☙

pund

1

In Denmark, 1839 – 20ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass, = 500 grams¹. It was given this value by a King's Order in Council of 20 August 1839. (Denmark, however, did not adopt the metric system until 1907.)

During the Middle Ages a variety of local punds existed in Denmark. A statute of Christian IV (31 March 1615) called for the Copenhagen pound to be used throughout the kingdom. This was probably the københavnsk pund or slettepund, about 495.2 grams. The units of its trading partners were also in use: the pund lybsk (Lübeck pund) and the pund jysk (Jutland pund), about 484.7 g.

The decree of 1 May 1683 defined the Danish pund as ¹⁄₆₂ of the mass of a cubic fod of fresh water, about 500.24 grams. When this was referred to as the tungt pund (heavy pund), the let pund was 499.72 g.

See also: bismarpund, letpund, lispund, apotekerpund, skippund, skaalpund.

1. United Nations, 1966.

2

In Norway, 0.491 kilogram.