-French Geodesic Mission</a>. In 1766 the Toise of Peru became the official standard of length in France and was renamed Toise of the <a href="/facts/French_Academy_of_Sciences/zF42DYQv">Academy</a> (<i>Toise de l'Académie</i>). In 1799, after the remeasurement of the <a href="/facts/Paris_meridian/JhuvANoR">Paris meridian</a> arc (<i>Méridienne de France</i>) between <a href="/facts/Dunkirk/MYzumqPp">Dunkirk</a> and <a href="/facts/Barcelona/8PWLdRbW">Barcelona</a> by <a href="/facts/Jean_Baptiste_Joseph_Delambre/DEBdp8Rj">Delambre</a> and <a href="/facts/Pierre_M%C3%A9chain/UX3KNhV1">Mechain</a>, the metre was defined as 3 <i>pieds</i> (feet) and 11.296 <i>lignes</i> (lines) of the Toise of the Academy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
<ul><li>1 toise was exactly 2 metres in France between 1812 and 1 January 1840 (<a href="/facts/Mesures_usuelles/1fuKzTPt">mesures usuelles</a>).</li>
<li>1 toise = 1.8 metres in <a href="/facts/Switzerland/LcGuxeTe">Switzerland</a>.</li>
<li>1 <i>toesa</i> = 6 <a href="/facts/Portuguese_customary_units/EWJEVJDF">feet</a> (<a href="/facts/Portuguese_language/vr3Fwzw3">Portuguese</a>: <i>pés</i>) = 1.98 m in Portugal.</li></ul>
<h3>Unit of area</h3>
<ul><li>1 toise was about 3.799 square metres or, of course, a square French toise, as a measure for land and masonry area in <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a> before 10 December 1799.</li></ul>
<h3>Unit of volume</h3>
<ul><li>1 toise = 8.0 <a href="/facts/Cubic_metre/GPILKCtm">cubic metres</a> (20th century <a href="/facts/Haiti/yjgyeK9w">Haiti</a>)</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Units_of_measurement_in_France_before_the_French_Revolution/dWe1rosd">Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Portuguese_customary_units/EWJEVJDF">Portuguese customary units</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Ottoman_units_of_measurement/gnuvwSzP">Ottoman units of measurement</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Fathom/45fG7EAx">Fathom</a> and <a href="/facts/Klafter/sYmLfhao">klafter</a>, similar units</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.sizes.com/units/toise.htm">Sizes.com toise page</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.sizes.com/units/majsource.htm#UN1966">Reference from UN</a> United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Statistical Office of the United Nations</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"toise". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) <a href="https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=toise" target="_blank">https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=toise</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Clarke, A. R.; James, Henry (1867). "Abstract of the Results of the Comparisons of the Standards of Length of England, France, Belgium, Prussia, Russia, India, Australia, Made at the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 157: 161–180. doi:10.1098/rstl.1867.0010. S2CID 109333769. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Histoire du mètre". Direction Générale des Entreprises (DGE). Retrieved 27 December 2017. <a href="https://www.entreprises.gouv.fr/metrologie/histoire-metre" target="_blank">https://www.entreprises.gouv.fr/metrologie/histoire-metre</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Toise open-in-new

Toise