span

Japanese: span

... The third category in (i) would be the distance between the tips of the thumb and middle finger (or little finger) when they are spread apart. By repeatedly spreading your fingers and placing them on an object, you can infer the size of that object, so the idea of using this distance as a standard for choosing measurements was taken up in various regions, giving rise to units such as the English span, the German spanne, the Chinese shaku, and the Japanese ata. The origin of the character shaku as a pictograph represents exactly this action. ...

From [Bridge]

...The main girders expand and contract due to temperature changes, but expansion joints are placed on abutments and piers where the main girders are not continuous to prevent wheels from falling at the discontinuous parts. The distance between the abutments or piers is called the span, the distance between the supports of the main girders is called the span of the bridge, and the bridge length is the total length of the superstructure. The space under the bridge girders is called the girder space, and for bridges that cross sea routes or other traffic routes, a space of the required width and height must be secured. ...

*Some of the terminology that mentions "span" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…　(イ)に属する系列の第3には，〈親指と中指(または小指)とを広げたときの指先の間隔〉をあげるべきであろう。指を広げて事物にあてがうという動作を反覆すればその事物の寸法を推測することができるので，この間隔を基準に選ぶという考えは諸地域でとり上げられ，イギリスのスパンspan，ドイツのシュパンネSpanne，中国の尺，日本のあたなどの単位を生み出した。尺という字の象形文字としての起源は，まさしくこの動作を表している。…

【橋】より

…また，主桁は温度変化によって伸び縮みするが，橋台上および主桁が連続していない橋脚上では，車輪が不連続部で落ちないよう伸縮継目を置く。　橋台あるいは橋脚の間を径間，主桁の支点間の距離を橋の支間(スパンspan)といい，橋長は上部構造の全長である。橋桁の下の空間は桁下空間といい，航路や他の交通路をまたぐ橋では所要の幅と高さの空間を確保してやらなければならない。…

※「span」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

<<: Spal'vin, EG (English spelling)

>>: Spandau