hath

In India, a unit of length, about 19½ inches. It belongs to the cubit family of units, occurring with different names throughout India, for example the Tamil moolum.

sources

1

Hát, Ben. Mar. () Háth, or Hath, or Huth, H. (,) The hand, a cubit measured from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, 18 inches; or, according to some statements, 19½ : for timber, in Puraniya it was 22. (In Mar[athi]. it occurs also with the short vowel Hat, Hut.

H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 202.

2

The linear measure of India is almost everywhere founded on the length of the human fore-arm; called in Hindostany haut, in Tamul moolum, and in Teloogoo mooda. It is said to be the length from the elbow joint to the tip of the finger of any tall man chosen as a standard. The term is translated cubit, but it invariably exceeds the 18-inch cubit of England. In this Presidency [Madras] it averages about 19.7 inches, varying from 19¼ to 20.

Appendix No. XC.
Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency Volume II.
Madras: Printed by E. Keys, at the Government Press, 1885.
Page 505.

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