How often in the texts that tell about Russian history, there are units of measurement that are now out of use. One of them is a milestone. Even for those who have an idea of ​​what was measured in versts, without knowing specific numbers, it is not very easy to imagine whether the distance is great, how far what is being said is, and how to understand the allegorical folk expressions with this word, which have outlived it much use in the direct meaning and used now. And so I want to imagine what is at stake, to evaluate long-standing events from a position close to their participants.

Verst as a measure of length

Verst is an old Russian measure of length. Now it is not used, it was used before the introduction of the metric system of measurement, which happened in 1924 in the USSR.

The verst was used to determine distances, mainly when indicating the length of the path. That is why such a verst was called a travel mile. In modern units, such a verst is equal to five hundred sazhens.

Along with the track there was a boundary verst, which was used to measure the area of ​​land plots. The boundary verst was twice as large as the travel verst and was equal to one thousand sazhens.

Verst in relation to measures of length of the metric system

In most countries of the modern world, the metric system of measures has been adopted. The most familiar and common units of measurement for long distances in it are kilometers.

It is easy to remember and imagine how many miles in one kilometer - a verst is equal to one kilometer and 66.8 meters. The boundary verst, respectively, will have twice the value - 2.1336 kilometers.

Infrequently, long distances are measured in small units, but if it becomes necessary to determine how many meters and centimeters are in a verst, this will not be difficult. It is enough to know its relation to the kilometer and divide the value by 1000 or 100000, depending on the required final result.

So how many meters in a verst? This value for a travel verst is 1066.8. In relation to the boundary unit of measurement, it will be 2133.6 meters.

When converting to centimeters, the numerical value of a verst in kilometers must be multiplied by 100000 - you get 106680 centimeters for the track and 213360 for the boundary verst.

Verst in old Russian units

The verst has changed its actual length more than once in history. It fluctuated - from 500 to 1000 fathoms. However, for a travel verst, in terms of duration and prevalence of use, the identity of five hundred sazhens prevails, and the boundary immediately established itself as equal to a thousand.

Initially, the sazhen was equal to 2 meters 16 centimeters or three arshins, each of which was equal to 72 centimeters or 16 inches. During the time of Peter I, the entire Russian system of measures was revised, and the usual units were expressed in terms of multiples of English. Then the quantitative content of the sazhen also changed - it became equal to 2 meters and 13.36 centimeters.

Solovetskaya verst

The Solovetsky Monastery, built on the islands of the same name in the White Sea, is known for many facts and is not only Russian, but also a world cultural and historical heritage protected by UNESCO.

Its name is associated with a unique measure of length, which appeared in this amazing place. The Solovetsky verst is equal to 1 kilometer and 84 meters - these numbers express the length of the walls of the monastery. In Solovetsky versts, distances were measured on the islands of the location of the monastery courtyard.

Verst and English units of measurement

For those who prefer the English system (now more used in the US than in the UK), it is more convenient to immediately convert the old verst into familiar units. The most common imperial measure now for determining the length of distances is miles.

How many versts in one mile? This value is easy to calculate. The main thing is to know the ratio of a mile and a kilometer, as well as a kilometer and a verst.

A mile is 0.6214 km. As for the verst, its value is 1.0668.

A verst will be equal to 0.6214 times 1.0668 and equals 0.6629 miles.

What else was called a verst

A verst was called not only a measure of length, but also the waymark itself, used to designate a segment of the path equal to this unit - a pillar on the side of the road.

Painted in black and white, applied in stripes, wooden poles with numbers indicating the distance marked versts, like kilometers in a later time, and to this day mark kilometer poles. The numbers written on them correspond to the distance from the original reference point - the "zero kilometer", often set at the main post office of the settlement.

Mile poles, or versts, were installed on the most important roads of national importance, often referred to as poles.

