Definition
A medieval Latin term used in old English law to denote a measure of ale. The lagena was a unit of liquid measurement, said to consist of six sextaries. Its appearance in legal sources is limited to the context of weights and measures, particularly in connection with the regulation and standardization of ale.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The upper part of the cochlear duct; a flask-shaped hearing organ in certain vertebrates; also, a wine-vase or amphora.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The terminal part of the cochlea in birds and most reptiles; an appendage of the sacculus corresponding to the cochlea in fishes and amphibians.
The common usage of lagena is anatomical and classical, referring either to a flask-shaped vessel or to a structure in the vertebrate inner ear. The legal usage is entirely distinct: in English legal sources, lagena is a unit of liquid measure for ale, not a vessel shape or anatomical feature. A researcher encountering the word outside a legal text should not assume the legal meaning applies.
Why It Matters in Research
Lagena is a narrow, highly specialized term that appears almost exclusively in sources dealing with medieval English weights and measures. Researchers are unlikely to encounter it outside that specific context, but those working on the history of assize law — particularly the Assize of Bread and Ale and related regulation of commercial measures — may find it relevant as one of several archaic units whose precise equivalents were disputed or varied by locality.
The key navigational point is sourcing. All three historical dictionaries in the Law Mind corpus trace the definition to the same two authorities: Fleta (lib. 2, c. 11) and Cowell's Interpreter. The agreement across Black's (both editions) and Burrill is complete and verbatim, suggesting all three drew from a shared tradition rather than independent verification. Researchers should go directly to Fleta and Cowell for any substantive treatment. The dictionary entries themselves offer no additional analysis.
The qualification "said to consist" in every entry signals that even contemporaneous legal lexicographers were not certain of the precise equivalence. The sextary was itself a variable measure, which means the lagena's absolute volume is not fixed with confidence in the historical record. Researchers relying on lagena for quantitative historical reconstruction should treat the six-sextary equivalence as approximate.
There is no modern legal usage. This term does not appear in contemporary statutes, regulations, or case law. Its relevance is purely historical.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (1st and 2nd editions) and Burrill's Law Dictionary present identical entries, word for word, citing Fleta and Cowell. The uniformity across all three sources is notable: there is no divergence, elaboration, or conflicting definition. This consensus reflects the limited documentary footprint of the term rather than independent corroboration.
Fleta, the thirteenth-century English legal treatise, is the primary authority cited. Cowell's Interpreter (1607) serves as the secondary gloss. Neither source is represented in the dictionary entries beyond the bare citation. Researchers needing substantive context — what a lagena meant in practice, how it was enforced, or how it related to other measures of the same period — must consult those works directly.
None of the historical dictionaries address the relationship between the lagena and other ale measures of medieval English law, such as the gallon, pottle, or quart as defined under the various assizes. That comparative framework is absent from the lexicographic record and would require research in primary sources and specialist scholarship on metrology.
Jurisdictional Note
Lagena as a legal measure is specific to medieval English law. There is no equivalent term or parallel legal usage in Scots law, Irish law, or continental civil law traditions as reflected in the Law Mind corpus.