The most widespread form of measurement in traditional Oceanic societies was linear, used in house and canoe construction and for measuring lengths of strung shell used as currency. Alkire (1970) provides perhaps the best account of measurement in an Oceanic society, namely Woleai in Micronesia. His description is detailed, discussing what measurement is used for and how it is applied.
In the formal distribution of wealth and in trade, foodstuffs and other valued items were measured by counting. Counting included the use of conventionally accepted measures such as baskets or bunches. Matters relating to counting and its linguistic consequences are treated in some detail in chapter 14.
POc speakers almost certainly had a verb for measuring the depth of seawater, and at least one for measuring the volume, particularly of food, but no reconstructions can be made. There was no regular means of measuring weights.
The units of linear measurement that Alkire lists for Woleaian (Mic) are listed in (1). The items in Alkire’s list have been checked against Sohn & Tawerilmang (1976) and the list of measurement classifiers in Sohn (1975:61), and Alkire’s forms have been replaced by Sohn’s and re-spelled in accordance with the orthographic convention used in these volumes (§1.4.2).
| 1. | a. | maxō-ṣix | length of one finger joint (maxō ‘finger-joint length’; ṣix ‘small’) |
| b. | maxō-rap | length of two finger joints (maxō ‘finger-joint length’; rap ‘big’) | |
| c. | -xatt | length of a finger | |
| d. | -peṣa-nim | width of the palm (lit. ‘handle of hand’) | |
| e. | (maiarulpu) | fist width plus thumb length (Alkire’s spelling: not recorded by Sohn) | |
| f. | (ngalit) | with hand extended, length from end of thumb to end of first finger (Alkire’s spelling: not recorded by Sohn) | |
| g. | -yaŋ | with hand extended, length from end of thumb to end of middle finger (hand span). | |
| h. | xumʷüṣ | from wrist to end of fingers (xumʷüṣ ‘wrist’) | |
| i. | -mʷarü | length of forearm, from elbow to end of fingers (a cubit). | |
| j. | -paü | length of whole arm (only with se- ‘one’; paü ‘arm, hand’) | |
| k. | -teroufʷ | with arm extended, length from sternum to end of fingers | |
| l. | -yefaẓ | with arm extended, length from end of fingers to shoulder of opposite arm | |
| m. | wōpaü | with arms extended, length from end of fingers to elbow of opposite arm | |
| n. | -ŋaf | with arms extended, length from finger tips to finger tips (a fathom) |
This list perhaps gives some idea of traditional units of linear measurement in Oceanic societies, which in many places have vanished for ever. However, before we turn to issues associated with reconstructing lexical items, it is necessary to look briefly at the morphosyntax of such items, as it bears on their reconstruction.
Some of the terms listed in (1) are preceded by a hyphen, others not. Those with no hyphen are nouns. Those with a hyphen are numeral classifiers, described at some length in §14.7. For convenience’s sake a short summary is given here.
A numeral classifier is a word that occurs with a numeral but has some semantic relationship to the entity that is being counted. Six types of numeral classifier are distinguished in §14.1.1, but only three types, multiplicative, mensural and unit-of-measurement concern us here. Mensural classifiers—or something performing the same semantic functions—occur in all languages., as in English ten grains of sand, two pinches of salt, a bottle of beer and so on. The classifier (in bold) provides a unit that is or can be counted with a numeral. This unit is one that is conventionally associated with what is counted: sand comes in grains, salt is quantified (in more traditional western recipes) in pinches, and so on.
In Oceanic languages that have numeral classifiers the numeral and the classifier are usually combined to form a word. The PMP order within these words was *numeral- [ŋa-]classifier. POc retained this order with some classifiers, for example the multiplicative classifiers *-Ratus ‘unit of a hundred’ and *-puluq ‘unit of ten’ in POc *sa-ŋa-Ratus ‘one hundred’ or *tolu-ŋa-puluq ‘thirty (= three tens)’. But POc also used the *classifier numeral order with other classifiers. Each language that retains classifiers uses one or the other ordering, except for some Polynesian languages, which have both structures. Micronesian languages reflect the *numeral-[ŋa-]classifier, usually without *-ŋa- and exemplified by (2), with the mensural classifier -xumʷ ‘mouthful’.
| wari-xumʷ | ṣal | |
| eight-CLF:mouthful | water |
The multiplicative classifier -ix ‘ten’ behaves in the same way as POc *-Ratus and *puluq above.
| seri-ix | fʷuk | |
| three-CLF:ten | book |
Finally, a unit-of-measurement classifier specifies a measurement, and together with the numeral gives the size of the following item.
| se-xatt | fʷurax | |
| one-CLF:finger | swamp.taro |
This, then, is the structural context of the items in (1) that begin with a hyphen.
Many of the measurement terms discussed in this chapter have their origin in the measurement of Melanesian shell money. These ‘currencies’ are found in a more or less continuous region that stretches from the Admiralties via New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville and the NW and SE Solomons to the Banks and Torres Islands of Vanuatu.1 In smaller units they appear to have been used for everyday transactions at some locations, e.g. among the Tolai of NE New Britain. Perhaps wherever they were used, large quantities were accrued by individuals and were used in a variety of ceremonies, including bride wealth payments, land rights payments, mortuary exchanges, initiation presentations (Hogbin 1964a; Epstein 1969:ch.7; Counts & Counts 1970; Simet 1991; see §13.5). The literature on the cultural roles of shell money is substantial and often engages in controversy, and we lack the relevant expertise to discuss it here.2
In parts of the NW Solomons, shell money consists of rings or drums made from the shell of the giant clam (genus Tridacna; vol.4:189–190). Elsewhere in the region it consists of disks manufactured from various shell species, each disk about a centimetre in diameter with a hole in the centre. The disks are threaded onto strong, fine string, packed together so that, where disks made of shells of different colours alternate, they form a colourful pattern. A number of different shellfish species supply the shells. A major shell-money production centre in Malaita is at Langalanga Lagoon, where inhabitants of the artificial islets built from coral make their living by manufacturing shell money. Four shell species are used: omu ‘red- lipped oyster, Chana pacifica’; kakadu ‘ridged white cockleshell, Anadara granosa’; kurila ‘black mussel, Atrina vexillum’; and ke’e ‘half-round cardita, Beguina semiorbiculata)’ (Goto 1996). In other locations nassa shells (dog whelks), cowries, cone shells or Spondylus shells are used.