Even earlier, a verst was called the length of the furrow, which the peasant laid while plowing the field. How many kilometers in this verst does not matter in this case, the numerical expression is not important, the main thing is that the furrow had to be even and have an extension to the entire field. That is why the word "verst" was associated with a long straight line.

Set expressions with the word "verst"

As a legacy from former times, when the word "verst" was used constantly in everyday life, the modern Russian language inherited numerous stable expressions of different semantic meanings.

The phrase "Kolomenskaya verst" is used in relation to a person of very tall stature. The summer royal palace was once located in Kolomenskoye near Moscow. The very wide, good and level road was marked with unusually large red posts marking miles. This fact gave rise to such a playful statement.

"For seven miles of jelly to slurp" - one of the variants of the expression, denoting a long and essentially useless road. The background tells about a man who does not want to cook his own food and get money for it, but prefers to go to distant relatives to eat. The long journey took so much time and effort that what was eaten was only enough for the return trip, and the hunger returned again.

"For a mad dog - seven miles is not a detour" - the expression denotes a situation where one's own hindsight makes one expend much more effort than is really required to complete a task.

"Seven miles to heaven and everything is forest" - a playful, ironic statement about a long ornate speech or a long, difficult road.

"See / visible a mile away" - about noticing or noticeable from afar.

Relatives of the word used in modern speech

The word "verst" has many single-root forms, the use of which is widespread in modern Russian.

The word "workbench" denotes a table designed to carry out certain work with hand-made wood or metal products - previously its main part was a straight long board.

"Design" - now it is a set, bringing together the constituent parts of printed or virtual publications or documents. Previously, this term denoted the ability to evenly sew pieces of fabric.

"Peer" - equal, in modern speech is used in relation to age.

This is not the whole list of historically related words (now their composition may differ), but the above terms are used most often.

Measuring unit meter or kilometer came into use relatively recently. Until about the 18th century, other terms operated in Russia. Today, "verst" is a word that is found only in historical literature, annals and folk tales. Therefore, most people not only do not know how many kilometers are in 1 verst, but also what this word means.

History reference

A verst, or a field, as it was called before, is a unit for measuring long distances. The term was originally used to refer to the length of a standard furrow during plowing. However, later the measure of length took root for measurement in other areas. The word with roads has grown especially strongly.

Along each road, special striped poles were installed. They were placed at equal distances to mark the length of the path between villages and cities, so over time they also became known as versts. There was also such a thing as a boundary verst, which was equal to 2 ordinary.

Verst: how much is it?

Although the term has been used for a long time, at different times it meant different distances. But in all cases, a sazhen was a bargaining chip.

• In the annals of the XI century it was indicated that there were 750 sazhens in the field.
• In 1649, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich set the size of a verst at 1,000 sazhens.
• Even later, by the beginning of the 18th century, it was established that a verst was 500 sazhens, and a travel or boundary verst was 1,000 sazhens.

It is this value of 500 sazhens that has come down to our time, therefore, from this amount it is calculated how many kilometers are in the field. Although other figures can be found in the historical literature, for example, in the Brockhaus dictionary one verst is equal to 656 sazhens, and Euron translated it in 875 sazhens in his edition.

Mileage

A verst is equal to 1 km 67 m, so if you have to quickly calculate the distance according to historical records, and you need to quickly figure out how many km one verst is, you can roughly equate it to a kilometer.

For a more accurate calculation, you can use the formula:

• 500 x 213.36 m = 1066.8 m.

Where 500 is the number of sazhens in a verst, 213.36 m is the length of one sazhen. This means that in the modern system of measurements one verst is equal to 1.067 km or 1066.8 m.

How to translate the field into other dimensions

The meter and kilometer belong to a single metric system, but not in all countries they are the main and popular means of measurement. In order to facilitate the task of how to convert miles or feet to versts, or find out how many yards are in them, use the calculator system:

Here you can find other obsolete measuring units from different countries.

