{{short description|Ancient unit of land}} {{hatnote|'Yardland' redirects here. Not to be confused with yard (land).<br>For the use of 'virgate' in reference to rod-like stems and ribs, see virgate (botany).}} {{Anthropic_Farm_Units}} The '''virgate''', '''yardland''', or '''yard of land''' ({{langx|la|virgāta}} [''{{lang|la|terrae}}'']) was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as {{1/4}} hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acres. It was equivalent to two of the Danelaw's oxgangs. __NOTOC__ {{anchor|Etymology}}
==Name== {{Wiktionary}} The name derives from the Old English ''{{lang|ang|gyrd landes}}'' ("yard of land"),<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "yardland, ''n.''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1921.</ref> from “yard's” former meaning as a measuring stick employed in reckoning acres (cf. rod). The word is etymologically unrelated to the yard of land around a dwelling.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "yard, ''n.<sup>2</sup>''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1921.</ref> "Virgate" is a much later retronym, anglicizing the yardland's latinized form ''virgāta'' after the advent of the yard rendered the original name ambiguous.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "virgate, ''n.''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1917.</ref>
==History== The virgate was reckoned as the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres.<ref>D. Hey ed., ''Oxford Companion to Local and Family History'' (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996), 476.</ref> In some parts of England, it was divided into four nooks ({{langx|enm|noke}}; {{langx|la-x-medieval|noca}}).<ref>"Noca - nook (measure of land)" R. W. Latham, ''Revised Medieval Latin Word-list'' (Oxford University Press, London: for British Academy 1965), 312.</ref> Nooks were occasionally further divided into a farundel ({{langx|enm|ferthendel}}; {{langx|ang|fēorþan dǣl}}, "fourth deal, fourth share").<ref>{{cite book |title=An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |last=Bosworth |first=Joseph |authorlink=Joseph Bosworth (scholar) |author2=T. Northcote Toller |year=1882 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=281 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlii1KgDngC}}</ref>
The Danelaw equivalent of a virgate was two oxgangs or ‘bovates’.<ref>Stephen Friar, ''Batsford Companion to Local History'' (Batsford, London 1991), 270.</ref> These were considered to represent the amount of land that could be worked in a single annual season by a single ox and therefore equated to half a virgate. As such, the oxgang represented a parallel division of the carucate.
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Units of area Category:Obsolete units of measurement