libra

See also libbra, but most of the units that have been spelled either way are on this page.

1

In Rome and the Roman Empire, a unit of mass, about 327.45 grams.

2

In Spain, ? – 20th centuries, a unit of mass, varying locally, but the libra most commonly used was the Castillian libra (libra de Castilla), about 460.093 grams, (approximately 1.014 pounds avoirdupois).  This is the origin of the value of the libra, 20th century, in Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.

The table below shows values of the libra in Spain in the mid-19th century.

Even this oversimplifies the situation. Consider just Valencia. According to Doursther², there were four libra in use in Valencia:

• the libra sutil, libra menor, or libreta, according to one determination 355.3 grams and according to another exactly 356 grams.  This was the everyday libra of commerce and is the one in the table above.  It was subdivided into 12 onzas, like the Roman libra.
• the libbra gruesa or libra mayor, of 18 onzas, used for salted fish, calfskin, leather for the soles of shoes, and so on, about 532.5 grams (taking the libra sutil as 355 grams). 
• a libra for saffron and other spices, of 16 onzas, about 473.3 grams.
• a libra of 36 onzas for bread and other foodstuffs, about 1065 grams.

1. Gaceta. Madrid, 28 December 1852. Official figures. 

Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico y Estadístico.
Equivalencias entre las Pesas y Medidas Usadas Antiguamente en las Diversas Provincias de España y las Legales del Sistema Métrico-Decimal.
Publicadas de Real Orden.
Madrid: Imprenta de la Dirección General del Instituto Geográfica y Estadístico, 1886.

2. Doursther, page 233.

3

In Colombia, 20^th century, a unit of mass = 16 onzas = 500 grams (approximately 1.1012 pounds). An example of seeking round values in the course of metrification.

United Nations, 1966.

4

In the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, 20^th century, = 1 pound avoirdupois (approximately 453.592 grams). An example of the name of an old unit taking on a value from a new trading system.

United Nations, 1966.

5

In Portugal, ? – 19^th century, a unit of mass, approximately 459 grams (approximately 1.012 pounds avoirdupois).  Also called an arratel.

From Portugal the unit spread to Brazil , 16 – 19th centuries, and survived to the 20th century¹ in the Cape Verde Islands and Paraguay.

1. United Nations, 1966.

6

In Argentina, a unit of mass, = 16 onza, about 459.35 grams (about 1.0127 pounds avoirdupois). On 18 December 1835, the city of Buenos Aires defined the libra as the weight of 33 cubic pulgadas of distilled water at its maximum density.¹

The libra de boticario, however, was different; according to the Treasury Ministry in 1879, 344.55 grams, which is 12 of the standard onza of Buenos Aires.

1. Juan Alvarez, page 154.

7

In Patras in the Peloponnese, Greece, 19^th century, a unit of capacity determined by mass, used for oil and honey, a nineteenth of a barile, about 3.064 kilograms (6.775 pounds avoidupois).

Doursther page 208.

8

In Costa Rica, = 460.0627 grams, divided into 16 onzas. (In apothecary’s weight, however, the libra was 345.04704 grams and divided into 12 onzas. Apothecary’s weight was already out of use in Costa Rica in the 19th century.) In modern times, = 460 grams.

[Costa Rica. Ministerio de formento.]
Medidas y pesas del sistema métrico, y tablas de equivalencia con las antiguas.
San José de Costa Rica: Imprenta nacional, 1885.

Technical Factors..., 1972, page 137.

9

In Chile , a unit of mass, about 460 grams.

Technical Factors..., 1972, page 132.

10

In Cuba and El Salvador, a unit of mass, = 16 onzas = 460.00 grams.

Technical Factors..., 1972, pages 140, 155.

11

In Ecuador, a unit of mass, = 460.00 grams.

Technical Factors..., 1972, page 150.

12

In the province of Alicante, Spain, 19^th century, a unit of liquid capacity for oil = 600 milliliters.¹ In concept, this amount of oil would weigh 1 libra.

In the province of Huesca, two units of liquid capacity, one for oil, about 370 milliliters, and one for spirits, about 360 mL.¹ In Navarra, 410 mL.²

Doursther reports (page 236) that the libra of oil in Spain = 1/25 arroba = 4 panillas = 16 onzas, about 502.6 milliliters.

1. Dirección General del Instituto Geográfico y Estadístico.
Equivalencias entre las Pesas y Medidas Usadas Antiguamente en las Diversas Provincias de España y las Legales del Sistema Métrico-Decimal.
Publicadas de Real Orden.
Madrid: Imprenta de la Dirección General del Instituto Geográfica y Estadístico, 1886.

2. Juan Alvarez, page 175.

13

In ancient Rome, a unit of capacity for oil.

Source

Mesure de capacité employée en particulier pour l’huile. Suétone parle quelque part d’une distribution de dix librae d’huile par personne que fit faire César¹⁷. Il pourrait, sans doute, s’agir de dix livres en poids, et il est bien certain que le nom de libra, donné à la mesure de capacité, vint du rapport établi avec la livre; mais, d’autre part, Horace, dans une de ses satires, fait allusion à la coutume où l’on était à Rome de vendre l’huile dans des mesures en corne^18, et un passage d’un traité de Galenus nous apprend précisément que ce sont elles qui constituaient la λίτρα, équivalent du latin libra, qu’elles portaient tracée une division en douze parties du nom d’onces, et il ajoute qu’il a voulu savoir quel en était le poids.¹⁹ La libra d’huile était équivalente en volume à l’hemina.²⁰ E. Michon.

17. Suet. Caes. 38.

18. Horat. Sat. II, 2, 61.

19. Galenus, De compos. medic. II, 13, VI 13 (Metro. script. t I, p 213); cf. Hultsch, p 111, n. 1.

20. Ibid, p 120.

A measure of capacity especially used for oil. Suetonius speaks somewhere of a distribution of 10 libra of oil per person which was made by Caesar. It could undoubtedly be a matter of 10 pounds weight, and it is certain that the name libra, given to a measure of capacity, came from the established relationship with the libra weight. But on the other hand Horace, in one of his satires, alludes to the custom at Rome of selling oil in corn measures, and a passage in a treatise of Galen tells us precisely that this constitutes the λίτρα, equivalent to the latin libra, which bears traces of being divided into 12 parts, and he added that he wanted to know what the weight was. The libra of oil is equivalent in volume to the hemina.

Ch. Daremberg, Edm. Saglio and Edm. Pottier, editors.
Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines…, volume 3, part 2, page 1231.
Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1904.

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Last revised: 2 February 2011.