Comment on The Price of this Candy Bar
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 days agoLbs is a shortened version of the Greek word for measuring scales. So it actually doesn‘t mean a specific weight, but more like “weighed” or something.
Comment on The Price of this Candy Bar
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 days agoLbs is a shortened version of the Greek word for measuring scales. So it actually doesn‘t mean a specific weight, but more like “weighed” or something.
pipes@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
While true that originally it also meant “balance” (in late latin we later got the word bilanx for scales - literally two plates), lb is for latin libra, and it was an actual specific weight (with a corresponding economical value in the Roman as coin) in use since the Roman republic, and it has remained in use for more than two millennia all over the world (with slighly different values depending on time and place, but usually between 350-450grams). It’s not an accident the the UK pound stirling coin still has the same L shaped symbol £, same as the italian lira, etc