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viss

In Burma, ? – 20ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass, approximately 1.633 kilograms (approximately 3.6 pounds avoirdupois). Also called a peittha or paiktha. The word khwet replaces viss when a quantity is written with certain numerals.

United Nations, 1966.

Technical Factors..., 1972, page 120.

sources

a peittha or viss, a weight, a weight equal to one hundred kyats or tical (), or 3⁶⁵⁄₁₀₀ pounds Avoirdupois, 140 British Indian tolas exactly

Robert C. Stevenson.
Judson's Burmese-English Dictionary. Revised and Enlarged.
Rangoon: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, 1893.
Page 817.

a khwet; a weight equal to a peittha or viss, and superseding the latter in all capital numbers, as ()

Robert C. Stevenson.
Judson's Burmese-English Dictionary. Revised and Enlarged.
Rangoon: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, 1893.
Page 24.

The origin of … [vis from paiktha] is sufficiently curious. The p and v are commutable consonants. The Mohammedan sojourners cannot pronounce the th of the Burmans, and always substitute an s for it. The k is mute even in the Burman pronunciation, and the final a is omitted by Europeans only. Thus, we have the word Paiktha commuted into Vis! This measure is equal to 3 lbs. ⁶⁵⁄₁₀₀ Avoirdupois.

John Crawfurd.
On the Peoples and Cultures of the Kingdom of Burma.
SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, vol. 3, no. 2 (Autumn 2005).
Page 505.

2

In Lahu: còy, cẁε. Used for opium. Half a viss: hā-khà(n).

James A. Matisoff.
English-Lahu Lexicon.
UC Publications in Linguistics No. 139.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.

Page 453.

3

In India, ? – 19ᵗʰ century, a unit of mass, about 1.4 kilograms (a bit more than 3 pounds av.)

sources

Vísai, Tam[il]. (), Víse, Tel[ugu]., Karn. ( ) A weight in use at Madras, commonly called Viss, one-eighth of a Madras maund, or 3 lb. 2 oz. avoirdupois.

H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 549.