schene

• schoene, schœne

From Latin schoenus, from Ancient Greek σχοῖνος (skhoînos, “a rush, a reed, a land measure”).

schene (plural schenes)

1. (historical) An Egyptian or Persian measure of length, varying from thirty-two to sixty stadia.
   • 1786, Mr. Savary, “Letters on Egypt”, in The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature‎, volume 62, page 440:

     Herodotus has fixed the measure of the schene, in Lower Egypt, at four miles, or a league and a quarter.

   • 1817, Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, volume 15:

     With regard to the extent of this lake, we recur again to the testimonies above cited: Herodotus says, that the circumference of the lake Mœris was 3600 stadia, or sixty schenes, which, says the historian, form the dimensions of the maritime base of Egypt, (seventy-five leagues.)

   • 1917, Charles Francis Horne, The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East‎, volume 2:

     We embarked, we parted; we were not long in arriving at the north of Coptos, the distance of a schene.

schene

1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of schijnen

• scheen