The term derives from Old English hlæst,[1] ultimately from a Proto-Germanic root reconstructed as *hlaþ- or *hlað- ("to place").
[1] The Assize of Weights and Measures, one of the statutes of uncertain date from c. 1300, defined the wool last as 12 sacks' worth, equivalent to 24 weys, 336 London stone, or 4,200 merchants' pounds (about 1,835 kg).
[1] The English Ordnance Board defined the gunpowder last as 24 barrels of 100 avoirdupois pounds each (2,400 lbs or about 1,090 kg).
[4] The Assize of Weights and Measures describes the herring last as ten long thousands or 12,000 fish.
[3] The Norman French editions describe this as the "red herring" or kipper last and compose the herring last out of ten short thousands of twelve long hundreds, still making 12,000 fish altogether.