Measures of length in Russia were unstable values, therefore, replacing them with meters and kilometers, people came to a common understanding of length. And even for an outdated measure of length, today the agreed value of 1067 meters is accepted in order to have an approximate general idea of ​​\u200b\u200bit.

Today, we easily calculate the distance with a ruler, tape measure, and even a laser. A single measurement system allows you to communicate in the world in a single mathematical language. Everyone knows what a meter or a kilometer is, but what measures of length were used in Russia? In the works of Russian writers, the word "verst" is often found. This is how much in terms of the modern system of measurement? The proposed article is devoted to the answer to this question.

In the absence of instruments, measurements were taken using body parts. To answer the question: a verst is how much, you need to get acquainted with other measures.

The length of the phalanx of one of the fingers (index) corresponded to an apex (4.4 cm).

Using the palm of your hand, you can measure a span, both small and large. The picture below shows how it happened. The small span was approximately 18 cm, and the large span was 23.

Since the 16th century in Russia, the elbow has been used for measurement. They called the distance from the elbow to the clenched fist. If the measurement was made with an outstretched palm, then they counted to the end of the middle finger. Therefore, the length was not constant: from 46 to 38 cm.

Arshin is the length of an outstretched arm, which was equal to 71 cm. And in order to avoid confusion, a wooden ruler with metal tips was made. She was treated like a state arshin.

One of the most used measures of length was the sazhen (from the verb "squeeze"). She used the span of her arms and calculated how far a person could reach with their help. The distance between the arms spread apart in different directions was more than 213 cm.

But the path was counted with the help of a verst. Initially, it was called "field". Where did the new name come from?

Origin of the concept

There are two versions of the appearance of the word "verst":

1. Linguists believe that it is derived from the verb "twirl". And it is equal to the length of the furrow that the peasant could pass without getting tired before turning the plow.
2. There is also an assumption that the concept is based on "vervsta", where the sound "v" was gradually reduced in the process of colloquial speech. It is close to the concepts of "rope", "rope" - a dimension of space. Until today, we use, for example, the verb "catch up." It means to hasten to catch up with lost time. "Setting up" is, and "laying out" means measuring in length.

But still, a verst is how much? To answer this question, let's see what they are.

Travel miles

The named measure of length is mentioned in historical sources from the 11th century. At the same time, different meanings were always understood under the verst. Everything depended on how many fathoms were included in it and what was their length. Today we are guided by the figures determined by the reform of the 18th century.

To understand, a verst - let's turn to the Cathedral Code of 1649. There, their number was indicated by the number 500. But how to translate this into meters and kilometers? Since the size of the sazhen itself was constantly changing, the data after the reform of Peter I, when it was 213.36 cm, are taken as the basis. And in order to calculate how many meters in a verst, it is necessary to multiply the size of the sazhen expressed in meters by 500:

• 2.1336 m × 500 = 1066.8 m

Now let's convert the data to kilometers:

• 1066.8 m = 1.0688 km

Boundary verst

Until the 18th century, there was also a boundary verst in Russia, which allowed a narrow strip to separate one possession from another and determine the distance between settlements. Its name comes from the word "mezha" - the border between land plots. The named verst included 1000 sazhens.

And in order to determine this time how many kilometers are in a verst, you must perform the following steps:

• 2.1336 m × 1000 = 2133.6 m = 2.1336 km

square verst

To measure the area, both a sazhen and a verst had indicators squared. What are they equal to? A square sazhen is 4552 m², and a square verst is 1,138,062.24 m².

"Verst of Kolomna"

Everyone heard the mention of but where did this expression come from? In the old days, special poles were usually placed along the roads, which, by the way, were called versts. And the most popular during the time of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was the route along the route: Moscow - Kolomenskoye. Giant pillars stood along this road. Since then, it has become customary to call very tall people "Kolomenskaya verst."

How often in the texts that tell about Russian history, there are units of measurement that are now out of use. One of them is a milestone. Even...

Versta - what is it? A verst is how many in kilometers?

