Ell

Medieval EnglishHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)

45 inches (1.143 m). An English cloth measure, about the length of an arm. Other countries' ells ranged from about 0.46 m (Viking) to 1.37 m (the French aune).

1 ell = 1.143 meters (exactly).

About the ell

Elbow and ell share a root: Old English eln meant the forearm, and the Latin ulna is a distant cousin. The ell began as an arm-length cubit, and later cloth ells grew longer. English tailors and drapers used one of 45 inches, a yard and a quarter, equal to 1.143 m, the figure used here. Edward I required every English town to keep an ell-wand as a standard rod for official measurement, and a surviving iron ell-wand hangs in a church on Gotland.

Each region had its own ell, which is why the unit is flagged as varying. A Scottish ell was about 37 inches (0.94 m), fixed in 1661 and abolished by the 1824 Weights and Measures Act. The Flemish ell was 27 inches (68.6 cm), and English importers of Dutch cloth bought by it. The French aune was about 137 cm, while German and Scandinavian ells were far shorter, from roughly 55 to 63 cm. Linen was sold by the English ell, but tapestry by the Flemish one.

Sources: Wikipedia: Ell; Wiktionary: ell

Ell conversion chart

1 ell expressed in every other length unit:

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