Re: Odd thing.
| From: | Joe <joe@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Wednesday, July 10, 2002, 20:05 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cowan" <jcowan@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: Odd thing.
> Joe scripsit:
>
> > I was looking at Finninsh for a while. As I was looking at the numbers,
> > something struck me.
> >
> > The numbers 1 and 2 are <yksi> and <kaksi> respectively. Now, the
numbers 8
> > and 9 are <kahdeksan> and <yhdeksan>.
> >
> > now, these, to me, look suspiciously indo-european.
>
> Finno-Ugric (or is it Uralic) numbers are only reconstructible up to six.
> Everything above that is a borrowing from IE.
>
Thank you for putting my mind at rest. OTOH, it must have been borrowed
pretty early, to be in so many languages.