Morgen

Unit of area

For other uses, see Morgen (disambiguation).

Morgen

Unit system| German customary units
Unit of| Area
Symbol| Mg
Named after| Amount of land tillable in the morning hours of a day by one person behind an ox or horse dragging a single bladed plough
Conversions
1 Mg in ...| ... is equal to ...
SI base units|  2,500 m2
Imperial unit system|  2,990 sq yd

A morgen was a unit of measurement of land area in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and parts of the Dutch Overseas Empire, such as South Africa. The size of a morgen varies from 1⁄2 to 2+1⁄2 acres (2,000 to 10,100 m2). It was also used in Old Prussia, in the Balkans, Norway and Denmark, where it was equal to about two-thirds acre (2,700 m2).

The word is identical with the German and Dutch word for "morning" because, similarly to the Imperial acre, it denoted the acreage that could be furrowed in a morning's time by a man behind an ox or horse dragging a single-bladed plough.[citation needed] The morgen was commonly set at about 60–70% of the tagwerk (German for "day work") that referred to a full day of ploughing. In 1869, the North German Confederation fixed the morgen at a one-quarter hectare (2,500 m2),[1] but in modern times most farmland work is measured in full hectares. The next lower measurement unit was the German "rute" or Imperial rod, but the metric rod length of 5 metres (16 ft) never became popular.

## Germany

[edit]

The following table shows an excerpt of morgen sizes as used in Germany — some morgen were used in a wider area and thus had proper names. The actual area of a morgen was considerably larger in fertile areas of Germany, or in regions where flat terrain prevails, presumably facilitating tilling. The next lower measurement unit to a morgen was usually in "Quadratruten" square rods.

German sizes of morgen  Region (Timespan) | Name | Size in m² | original definition (QR = Quadratruten)

|
|
|

\- metric - | Viertelhektar = vha  | 2,500 | (100 QR)
Homburg |  | 1,906 | 160 QR
Franconia |  | 2,000 |
Frankfurt | Feldmorgen  | 2,025 | 160 QFeldR
Oldenburg |  | 2,256 |
Kassel | Acker  | 2,386 | 150 QR
Prussia (1816–1869) | Magdeburger Morgen  | 2,553.22 | 180 QR
Waldeck-Pyrmont
Bremen |  | 2,572 | 120 QR
Schaumburg |  | 2,585 | 120 QR
Hanover (before 1836) |  | 2,608 | 120 QR
Hanover (after 1836) |  | 2,621 | 120 QR
Cologne Rhineland | Rheinländischer Morgen  | 3,176 | 150 QR
Bergisches Land | Bergischer Morgen  | 2,132 | 120 QR
Württemberg (1806–1871) |  | 3,152 | 384 QR
Frankfurt | Waldmorgen  | 3,256 | 160 QWaldR
Braunschweig | Waldmorgen  | 3,335 | 160 QR
Bavaria | Tagwerk  | 3,407 | 400 QR
Baden |  | 3,600 | 400 QR
Oldenburg | Jück  | 4,538 | 160 QR
Danzig |  | ca. 5,000 | 300 QR
Holstein | Tonne (Tønde)  | 5,046 | 240 QGeestR
Schleswig-Holstein | Steuertonne  | 5,466 | 260 QGeestR
| Kulmischer Morgen  | 5,601.17 | 300 QR
East Frisia | Diemat (h)  | 5,674 |
Mecklenburg |  | 6,500 | 300 QR
Altes Land (Harburg & Stade) |  | 8,185 |
Hamburg |  | 9,658 | 600 QGR
Kehdingen | Marschmorgen  | 10,477 |
Altes Land |  | 10,484 | 480 QR
Land of Hadeln |  | 11,780 | 540 QR

## Poland

[edit]

The Polish terms for the unit were morga, mórg, jutrzyna, the latter being a near-literal translation into old Polish.

Comparison of Area units in Lesser Poland 1791-1876, 1 Franconian morg = 1 wiener morg (system morgi dolnoaustriackiej)  Unit | Miara (Unit) | Sążeń² (Viennese fathom²) | Łokieć² (Viennese ell²) | m²

|
|
|
|

1 morg (morgen) (= 0.5755 ha)  | 3  | 1,600  | 6,439.02  | 5,754.64
1 miara (Unit) (= 19.18 are)  |  | 533.33  | 2,929.07  | 1,918
1 sążeń² wiedeński (Viennese fathom)  |  |  | 4.0237  | 3.6
1 łokieć² wiedeński (Viennese el²)  |  |  |  | 0.9

## Austria–Hungary

[edit]

The term "morgen" was used in the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria where 1 morgen was equal to 2⁄3 acre (2,700 m2).[2]

## South Africa

[edit]

Until the advent of metrication in the 1970s, the morgen was the legal unit of measure of land in three of the four pre-1995 South African provinces – the Cape Province, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. In November 2007 the South African Law Society published a conversion factor of 1 morgen = 0.856 532 hectares to be used "for the conversion of areas from imperial units to metric, particularly when preparing consolidated diagrams by compilation".[3]

## See also

[edit]

* Arpent
* Dutch units of measurement
* German obsolete units of measurement
* List of unusual units of measurement

## References

[edit]

1. ^ See de:Morgen (Einheit) – German version of Wikipedia
2. ^ THEHISTORY OF UKRAINIANS IN CANADA. TUGG.
3. ^ "Instructions for the Conversions of Areas to Metric". Law Society of South Africa. November 2007. Archived from the original on 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2010-03-10.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Morgen". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 836.