THE AMATEUR WORD NERD: Every mile is not created equal

By Barbara McAllister

Word of the Day: Mile
The word mile as a unit of measurement started with the ancient Romans. who used a unit of distance measurement called a mille passum, literally “a thousand paces.” Each pace was considered to be five Roman feet, which were a bit shorter than modern feet. The Roman mile was closer to 5,000 feet while the modern mile is 5,280 feet, but not because the modern foot is larger. Blame the odd number on oxen. In 1592 English Parliament standardized the length of a mile by decreeing it to be equal to 8 furlongs. The Anglo-Saxon furlong (“furrow long”) was 220 yards or 40 rods, determined to be the average length of a strip of open field was ploughed before turning a team of oxen to plough the next furrow. Since a furlong equaled 660 feet, eight times 660 is 5,280 feet.
Systems of measurement began with the process of associating numbers with everyday phenomena like agriculture and common physical entities like the human body. Early measurements were based on the length of an arm, foot or stride, the width of a hand or thumb and the distance arrows could be shot, or fields could be plowed. The Chinese had a unique system that even included sound: A standard vessel to measure grain and wine had to both weigh the same and give a proper pitch when struck to confirm correct volume. These localized systems became standardized through necessity as civilization and trade spread.
Of course, plowing oxen didn’t measure a nautical mile. A nautical mile is strictly a geometric division of the 360-degree meridian around the earth into 60 minutes of arc resulting in each minute of arc being 6,076 feet to equal one nautical mile. To recap: a mile is 5,280 feet, 1760 yards, 8 furlongs or 320 rods unless you’re at sea. Which is where this explanation may have left you.