The strings of shell money circulate in varying lengths, and the main use of a number of the unit-of-measurement terms discussed below is to denote these lengths, ranging from a length of two finger segments up to many fathoms. A fathom is the measurement from the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of the other when both arms are stretched our sideways. Counts & Counts (1970:100) list the terms traditionally used by the Lusi (NNG) speakers of NW New Britain for various lengths of vula ‘shell money’, along with their 1970 Australian dollar valuations, which serve to indicate relative values.
| Term | Length | Valuation in 1970 AUD |
|---|---|---|
| korui | fingertips to mid-forearm (half-cubit) | 0.1 |
| mase | fingertips to elbow (cubit) | 0.2 |
| pupuye | fingertips to mid upper arm | 0.3 |
| igiligita | fingertips to shoulder joint (arm’s length) | 0.4 |
| vataŋa | fingertips to centre chest (half-fathom) | 0.5 |
| pram | double arm span (fathom) | 1 |
Rickard’s (1893:48–49)3 and Salisbury’s (1966:115–116) Tolai lists include terms for longer strings and a ‘coil’.
| Rickard (1893) | Salisbury (1966) | |
|---|---|---|
| a tip | … | 1/32 fathom (10 shells) |
| a tip na arip | … | 1/16 fathom (20 shells) |
| … | pidik | one-tenth of a fathom |
| a wartuk | … | ⅛ fathom (40 shells) |
| a bal | … | ¼ fathom (80 shells) |
| a papara | peapar | ½ fathom |
| a pokono | pokono | one fathom |
| a wuna em tabu | … | two fathoms |
| a gaina | … | three fathoms |
| a rip | rip | ten fathoms |
| … | gogo, lolo | a coil of between 100 and 1,000 fathoms |
The list in (1) is a decidedly conservative set of traditional measurement units—conservative in two respects. First, even for other Micronesian languages, comparable lists are hardly to be found. Jackson & Marck (1991:328) come closest, recording Carolinian units corresponding to ten of Alkire’s. Capell (1969:67–68) and Sohn & Bender (1983:202–203) record five each for Sonsorol and Ulithian respectively. Other Micronesian languages appear to retain only a term for fathom. The second aspect of conservatism is that Woleaian retains unit-of-measurement classifiers, which elsewhere are being lost in favour of nouns. Thus in Puluwatese Elbert (1974:112) notes that (7a), where ‘fathom’ is a classifier, is being replaced by (7b), where it is a noun.
| walɨ-ŋaf | |
| eight-CLF:fathom |
| wal-ūw | ŋāf | |
| eight-CLF:default | fathom |
The only unit of measurement recorded for Mokilese/Ponapean is the noun ŋap/ŋāp ‘fathom’ (Harrison & Albert 1977; Rehg 1981). No traditional units of measurement are recorded for Marshallese (Abo et al 1976) or Kosraean (Lee 1975). This patchiness in recording is also found across the SE Solomons, where measurement terms were used at least until recently to measure lengths of shell money. Indeed, some definitions given in dictionaries of SE Solomonic languages (Ivens 1918; Fox 1955) and elsewhere are explicit that some of these terms, particularly those involving more complicated paths across the human body, were used to measure strings of shell money. For example:
| NNG | Kove | wala-ra varexe | ‘shell money measured to opposite shoulder’ (wala ‘shoulder’; varexe ‘side, half, portion’) |
| MM | Ramoaaina | babaluka | ‘fathom of shell money, twice the length of hand to chest’ |
| SES | Gela | kogana | ‘a string of red money; a fathom’ |
| SES | Gela | alo ni toɣo | ‘measure, length of arm’ (alo ‘string’) |
| SES | Sa’a | māpou | ‘a measure of shell money, from the fingertips to the elbow; a cubit’ |
| SES | Ulawa | ida ʔapala | ‘a length of money from the fingertips to the opposite shoulder, a yard and a quarter’ (ʔapala ‘shoulder’) |
| SES | Arosi | māmoku | ‘a measure of shell money from finger tips to elbow’ |
The absence of records of these terminologies from dictionaries of SE Solomonic and Micronesian languages has two possible causes. The first is that the terms had died out before the dictionary data were recorded, perhaps because shell money usage has diminished. The second is that the dictionary-maker was only interested in recording the modern language, and omitted more traditional or more archaic terms.
In the Ulawa term ida ʔapala above, ʔapala means ‘shoulder’, but no separate item ida is recorded by Ivens. This is, we assume, an idiomatic phrase, the full original meaning of which is now lost. This seems to be true of a number of the terms cited below.
Our goal here is not just to reconstruct POc terms (or terms in a later interstage language) but to ascertain how far back the unit-of-measurement concept can be traced. If we can show that a certain meaning is expressed in daughters of a particular protolanguage (often phrasally), then, even if the terms are not cognate, we can be reasonably certain that the concept was expressed by a dedicated term in the relevant protolanguage.
All the terms reconstructed below have their basis in the fingers, hands and arms of the human body. This is unsurprising, as traditional units of measurement the world over have been based on the human body. The cubit (elbow to fingertip; §16.6.4) was an important measure used around the Mediterranean. Mongolian had the ald, Ancient Greek the orgyiá, Old English the fæðm, all denoting a pair of embracing or outstretched arms and corresponding to the Oceanic fathom. The pre-metrication English system had the inch, based on the width of a person’s thumb, and the foot. The length of the foot is recorded as a unit of measurement in a few Oceanic sources, but no dedicated term is reconstructable.
There is a further division to be made among these body-based terms. The few reconstructable measure concepts other than the span were involved in measuring strings of shell money. The (flexible) object to be measured—the shell money—was strung across the measuring instrument, the human body. The span, however, was used in the converse manner: instead of taking the object to the instrument, one took the instrument—the hand—like a tape measure to the (typically rigid) object to be measured. Alkire (1970:33) shows that the span was used in canoe building. There is no evidence that it was used to measure money strings.
