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Re: Numbers

From:taliesin the storyteller <taliesin@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 18, 2000, 16:59
* 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.