Re: Numbers in my con romance lang

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> I thought one said /'mexiko/?
Today, yes, but at the time that the Spanish invaded, <x> indicated /S/.

> As for my use of x for /S/, I got the idea from Portuguese
Yeah, Portuguese keeps the older values for <x> and <j>.  Old Spanish
had <j> = /Z/, <x> = /S/.  Then, the voicing distinction was lost, so
that both represented /S/, which then became /x/.  Hence, French _chef_
was borrowed into Spanish as _jefe_, originally /Sefe/ -> /xefe/, and
Spanish _lunja_ became English _lunch_ (/lunSa/ -> /lVntS/), and the
town of Xérez (/SereT/, /Serets/?  Not sure how <z> was pronounced at
the time; modern Jérez) gave "sherry"