Section 16.5 is thus devoted to the measurement of rigid objects, §16.6 to measurements employed for flexible objects. Section 16.6.1 takes the fathom as its starting point, followed by the half-fathom in §16.6.2 and measures between the half-fathom and the fathom in §16.6.3. With the cubit (§16.6.4) we move to measures less than half a fathom. Section 16.6.5 looks briefly at the scrappy evidence for units longer than the fathom. Section 16.7 is devoted to verbs of measuring, and §16.8 draws some rather restricted conclusions.
One might expect a chapter entitled ‘Measurement’ to deal with terms for ‘length’ and ‘breadth’. If we exclude the use of length in a length of X, then Oceanic languages tend not to have dedicated terms for ‘length’ and ‘breadth’. Instead they either use the terms for ‘long’ (especially reflexes of POc *[ma]lawa ‘long, tall’; vol.2:198) or ‘broad’ as nouns, occasionally with nominalising morphology, or as adjectives as in It is 3 metres long.
The most widely reflected term for a hand-based measurement is POc *saŋa, which Blust (ACD) glosses ‘crotch, fork of the legs; span, fork of the fingers’. This gloss captures the fact that the POc meaning of this term was less specific than it is in a number of daughter-languages. Further, according to the ACD, POc *saŋa had two PMP ancestors, *saŋa ‘bifurcation’ and *zaŋan ‘handspan’, which merged in PEMP and POc as *saŋa. To judge from its Oceanic reflexes, it retained this range of meaning, and also had the senses of a forked stick or branch (vol.3:96) and the crotch (the bifurcation of the legs; vol.5:173). This breadth of meaning has ensured the word’s retention in numerous languages, along with the probable fact that the hand span was a commonly used means of everyday measurement. There is some evidence that it may also have denoted spans other than those formed with the hand. Its Mangseng reflex means ‘fathom’; in Tuamotuan ‘measure across chest to fingertips’. Even at the level of hand-span, reflexes vary as to whether the involved finger was the forefinger, the middle finger or the little finger (and many definitions do not specify which). It seems possible from the glosses below that in Proto Nuclear Polynesian this was the little finger.
Jackson (1983:77) notes that the loss of *s- in the Chuukese reflexes of *saŋa, all of them numeral classifiers prefixed by a numeral, is an irregular innovation that along with others defines the Chuukese subgroup. Non-Chuukese Micronesian languages have lost the term.
The non-cognate items listed below as ‘other terms for the span’ indicate that the concept and use of the hand span as a measure was clearly present in Oceanic regions where a reflex of *saŋa was not used to denote it. However, it is perhaps significant that no reflexes of *saŋa are found in mainland New Guinea or in Admiralties, N-C Vanuatu or New Caledonian languages. In the latter cases, this may reflect insufficient data sources; in the case of New Guinea it may reflect contact with Papuan systems of measurement, but this is a matter for further research.
| PMP | *saŋa | ‘bifurcation, fork of a branch’ | |
| PMP | *zaŋan | ‘handspan’ (ACD) | |
| PEMP | *saŋa | ‘crotch, fork of the legs; span, fork of the fingers’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *saŋa- | ‘fork (in tree), forked stick or branch; crotch, fork of the legs; span, fork of the fingers’ (vol.3:96; vol.5:173) (ACD) | |
| NNG | Mangseng | ðaŋa | ‘fathom: length between two stretched arms’ |
| MM | Vitu | ðaŋa | ‘span’ |
| MM | Banoni | saŋa | ‘span of hand’ |
| SES | Gela | haŋa | ‘span, outstretched fingers’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | tana | ‘span, between thumb and first finger; to span with this measure’ |
| SES | Sa’a | taŋa-a | [N] ‘a span’; [VT] ‘to span with the hand’ |
| SES | Arosi | taŋa(a) | ‘a hand’s breadth, fingers extended’ (-a nominaliser) |
| PChk | *yaŋa | ‘finger span’ (Bender et al. 2003b) | |
| Mic | Puluwatese | -yaŋ | ‘span’ |
| Mic | Chuukese | -yāŋ | ‘span between thumb and forefinger’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | -yaŋ | ‘hand span: distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger of an outstretched hand’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | -yaŋ | ‘finger-length’ (Sohn 1975) ; ‘span from end of thumb to end of middle finger’ |
| Mic | Ulithian | -yaŋe | ‘span between thumb and forefinger’ |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -aŋ | ‘span’ |
| Fij | Boumā | ðaŋa | ‘span of outstretched fingers and thumb’ |
| Fij | Wayan | ðaŋa | ‘span between thumb and extended middle finger’ |
| PPn | *haŋa | ‘span (measurement)’ (POLLEX); ‘measure in spans’ | |
| Pn | Tongan | haŋa | ‘span; to measure by spans’ |
| Pn | Niuean | haŋa(tike) | ‘span (from tip of thumb to tip of index finger)’ |
| PNPn | *aŋa | ‘span formed by thumb and little (?) finger; measure’ | |
| Pn | Samoan | aŋa | ‘span (measurement)’ |
| Pn | Tuvalu | aŋa | ‘span; to measure by spans’ |
| Pn | Tokelauan | aŋa | ‘hand-span (used as a measuring-unit)’ |
| Pn | Kapingamarangi | aŋa | ‘unit of measure from tip of thumb to tip of little finger (of outstretched hand)’ |
| Pn | Nukuoro | aŋa | ‘the span of the outstretched thumb and little finger; a measurement of one span’ |
| Pn | Takuu | (se)ana | ‘handspan; to measure in handspans’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | ana | ‘measure’ |
| Pn | Marquesan | ʔaka | ‘to measure’ |
| Pn | Mangarevan | aŋa | ‘fathom’ |
| Pn | Tahitian | aa | ‘measure length or breadth’ |
| Pn | Tuamotuan | aŋa | ‘measure across chest to fingertips’ |
| Pn | Rarotongan | aŋā(rima) | ‘span between thumb and little finger, used as a measure of length’ |
Other terms for the span include:
| NNG | Bariai | leoa | ‘measure, to measure by hand spans’ |
| MM | Sursurunga | keslim | ‘width measurement equivalent to hand span’ |
| MM | Banoni | para | ‘span of hand’ |
| MM | Nehan | haili | ‘hand span, unit of measure’ |
| MM | Halia | seilo | ‘hand span as unit of length (from tip of little finger to thumb tip)’ |
| MM | Babatana | pidoko | ‘hand’s span (tip of middle finger to tip of thumb)’ |
| MM | Roviana | pidoko | ‘to span with the thumb and second finger.’ |
| MM | Maringe | kakʰamo | ‘length from end of thumb to little finger of an outstretched hand’ |
| SES | Bugotu | kakamo | ‘a measure, handbreadth, span’ |
| SES | Tolo | tinagea | ‘to measure with outstretched thumb and middle finger’ |
| SES | Longgu | nivinivi | ‘measurement of a span of one hand’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | malafunu | ‘measure of length: finger span: from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the index finger or another finger, with the fingers fully spread’ |
| SES | Lau | malafunu | ‘take a long stride; a span, length of foot or extended fingers’ |
| SES | Kwaio | balafonu | ‘span between index finger and thumb’ |
| SES | Arosi | sinaʔake | ‘a measure, extending thumb and first finger’ |
There are thinly scattered terms for the lengths of one finger segment and two finger segments in SE Solomonic and Micronesian languages. The fact that there is a (non-Oceanic) Kéo term for a finger segment suggests that a term may have been present in POc, but there is no evidence for a reconstruction.
