Dunams

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A measurement of land area amounting to roughly 1,000 square meters that is frequently used in agricultural contexts
2. An area unit that represents a specific land size, particularly significant in regions like the Middle East
3. A unit of area equivalent to approximately 1,000 square meters, commonly utilized for land management and agricultural purposes

Etymology: "Dunams" is the plural of "dunam," a unit of land area that remains in everyday use in Israel, Jordan, and parts of the wider Middle East. Its name comes from a Turkish word meaning "turn," and the connection is literal: the unit was the amount of ground a person could plough in a single turn of the yoke of oxen. The Turkish "dönüm" derives from the verb "dönmek," "to turn." Hebrew "dúnam" and Arabic "dūnum" both passed the word along from Turkish. Scholars regard it as a probable calque of Medieval Greek "strémma," which likewise meant "that which is turned," so the same agricultural image of a furrow completed and turned back appears independently in more than one language.