Re: More on number bases

At 3:04 pm -0500 17/5/02, Danny Wier wrote:
[snip]
>
>The ancient Egyptians used base-8 fractions and base-10 whole numbers, if
>I'm not mistaken.
>
Dunno about that - but the ancient Romans used base-12 fractions and
base-10 whole numbers.  The Latin for 1/12 is _uncia_ [u:Nkia] which, by
way of Old English _ynce_, gives us "inch" (1/12 of a foot) and, by way of
Old French _unce_, gives us "ounce" (1/12 of a pound troy* - still used by
gold- and silversmiths when I was young, but now legally obsolete in the
UK).

*named from Troyes in France, not the place inhabited by Trojans of old!
Why the pound avoirdupois assumed 16 ounces, I know not - but 'twas nothing
to do with the Romans  :)

Indeed, Latin had special words - all nouns - for all twelve divisions of a
unit.  In case anyone might like to imitate them or, indeed, base conlang
forms on them, I give them below:
            NOMINATIVE    GENITIVE
1/12        u:ncia,       u:nciae
2/12 = 1/6  sexta:ns,     sextantis
3/13 = 1/4  quadra:ns,    quadrantis
4/13 = 1/3  trie:ns,      trientis
5/12        qui:ncu:nx,   qui:ncu:ncis
6/12 = 1/2  se:mis,       se:missis
7/12        septu:nx,     septu:ncis
8/12 = 2/3  bes,          bessis
9/12 = 3/4  do:dra:ns,    do:drantis
10/12 = 5/6 dexta:ns,     dextantis
11/12       deu:nx,       deu:ncis

All are masculine, except _uncia_ which is feminine.

Just to complete the picture, the word for 'a unit' was _as_ (gen.
_assis_), also masculine.

Ray.





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The median nature of language is an epistemological
commonplace.  So is the fact that every general
statement worth making about language invites a
counter-statement or antithesis.
                                 GEORGE STEINER.
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