Ell (Scots)
The Scottish ell (Scottish Gaelic: slat thomhais) was standardised in 1661, with the exemplar to be kept in the custody of Edinburgh. It comes from Middle English elle.
It was used in the popular expression -
- "Gie 'im an inch, an he'll tak an ell"
- (equivalent to "Give him an inch, and he'll take a mile" or "... he'll take a yard", and closely similar to the English proverb "Give him an inch and he'll take an ell", first published as "For when I gave you an inch, you tooke an ell," by John Heywood in 1546)
The Ell Shop (1757) in Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross (National Trust for Scotland), is so called from the 18th century iron ell-stick attached to one corner, once used to measure cloth and other commodities in the adjacent market-place. The shaft of the old 17th century Kincardine Mercat cross stands in the square of Fettercairn, and is notched to show the measurements of an ell.
Scottish measures were made obsolete, and English measurements made standard in Scotland, by act of parliament in 1824.
The Scottish ell was equivalent to:
- Scottish measures: 3 and 1/12 ft (i.e. 37 Scottish inches or 37.059 imperial inches)
- Metric system: 94.1318 cm
- Imperial system: 1.03 international yards, approx. 37.1 inches
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