Alnager

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical English official responsible for inspecting and measuring woollen cloth to check its standard length and quality
2. An officer appointed in medieval and early modern England to gauge woollen cloth and certify that it met legal measurements
3. Formerly a government inspector who measured and sealed woollen fabric to ensure it conformed to the official ell

Etymology: An alnager was an official appointed to inspect and measure woollen cloth in medieval and early modern England. The job's name comes from "alnage", the act of measuring cloth with an ell, a unit of length (about 45 inches) that was standard for textiles, with "-er" added to name the person who performed it. The office was a royal one, and its holders certified that cloth met required lengths and quality before it could be sold, so the alnager's seal on a bolt of cloth served as a mark of official approval. The word therefore names a very specific trade rather than a general occupation. It is a straightforward compound of a base noun and an agent suffix, and its meaning stayed tied to the cloth trade throughout its history.