Medieval Facts & Myths: What's a furlong?

Some people know a furlong is an eighth of a mile. But far fewer know how the term furlong originated.

Hint: It has nothing to do with horse racing.

In the Medieval era, a furlong was the length of a furrow in a common field. But how was a common length determined? That's where the oxen enter the story.

A furlong was the distance a team of oxen could plow without resting.

Thus, the stamina of a pair of bulls, minus their male appendages, came to define a standard measurement of Medieval life.

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