Dunam

A dunam (Ottoman Turkish: دونم‎; Turkish: dönüm), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount of land that could be ploughed by a team of oxen in a day. The legal definition was "forty standard paces in length and breadth",^[1] but its actual area varied considerably from place to place, from a little more than 900 m² in Ottoman Palestine to around 2500 m² in Iraq.^[2][3]

The unit is still in use in many areas previously ruled by the Ottomans, although the new or metric dunam has been redefined as exactly one decare (1000 m²), like the modern Greek royal stremma.^[3]

History

The name dönüm, from the Ottoman Turkish dönmek (دونمك, "to turn") appears to be a calque of the Byzantine Greek stremma and had the same size. It was likely adopted by the Ottomans from the Byzantines in Mysia-Bithynia.^[4]

The Dictionary of Modern Greek defines the old Ottoman stremma as approximately 1,270 m²,^[5] but Costas Lapavitsas used the value of 1,600 m² for the region of Naoussa in the early 20th century.^[6]

Definition

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro

In Bosnia and Herzegovina and also Serbia, the unit is called dulum (дулум) or dunum (дунум). In Albania it is called dynym or dylym. It is equal to 1,000 square meters.^[7]

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, the decare (декар) is used.

Cyprus

In Cyprus, a donum is 14400 square feet (1337,8 m2).^[8] 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 (equivalent to a decare). However, officially Cyprus uses the square metre and the hectare.

A donum consists of 4 evleks, each of which consists of 3.600 square feet (334.45 m2).

Greece

In Greece, the old dönüm is called a "Turkish stremma", while today, a stremma or "royal stremma" is exactly one decare, like the metric dönüm.^[3]

Iraq

In Iraq, the dunam is 2,500 square metres (0.25 ha).^[9]

Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey

In Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon 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 for Palestine, the size of a dunam 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.^[10][11]

Variations

Other countries using a dunam of some size include Libya, Syria, Albania, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

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

Conversions

A metric dönüm 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)

Comparable measures

The Byzantine Greek stremma was the probable source of the Turkish unit. The zeugarion (Turkish çift) was a similar unit derived from the area plowed by a team of oxen in a day. The English acre was originally similar to both units in principle, although it developed separately.

See also

• 1 E3 m² for further comparisons
• Conversion of units
• 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

External links

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