Re: Numbers ancient & modern (was: Unilang report)

At 12:41 am +0200 23/5/01, daniel andreasson wrote:
>Ray Brown a écrit:
>
>> This is not universal in the francophone world where
>> _nonante six_ occurs in many dialects; it was originally
>> a peculiarity of "Francien" and is considered by some to
>> be due to substrate Gallic influence.
>
>Ah oui? Mes cousins de Genève, ils disent _neuvante_ au lieu
>de _quatre-vingt dix_, et pas _nonante_. Ou peut-être, ils
>c'épelent _neufante_.
Interesting - I've not come across _neuvante_ before; but then my neighbors
were Belgian  :)

>Quoique, ils disent _septante_ et _huitante_ comme John
>Cowan déjà a dit.
So John's _huitante_ is attested in Swiss French.  We live and learn.

I guess that under the influence of _sept_ ~ _septante_, the older
_octante_ and _nonante_ (which surely show learned influence) have given
way to analogically formed _huitante_ and _neuvante_.

Ray.


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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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