Fascis
Background
Sometimes called a short faggot, a faggot of sticks equals a bundle of wood sticks or billets that is 3 feet (90 cm) in length and 2 feet (60 cm) in circumference. The measurement was standardised in ordinances by 1474. A small short faggot was also called a nicket. A brush-faggot (sometimes shortened to brush) was a bundle of similar size made of brushwood.
A long faggot of sticks equals a bundle larger than 3 feet (90 cm) long. In a book on slang used at Winchester College fire-dogs were fire basket (andirons) that could hold long faggots, and half-faggots were smaller andirons that could only hold short faggots and were later converted for use with coal.
A long faggot was also called a kidd faggot, kid, kide, or kidde being Middle English for firewood in bundles.
A fascine (or bavin) is a type of long faggot which is approximately 13 to 20 feet (4 to 6 m) long and 8 to 9 inches (20 to 23 cm) in diameter and used to maintain earthworks such as trenches.
A faggot was also a unit of weight used to measure iron or steel rods or bars totaling 120 pounds (54 kg).
See also
References
- ^ Zupko, Ronald Edward (1985). A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: The Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Vol. 168. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871691682.
- ^ Halliwell, John Orchard (2006). A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words: Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs and Ancient Customs from the Fourteenth Century J-Z. Vol. 2. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 9781428627642.
- ^ Wright, Joseph (1898). The English Dialect Dictionary, Being the Complete Vocabulary of All Dialect Words Still in Use, Or Known to Have Been in Use During the Last Two Hundred Years: A-E. H. Frowde.
- ^ Stevens, Charles; Stray, Christopher (1998). Winchester notions: the English dialect of Winchester College. Athlone Press. ISBN 9780485121384.
- ^ Yaxley, David (2003). A Researcher's Glossary of Words Found in Historical Documents of East Anglia. Larks Press, ISBN 9781904006138
- ^ Frances McSparran (ed.). Middle English Compendium. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Library.
- ^ The New Quarterly Review and Digest of Current Literature, British, American, French, and German. For the Year 1855. London: Thomas Bosworth.
- ^ Editorial staff (1871). The English Mechanic and World of Science. Vol. 12. p. 168.
- ^ Nolan, Cathal J. (2008). Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313359200.
