Heinz Ziegler

Kölner Ame und Ohme – Saum und Fuder im Reich

Untersuchung zum Volumen und Füllgewicht der Flüssigkeitsmaße und Gefäße bis in das 19. Jahrhundert

The Cologne fluid measures “Ahm” or “Ohm” were actually derived from the load of pack animals (sagma, saum, some, ame). Not only were they called by that name but there is evidence that from the late Middle Ages onwards they had been given a weight/volume which exactly corresponds to the load put on a horse. The research project “Documentation and the object-based tradition of historical metrology in the area of ‘Deutsches Reich’ until 1871/1872” (1980–1984), financed by the VW Foundation and organized by the chair for historical economic and social studies (Prof. H. Witthöft, team member H. Ziegler) made it possible to document and analyse the relevant objects in museums and collections, with the help of the local offices of weights and measures.

Based on numerous standards in these traditions as analysed by the author of this article, it was possible for him to clarify and document the exact correspondence of the volumina of “Ahm” and “Ohm” with the mass of the saddle load. There can be no doubt about the correct gauging or the standards on the one hand, and their exact relation to the respective animals (donkey, mule, horse). Only since the pack animal was replaced by freight carriages, the oil-Ohm could also be calculated as wine- or beer-Ohm. In the 16^th century it is documented that at the customs at the Lueg (Brenner 1558), the “Saum” (cart load) was already used as a partially abstract weight standard: “Four Cente German weight is a cart load (cart Saum) and three Cente is a Rossam (horse load)”.

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