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)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

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) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

distance (long / wide / high)

The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Exodus 26:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 26:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “Let those curtains be of the same size and each have a length of thirteen meters with a width of two meters.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Each and every panel of cloth must be thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. Each panel of clothes must be the same size.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Each cloth-material must-be 45 feet and about six feet wide.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “These eleven cloths must turn out just the same. Their length will amount to seven and a half fathoms. And their width will amount to one fathom.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “That cloth, the one let it not (imp.) the one be greater with length with width. Its length, let it be joint of hand which be 30, and its width, let it be joint of hand four.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Each piece of cloth is to be 15 yards/13.5 meters long and 2 yards/1.8 meters wide.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 .