Re: numerals

On Wed, 4 Apr 2001, Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Hm, I'm working on Tairezazh's numbers sytem. I've not even managed to
> conjure up a word for "zero" yet, but I've made a system that's quite
> simple:
Er...since in the history of math zero is usually the latecomer, I'd say
you're fine.  :-)

> The base is ten, uncreatively enough. To create the numbers 11-19, you just
> add the name of the relevant unit to the word for ten. Eg, _thel_ "ten" and
> _dza_ "one" gives _thel-dza_ "eleven". Add _vef_ "three" instead and you get
> _thel-vef_ "thirteen". To express multiples of ten, you add the unit before
> instead - _sei_ "two" gives _seithel_ "twenty", _vef_ gives _vefthel_
> "thirty" etc. This works nice up to _trafthel-trav_ "ninety-nine" (notice
> assimilation _vth_>_fth_. Normally you'd expect >_vdh_ instead, but the
> stress is on _thel_ in these words). Now, **_thelthel_ wouldn't do, instead
> we have _ksád_ "hundred". The same system can be applied to this -
[snip]
Mathematicians in Tairezazh must have a lot of fun rolling the syllables
off their tongues when discussing the larger numbers.  :-)

YHL