Bismer

History in a word. Shetland may be described as remote but in fact it has always been a central place, and the history of Shaetlan is one of constant contact with other languages. The word bismer for example, is only found in Shetland, Orkney and NE Scotland. It refers to a steelyard or a wooden beam used for weighing goods. It came into these varieties from Danish bismer, which is loan from Middle Low German bis(e)mer, possibly from the Hansa period. MLGerman  in turn had it from the Balto-Slavic languages (cf. Russian bezmén, Polish bezmian & Latvian bezmēns, Lithuanian bezmēnas). They in turn had it from Ottoman Turkish batman meaning 'unit of weight' (of about 2.5-10kg depending on the point in time, the place and the item). A pan-European trade route encapsulated in a word.