By Masterweb

08.04.2018 14:00

How often in the texts that tell about Russian history, there are units of measurement that are now out of use. One of them is a milestone. Even for those who have an idea of ​​what was measured in versts, without knowing specific numbers, it is not very easy to imagine whether the distance is great, how far what is being said is, and how to understand the allegorical folk expressions with this word, which have outlived it much use in the direct meaning and used now. And so I want to imagine what is at stake, to evaluate long-standing events from a position close to their participants.

Verst as a measure of length

Verst is an old Russian measure of length. Now it is not used, it was used before the introduction of the metric system of measurement, which happened in 1924 in the USSR.

The verst was used to determine distances, mainly when indicating the length of the path. That is why such a verst was called a travel mile. In modern units, such a verst is equal to five hundred sazhens.

Along with the track there was a boundary verst, which was used to measure the area of ​​land plots. The boundary verst was twice as large as the travel verst and was equal to one thousand sazhens.

Verst in relation to measures of length of the metric system

In most countries of the modern world, the metric system of measures has been adopted. The most familiar and common units of measurement for long distances in it are kilometers.

It is easy to remember and imagine how many miles in one kilometer - a verst is equal to one kilometer and 66.8 meters. The boundary verst, respectively, will have twice the value - 2.1336 kilometers.

Infrequently, long distances are measured in small units, but if it becomes necessary to determine how many meters and centimeters are in a verst, this will not be difficult. It is enough to know its relation to the kilometer and divide the value by 1000 or 100000, depending on the required final result.

So how many meters in a verst? This value for a travel verst is 1066.8. In relation to the boundary unit of measurement, it will be 2133.6 meters.

When converting to centimeters, the numerical value of a verst in kilometers must be multiplied by 100000 - you get 106680 centimeters for the track and 213360 for the boundary verst.

Verst in old Russian units

The verst has changed its actual length more than once in history. It fluctuated - from 500 to 1000 fathoms. However, for a travel verst, in terms of duration and prevalence of use, the identity of five hundred sazhens prevails, and the boundary immediately established itself as equal to a thousand.

Initially, the sazhen was equal to 2 meters 16 centimeters or three arshins, each of which was equal to 72 centimeters or 16 inches. During the time of Peter I, the entire Russian system of measures was revised, and the usual units were expressed in terms of multiples of English. Then the quantitative content of the sazhen also changed - it became equal to 2 meters and 13.36 centimeters.

Solovetskaya verst

The Solovetsky Monastery, built on the islands of the same name in the White Sea, is known for many facts and is not only Russian, but also a world cultural and historical heritage protected by UNESCO.

Its name is associated with a unique measure of length, which appeared in this amazing place. The Solovetsky verst is equal to 1 kilometer and 84 meters - these numbers express the length of the walls of the monastery. In Solovetsky versts, distances were measured on the islands of the location of the monastery courtyard.

Verst and English units of measurement

For those who prefer the English system (now more used in the US than in the UK), it is more convenient to immediately convert the old verst into familiar units. The most common imperial measure now for determining the length of distances is miles.

How many versts in one mile? This value is easy to calculate. The main thing is to know the ratio of a mile and a kilometer, as well as a kilometer and a verst.

A mile is 0.6214 km. As for the verst, its value is 1.0668.

A verst will be equal to 0.6214 times 1.0668 and equals 0.6629 miles.

What else was called a verst

A verst was called not only a measure of length, but also the waymark itself, used to designate a segment of the path equal to this unit - a pillar on the side of the road.

Painted in black and white, applied in stripes, wooden poles with numbers indicating the distance marked versts, like kilometers in a later time, and to this day mark kilometer poles. The numbers written on them correspond to the distance from the original reference point - the "zero kilometer", often set at the main post office of the settlement.

Mile poles, or versts, were installed on the most important roads of national importance, often referred to as poles.