| CMP | Kéo | fatə | ‘a finger segment’ |
| MM | Babatana | papado tutuku | ‘distance between first and second finger joints’ (papado ‘joint’; tutuku ‘finger’) |
| SES | Longgu | kidoi | ‘an inch; the length of one finger joint’ |
| PChk | *makoto-ciki | ‘length of one finger segment’ (-ciki ‘small’; Bender et al. 2003b) | |
| Mic | Carolinian | mʷɔwo-ṣix | ‘length of one finger segment’ (about an inch = 2.5 cm) |
| Mic | Woleaian | maxō-ṣix | ‘length of one finger segment’ (maxō ‘finger-segment’; ṣix ‘small’) |
The evidence for a measurement term meaning two finger segments is weaker and in any case does not go back beyond PEOc.
| SES | ’Are’are | ato-ato | ‘a measure, the two joints of a thumb’ |
| PChk | *makoto-lapa | ‘length of two finger segments’ (-lapa ‘big’; Bender et al. 2003b) | |
| Mic | Carolinian | mʷɔwo-lap | ‘length of two finger segments (about 5 cm)’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | maxō-rap | ‘length of two finger segment’ (maxō ‘finger-segment’; rap ‘big’) |
A PChk term for ‘length of a finger’ is reconstructable, and the non-cognate terms listed below suggest that a finger length has been used as a unit of measure at least from PEOc times and perhaps earlier.
| POc | *tusu- | ‘forefinger’ (vol.5:178) | |
| PChk | *ka-tudu | ‘finger, finger length’ (Jackson 1983) | |
| Mic | Chuukese | -wɨt | ‘length of a finger’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | -xat | ‘counting classifier for fingers and parts thereof, used to measure, e.g., depth by widths of fingers’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | -xatt | ‘length of a finger’ |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -xat | ‘finger’ |
Other terms for ‘finger length’ are:
| SES | Bugotu | posileɣo | ‘a measure, finger’s length, fork of thumb to top of first finger’ |
| SES | Gela | ɣoto kehetu | ‘finger’s length’ |
| Mic | Ulithian | -male | ‘length of a finger’ |
Just a few terms meaning ‘width of the palm’ have been found: Kéo (CMP) pəʔba ‘width across widest part of hand at base of the thumb’; Kwaio (SES) fadaleʔenima ‘width of palm and four fingers’; Sa’a kʷaŋo i saʔo ‘a measure, a hand’s breadth’; and Woleaian (Mic) -peṣa-nim ‘width of the palm’ (lit. ‘handle of hand’). It isn’t clear, however, that these refer to the same dimension, and they may reflect independent innovations.
Some Eastern Oceanic languages have a term for a unit of measure from the wrist to the fingertips, and such a unit was perhaps present in PEOc, but no term is reconstructable.
| SES | Ulawa | kʷaŋo i saʔo | ‘a measure, from finger tips to wrist’ (in Sa’a ’a hand__s breadth’) |
| Mic | Carolinian | -xumʷuṣ | ‘counting classifier for measurement from the tip of the finger to the wrist, for measuring depth of rice or liquids’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | xumʷüṣ | ‘from wrist to end of fingers’ (xumʷüṣ ‘wrist’) |
| Pn | Samoan | lauiʔa | ‘a measure from above the wrist to the tips of the fingers’(Pratt 1862) |
As was noted earlier, the main flexible object measured in Oceanic communities was probably a string of shell money (§16.3). We start with the most widely attested unit, the fathom, then move to various part-fathom measures, then finally to measures longer than the fathom. Looking at the Tolai terms in (6), it is possible that there were more early Oceanic terms for lengths greater than the fathom, but these are lost to us.
When both arms are stretched out sideways, the fathom is the measurement from the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of the other. In English this has become principally a nautical term (1.8288 metres = 6 feet), but in Oceanic languages the measurement was applied in many locations to a length of shell money. It was and remains the basic unit in measuring shell money, where this still exists, but it had other functions, otherwise it would not be reported from so many languages whose speakers do not have or no longer have the shell money tradition.
POc appears to have had two terms for fathom, but they had different grammatical functions. POc *ropa was a noun, and POc *-ŋapa a numeral classifier.
