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thang

In Southeast Asia, a unit of capacity.

1

[Khmer, ] In Cambodia, a unit of dry capacity used for paddy (unthreshed rice), approximately 30 liters. Earlier sources say 40 liters.

United Nations, 1966.

sources

L'unité pour les mesures de capacité est le thăng, équivalent du giạ annamite, d'environ 40 litres.

Les multiples du thăng sont:
mǒ dek, une charge qui vaut 20 thăng;
mǒ rete, une charretée qui vaut 80 thăng.

Nota.- Lorsque le nombre de mesures, thăng est supérieur à 100, on sous entend ordinairement le nom de cette unité et l'on dit: mǒ roi srou, un cent de paddy, dans le sens de 100 mesures de paddy. Il faut environ, pir thăng mǒ tau, deux mesures et demie, pour faire un picul.

Le thăng se subdivise en 2 tau ou kǒnchœû, (panier qui sert à mesurer le paddy).

Le tau se divise en deux kǒntǎng.

Le kǒntǎng se divise en deux kâun loěy, petit panier.

Le kâun loěy se divise en deux kǒmbǎng, ce que contiennent les deux mains ouvertes et jointes.

Le kǒmbǎng, se divise en deux tûk day, ce que contient la main ouverte.

Le tûk day se divise en deux kedǎp day, une poignée (main fermée).

Le kedǎp day se divise en huit chěp, pincées:

The unit for measures of capacity is the thăng, equivalent to the Vietnamese gia, about 40 liters.

The multiples of the thăng are:
mǒ dek, a load which makes 20 thăng
mǒ rete, a cartload which makes 80 thăng

Note. When the number of thăng measured is more than 100, the name of this unit is ordinarily suppressed and one says, mǒ roi srou, a hundred of paddy, meaning 100 measures of paddy. It takes about, pir thăng mǒ tau, two measures and a half, to make a picul.

The thăng is subdivided into 2 tau or kǒnchœû, a basket used to measure unhusked rice.

The tau is divided into 2 kǒntǎng.

The kǒntǎng is divided into 2 kâun loěy, a small basket.

The kâun loěy is divided into 2 kǒmbǎng,, which contains two open hands held together.

The kǒmbǎng, is divided into 2 tûk day, which is the contents of an open hand.

The tûk day is divided into 2 kedǎp day, a handful (hand closed).

The kedǎp day is divided into 8 chěp, pinches.

J. B. Bernard.
Dictionnaire Cambodgien-Français.
Hong Kong: Imprimerie de la Société des Missions Etrangères, 1902.
Page 42.

2

[Thai ถัง] In Thailand, a unit of dry capacity, since the metric standardization of 1923 = 20 liters. Usually called a sat, sometimes a thangsat.

The word “thangsat” also means “bucket.” The legal measure was 10 × 10 × 20 niu, or 2000 cubic niu, or in the period when the niu was based on 1 wah = 80 inches, about 1157.4074 cubic inches (about 18.967 liters). At the request of the Siamese government, two standard thangsats were measured by the Standards Dept. of the English Board of Trade in 1876, and found to contain 1159.88477 and 1156.959 cubic inches at 85° F.

In the 19th century a distinction seems to have been made between the thang and the thangsat; 1 thangsat = 1¼ thang.

United Nations, 1966.

W. A. Browne, 1879.

The values in Browne's text are inconsistent with those in his table (page 274; for Browne's table, see the chart.). The text says the thangsat is 1157.4074 cubic inches, which is consistent with a niu of 5/6 inch. The table says the thangsat is 4.1743 [imperial] gallons, which would be 1158.03242 cubic inches. The table also states a thang is equivalent to 20 thanans, which makes sense even though one measure is liquid and the other dry, since 20 100-cubic-niu thanans = 1 2000-cubic-niu thang. The thang is said to be 3.75 [imperial] gallons, which would be 1040.3233 cubic inches, which is about 117 cubic inches less than 2000 cubic 5/6 inch nius.

It seems likely that the values in the text are legal and theoretical ones, while the values in the table are taken from trade. The value “3.75” for the number of imperial gallons in a thang is, in the context of 1.6685 and 4.1743, a suspiciously round number, and may well have been the actual conversion factor used in commerce.