Even earlier, a verst was called the length of the furrow, which the peasant laid while plowing the field. How many kilometers in this verst does not matter in this case, the numerical expression is not important, the main thing is that the furrow had to be even and have an extension to the entire field. That is why the word "verst" was associated with a long straight line.

Set expressions with the word "verst"

As a legacy from former times, when the word "verst" was used constantly in everyday life, the modern Russian language inherited numerous stable expressions of different semantic meanings.

The phrase "Kolomenskaya verst" is used in relation to a person of very tall stature. The summer royal palace was once located in Kolomenskoye near Moscow. The very wide, good and level road was marked with unusually large red posts marking miles. This fact gave rise to such a playful statement.

"For seven miles of jelly to slurp" - one of the variants of the expression, denoting a long and essentially useless road. The background tells about a man who does not want to cook his own food and get money for it, but prefers to go to distant relatives to eat. The long journey took so much time and effort that what was eaten was only enough for the return trip, and the hunger returned again.

"For a mad dog - seven miles is not a detour" - the expression denotes a situation where one's own hindsight makes one expend much more effort than is really required to complete a task.

"Seven miles to heaven and everything is forest" - a playful, ironic statement about a long ornate speech or a long, difficult road.

"See / visible a mile away" - about noticing or noticeable from afar.

Relatives of the word used in modern speech

The word "verst" has many single-root forms, the use of which is widespread in modern Russian.

The word "workbench" denotes a table designed to carry out certain work with hand-made wood or metal products - previously its main part was a straight long board.

"Design" - now it is a set, bringing together the constituent parts of printed or virtual publications or documents. Previously, this term denoted the ability to evenly sew pieces of fabric.

"Peer" - equal, in modern speech is used in relation to age.

This is not the whole list of historically related words (now their composition may differ), but the above terms are used most often.

Kievyan street, 16 0016 Armenia, Yerevan +374 11 233 255

On the roads. In particular, from the great height of these pillars on the Moscow-Kolomenskoye road, where the palace of Alexei Mikhailovich stood, the expression "Kolomenskaya verst" came from. Lua error: attempt to index local "entity" (a nil value).

Story

The size of a verst repeatedly changed depending on the number of sazhens included in it (from 500 to 1000) and the size of a sazhen. There were miles: track- it measured distances (paths) - and boundary- land plots were measured by it. The Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649 established a verst of 1,000 sazhens. Along with it, in the 18th century, a traveling verst of 500 sazhens began to be used.

The "General Metrology" of 1849 edition mentions:

Although the verst as a unit of length has fallen into disuse, the proximity of its value to 1 km has led to the preservation of the word in modern colloquial speech: a kilometer is sometimes called a verst.

In the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, 2 values ​​​​of the old verst are given: in 656 modern fathoms and in 875 modern fathoms. This is 656*1066.781/500 = 1399.616672 meters and 1866.86675 meters.

Etymology

The word is common Slavic and is formed using the suffix -t- from the same stem as the word twirl. The primary meaning is "turning the plow"; that is, this is the length of the furrow (between the turns of the plow), which the ox can pass at one time without getting tired (cf. with the definition of lat. actus ).

see also

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Notes

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
• Petrushevsky F.I.. - St. Petersburg: Type. Eduard Pratz, 1849.
• Prozorovsky D.I.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• Romanova G. Ya. The name of measures of length in Russian / G. Ya. Romanova; Rep. ed. corresponding member Academy of Sciences of the USSR F. P. Filin. . - M .: Science, 1975. - S. 19-32. - 176 p. - 9 800 copies.
• .
• .