| PAn | *depah | ‘fathom’ (ACD) | |
| POc | *ropa | [N] ‘fathom: with arms extended, length from finger tips to finger tips’ (ACD) ; [v] ‘measure in fathoms’ | |
| Adm | Seimat | kaha(ina) | ‘fathom, measure by fathoms’4 |
| Adm | Drehet | (a)lap | ‘span; e.g., distance between fingertips of a person’s extended arms’ |
| NNG | Tuam | rōv | ‘armspan’ |
| NNG | Kilenge | lewe | ‘armspan; fathom of shell money’ |
| Proto Kilivila | *ova- | ‘fathom; double-arm span’ | |
| PT | Kilivila | uva- | ‘double-arm span’ (clf)’ |
| PT | Muyuw | ová- | ‘double-arm span (clf)’ |
| PT | Gumawana | ova | ‘one hand length’ (loan from Kilivila) |
| PT | Dobu | loa | ‘fathom’ |
| PT | Motu | roha | ‘fathom; length’ |
| PT | Motu | roha-ia | ‘to measure; to fathom’ |
| MM | Nakanai | lova | ‘fathom’ |
| NCV | Mota | rova | ‘fathom, i.e. distance between outstretched arms’ |
| Pn | Tongan | ofa | ‘fathom; (in gardening) the distance between two consecutive rows of yams’ |
| Pn | Niuean | ofa | ‘fathom; to measure in fathoms (i.e. with outstretched arms)’ |
| Pn | East Futunan | lofa | ‘measure by fathoms’ |
| Pn | East Uvean | lofa-lofa | ‘to measure by fathoms’ |
| Pn | Nukuoro | loha | ‘fathom: the span of one’s outstretched arms:’ |
| Pn | Nukuoro | loha-loha | ‘to measure off in fathoms’ |
| Pn | Kapingamarangi | loho | ‘fathom, measure in fathoms’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | goha | ‘fathoms of line or distances; to be a fathom’ |
| Pn | Sikaiana | (se)loha | ‘one fathom’ (se- ‘one’) |
| Pn | Takuu | (sa)rofa | ‘measure of distance between the fingertips of one’s outstretched hands: fathom; to measure in fathoms’ (sa- ‘one’) |
| Pn | West Futunan | rafa | ‘fathom’ |
The numeral classifier *-ŋapa continues to be reflected as a classifier in Admiralties and some Micronesian languages. In other languages it has been reanalysed as a noun. It reflects the PMP classifier construction *numeral-[ŋa-]classifier, mentioned in §16.2 and discussed in more detail in §14.3. Blust (ACD) does not reconstruct *-ŋapa to a stage earlier than POc, and we have found no non-Oceanic cognates. Nonetheless, from its form it seems probable that it occurred in the environment of, e.g. †*sa-ŋa-ropa ‘one fathom’, †*rua-ŋa-ropa ‘two fathoms’, and so on. However, rather than †*-ŋa-ropa the data require reconstruction of the abbreviated form *-ŋa-pa. Section 14.4.5.2 shows that, for example, *sa-ŋa-puluq ‘(one) ten’ was reanalysed as *sa-ŋapuluq in very early Oceanic. An analogous change evidently reanalysed †*sa-ŋa-ropa as *sa-ŋa(ro)pa, resulting in forms such as in (8).
| fathoms: | one | two | three |
|---|---|---|---|
| POc | *sa-ŋapa | *rua-ŋapa | *tolu-ŋapa |
| Loniu (Adm)5 | ha-ŋah | maʔ-u-ŋeh | ma-culu-ŋah |
| Puluwat (Mic) | ye-ŋaf | rua-ŋaf | yelɨ-ŋaf |
Many of the reflexes below reflect a reanalysis of the classifier as a noun.
| POc | *-ŋapa | ‘fathom’ (ACD) | |
| Adm | Lou | ŋap | [v] ‘measure’ |
| Adm | Titan | ŋa | [VT] ‘measure’ |
| Adm | Loniu | -ŋah | ‘fathom’ |
| Adm | Nali | -ŋah | ‘fathom’ |
| Adm | Nyindrou | ŋaha | ‘span’ |
| MM | Tangga | nāf | ‘fathom’ |
| MM | Tangga | ŋafu | [v] ‘measure with armspans’ |
| MM | Nehan | ŋau | [v] ‘measure distance or time’ |
| MM | Halia | ŋaha | ‘unit of length equal to the height of a man’ |
| MM | Banoni | (sa)ŋava | ‘fathom; measure with outstretched arms’ |
| MM | Varisi | nava | ‘fathom’ |
| MM | Babatana | ŋava | ‘fathom: measure of length span of both arms’ |
| MM | Roviana | ŋava | ‘fathom’ |
| MM | Maringe | (kʰa)ŋafa | ‘unit of measurement equal to the breadth of outstretched arms, approximately one fathom’ |
| SES | Bugotu | (ha)ŋava | ‘fathom’ |
| NCV | Raga | ŋava(na) | ‘fathom; length’ |
| NCV | Mafea | ŋava | ‘measure of two arms’ length, of a person standing with arms wide open’ |
| NCal | Belep | ãvã(na) | ‘armlengths’ |
| PMic | *ŋafa | ‘fathom’ (Bender et al. 2003a) ; [v] ‘measure in fathoms’ | |
| Mic | Kiribati | -ŋā | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Ponapean | ŋāp | ‘fathom: the distance between outstretched arms’ |
| Mic | Mokilese | ŋāp | ‘fathom; to measure with outstretched arms’ |
| Mic | Mortlockese | -ŋaf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Chuukese | -ŋaf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Puluwatese | ŋāf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Puluwatese | (ye)ŋaf | ‘one fathom’ (ye ‘one’) |
| Mic | Satawalese | -ŋaf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | -ŋaf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | ŋāf | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | -ŋaf | ‘with arms extended, length from finger tips to finger tips (a fathom)’ |
| Mic | Ulithian | -ŋafa | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -ŋava | ‘fathom’ |
| Pn | Tongan | ŋafa | ‘length or section of tapa cloth’ |
| Pn | Samoan | ŋafa | ‘fathom’ |
| Pn | Samoan | ta-ŋafa | ‘to measure in fathoms’ |
| Pn | Samoan | ŋa-ŋafa | ‘measure with the arms’ (Pratt 1862) |
| Pn | Tuvalu | ŋafa | ‘a fathom; distance encompassed by outstretched arms’ |
| Pn | Rennellese | ŋa-ŋaha | ‘to measure distance in approximate fathoms (distance between fingertips arms extended)’ |
| Pn | Pukapukan | ŋawa | ‘fathom’ |
Listed below are terms for ‘fathom’ in languages that lack a reflex of *ropa or *-ŋapa. The Drehu and Nengone terms below may reflect POc *-ŋapa, but our knowledge of the sound correspondences of these languages is insufficient to be certain.
