Conceptually the amount of land that could be plowed by oxen in one morning (morgen), which was a day's work for the oxen.
In Germany, the most important traditional unit of land area, about 1.26 to 1.3 hectares. Originally it had specific dimensions related to the furrow, 120 ruten long and 5 ruten wide, but as usual with such units, the dimensions were later disregarded and the morgen came to be simply a unit of area, 1 morgen = 600 square ruten.
| Locale | Unit | Equivalent | Approx area in square meters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| widespread | Calenberger Morgen | = 120 square Hannoverian Ruten | 2620.92 | |
| Stedingerland | Stedinger Morgen | = 20 Stedinger Scheffelsaat, each of 17.5 Ruten | 12256 | 1 |
The size of the morgen varied from region to region, and still does. The present day units are based on the Calenberger Morgen. Some 20th century values are:
| Baden | 3,600 square meters, 0.89 acres. (UN 1966) |
| Bavaria | 2,726 square meters, 0.67 acres. (UN 1966) |
| Hanover | 2,621 square meters, 0.65 acres. (UN 1966) |
| Hesse | 2,500 square meters, 0.62 acres. (UN 1966) |
| Wurttemberg | 3,152 square meters, 0.78 acres. (UN 1966) |
1. Hase and Dethlefs.
In the Netherlands there were two principal morgens, both = 600 square roeden. The Amsterdam morgen, however, was based on a roede of 13 Amsterdam voet), about 8127.14 square meters, and the Rhineland morgen, based on a roede of 12 Rhineland Fuss, was about 8510.75 square meters. In the Dutch East Indies, the morgen is said to have been 8515.79 square meters.1
1. Encyclopaedie van Nederlansch-Indië. 2nd edition.
S. de Graaff and D. G. Stibbe, editors.
's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1918.
Volume 2. Page 687.
In South Africa, the Dutch morgen was adopted by the British colonies in the Cape and Natal, as well as the Boer Transvaal and Orange Free State republics. (The Natal republic used the acre.) The morgen survived to the 20th century in South Africa and South West Africa, at 8565.32 square meters, approximately 2.117 acres.
United Nations, 1966.
Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa.
Capetown: NASOU Ltd, 1975.
Volume 2, page 385.
In colonial New York, the Dutch morgen briefly survived the Dutch withdrawal. It was also called the margin, at 1 margin equal to about 3.2 acres.2
2.
Richard M. Lederer, Jr.
Colonial American English. A Glossary.
Essex, Connecticut: A Verbatim Book, 1985.
Page 144.
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