A-M-H – ‘measure, rule’

The idea contained in the term translated ‘cubits’ is of a maternal womb for this compressed and preserved elemental nature substance.

The translator who has in this case rendered the word אמה, a cubit, has made the same mistake in rendering the word שנה, a year; he has restricted in determined limits that which had only relative limits. Thus, as by שנה should be understood any duration relative to the being of which it is the object, so in אמה should be seen a measure peculiar to the thing in question. This word signifies literally, a metropolis, an original maternal nation, relative to another; a thing upon which others depend, and by which they must be ruled; a measure, a rule. Its root is אם, which develops all ideas of maternity. (The Hebraic Tongue Restored, Fabré d’Olivet, p. 191-192)