| NNG | Mangap | re[o] | ‘measure of length/ armspan length (for sago thatch, planks)’ |
| NNG | Bariai | leoa | ‘measure by hand spans’ |
| NNG | Yabem | ŋa-saka | ‘distance between the tips of the middle fingers when the arms are outstretched, a fathom’ |
| PT | Tawala | guli | ‘measurement (length of outstretched arms)’ |
| MM | Ramoaaina | babaluka | ‘fathom of shell money, twice the length of hand to chest’ |
| SES | Gela | ɣoto | ‘measure of both arms extended’ |
| SES | Longgu | tavaŋa | ‘fathom; the span of outstretch arms’ |
| SES | Owa | tafaŋana | ‘measure of thumb tip to thumb tip with outstretched arms of s.o.’ (tafaŋa ‘long’) |
| SES | To’aba’ita | ʔabala | ‘measure of length: from the tips of the fingers of one arm extended to the side to the tips of the fingers of the other arm extended to the side; fathom’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | ahana | ‘a measure, one fathom, i.e. the opening of a tall man’s arms’ |
| SES | Kwaio | tafaŋa | ‘fathom’ |
| SES | Sa’a | tahaŋa | ‘fathom, to measure a fathom’ |
| SES | Arosi | duʔu | ‘fathom’ |
| NCal | Cèmuhî | [è]ādā | ‘fathom’ |
| NCal | Dehu | apæn | ‘to measure with the arms outstretched’ |
| NCal | Dehu | n̥āpæn | ‘a measure’ |
| NCal | Nengone | n̥aepan | ‘span (of arms)’ |
| Fij | Wayan | katu | ‘fathom in length or depth, the arm-span with both arms extended’ |
| Fij | Boumā | ʔatu | ‘distance between finger tips with arms outstretched, fathom’ |
The terms listed below all denote a measurement from the centre of the sternum (breastbone) to the fingertips of one outstretched arm, i.e. half a fathom.
The only term that can be reconstructed for a half-fathom is PChk *dila-wupʷa, literally ‘breast split’. Beneath its reflexes are listed terms for half-fathom for a wide range of Oceanic languages. They indicate that the concept was present in POc but was probably expressed by a phrasal idiom. A couple of the terms listed below appear to mean something similar to ‘breast split’: see the glosses of the Banoni and Babatana terms. Within this list are two obvious cognate pairs: Longgu and Arosi, Wayan and Boumaa Fijian. Beyond these, there are no cognate items.
Some glosses mention ‘yard’. In pre-metric Imperial measure a yard is exactly half a fathom, i.e. 0.9144 metres).
| PChk | *dila-wupʷa | ‘distance from outstretched finger-tip to mid-chest’ (lit. ‘breast split’; Bender 2003b) | |
| Mic | Carolinian | -tilo-ubʷ | ‘distance from the tips of the fingers to the center of the sternum’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | -tero-ufʷ | ‘with arm extended, length from sternum to end of fingers’ |
| Mic | Chuukese | tine-wupʷ | ‘fathom’ |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -tiro-uba | ‘measure from finger tip to centre of chest’ |
| Mic | Pulo Annian | tino-upʷa | ‘fathom’ |
Other terms for the half-fathom include:
| NNG | Kove | vataŋa | ‘shell money measured to middle of sternum’ |
| PT | Kilivila | sividoga | ‘unit of horizontal measurement, from fingertip to centre of chest (e.g. measuring the exact length of a yam)’ |
| MM | Teop | ato | ‘unit of measurement: yard’ |
| MM | Banoni | koci kobusu | ‘half-fathom: finger tip to midline of breast’ (koci ‘cut’, kobusu ‘break’) |
| MM | Babatana | düli kürisi | ‘centre of chest to tip of fingers: half-fathom’ (düli ‘tear apart’; kürisi ‘arm’) |
| SES | Bugotu | maða i sono | ‘a measure, from finger-tip to breast-bone or throat’ (maða ‘bed mat’, sono ‘swallow’) |
| SES | Gela | levutilima | ‘measure, chest to finger tips’ |
| SES | Longgu | aba-i lima-i | ‘half a fathom: from breast bone to finger tips’ (aba- ‘side’; lima- ‘(whole) arm’) |
| SES | To’aba’ita | ʔāʔaba, gʷaʔaba | ‘half-fathom: from centre of chest to fingertips of extended arm’ (ʔaba ‘hand, arm’) |
| SES | Arosi | ʔaba-i-rima | ‘a measure, from middle of chest to extended fingers’ |
| SES | Sa’a | hahani ʔonoʔonoma | ‘measure: a half-fathom’ |
| NCV | Mota | alo masalepei | ‘measure from breastbone to finger-tips’ |
| Fij | Wayan | taba | ‘half a fathom: from the breastbone to the tip of the extended arm’ |
| Fij | Boumā | taba | ‘measure from middle of chest to end of outstretchcd fingers’ |
| Pn | Tongan | tofi-fata-fata | ‘distance from centre of chest to tip of middle finger when the arm is fully extended sideways; half a fathom’ (fata-fata ‘chest’) |
No reconstruction is possible for any measurement term between a fathom and half a fathom. The variation among the glosses of these in-between terms prevents us from inferring what measurements POc speaks might have used..
The most widespread of these measures is a length from the fingertips of one hand of an extended arm to the opposite shoulder. The lowest three items below reflect POc *qapaRa ‘shoulder’ (vol.5:142).
| NNG | Kove | wala-ra varexe | ‘shell money measured to opposite shoulder’ (wala ‘shoulder’; varexe ‘side, half, portion’) |
| MM | Tangga | paklu-n-tua-n-er | ‘span from fingertips to opposite shoulder’ (paklu- ‘head’, tua- ‘bone’, er ??; Maurer 1966:76) |
| SES | Bugotu | tao haðavu | ‘a measure, finger tips to further shoulder’ (tao ‘mountain pass, saddle’) |
| SES | Ulawa | ʔapala | ‘a sum of money reaching from finger tips to opposite shoulder’ (ʔapala ‘shoulder’) |
| Mic | Woleaian | -yefaẓ | ‘with arm extended, length from end of fingers to shoulder of opposite arm’ (yefaẓe ‘shoulder’) |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -avala | ‘from fingers of one hand to shoulder of opposite arm’ (avala ‘shoulder’) |
A slightly longer measure was the length from the fingertips of one hand to the opposite elbow. The root of the Arosi and Owa items appears to reflect POc *bakewa ‘shark’ (vol.4:30), but, if it does, the association is not clear. Mellow (2014) writes somewhat mysteriously that ‘this measurement looks like a shark’. It is tempting to reconstruct PNPn *fati-uku (PPn *fati ‘angle, bend’; PPn *qutu(a) ‘promontory’) here, but POLLEX questions this, presumably because of the distribution of the Polynesian reflexes below, which embraces no Polynesian subgroup.
