Fathom to the Old High German word "fadum" meaning embracing arms or a pair of outstretched arms. In Middle English it was "fathme". The Ancient Greek measure known as the orguia (, "orgyiá", "outstretched") is usually translated as "fathom". By the Byzantine period, this unit came in two forms: a "simple orguia" (, "haplē orguiá") roughly equivalent to the old Greek fathom (6 Byzantine feet, m) and an "imperial" (, "basilikē") or "geometric orguia" (, "geōmetrikē orguiá") that was one-eighth longer (6 feet and a span, m). One fathom is equal to: In the international yard and pound agreement of 1959
Fathom Five (novel) "Fathom Five" fleshes out the world war. The ongoing effects of four years of rationing are covered (examples: Chas putting a hole in his trousers; the items brought by the different protagonists to a beach picnic; the Ministry of Food invitation to "Try our delicious Woolton pie"—a not-highly regarded meat-free pie). There is reference to the diaspora that has fled to Britain including: Scandinavian fishermen, the Maltese underclass, and Jewish pawnbrokers. It is through one of these that Chas encounters a widow of the Arctic convoys, which puts a distinctly human perspective on war. In addition the sheer banality of