Ratl

A ratl (رطل ) is a medieval Middle Eastern unit of measurement found in several historic recipes. The term was used to measure both liquid and weight (around a pound and a pint in 10th century Baghdad, but anywhere from 8 ounces to 8 pounds depending on the time period and region).[1]

While there were a variety of names for different shapes of cups and mugs in use at the time, the ratl seems to have had a position roughly equivalent to a British pint in that the name of the drinking-vessel also implied a standardized measurement as opposed to merely the object's shape, in both 10th century Baghdad[1] and 13th century Andalusia.[2] However, those standardized measures varied both by region and by purpose: the spice-measuring ratl, the flax-measuring ratl, the oil-measuring ratl, and the quicksilver-measuring ratl all differed from each other.[3]

The ratl was a part of a sequence of measurements ranging from a grain of barley through the dirham (used as a common point of reference in both medieval European and Middle Eastern regions)[3] on up to the Sa (Islamic measure).

  1. ^ a b al-Warrāq, al-Muẓaffar Ibn Naṣr Ibn Sayyār (2007-11-26). Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār Al-Warrāq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. BRILL. ISBN 9789004158672.
  2. ^ "Andalusian Cookbook: Table of Contents". www.daviddfriedman.com. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  3. ^ a b Ashtor, E. (1982). "Levantine Weights and Standard Parcels: A Contribution to the Metrology of the Later Middle Ages". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 45 (3): 471–488. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00041525. ISSN 0041-977X. JSTOR 614920. S2CID 140561646.