Arshin

Reading notes

• Hopeless (A Sketch) §9 arshin

  A pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length, about 71 cm (28 inches) -- roughly the distance from shoulder to fingertip.

• The Darling §35 arshins

  A pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length, about 28 inches; after months of keeping the timber-yard accounts, Olenka dreams of logs measured in arshins and vershoks.

• Ladies and Gentlemen, Townsfolk (Господа обыватели) §25 two arshins

  The arshin, a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length equal to about 71 centimeters (28 inches), used here to specify the tower's proposed extra height.

• The Captain's Uniform §8 Four arshins

  An arshin is a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length, about 71 cm (28 inches); four arshins of broadcloth is enough for a full uniform coat.

• Slander §13 arshins

  A pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length equal to about 71 cm (28 inches); a sturgeon 'two arshins long' is roughly 1.4 meters, i.e. boastfully enormous.

• Gooseberries §24 arshins

  A pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length equal to about 71 cm (28 inches); Ivan Ivanych invokes the common saying that a man needs only three arshins of land to argue that this is the measure of a grave, not of a life.

• On the River §3 how high the water has risen

  The policeman's report on the flood measures the water's rise in the traditional units -- arshins for the larger figure, vershoks for the fraction -- the pairing used throughout the period for precise but informal measurement.

• An Unpleasantness §47 arshin

  A pre-revolutionary Russian unit of length equal to about 71 cm (28 inches), used here simply to measure the short distance from the windowsill to the grass outside.

• The Tutor §19 138 arshins

  The arshin, about 71 cm (28 inches), was the standard pre-revolutionary Russian unit for measuring cloth -- the word problem is period-realistic down to its unit of measure.