Searchable Lemmata: elne (ME), ell (AF), eln (OScots), elne (OScots), elle (MdE).
Alternate Forms: ellen, elle, heles.
1(n.)
Utilisation;
measure of length, specifically a measure of lenght of cloth; originally, a measure equivalent to the length of the arm.
By the end of the medieval perioud, the English ell was a measure of around 45 inches; 37.2 inches in Scotland; 27 inches in Flanders, with much variation. Also appears in phrases for various measures: ell/elne wand, ell/elne yard. The ell's relationship with its Latin cognate ulna (and AF aune) is complicated, and it appears that in many documents 'ulna' could stand for the MdE yard rather than a cloth ell [Connor, R. D. (1987)], 91].
Lisa Monnas, citing Zupko, R. E. (1968), offers the following, very general assessment: 'The ell was used interchangeably with the yard from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. The ell itself measured 45 in. (114.3 cm) in London, but local variations could occur. The yard measured either 36 in. (91.4 cm) or, for cloth, 37 in. (94 cm). Another measure, the verge (virga) was identical to the yard' [Monnas, L. (1989), 304-5, note 4].(circa 1000)
1. Achaté de Henric Rollisthorp iijC iiijxx v ell’ guttyng a xxv s. le C ... achaté de J. van L. j doz’ cremyll’ de fil en matelettis ... Achaté de Johan de Say iiij C lxij ell’ canvas blank
Accounts.
[AND PRO (E101/631/18) 1401/1402]
2. [52] ... Þe Tapeneres þat wercheþ þe burelles [OF les bureaus] ... shullen take for þe cloth xviij d ... Non ne shal make burell-werk [vr. burel-work], but 3if he be of þe ffraunchyse ... Þe chaloun of fowre ellen [WinHRO W/A3/2: elne] and o quarter of langnesse shal habbe tweye ellen and an halfe to-fore þe tapener in þe werke ... [54] ... Þe chaloun makyere.
Legal.
[MED Usages Win. ((Win-HRO W/A3/1) pp. 52-54) 1400]
4. If there be any withyn ihis Burgh or liberte of the same that occupie ij mesures, that is to sey a gret mesur to bye with, and a lesser to sel with, whetir it be busshell, halffe busshell, or pekke, yerd, half yerd, or elle ... ye shall present them
Legal.
[MED Oath Bk Colchester (3) ante 1450]
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: N/A.
Definite, From Old English eln. The French usage comes from Middle English. Uses denoting linear measures are thought to have been originally derived from the length of the human arm.
WF:
Etym Cog: alna, ulna, aune.
References:
