cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (Source: Don Slager)

Translation commentary on Exod 26:8

This verse is almost identical with verse 2, but here the length of each curtain is to be thirty cubits instead of twenty-eight. The width, or breadth, is the same, namely four cubits. This means that each piece of goats’ hair material is “15 yards long and 2 yards wide” (Good News Translation), or “thirteen meters” by “two meters.” Here again they are to be “all the same size,” but for this second layer there are to be eleven pieces instead of ten. It is possible to combine verses 7 and 8 as follows:

• Have them use goat hair to weave eleven sections of cloth, each of them fifteen yards by two yards. These will be a cover for the sacred tent.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .