Verst
A
verst is an obsolete Russian unit of length. It is defined as being 500 sazhen long, which makes a verst equal to 1.0668 kilometres. In the English language,
verst is singular with the normal plural
versts. In Russian, the nominative singular is
versta, but the form usually used with numbers is genitive plural
verst — 10 verst, 25 verst, etc. — whence the English form. A
mezhevaya versta is twice as long as a verst. "The verst of the 17th century was 700 sazhens or 1.49 km as against the 500 sazhens or 1.06 km it became at the time of Peter the Great". The Russian Wiki mentions several other old values. In Finland,
virsta was originally 1.069 km according to the Swedish standard, but the Russian verst replaced it after annexation to the Russian Empire in 1809.
Virsta was originally 600
sylis, but then changed to 500
syli, since the Russian
syli was longer, 2.134 m. A derived unit was
peninkulma = 10
virsta. Metrification replaced
virsta with the kilometre in the 1880s.