| PT | Kilivila | lipoi | ‘unit of length measurement, from left fingertip of outstretched arms across to right-hand elbow (three-quarters of a span)’ |
| SES | Arosi | babaʔewa | ‘a measure, from bent elbow of one arm to the extended fingers of the other’ |
| SES | Owa | paɣewa-na | ‘distance from fingertips to opposite elbow, about 1.4 metres’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | wō-paü | ‘with arms extended, length from end of fingers to elbow of opposite arm’ (paü ‘arm’) |
| Pn | East Futunan | fatiku | ‘old fabric measure: distance from one hand of stretched arm to the elbow of the other arm’ |
| Pn | Nukuoro | hadiugu | ‘a unit of linear measure (from the end of an outstretched hand to the bent elbow of the other arm)’ |
| Pn | Takuu | fatiuku | ‘measure from fingertip to opposite elbow’ |
| Pn | Māori | fatiaŋa | ‘unit of measure (from elbow to fingertip)’ |
Similar terms, presumably arising from the need for graduated and acceptably precise measurement of shell-money strings, include the following: from fingertips to the opposite armpit/biceps/ear or to the throat. Whether any of these concepts existed in POc one cannot tell.
| PT | Kilivila | tomʷaidona | ‘from left fingertip to right armpit’ (lit. ‘the whole of him’) |
| MM | Banoni | ɣarara | ‘part of fathom from right finger tips to left biceps’ |
| SES | Ulawa | roŋo-roŋo | ‘a measure, from the finger tips to the right ear’ (roŋo ‘to hear’) |
| SES | Owa | onomiga-na | ‘measure from fingertips to throat’ (onomiga-na ‘throat of s.o.’ < onoa ‘swallow’) |
| NCV | Mota | avawosua | ‘a measure of length; from right breast to fingers of left hand’ |
The unit denoted by the archaic English word cubit is recorded across much of Oceanic. It refers to the length of the forearm, from the elbow to the fingertips. Although the cubit in Mediterranean society was a measure of both rigid and flexible objects, its application in Oceanic communities was to flexible things like strings of shell money. A PMic form (a numeral classifier) can be reconstructed. The non-cognate data below serve to indicate that this was probably a POc concept, but one that was probably expressed by a phrase containing the term for ‘arm’ or ‘elbow’.
| PMic | *-mʷanū | ‘length from elbow to finger tips’ (Bender et al. 2003a) | |
| Mic | Kiribati | -mʷanū | ‘elbow joint’ |
| Mic | Chuukese | -mʷalʉ | ‘length from inside elbow to finger tip, a cubit’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | -mʷalʉ | ‘length from inside elbow to finger tip, a cubit’ |
| Mic | Carolinian | -mʷalʉ̄(l peṣe) | ‘inside of the knee or elbow joint; inside of the knee’ |
| Mic | Woleaian | -mʷarǖ | ‘length of forearm, from elbow to end of fingers; a cubit’ |
| Mic | Pulo Annian | -mʷaɾʉ | ‘length from elbow to fingertip’ |
| Mic | Sonsorolese | -mʷar | ‘cubit’ |
| Mic | Ulithian | -mʷalo | ‘cubit’ |
Other terms for the cubit are found quite widely:
| NNG | Mangap | yok | ‘cubit’ |
| PT | Gumawana | [k]aba katuguyala | ‘length of one’s forearm’ |
| MM | Babatana | pado körisi | ‘cubit, from elbow to finger tip’ (papado ‘joint’; körisi ‘arm’) |
| SES | Bugotu | lopo i guema | ‘a measure, from finger-tip to elbow-joint’ (lopo ‘be rolled up’, guema ‘fishing rod’) |
| SES | Gela | levu | ‘measure from the elbow to finger tips’ |
| SES | Gela | louloɣulima | ‘measure, elbow to finger tips’ |
| SES | To’aba’ita | kadeʔe ʔaba | ‘measure of length: from the elbow to the fingertips; cubit’ (ʔaba- ‘arm’) |
| SES | Lau | fātafaŋa | ‘measure, from tip of thumb to elbow’ |
| SES | Lau | kadeʔaba | ‘a cubit’ (ʔaba- ‘arm’) |
| SES | Arosi | māmoku | ‘a measure of shell money from finger tips to elbow’ |
| SES | Sa’a | māpou | ‘a measure of shell money, from the fingertips to the elbow, a cubit’ |
| SES | Ulawa | āni sūsū | ‘a cubit’ (āni PREP; sūsū ‘elbow’) |
| NCV | Mota | alo maluk panei | ‘a measure of length’ (maluk panei ‘inner bend of elbow’) |
| NCV | Raga | ŋadu-n lima | ‘measure of length: hand to elbow’ (ŋadu ‘measure of length’; lima ‘arm’) |
A few Oceanic languages have a term for the length of the arm as a measure, each involving a term for ‘arm’, but it is possible that these are parallel developments.
The lists in (6) show that Tolai (MM) had terms for units of shell money longer than the fathom. Arosi (SES) had terms for larger units still: tahaŋa ‘4 fathoms of shell money’; gagau ‘25 fathoms of shell money’; ita ‘40 fathoms of shell money’. Arosi ʔauhoa is ‘a measure, about a furlong’ (Fox 1978).’ Owa (SES) wairina is ‘ten fathoms’. However, the evidence for such terms is very fragmentary indeed.