Measures of length Measures of area Measures of bulk solids Measures of liquid bodies Measures of weight Units of account

An excerpt characterizing Verst

Pierre has grown so fat this year that he would have been ugly if he had not been so large in stature, large in limbs and had not been so strong that, obviously, he easily wore his thickness.
He, puffing and muttering something to himself, entered the stairs. The coachman no longer asked him whether to wait. He knew that when the count was at the Rostovs, it would be before twelve o'clock. The Rostovs' lackeys joyfully rushed to take off his cloak and take his stick and hat. Pierre, out of club habit, left both his stick and his hat in the hall.
The first face he saw of the Rostovs was Natasha. Even before he saw her, he, taking off his cloak in the hall, heard her. She sang solfeji in the hall. He realized that she had not sung since her illness, and therefore the sound of her voice surprised and delighted him. He quietly opened the door and saw Natasha in her purple dress, in which she had been at mass, walking around the room and singing. She was walking backwards towards him when he opened the door, but when she turned sharply and saw his fat, astonished face, she blushed and quickly went up to him.
“I want to try singing again,” she said. “It’s still a job,” she added, as if apologizing.
- And fine.
- I'm glad you've come! I am so happy today! she said with that former animation, which Pierre had not seen in her for a long time. - You know, Nicolas received the George Cross. I'm so proud of him.
- Well, I sent the order. Well, I don’t want to disturb you,” he added, and wanted to go into the drawing room.
Natasha stopped him.
- Count, what is it, bad, that I sing? she said, blushing, but without taking her eyes off her, looking inquiringly at Pierre.
- No ... why? On the contrary... But why do you ask me?
“I don’t know myself,” Natasha answered quickly, “but I wouldn’t want to do anything that you don’t like. I believe in everything. You don’t know how important you are to grinding and how much you have done for me! .. - She spoke quickly and without noticing how Pierre blushed at these words. - I saw in the same order he, Bolkonsky (quickly, she uttered this word in a whisper), he is in Russia and is serving again. What do you think,” she said quickly, apparently in a hurry to speak, because she was afraid for her strength, “will he ever forgive me?” Will he not have an evil feeling against me? What do you think? What do you think?
“I think…” said Pierre. - He has nothing to forgive ... If I were in his place ... - According to the connection of memories, Pierre was instantly transported by imagination to the time when, consoling her, he told her that if he were not him, but the best person in the world and free , then he would ask for her hand on his knees, and the same feeling of pity, tenderness, love seized him, and the same words were on his lips. But she didn't give him time to say them.
- Yes, you - you, - she said, pronouncing this word you with delight, - is another matter. Kinder, more generous, better than you, I do not know a person, and cannot be. If you were not there then, and even now, I don’t know what would have happened to me, because ... - Tears suddenly poured into her eyes; she turned, raised the notes to her eyes, began to sing, and went back to walking around the hall.
At the same time, Petya ran out of the living room.
Petya was now a handsome, ruddy fifteen-year-old boy with thick, red lips, like Natasha. He was preparing for the university, but lately, with his comrade Obolensky, he secretly decided that he would go to the hussars.
Petya ran out to his namesake to talk about the case.
He asked him to find out if he would be accepted into the hussars.
Pierre walked around the living room, not listening to Petya.
Petya tugged at his hand to draw his attention to himself.
- Well, what's my business, Pyotr Kirilych. For God's sake! One hope for you, - said Petya.
“Oh yes, your business. In the hussars then? I'll say, I'll say. I'll tell you everything.
- Well, mon cher, well, did you get the manifesto? asked the old count. - And the countess was at the mass at the Razumovskys, she heard a new prayer. Very good, she says.
“Got it,” Pierre answered. - Tomorrow the sovereign will be ... An extraordinary meeting of the nobility and, they say, ten thousand a set. Yes, congratulations.
- Yes, yes, thank God. Well, what about the army?
Ours retreated again. Near Smolensk already, they say, - answered Pierre.
- My God, my God! the count said. - Where is the manifesto?
- Appeal! Oh yes! Pierre began looking in his pockets for papers and could not find them. Continuing to pat his pockets, he kissed the hand of the countess as she entered and looked around uneasily, obviously expecting Natasha, who did not sing anymore, but did not come into the drawing room either.