FATHOM

A 'fathom' is a unit of length in the Imperial system (and the derived U.S. customary units). The name derives from the Old English word ''fæðm'' meaning 'a pair of outstretched arms'.^[1][2][3] In Middle English it was ''fathme''. Its size can vary from system to system. The most commonly used fathom today is the international fathom. There are 2 yards (6 feet) in a fathom.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' eleventh edition 1911.

Contents

International fathom

British Fathom

Use of the fathom

Burial

Other fathoms and similar units of length

See also

Notes

References

External links

International fathom

In 1958 the United States and countries of the Commonwealth of Nations defined the length of the international yard to be 0.9144 metres. Consequently, the international fathom is defined to be equal to 1.8288 metres.
1 international fathom is equal to:

★ 1.8288 metres (1 metre is about 0.5468 fathoms)

★ 2 yards (1 yard is exactly 0.5 fathoms)

★ 4 cubits (1 cubit is exactly 0.25 fathoms)

★ 6 feet (1 foot is about 0.1667 fathoms)

★ 18 hands

★ 72 inches

British Fathom

Prior to that standardization on the international fathom, the British Admiralty defined a fathom to be a thousandth of an imperial nautical mile (which was 6080 ft) or 6.08 feet. This is equivalent to 1.853184 metres.

Use of the fathom

Once also used for measuring distances on land, the fathom is now restricted to nautical uses, especially expressing the depth of water or the length of nautical rope or cable. Until early in the twentieth century, it was the unit used to measure the depth of mines in the United Kingdom.^[4]
Civilian maps in English-speaking countries used to have depths commonly marked in fathoms, but this has changed to metres generally, even in US maps. Nautical charts have changed on a separate schedule.

Burial

It is customary, when burying the dead in the USA and elsewhere, to inter the corpse at a fathom's depth, or ''six feet under''. A burial at sea (where the body is weighted to force it to the bottom) requires a minimum of six fathoms of water. This is the origin of the phrase to ''deep six'', meaning to discard, or dispose of.^[5]

Other fathoms and similar units of length

Units of length similar to the size of the fathom can be found in many cultures. Some are listed below.

Culture	Name	Length in metres
Croatian	''hvat''	1.896484
Czech	''sáh''	1.7928
Danish	''favn''	1.883124
Dutch	''vadem, vaam''	1.883679
Esperanto	''klafto''	n/a
Estonian	''süld''	n/a
Finnish	''syli''	n/a
French	''toise'' (circa 1150), ''brasse'' (1409)	~1.949
German	''Klafter'','' Faden = 6 Fuß''	n/a resp. 1.7
Ancient Greek	''orguia''	1.8542
Hungarian	''öl''	1.8964838 (Viennese)
Interlingua	''fathom	n/a
India (State of Manipur)	''Sana lamjel''	n/a
Italian	''braccio''	n/a
Japanese	''hiro'' (尋)	~1.818
Maltese	''qasba''	~2.096
Norwegian	''famn''	2
Polish	''sążeń''	1.728
Portuguese	''braça''	n/a
Russian	''morskaya sazhen'' (морская сажень)	1.852
Sanskrit	''vyama''	n/a
Serbian	''hvat'' (хват)	n/a
Slovak	''siaha''	n/a
Spanish	''braza''	1.6718
Swedish	''famn''	1.7814

See also

★ English unit

★ Imperial unit

★ United States customary units

★ International System of Units

★ Ancient Greek units of measurement

Notes

1. ''Oxford English Dictionary'', second edition, 1989;
2. Bosworth / Toller: An Anglis-Saxon Dictionary, 1921.
3. http://beowulf.engl.uky.edu/cgi-bin/Bosworth-Toller/ebind2html3.cgi/bosworth?seq=285
4. Mining Encyclopaedia
5. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, , E.D., Hirsch, Jr, Houghton Mifflin, , ISBN 0618226478

References

★ A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units, , Donald, Fenna, Oxford University Press, , ISBN 0198605226

External links

★ An explanation of the fathom marks used at sea (retrieved Sept 2005).

★ Hungarian web page that refers to the length of a "bécsi öl"