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Meile

In German-speaking areas in Europe, 1^st – 20ᵗʰcenturies, a unit of itinerant distance, varying with time and location, but generally about 7.5 kilometers.

The word is derived from a form of the Latin mille passus, (thousand paces). It entered German (without the passus) in the first century ce, about the same time as Strasse (street) came in from the Latin strata (road)¹, perhaps filling related needs. Latin mille is the source of the name of a unit of itinerant distance in many European langages, including the English “mile”. The various Meiles, however, are much larger than the English mile or the Roman mille passus. Its magnitude corresponds more closely to the French lieue, and it was formerly called the Rast. It may be a survival of a unit that preceded the Roman occupation unit. The French retained the Celtic name. They were so insistent upon retaining their measure that the Roman conquerors finally adopted it for Gaul. See leuca.

1. Friedrich Kluge.
An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.
John Francis Davis, translator, from the fourth German edition.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

Locale	Equivalents	Magnitude, in kilometers	Sources
deutsche or geographische	1/15 grad of equator	7407.41	Ha148
Ansbach Beyreuth	= 2 Stunden = 2400 Ansbacher Ruthen = 26,400 Fuss 13 = 1 grad of equa		Ne20
Hannover	Polizeimeile = 2274 Hanoverian Ruthes = 36,384 Zell Fuss	10.5878	K191, D210
Hannover 19 Aug 1836	Neue Postmeile = 1587½ Ruthen = 25,400 Fuss	7.419206	Do229, Ha120, D210
Hamburgh	same as Prussian = 2000 Rhineland Ruthen	7.538	K172
Wroclaw (Breslau) Silesia 1820	legal Silesian Meile = 30 Gewend = 150 Ketten = 1500 Ruthen = 11,250 Silesian Ellen = 22,500 Breslau Fuss. 1½ Silesian Meile = 1 Saxon Meile[?]	6.476	K52, Ne66
Gdańsk	= 1800 Ruthen = 27,000 Gdańsk Fuss	7.749	K83, D211
Stuttgart Wurtemberg	= 260 Ruthen = 26000 Fuss
Prussian adopted 16 May 1816	= 2000 Rhineland Ruthes	7.532484
Vienna Austria	Polizeimeile = 4000 Viennese Klafter = 24,000 Fuss	7.58663	D209, Do501
	Postmeile = 2 Meile
	metrische Meile	1	Ha193
Bohemia		6.9459
Bohemia	grosse Meile, = 2 Stunden	9.2612	D209
Braunschweig 30 Mar 1837	= 1625 Ruthen	7.419422	Do145
Darmstadt 10 Dec 1817	= 3000 Klafter	7.500	Do165
Karlsruhe Baden 10 Nov 1810	= 2 Wegstuden. Do144: Stunde is 4.4454, Meile 8.8907 km. D202(trans): "One ordinarily takes this Meile, assuming the degree [of the meridian] is 111,111¹⁄₉ meters, for 8.88889 kilometers." In that case Stunde is 4.44444 km.	8.88889	Do144, D209
Weimar	= 1632 Ruthen = 26,112 Fuss	7.363024	Do486
Saxony	Polizeimeile = 2000 Ruthen = 32,000 Dresden Fuss = 28,880 Rhineland Fuss	9.0594	D211
Saxony	Postmeile = 1500 ruthen = 24,000 Dresden Fuss	6.7946	D211
Mecklenburg	= 2000 perch = 24,000 Rhineland Fuss	7.5325	D210, Ha169
Westphalia	= 2 Stunden	11.1134	D211
Saxe-Weimar	= 1631 Ruthen = 26,096 Fuss	7.3585	D211

key to source abbreviations

In the table, the numbers following the symbols listed below are page numbers.

K Kelly, 1820.

Ne Nelkenbrecher, 1820

Ha Handels Almanach, 1838.

D Doursther, 1840.

Do Doring, 1854.

N Nelkenbrecher, 1890.