Dunam

{{Short description|Ottoman unit of land area}} {{refimprove|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} A '''dunam''' (Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: {{lang|ota|دونم}}; {{langx|tr|dönüm}}; {{langx|he|דונם}}; {{langx|yi|דונאם}}), also known as a '''donum''' or '''dunum''' and as the '''old''', '''Turkish''', or '''Ottoman stremma,'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dunam |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/dunam |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) 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",<ref>V.L. Ménage, Review of Speros Vryonis, Jr. ''The decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the process of islamization from the eleventh through the fifteenth century'', Berkeley, 1971; in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' (University of London) '''36''':3 (1973), pp. 659–661. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/613605 at JSTOR (subscription required)]</ref> but its actual area varied considerably from place to place, from a little more than 900 m2 in Ottoman Palestine to around 2 500 m2 in Iraq.<ref>''Cowan, J. Milton; Arabic-English Dictionary, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th Edition, Spoken Languages Services, Inc.; 1994; p. 351)</ref><ref name="lkn">Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (Dictionary of Modern Greek), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών, Θεσσαλονίκη, 1998. {{ISBN|960-231-085-5}}</ref>

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 1 000 m2.<ref name="lkn"/>

==History== The name '''dönüm''', from the Ottoman Turkish {{translit|ota|dönmek}} ({{lang|ota|دونمك}} {{gloss|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.<ref>Ménage, ''op.cit.''</ref>

''The Dictionary of Modern Greek'' defines the old Ottoman stremma as approximately {{convert|1,270|m2}},<ref>Λεξικό, 1998</ref> but Costas Lapavitsas used the value of {{convert|1,600|m2}} for the region of Naoussa in the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hdoisto.gr/Keimena/Lapavitsas4112005.pdf |title=Social and Economic Underpinning of Industrial Development: Evidence from Ottoman Macedonia |author-link1=Costas Lapavitsas |first1=Costas |last1=Lapavitsas |work=Ηλεκτρονικό Δελτίο Οικονομικής Ιστορίας |access-date=2012-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928095353/http://www.hdoisto.gr/Keimena/Lapavitsas4112005.pdf |archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref>

==Definition== ===Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro === In Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia the unit is called the {{lang|sh-Latn|dulum}} ({{lang|sh-Cyrl|дулум}}) or {{lang|sh-Latn|dunum}} ({{lang|sh-Cyrl|дунум}}). In Bosnia and Herzegovina a {{lang|bs|dunum}} (or {{lang|bs|dulum}}) equals {{convert|1,000|m2|0}}. In the region of Leskovac, south Serbia, one dulum is equal to {{convert|1,600|m2|0}}. In Albania it is called a {{lang|sq|dynym}} or {{lang|sq|dylym}} and is equal to {{convert|1,000|m2|0}}.<ref name="RGA">{{cite web|url=http://www.rgz.gov.rs/template1.asp?PageName=merne_jedinice&MenuID=0000162&LanguageID=1 |script-title=sr:Мерне јединице у КЗ и КН |publisher=Republic Geodetic Authority of the Republic of Serbia |access-date=6 September 2010 |language=sr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304030340/http://www.rgz.gov.rs/template1.asp?PageName=merne_jedinice&MenuID=0000162&LanguageID=1 |archive-date=4 March 2012}}</ref>

===Bulgaria=== In Bulgaria, the {{lang|bg-Latn|decare}} ({{lang|bg|декар}}) is used, which is an SI unit, literally meaning 10 ares.

===Cyprus=== In Cyprus, a donum is {{val|1337.803776|u=m2}} or 14400 square feet.<ref>Department of Lands and Surveys web site http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/dls{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (retrieved April 2014)</ref> In the Republic of Cyprus older Greek-Cypriots also still refer to the donum using the local Greek Cypriot dialect word σκάλες [skales], rather than the mainland Greek word stremma (equivalent to a decare). However, since 1986 officially Cyprus uses the square metre and the hectare.

A donum consists of 4 evleks, each of which consists of {{val|334.450944|u=m2}} or 3.600 square feet.

===Greece=== {{main|stremma}}

In Greece, the old {{lang|tr|dönüm}} is called a "Turkish stremma", while today, a {{lang|el-Latn|stremma}} ({{lang|el|στρέμμα}}) or "royal stremma" is exactly one decare, like the metric {{lang|tr|dönüm}}.<ref name="lkn"/>

===Iraq=== In Iraq, the dunam is {{convert|2500|m2|ha}}.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHLR2kg60G0C&q=how+to+find+the+length+and+the+width+of+donum&pg=PA160 |title = A Glimpse of Iraq|isbn = 978-1-4116-9518-4|last1 = Al-Shawi|first1 = Ibrahim|year = 2006| publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref>

===Israel, Palestine and Turkey=== In Israel, Palestine and Turkey, the dunam is {{convert|1000|m2|ft2|0}}, which is 1 decare. From the Ottoman period and through the early years of the British Mandate for Palestine, the size of a dunam was {{convert|919.3|m2|sqft|0}}, but in 1928, the metric dunam of {{convert|1000|m2|ha}} was adopted, and this is still used today in Israel and Palestine.<ref>{{cite book|last1= El-Eini |first1= Roza I.M. |title= Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929–1948 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ekQOAAAAQAAJ |access-date= 2009-05-05 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-7146-5426-3 |page= xxiii |chapter= Currency and Measures |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ekQOAAAAQAAJ&q=El-Eini+%22Mandated+Landscape%22 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | author = Israel Central Bureau of Statistics | url = http://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton62/e_symbols.pdf | title = explanatory notes | access-date = 2 August 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131217052043/https://www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton62/e_symbols.pdf| archive-date=17 December 2013}}</ref>

=== United Arab Emirates === The Dubai Statistics Center and [https://www.scad.gov.abudhabi/en/pages/default.aspx Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi] use the metric dunam (spelt as donum) for data relating to agricultural land use.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dsc.gov.ae/Publication/SYB%202009%20Chapter%208.pdf|title=Chapter 8: Agriculture Statistical Yearbook|date=2009|website=Dubai Statistics Center|page=184|access-date=17 April 2019}}</ref> One donum equals {{convert|1,000|m2|0}}.

==Variations== Other countries using a dunam of some size include Libya and Syria.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

==Similar units== {{see also|Acre}} The Byzantine Greek {{lang|grc-x-byzant|stremma}} was the probable source of the Turkish unit. The {{lang|grc-Latn|zeugarion}} ({{lang|grc|ζευγάριον}}; Turkish {{lang|ota-Latn|çift}}, {{lang|ota|چفت}}) 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.{{fact|date=February 2018}}

==See also== * Orders of magnitude (area) for further comparisons * Conversion of units * {{lang|ar-Latn|Feddan}} ({{lang|ar|فدّان}}), a similar non-SI unit of area used in Egypt, Sudan, and Syria * {{lang|ota-Latn|Resm-i dönüm}}, a land tax based on the area of a farm

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.hagertygrain.com/weights_and_me.htm Foreign Weights and Measures Formerly in Common Use] * [http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictD.html Dictionary of units] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050422231807/http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/Tvillage/Pages/Page_52.html Variable donums in Turkey] * [http://www.sizes.com/units/doumlnuumlm.htm Summary based on UN handbook]

Category:Units of area Category:Turkish words and phrases Category:Metricated units