Re: Types of numerals

John Vertical wrote:
[snip]
>
> There are also often a handful of numbers which have an original name in
> addition to a derived one. Most of the ones I know have been used as
> units of measure (eg. Finnish "tiu" is a unit of 20 eggs), but are there
> others? Eg. is the Latin prefix sesqui- really a *root* morpheme? If
> yes,
No, it is not a root morpheme. In fact in Latin _sesqui_ or _sesque_
could be a separate word, but it is nearly always prefixed as sesqui-.
As the prefix means "more by one half". It almost certainly derives from
_semis que_ (and a half) thus: /se:miskwe/ --> */se:mskwe/ --> /se:skwe/
or /se:skwi/.

So we have, among others:
sesquidigitus = a digit and a half
sesquimensis = one & half months
sesquipes = one foot, six inches.
sesquiopera = one a half day's work

There was even a guy who got nicknamed 'Sesquiculus' "One a half
buttocks" - we are not told why!

But it developed an interesting use when prefixed to ordinals, cf.
sesquitertius = containing one and a third (four thirds)
sesquioctauus = containing one and one eighth.
etc





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Ray
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