Re: The English/French counting system (WAS: number systems from conlangs)

Hello,

> Some days ago, I wondered about
> why English/German/French etc.
> (I guess all European languages)
Umm, no. T ex Welsh 12 is dau ar ddeg, i. e. twoteen.

> have separate names for 11 and 12: eleven, twelve;
>elf, zwölf; onze, douze, instead of oneteen, twoteen;
> einzehn, zweizehn; dix et un, dix et deux. We count
> in tens, but have numbers which you can count in
> twelves with.
The Germanic ones come from one and two + *lib, meaning "rest, excess,
something which is left". So it's "one extra [from ten]" and "two
extra". The Gothic ones are ainlif and twalif, cf. bileiban "to be left"

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

Nid byd, byd heb wybodaeth
                 --Welsh saying

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