palmus
- I Lit.: manūs palmum, Vitr. 2, 3: Graeci antiqui doron palmum vocabant: et ideo dora munera, quia manu darentur, Plin. 35, 14, 49, § 171.—
- II Transf., as a measure of length, a span, or twelve digits, Varr. R. R. 3, 7: amomum frutex myrtuosus, palmi altitudine, Plin. 12, 13, 28, § 48: minor, a smaller measure, a palm, or four digits, acc. to Vitr. 3, 1, 5.
Pater omnipotens ‥ / qui palmo caelum, terram, mare ponderat aeque
manus igitur ita in curvum ~otenus intorqueri videbatur, palmaeque ipsius planities ipsis digitorum ungulis ‥ transfossa torquebatur
barbam ‥ concludit ~o(
invenerunt hoc [sc. corpus ] mensura ~i longius esse sarcofago
~us,span velhandbred
sete ‥ ~o et plus longe
qui singulis mensibus uno cubito crescentes, vel singulis diebus uno ~o, altitudinis sue magnitudine celum scandere manibus moliti sunt
os testule ‥ ~i unius latitudinem ‥ excedebat
Palmusvero Occitanicus, ut et Græcorum, est novem unciarum cum duabus lineis. Charta Tolosana ann. 1272. in Bibl. D.
Et quod trabes peales et palmites de cor et de abiete.... habeant unum bonum Palmum de spisso.Alia ann. 1292. ex Tabul. Abbat. Gimont. in Occit. :
Perticus cum quo mensurantur arpenta et terræ vineæ et alii honores, habeat in perpetuum et habere debeat decem Palmos bonos et largos de longo, etc.
Item præpositus de Pediliano facit annuatim dicto Conventui in festo Paschæ... triginta aunas de panno lineo, cum quo panno exterguntur pedes et manus pauperum in mandato in die Jovis sancta, de quo panno post mandatum factum recipit Conventus prædictus quatuor canas ad faciendum manustergium in claustro, et duos Palmos pro bagnis in ipso monasterio faciendis. Residuum vero dicti panni recipit cellerarius domini abbatis.
Die ultima Martii, vigilia Ramispalmorum, solvi duobus bastaissis, qui portaverunt trabes, jaynas et alia necessaria ad Palmum, pro ibidem dicta die Ramispalmorum divinum officium celebrando, etc.Ibid. col. 2 :
Item pro portu scannorum, in quibus dicti domini consules et alii homines notabiles villæ sederent ad dictum officium sive Palmum, etc.Occurrit rursum ibid. pag. 176. col. 1. Vide in Palma 1.
PALMUS(also palma, Plin. Nat.7.28), properly the width of the open hand, or, more exactly, of the four fingers, was used by the Romans for two different measures of length; namely, as the translation of the Greek παλαστή, or δῶρον in old Greek, and σπιθαμὴ respectively. In the former sense it is equal to 4 digits, or 3 inches, or 1-4th of a foot, or 1-6th of the cubit, (Varro, R. R. 5.1; cf. Colum. 5.1; Frontin. Aq. 24.) This was the only sense in Latin of the best age, but a later sense appears (first in ecclesiastical writers, Jerome, Ezech. 40, &c.), in which palmus=σπιθαμή, a span of 9 inches. It is a mistake to suppose that this measure existed earlier in Latin as palmus major. The Romans had no special word in earlier times for σπιθαμή, but expressed it as dodrans ( 3/4 of a foot): ternas spithamas, hoc est ternos dodrantes (Plin. Nat.7.26). In the passage sometimes quoted from Varro, R. R 3.7, the ordinary palmus of 3 inches is meant. (Hultsch, Metrologie,p. 15, note.)
[P.S] [G.E.M]and palma. A Roman measure properly the breadth of the four fingers, reckoned in classical times as three inches. See mensura.