我们在古装剧中经常看到高手过招以“一炷香”为限，你知道这“一炷香的工夫”究竟是多久吗？

“一炷香”这个时间概念起源于僧人打坐，在没有钟表的古代，僧人以香的燃烧为计时方法。

实际上，“一炷香”并不是精确的时间单位，受环境、风力、香的长短等诸多因素影响，一炷香的燃烧时间并不完全相同，古人说的“一炷香时间”大约是十五分钟到一小时不等。

除了“一炷香”、“一盏茶”等中国古代的说法，英语中也有许多古老、奇怪的时间单位，随着人类文明的发展，有些早已成为历史，鲜少被提起，但这并不妨碍我们了解这些有趣的知识。

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1. ATOM

Atom comes from a Greek word meaning “uncuttable,” and so in terms of physics an atom is literally an “indivisible” particle. In Old English, however, atom also came to be used for what was then considered the smallest measureable quantity of time: there were once reckoned to be 376 atoms in a minute, making one atom equal to a little under 1/6th of a second (or 0.15957 seconds, to be more precise).原子源自希腊语，意思是“不可分割的”，物理学中的原子实际上是一种“不可分割的”粒子。然而，在古英语中，原子也代表当时被认为可测量的最小时间量：人们曾认为一分钟内有376原子，一原子接近1/6秒（更准确地说是0.15957秒）。

2. GHURRY

In the Middle Ages, all kinds of contraptions and devices were used to keep track of time, one of the simplest and neatest of which was an Indian water-clock called a ghurry. It comprised a large metal or wooden bowl, pierced with several holes, which would be placed in a basin full of water, and as the water poured into the bowl through the holes in its sides, it would slowly sink to the bottom of the tank. The entire process from start to finish took a fixed amount of time, which was usually precisely 24 minutes. Ultimately, there were once considered to be 60 ghurries in a day.在中世纪，人们发明了各种各样奇妙的时间计量装置，其中最简单灵巧的是印度水钟（被称为“ghurry”）。这种水钟由一个带有数个小孔的金属或木制大碗组成，将碗放在装满水的盆里，当水通过碗上的孔流入碗中时，碗会慢慢沉到水底部。整个过程所用的时间是固定的，一般是24分钟。曾经人们认为一天有60“ghurries”。

Note: contraption 奇妙的装置，新奇玩意儿

3. LUSTRE

A lustre is a period of five years. Its use dates back to Ancient Rome, when a lustrum was a five-year period at the end of which a full census of the Roman population would be carried out. Once the figures were in and the counting was complete, a vast celebratory procession would be held through the streets of Rome, which culminated in a vast purifying sacrifice called a lustratio (literally, “a washing”) made in honor of all of the people of the Empire.“lustre”表示五年时间。关于“lustre”的历史可以追溯到古罗马时期，“lustrum”在当时指五年长的周期，每当这个周期结束，罗马将进行一次全面的人口普查。普查结束时，罗马街头会出现庞大的庆祝游行，最终以一场被称为“lustratio”的净化祭祀结束，以纪念所有罗马帝国的人民。

Notes:

Lustre/lustrum 五年时间

culminate (以某种结果)告终

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4.MILEWAY

If a “light-year” sounds like a unit of time but is actually a unit of distance, then a mileway is the complete opposite. It sounds like a unit of length, but in the early Middle Ages it was actually a name for a period of around 20 minutes—or roughly the amount time it takes to walk one mile.“光年”听起来像是表示时间的单位，实际上却是距离单位。而“mileway（英里路）”则完全相反，它听起来像是长度单位，但在中世纪初期，“mileway”表示大约20分钟或步行一英里大概所需的时间。

5. NUNDINE

A nundine was a Roman market held every ninth day, which takes its name from the Latin word for “ninth,” novem (as in November, the ninth month of the Roman calendar). A nundine, ultimately, is a period of nine days—or, not counting inclusively, an eight-day gap between two dates.“Nundine”是指罗马集市日，每九天举办一次，它来源于拉丁语中的“novem（第九，就像November即11月是罗马历法中的第9个月）”。后来“nundine”用来表示9天长的时间，或者两个日期中的八天间隔。

Note: nundine 根据古罗马历法，每九天举行一次的集市日

6. NYCHTHEMERON

Derived from the Greek words for “night” (nyks) and “day” (hemera), a nychthemeron is nothing more than a fancy alternative name for a period of 24 hours. “Nychthemeron（一昼夜）”源自希腊语的“夜”（nyks）和“日”（hemera），“nycthemeron”不过是24小时的别名。

Note: nychthemeron 一天一夜，一昼夜

7. PUNCT

Also called a point or a prick, in Medieval Europe a punct was a quarter of an hour…“A punct”也被称为“a point（一点）”或“a prick（一刺）”，在中世纪的欧洲，一“punct”表示一刻钟……

8. QUADRANT

…while a quadrant is one-quarter of a day, or a period of exactly six hours.……而“a quadrant”表示四分之一天，或者说六个小时。

Note: quadrant 四分之一圆（或圆周），象限

9. QUINZIèME

Quinzième literally means “fifteenth” in French, and in this sense the word was borrowed into English after the Norman Conquest of England as the name of a tax or duty equivalent to 15 pence in every pound. In the early 1400s, however, the word began to be used in religious contexts to refer to the day of a major church festival or holiday and the first two full weeks following it. As a result, a quinzième is a period of 15 days.“Quinzième”在法语中表示“第十五”，诺曼人征服英国后这个词被借用到英语中，作为一种税的名称，相当于每英磅15便士。而到15世纪初期，quinzième开始在宗教语境中使用，代表一个重要的宗教节日以及随后的整整两周。因此，一“quinzième”等于15天。

10. SCRUPLE

Scruple comes from scrupulus, a Latin word for a small stone or pebble. Historically, a scruple was also an old apothecaries’ measurement equal to 1/24th of an ounce (roughly 1.3 grams). In the early 17th century scruple also came to be used as another name for 1/60th of a degree of a circle (i.e. one minute), 1/60th of a minute (i.e. one second), and 1/60th of a day (i.e. 24 minutes).“Scruple（顾虑，不安）”源自拉丁语中的“scrupulus（小石头或卵石）”。历史上，“scruple”曾是药剂师使用的古老计量单位，相当于1/24盎司（约1.3克）。在17世纪初期，“scruple”也表示圆周的1/60度（1分钟）、一分钟的1/60（1秒）和一天的1/60（24分钟）。

来源：Mental Floss编辑：董静

来源：中国日报网