Note 471 — Chapter VIII · CONNEXION BETWEEN THE ROMAN LAND SYSTEM AND THE LATER MANORIAL SYSTEM.

The standard measure of land throughout the Turkish Empire is called a deunum, and is the area which one pair of oxen can plough in a single day; it is equal to a quarter of an acre, or a square of forty arshuns (nearly 100 feet). There seems to be but one allusion to this fact in the Scriptures; it is found in 1 Sam. xiv. 14, where the exploit of Jonathan and his armour-bearer is described: twenty of the enemy are stated to have fallen within a space of 'a half-acre of land' of 'a yoke of oxen,' an expression better rendered 'within the space of half a deunum of land.' This measure is referred to in ancient profane writers, so that no change has occurred in this respect. Van Lenner's Bible Customs in Bible Lands, i. 75.