Lexicon

(English Index)

(Original Index)

 

 



Dunam



A dunam or donum was a unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m². In many formerly Ottoman regions, it is now defined as exactly one decare (1000 m²).

The name donum, from the Ottoman Turkish dönmek (to turn) appears to be a copy of the Byzantine stremma and had the same size. It was likely adopted by the Ottomans from the Byzantines in Mysia-Bithynia. In Arabic, the word is spelled (dunam) which is 'a square measure' (roughly, 1000 m²).

In Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey the donum is 1,000 square metres, which is 1 decare. Before the end of the Ottoman Empire and during the early years of the British Mandate of Palestine, the size of a donum was 919.3 square metres, but in 1928 the metric donum of 1,000 square metres (0.10 ha) was adopted, and this is still used.

A metric dunam is equal to:

  • 1,000 square metres (exactly)

  • 10 ares (exactly)

  • 1 decare (exactly)

  • 0.1 hectares (exactly)

  • 0.001 square kilometres (exactly)

  • 0.247105381 acres (approx)

  • 1,195.99005 square yards (approx)

  • 10,763.9104 square feet (approx)