Measurement

A measurement is the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events. Numerous units of measurement are found in The Elder Scrolls, primarily their usage in Tamriel.

Overview

Measurement units in Tamriel are non-metric, growing out of customary use and not abstract principles. Tamriel appears to have a uniform system of weights and measures, mentioned interchangeably by people from Daggerfall to the Imperial City or Lillandril.

There are several basic units of measurement in usage in Tamriel: length, weight, and time. Most other units of measure thus far are units which have been derived from these basic ones, such as area and volume. Additionally, some units of measurements commonly used are more archaic in their usage; e.g. the term "stone" to indicate weight and the term "league" to indicate distance.

Units of plane angle are apparently also the same in Tamriel: a circle is divided up into 360 "degrees".

Units of Measurement

Units of Length

• Inches
• Feet
• Yards
• Miles
• Leagues

Units of Area Measurement

• Acres
• Hides

Although an acre is a unit indicating an objective land area, a hide is an administrative unit for measuring monetary production. One "hide" is enough to support one household, e.g. if five fertile acres of farmland produce the same amount of money needed to provide for one household as ten acres of poor swampland do, both groupings are considered to be worth one "hide".

Units of Volume

• Pints
• Gallons
• Bushels

"Barrels", filled with foods, wine, or other substances, are also used frequently. It is unclear if this term reflects a standardised size and unit of measurement (though possibly differing between type of content; e.g., foods, wine, oil, sand, stone, etc.).

Very powerful medicines administered by physicians are usually just functionally measured in number of drops diluted into water or wine⁠. Any intervening units between a drop and a full pint, for larger amounts of medicine, have not been used, and might just be functionally measured as "a cup" of milk or "a spoon" of honey.

Units of Weight Measurement

• Ounces
• Pounds
• Stones (equal to 14 pounds)
• Tons

Units of Time Measurement

• Seconds
• Minutes
• Hours
• Days
• Weeks
• Fortnights
• Months, moons, and turns of the moon
• Years
• Decades
• Centuries
• Millennia
• Eons
• Eras (lacks a measurement in terms of years; some Eras last millennia, others last several hundred years)

Sundials and hourglasses can be used to track the passage of time.

Just as on Earth, there are twelve moon turns to a year.

Calendar System

The calendar system currently used in Tamriel uses the start of the reign of King Eplear I Camoran of Valenwood as the first year on their calendar, dating events using either ME (Merethic Era) for years proceeding his reign, or 1E (First Era), 2E (Second Era), 3E (Third Era), and 4E (Fourth Era) for years following it. The usage of ME functions just like BCE on Earth, counting backwards from year 1E 1 (there is no year 0; the year before 1E 1 was ME 1) — someone who was born in ME 56 and died in ME 12 would have lived a 44 year life.

Eras, unlike other units of time measurement, have no set number of years attached to it. The First Era lasted 2920 years, the Second Era lasted 896 years, and the Third Era 433 years. Nirn is thus currently in its Fourth Era, and there may be many more.

King Eplear did not actually introduce numbered Eras, which did not exist for many thousands of years. Eplear's original system was a much simpler one, dividing years into two categories: ME for those preceding his reign, and NE (New Era) for the years that begun with his reign. The name 'New Era', despite being used throughout what we now know as the First Era, gradually phased out of use across the continent after Potentate Versidue Shaie of the Second Empire declared the start of a Second Era, post-facto renaming the 'New Era' the 'First Era'. The usage of the Merethic Era (ME) would continue to be used, but NE would be turned into 1E, and 2E was added to the sequence. Dating years would thus look as follows: 1E 2834 (the year 2834 of the First Era); ME 877 (the year 877 of the Merethic Era).

Months

Individual months have names, though none know the origins of the naming system:

Name of Month	Gregorian Equivalent	Birthsign	Days
Morning Star	January	Ritual	31
Sun's Dawn	February	Lover	28
First Seed	March	Lord	31
Rain's Hand	April	Mage	30
Second Seed	May	Shadow	31
Midyear	June	Steed	30
Sun's Height	July	Apprentice	31
Last Seed	August	Warrior	31
Hearthfire	September	Lady	30
Frostfall	October	Tower	31
Sun's Dusk	November	Atronach	30
Evening Star	December	Thief	31

Days

Individual days also have names, though just like the months none know the origins of the naming system:

Name of Day	Gregorian Equivalent
Morndas	Monday
Tirdas	Tuesday
Middas	Wednesday
Turdas	Thursday
Fredas	Friday
Loredas	Saturday
Sundas	Sunday

Hours

Although hours are used in The Elder Scrolls as a measurement of time, individual hours have never been referred to by names such as "eleven o'clock". Instead, functional definitions such as dawn, noon, and dusk are used (e.g., "the hours before the dawn").