Re: a few questions

On Sunday, July 18, 2004, at 11:43 , Ph. D. wrote:

> David Peterson wrote:
>>
>> Trebor wrote:
>>
>>> Are there terms similar to 'dual' and 'trial' for numbers
>>> four-ten? If so, what are they?
No - because AFAIK they haven't been attested in natlangs.

Classical Latin gives us only 'pluralis' and 'dualis' (ancient Greek did
have duals, tho they dual number was obsolescent even then). "Trial" <--
*trialis is a reasonable coinage and almost certainly what ancient
grammarians would've done.

>> Tetral, quinqual, sextal, septal, octal, etc.  (Can some of
>> the Latin learners verify these?)
>
> Isn't "tetral" Greek?
Altho long past being a learner at Latin, I'll but in..

tetra- is Greek, the termination -al is from Latin. I guess *tetral is
Gratin (or is it Leek?)   :)

> I would expect "quadral" if we're keeping a Latin base.
Yep - a case could be made for *quadrual, but 'quadral' is equally likely
IMO, and easier to say :)

'quinqual' is a well-formed coinage and 'octal' has been with us for some
time now (octal numbers used on the old mainframe machines). 'septal' is
OK - but *sextal is out of line with the rest as it's formed from 'sextus'
  (6th), not 'sex' (6).

If we used ordinals we'd have: *secundal, *tertial, *quartal, *quintal,
*sextal etc. We don't. we have 'dual' and 'trial'; the correct formation
for a grammatical number denotes 'six of X' would be 'sexal'.

Nine, however, is a problem. *noval might suggest 'new' rather than 9 and,
  indeed, there was a Latin adjective _noua:lis_ = "fallow" or
"ploughed/plowed for the first time". The neuter plural of the Latin word,
  _novalia_ (in modern spelling) is used in Scots law with the meaning
"waste lands newly reclaimed".  So, *noval is less than satisfactory.

There was also a Latin adjective _no:na:lis_ = "of or pertaining to the
Nones" (the 9th day, counting inclusively, before the Ides of each month).
Also, of course, 'no:nus' was the ordinal. But, unlike 'sextus' which is
formed by suffixing -t-, 'nonus' is formed directly from the root */nown=/
(/nown=/ --> lat. nouem; */nown-os/ --> Lat. no:nus. Thus we could justify
*nonal <-- */nown-a:l- /.

I guess for 'x 10 of X' we'll have to settle for 'decal', if we accept
'septal' and 'octal'. So I suggest for specific numbers:
dual, trial, quadral, quinqual, sexal, septal, octal, nonal, decal.

But quite why anyone would want to burden their conlang nouns and/or
pronouns with them all, I don't know   ;)

Ray
===============================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com    (home)
raymond.brown@kingston-college.ac.uk   (work)
===============================================
"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language."         J.G. Hamann, 1760

Reply