cords

[bowyer]

Just how big is a cord?,is there a difference in arm?

[Delirium]

A cord is fifteen inches.

From HELP MEASUREMENT

MEASUREMENT                                                       (General)

  The Zalanthan standards for measuring distance and mass were developed during the old Empire of Man. These conventions apparently withstood the reign of the Dragon.

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Distance:
  Short distances are measured in inches (which bear a strong resemblance to the English inch in real life). An inch was considered to be the length of the Emperor's thumb, but was long since normalised to mean a single unit of distance.

  Longer distances use units called cords, which are 15 inches long. Such units as miles and leagues are also commonly used, descended from the Bendune conventions of the nomadic tribesmen, a mile being 5,333 cords, and a league equalling three miles.

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Mass:
  All masses are measured in stones.  Stones are relatively equivalent to a kilogram in real life.  Larger masses, in order to avoid using too many counting markers, have become called in five-stone, ten-stone, and hundred-stone. People are typically measured in ten-stone while objects are usually measured in stone.

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Volume:
  The fundamental unit of volume on Zalanthas is the gallon, which is roughly the size of an American gallon.  For ease of use in smaller amounts,  particularly water, it is broken down into the unit skins, where eight skins equate to one gallon.  The skin, in turn, is broken into gourds, where two gourds is one skin.  That also is broken into hands where it takes three hands to equal one gourd.
3 hands = 1 gourd
2 gourds = 1 skin
8 skins = 1 gallon


See also:
  time, weather

1 cord = 15 inches, roughly a foot.

[bowyer]

Ok its just cuz I saw a shortbow 3 cords long how long do you see them?,cuz i see them very small.

[HaiWolfe]

That's about 3.75 feet long.  Sounds reasonable to me, considering longbows are usually as long as the archer's height.

Shortbows would probably vary in size anyway, and the 3-cord-long one you saw might be on the somewhat longer end of the spectrum.