almud

Meanings

1. A traditional Spanish and Portuguese unit of dry measure or volume, highly variable by region and substance but often equivalent to about 4.6 liters (one celemin).
2. A traditional unit of land area, nominally the amount of land that could be sown with one almud of seed.
3. A low, wide box used as a physical measure for this unit.
4. Alternative form of almude (“a Portuguese unit of measure”).

Etymology

From Spanish almud and Portuguese almude, both from Andalusian Arabic المُدّ (al-mudd), from Arabic مُدّ (mudd), probably via Aramaic 𐡬𐡣𐡩𐡠 (mdyʾ) and מוֹדְיָא (moḏyā) or Classical Syriac ܡܘܿܕܝܳܐ (moḏyā) from Akkadian 𒉘𒈨𒌍 (/⁠maddattu, middattu⁠/, “kind of vessel, unit of volume”). Doublet of almude. Cognate with Ancient Greek μόδιος (módios), Latin modius, French muid, and Dutch mud.