oxgang
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English oxegang, from Old English oxangang (“1⁄8 hide or ploughland”), equivalent to ox + gang.
Noun
[edit]oxgang (plural oxgangs)
- (historical) The area of land that could be plowed by an ox in a year, 1⁄8 hide or carucate and notionally 15 acres.
- (historical, Scotland) The similar Scottish concept, 1⁄8 of a ploughgate and notionally 12 1⁄2 or 13 Scottish acres.
Usage notes
[edit]The hide was originally intended to represent the amount of land farmed by a single household but was primarily connected to obligations owed to the Saxon and Norman kings and thus varied greatly from place to place. Around the time of the Domesday Book under the Normans, the hide was usually but not always the land expected to produce £1 (1 Tower pound of sterling silver) in income over the year, meaning the oxgang was expected to produce 30 pence (1 1⁄2 Tower ounces of sterling silver).
Synonyms
[edit]Hypernyms
[edit]- (800 oxgangs) See hundred
- (8 oxgangs) See carucate
- (Scottish, 4 oxgangs) See ochdamh
- (2 oxgangs) See virgate
Hyponyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]area
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References
[edit]- Worchester, Joseph. A Dictionary of the English Language. Boston, 1881.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English compound terms
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with historical senses
- Scottish English
- English 2-syllable words
- en:Units of measure