Clark (1999) reconstructs Proto Polynesian *(ŋa)kumi ‘ten fathoms’.
| PPn | *(ŋa)kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ (Clark 1999) | |
| Pn | Tongan | (se)kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ (se- ‘one’) |
| Pn | Samoan | ʔumi | ‘ten fathoms’ (Pratt) |
| Pn | Rennellese | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Takuu | (se)kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ (se- ‘one’) |
| Pn | Tuvalu | kumi | ‘ten fathoms of line’ |
| Pn | East Uvean | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Pukapukan | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Rapanui | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Marquesan | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Mangarevan | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Niuean | kumi | ‘ten fathoms’ |
| Pn | Rarotongan | kumi | ‘60 feet, ten fathoms; a linear measurement, esp. of rope or fishing line’ |
| Pn | Hawaiian | ʔumi | ‘ten’ |
The POc verb for measuring out a length, for example, of wood and marking it accordingly was *topoŋ. Final *-ŋ is reflected before a suffix in Mussau and Numbami. It is thus a regular continuation of PAn *tepeŋ ‘to measure quantities, as amounts of grain’, but appears to have undergone a change in meaning, as only one of the Oceanic reflexes listed below, namely Longgu (SES), refers to measuring volume rather then length. Wherever the glosses of other items are specific about what is being measured, it is the length of a rigid object. Given the distinction made earlier between measuring rigid objects (§16.5) and measuring flexible objects (§16.6), one might also expect a verb for measuring flexible objects. POc *ropa ‘fathom’ also served this purpose, as the meaning ‘measure in fathoms’ is reconstructable from its reflexes (§16.6.1). The same meaning appears to be reconstructable for *-ŋapa, but as it was a POc classifier, and thus a bound morpheme, it seems unlikely that it was also used as a POc verb, and probable that reflexes with the meaning ‘measure in fathoms’ are later developments.
| PAn | *tepeŋ | ‘to measure quantities, as amounts of grain’ (ACD: Formosan and WMP) | |
| POc | *topoŋ | ‘to measure; to mark (for cutting); to try (s.t.) out’ | |
| Adm | Mussau | tōŋ-i | ‘to mark, measure’ |
| Adm | Nyindrou | (mu)droh | ‘to measure out’ |
| NNG | Takia | tou | [N] ‘measure, mark, linear size’ |
| NNG | Mutu | tov | ‘to measure (e.g. house)’ |
| NNG | Numbami | (-aᵐbi) tuaŋ(ana) | ‘to measure, judge, assess’ (-aᵐbi ‘hold, get, take’, tuaŋana (nominalisation) ‘measurement’) |
| NNG | Mengen | to[e] | ‘to measure’ |
| PT | Iamalele | (ʔe)towava[i] | ‘to measure length’ (final -va unexplained) |
| PT | Motu | toho-a | ‘to try; to mark for cutting; to rule lines’ |
| MM | Nakanai | tovo | ‘to record, to measure, to try out’ |
| MM | Sursurunga | toho-i | ‘try’ |
| MM | Sursurunga | toh (pasi) | ‘to measure’ (pasi ‘get, acquire’) |
| SES | Tolo | tovo-a | ‘to try, attempt’ |
| SES | Longgu | tovo-a | ‘to test s.o. or s.t. (to see if any good); to measure (quantity of rice, sugar)’ |
| SES | Lau | tō-a | ‘to measure’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | to-toho | ‘a measure, mark, sign’ |
| SES | ’Are’are | to-toho-a | ‘to measure with a measuring stick’ |
| SES | Kwaio | toʔo-a | ‘to measure out’ |
| SES | Sa’a | toho | ‘to measure with a rod’ |
| SES | Arosi | toho | ‘to measure’ |
| PNCV | *tovo | ‘measure’ (Clark 2009) | |
| NCV | Mota | towo | ‘to measure (s.t.) out’ |
| NCV | Araki | tovo | ‘to measure, count, read’ |
| NCV | West Ambrym | tō(tene) | ‘measure’ (tene ‘towards’) |
| NCV | Mafea | tovo- | ‘count’ |
| NCV | Port Sandwich | tö-to(rini) | ‘measure’ |
| NCV | Raga | dov | ‘measure, appoint, design’ |
| NCV | Lonwolwol | tɔ̄ | ‘to measure’ |
| NCV | North Ambrym | tɔu | ‘to measure’ |
| NCV | Paamese | te-toho-ni | ‘to imitate’ |
| NCV | Lewo | tou-tou-ni | ‘to measure, imitate’ |
| NCV | Nguna | to-towo | [N] ‘figure, amount; size’ |
| NCV | South Efate | to-n | ‘to compare ; to measure’ |
POc *topoŋ was evidently lost in PPn, and was replaced by PPn *fua. There are possible cognates in some Western Oceanic languages.
| PPn | *fua | ‘weigh, measure’ (POLLEX) | |
| Pn | Tongan | fua | ‘weigh, measure’ |
| Pn | Niuean | fua | ‘to weigh’ |
| Pn | Samoan | fua | ‘measure; size’ |
| Pn | Tuvalu | fua-fua | [VT] ‘measure; correct’ |
| Pn | East Futunan | fua | ‘a measure, to measure’ |
| Pn | East Uvean | fua | ‘a measure’ |
| Pn | Kapingamarangi | hua | ‘supervise’ |
| PT | Ubir | ifofo-n | ‘to measure’ |
| MM | Madak | po | ‘to measure’ |
| MM | Patpatar | puo | [VT] ‘measure; price something; mark as unsuccessful’ |
The data considered in this chapter suggest strongly that there was a distinction in POc between measuring rigid objects and measuring flexible things such as shell money. This is borne out both in the units of measurement and in the verbs of measuring that can be reconstructed. The material also indicates that the lexicon for measuring flexible things was more complex than that for measuring rigid objects. The complexity of measurement units for flexible items was evidently driven by the need to accurately measure pieces of shell money.
Units of measurement applied to shell money and other items centred on the fathom, which with its definition as the distance between the fingertips of two outstretched arms, served as a baseline for the creation of other terms. It is significant that two POc terms for the fathom are readily reconstructable—*ropa and *-ŋapa—but that POc terms for the half-fathom and units between the half-fathom and the fathom are not. The fact that a number of Oceanic languages agree on expressing these meanings implies that the concepts existed in POc, but the fact that no POc lexical items for them are reconstructable suggests that they were perhaps referred to by phrasal idioms that have been continually replaced. Among shorter units of measurement, terms for the cubit are found across Oceania, and there was presumably a POc term for it, but the evidence does not permit a reconstruction.
The two POc reconstructions for ‘fathom’, *ropa and *-ŋapa, are respectively a noun and a classifier. Classifiers are discussed at some length in chapter 14.