A measure used by the Númenóreans and their descendants in Middle-earth. One ranga was defined as the length of the stride of a man walking at ease, and seems to have corresponded to a length of thirty-eight inches, or 0.97 metres. A height of two rangar was conventionally referred to as 'man-high', representing (approximately) the average height of a Dúnadan as 6 feet, 4 inches, or 1.93 metres. The Halflings were named by the Dúnedain as being half their own height on average, so if two rangar were 'man-high', then one ranga can be considered roughly 'Hobbit-high'.
Measurements of longer distances were also based on the ranga. A distance of 5,000 strides was named a lár, signifying a point where a rest-stop should be held. By convenient coincidence, 5,000 rangar also corresponds almost exactly to three miles, so a lár described a distance essentially equivalent to a league.
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While a unit of one ranga definitively referred to a full pace, the full etymology of the name is difficult to tease out. In Quenya, the Elves had a unit of measurement they called a rangwë, which represented the length of a pair of outstretched arms (the same origin of the old English unit of the 'fathom'). This rangwë would have represented a distance of about six feet (or two metres), roughly double the length of a Númenórean ranga. So, the Númenóreans cannot have taken their ranga directly from the Elves, but the similarity of the names suggests a potential etymological connection.
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- Updated 21 November 2023
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