EL is an ancient measure of length, reaching (at least in the Netherlands) approximately
69.4 cm. The measure was local, in every major commercial center, established to differences occurred:
Amsterdam el
68.8 cm
Brabant el
69.2 cm or 16 waists
Delfsche el
68.2 cm
The Hague or ordinary el
69.4 cm
Goesche el
69 cm
Twente el 58.
7 cm
Workumer or Frisian El 70.9 cm
The name is derived from the length of the forearm, the ulna. One could thus in a simple way measure lengths.
In connection with the levying of excise duty, The Hague el became the national standard in 1725.
When introducing the Dutch metric system in 1820, the El equated to one meter.
The
Law of April
7, 1869 (Gazette No. 1957) were former names, including el abolished and replaced by the now customary terms. In the period 1820-1870 was a El of 10 palms (decimetres) or 100 inches (centimeters) or 1000 lines (millimeters).
El in the
Bible and the Hadith
books (ziraa) discussed, for example, the dimensions of the ark, is approximately 52 cm.
