'pounds of wax'? Second opinion please.

[goldie61]

This is from  a will from 1541.

I read this line as
 “to the hee Aulter vij pond off Wax Itm I Wyl be brought honestly hawm…..”. ( not sure about the ‘v’ in the numerals - what else could it be? an ‘o’?)

I would think this would be ‘to the high altar [ ] pounds of wax’
What do others think?
It would sound a reasonable bequest for a pious man in 1541.

Thanks very much

[PrawnCocktail]

Could be "on" - meaning "one" - I've see children left "on shillinge" before in a Will

[Bookbox]

As has been suggested, it's on pond (= one pound). It was common in pre-Reformation wills for bequests to be made for the purchase of wax for burning candles at the altar.

[goldie61]

Thanks both of you.

One pound of wax it is then. 

[barryd]

The hard part was reading the will. Now for a modern answer.

http://www.naturesgardencandles.com/blog/how-much-candle-wax-do-i-need-to-fill-my-jars/

[goldie61]

 

They say it's 'simple'! Doh!
Not if you live a country that doesn't use pounds and ounces!!
And how is 'ounces' a measure of VOLUME as it suggests?  Surely it's a measure of WEIGHT
If they meant 'Fluid Ounces', why didn't they say so?

Not so 'simple' after all! 

[Guy Etchells]

They say it's 'simple'! Doh!
Not if you live a country that doesn't use pounds and ounces!!
And how is 'ounces' a measure of VOLUME as it suggests?  Surely it's a measure of WEIGHT
If they meant 'Fluid Ounces', why didn't they say so?

Not so 'simple' after all! 

The clue is in the rest of the sentence "...you will find that 1 pound (by weight) of candle wax will equal 20 ounces (in volume) when pouring into containers or molds."

If one is pouring wax into molds it is molten therefore the liquid equivalent is used, as with many words in English the context is important.

Cheers
Guy

[goldie61]

I still can't get my head around using ounces as a measure of volume, Guy. 

[Mike in Cumbria]

I still can't get my head around using ounces as a measure of volume, Guy. 

Think fluid ounces - a commonly used measure of volume.