Length & distance
The qasba, xiber and pulzier form a system of length. A linear qasba and a square qasba measure different dimensions.
Start converting ↗Qasba. Xiber. Pulzier.
Construction and old plans require attention to the standard. Bianco discusses a 2.088 m factor; later tables are represented here by a qasba of about 2.096 m.
- Qasba
- ≈ 2.0955 m
- Xiber
- ≈ 0.2619 m
- Pulzier
- ≈ 0.0218 m
Meaning & context
Qasba
≈ 2.0955 mA length measure encountered in plans and building work. This version uses the later equivalence of 82½ English inches, expressed in modern metres. Bianco also reports a historical 2.088 m factor.
Qasba · 2.088 m
≈ 2.088 mHistorical variant discussed by Bianco when interpreting a 1737 plan. The 2.088 m factor is attributed to Doursther (1840); it should not automatically replace the later variant.
Xiber
≈ 0.2619 mA traditional measure associated with a hand span. Conversion uses a standard fraction of the qasba, not the span of an individual person.
Pulzier
≈ 0.0218 mThe Maltese pulzier is one twelfth of a xiber. Although translated as inch, it is not the imperial inch of 2.54 cm.
Fitel
Awaiting verificationDocumented as half a xiber in the secondary reference. A primary definition has not been sufficiently verified for public conversion.
Sources & method
- Malta Blue Book 1935 — Weights and Measures, section 19 ↗
Historical tables in the NSO archive. Digitised text contains errors; values here are qualified approximations.
- Lino Bianco — Cartographic representations in early eighteenth century Baroque Malta ↗
Study of a 1737 plan; discusses a 2.088 m cane and relationships between land units.
- Unitajiet ta’ kejl Maltin — Wikipedija ↗
Starting point for names and meanings; not a sole authority.