Dreigmiddel

Dreigmiddel is an outdated measurement of time used in medieval Scandinavia, particularly in Norway and Denmark. It is equivalent to one-eighth of a middle of the day, dawn to noon, or noon to night. A middel (Middle Norwegian: meio) is thus a period of daylight between sunrise and noon, or between noon and sunset, and is typically around four hours long, counting with both in and out going to night respectively.

As a word, dreigmiddel is present in Old Norse texts, such as in Stjórnmálagúd fræigaust which covers laws and enlightenment. With time dreigmiddel gradually ceased being a widely used time measurement as exact time became more easily available with common use of clocks especially modern sundials that vary from traditional ones originated in this period.

Records show that dreigmiddel was used as a measurement to determine the timing of various activities that were happening at that particular time of day in an entire day such as rituals and the use of water rights, when the usage of water demands was governed. However, with its increasing obsolescence, the use of clocks as the widespread classification of time, dreigmiddel started to lose its actual relevance, keeping its place only in static materials of that era.

Today, dreigmiddel is used as a pedagogic tool in teaching and curiosities of history and societal habits in medieval times. In the extreme hardness of the upkeep of village operations, especially in the keepers of previous systems and consummation of further learning is seldom adopted today, compared to newer breakthrough and elegance preferences and cultured keeping of bathing hygiene.