Re: Numbers

* Christophe Grandsire (Christophe.Grandsire@leon.bde.espci.fr) [000118 09:47]:
> You can also have very mixed systems. For instance, French has different
> names for numbers from 0 (zéro) to 16 (seize), and then it uses compounds
> made in base 10 (17 is dix-sept: ten-seven for instance, 25 is vingt-cinq:
> twenty five) with however a few twisting as from sixty to seventy nine,
> French uses "soixante": sixty with the numbers from 1 to 19 (72 is
> "soixante-douze": sixty twelve, and 79 is "soixante-dix-neuf": sixty ten
> nine :) ). It does the same between eighty and ninety nine, but with eighty
> being "quatre-vingts": four twenties :) . 99 is thus
> "quatre-vingt-dix-neuf": four twenties ten nine :) .
And Belgian French uses septante for 70 and nonante for ninety (80 still
being quatre-vingts). How come? Is this through analogy? Loan from Flemish?


t.