Maltese Measurement System

Prior to the introduction of the Imperial system by the British, Malta had its own system of
units which was closely related to the Arabic system. In fact, most of them were actually
direct relations, with slight translations being made to the Maltese language.

Length
The units for Length in Malta were used to measure tradable goods and stretches of land that
were to be built or sold for agriculture. Since length was primarily measured in terms of the
time it took to travel those lengths, it would explain why there is a significant lack of large
scale units present in this system. The units for length are listed in the Table 1 below.
Table 1
Units of Length

Unit

Plural

Relative Value

Metric Value

Imperial Value

Pulzier

Pulzieri

1
12

~2.183 cm

~859.4 thou

Fiter

Iftla

1
2

~13.1 cm

~5.156 in

Xiber

Ixbra

~26.19 cm

~10.31 in

qasba

Qasbiet/ Qasab

~2.096 m

~2.292 yd

Although obsolete, some of these units are still used sparingly in speech by some locals,
typically those of advanced age. The pulzier is nowadays taken to be equivalent to the British
inch, while the qasba is still used to casually describe plots of land in the real estate industry.

Area
Apart from the usual way of defining area in square units, such as pulzier kwadru, the
Maltese system of units also featured a set of units for area that were specific to land. These
are listed in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Units for Area

Unit

Plural

Relative Value

Metric Value

Imperial Value

Kejla

Kejliet

1
60

~18.74 m

~22.41 sq yd

Sieg

Sigan

1
6

~187.4 m

~224.1 sq yd

Tomna

Tomniet/Tmiem

~1,124 m

~1344 sq yd

Wejba

Wejbiet

~4497 m

~1.111 acres

Modd

Mdied

16

~1.799 m

~4.444 acres

Volume
The old Maltese units for volume are amongst those most still frequently used, even by the
younger generation. Although not officially recognized as standard units in written
documents, many people continue to refer to them in the context of everyday objects such as
Milk, since these are typically supplied in volumes that conform to the old standards.
The list of volumetric units can be seen below in Tables 3, 4 and 5.

Table 3
Units of Volume for Wines and Spirits

Unit

Plural

Relative value

Metric value

Imperial value

pinta

pinet

1/8

~142.1 ml

0.25 pt

terz

terzi

1/4

~284.1 ml

0.5 pt

nofs

infas

1/2

~568.3 ml

1 pt

karto

krate

~1.137 litres

2 pt

kwarta

kwarti

4.75

~5.398 L

9.5 pt

arra

arar

9.5

~10.8 L

2.375 gal

barmil

bramel

38

~43.19 L

9.5 gal

Table 4
Units of Volume for Oil and Milk

Unit

Plural

Relative value

Metric value

Imperial value

kwartin

kwartini

1/40

~31.96 ml

1.125 fl oz

kejla

kejliet

1/10

~127.9 ml

4.5 fl oz

terz

terzi

1/4

~319.6 ml

11.25 fl oz

nofs

infas

1/2

~639.3 ml

karto

krate

~1.279 litres

2.25 pt

kwarta

kwarti

~5.114 L

9 pt,/ 1.125 gal

qafi

qafii

16

~20.46 L

4.5 gal

22.5 fl oz,/1.125
pints

Table 5
Units of Volume for Dry Quantities

Unit

Plural

Relative value

Metric value

Imperial value

lumin

lumini

1/600

~30.31 ml

~1.849 cu in

kejla

kejliet

1/60

~303.1 ml

~18.49 cu in

sieg

sigan

1/10

~1.818 L

~111 cu in

gabara

1/6

~3.031 L

tomna

tmien,/tomniet

~18.18 L

modd

mdied

16

~290.9 L

~184.9 cu in, /
~0.107 cu ft
~0.6422 cu ft
~10.27 cu ft./
~0.3805 cu yd

Weight
The old units for weight are still used by a number of people, most notably by fruit and
vegetable vendors. This is mainly due to the link that has been formed throughout the years
between certain foods and a unit of measure. For example, wizna patata is still a phrase that
is recognized throughout the island to be approximately 4 kg.
The table for Units of Weight are shown in Table 6 below. One should not confuse the
kwart with kwarta as these are two separate units of measure for two different things.

Table 6
Units for Weight

Unit

Plural

Relative value

Metric value

Imperial value

ottav

ottavi

1/8 uqija

~3.307 g

~0.1167 oz

kwart

kwarti

1/4 uqija

~6.615 g

~0.2333 oz

uqija

ewieq

1/30

~26.46 g

~0.9333 oz

kwart

kwarti

1/4

~198.4 g

7 oz

ratal

irtal

~793.8 g

qsima

qsimiet

1.25

~992.2 g

wina

winiet

~3.969 kg

8.75 lb

qantar

qnatar

100

~79.38 kg

175 lb

peata

300

~238.1 kg

525 lb

28 oz, or
1.75 lb
35 oz, or
2.1875 lb

References
Robert Montgomery Martin. History of the Colonies of the British Empire in
the
West
Indies,
South
America,
North
America,
Asia...
London:
W.
H.
Allen
&
Co.
and
George
Routledge, 1843.
Page 587.
http://www.sizes.com/units/charts/UTBLMalta_land.htm
http://justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?
app=lom&itemid=8920&l=2