Dunam

A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m². In many formerly Ottoman regions, it is now defined as exactly one decare (1000 m²).

It was defined as "forty standard paces in length and breadth",^[1] but varied considerably from place to place.

History

The name dönüm, from the Ottoman Turkish دونمك / dönmek (to turn) appears to be a calque of the Byzantine stremma and had the same size. It was likely adopted by the Ottomans from the Byzantines in Mysia-Bithynia.^[2] In Arabic, the word is spelled دونم (dūnam) which is "a square measure (Iraq= about 2500 m²; Palestine= roughly, 1000 m²)."^[3]

Definition

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, the decare (декар) is used.

Cyprus

In Northern Cyprus the donum is 14,400 square feet (1,338 m²). In the Republic of Cyprus older Greek Cypriots also still refer to the donum, although this is gradually being replaced by another local Greek Cypriot dialect word, σκάλες ['skales], rather than the mainland Greek word stremma. However, officially Cyprus uses the square metre.

Iraq

In Iraq, the dunam is 2,500 square metres (0.25 ha).^{[citation needed]}

Israel, Syria, Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey

In Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, and Turkey the dunam is 1,000 square metres (10,764 sq ft), which is 1 decare. Before the end of the Ottoman Empire and during the early years of the British Mandate of Palestine, the size of a dönüm was 919.3 square metres (9,895 sq ft), but in 1928 the metric dunam of 1,000 square metres (0.10 ha) was adopted, and this is still used.^[4]

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia

In Bosnia and Herzegvina and also Serbia, the unit is called dunum (дунум) but sometimes it's mistakenly called dulum (дулум). It is equal to 1,000 square meters^[5]

Variations

Other countries using a dunam of some size include Libya, Syria, Albania, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.^{[citation needed]}

The Greek stremma has the same size as the metric dunam.^{[citation needed]}

The metric dunam is particularly useful in hydrological calculations as 1 dunam times 1 mm (a unit commonly used for measuring precipitation) equals exactly one cubic meter.

Conversions

A metric dunam is equal to:

• 1,000 square metres (exactly)
• 10 ares (exactly)
• 1 decare (exactly)
• 0.1 hectares (exactly)
• 0.001 square kilometres (exactly)

• 0.247105381 acres (approx)
• 1,195.99005 square yards (approx)
• 10,763.9104 square feet (approx)

See also

• Feddan, a similar non-SI unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria.
• Resm-i donum, a land tax based on the area of a farm.

References

1. ^ V.L. Ménage, Review of Speros Vryonis, Jr. The decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the process of islamization from the eleventh through the fifteenth century, Berkeley, 1971; in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) 36:3 (1973), pp. 659-661. at JSTOR (subscription required)
2. ^ Ménage, op.cit.
3. ^ Cowan, J. Milton; Arabic-English Dictionary, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (4th Edition, Spoken Languages Services, Inc.; 1994; p. 351)
4. ^ El-Eini, Roza I.M. (2006). "Currency and Measures". Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929-1948. Routledge. p. xxiii. ISBN 9780714654263. http://books.google.com/books?id=ekQOAAAAQAAJ&dq=El-Eini+%22Mandated+Landscape%22&printsec=frontcover&ct=result#PPR23,M1. Retrieved 2009-05-05. 
5. ^ "Мерне јединице у КЗ и КН" (in Serbian). Republic Geodetic Authority of the Republic of Serbia. http://www.rgz.gov.rs/template1.asp?PageName=merne_jedinice&MenuID=0000162&LanguageID=1. Retrieved 6 September 2010. 

External links

• Foreign Weights and Measures Formerly in Common Use
• Dictionary of units
• Variable donums in Turkey
• Summary based on UN handbook