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refy [Malagasy]

In Madagascar, a unit of length, about 1.6 meters or 5½ feet. It belongs to the fathom family of units.

sources

RE'FY, s. A fathom, two yards. The measure from tip to tip of the fingers across the chest when the arms are spread out. [Comp. Swa(hili). urefo, length.]

Voarèfy, v. pass. Measured.

Refèsina, v. pass. (Imp. reféso.) To be measured by fathoms; to be interfered with in what properly belongs to one's self.

Mandrèfy, v. tr. (Imp. mandrefésa; Rel. andrefésana, Rel. Imp. andrefeso.) To measure by fathoms.

J[ames] Richardson.
A New Malagasy-English Dictionary.
Antananarivo: The London Missionary Society, 1885.
Page 506.

Il y a une autre mesure qu'ils nomment Refe, ce que nous appellons brasse, dont ils mesurent leurs pagnes, leurs cordes, & autres choses qui se mesurent par longueur. Ils n'ont aucun usage d'aulne, & moins encor de pied de Roy, ils se servent de la main pour mesurer les empans.

There is another measure they call Refe, which we call a brasse, with which they measure their loincloths, their ropes, and other things that are measured by length. They make no use of the aune, still less of the pied de Roi; their hands serve for measuring in empans.

Sieur d Flacourt.
Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar.
Paris: Gervais Clovzier, 1661.
Page 89.