Re: Adjectives and ordinal numbers

John Cowan <cowan@...> wrote:
>>>
"Second" is odd too, being a metaphor from the Latin participle "secundus"
= "following".  The original Latin and English forms were "alter" and
"other", which still survive for non-ordinal purposes; it's quite a
coincidence that "secundus" displaced "alter", and then a millennium
later its French descendant "seconde" displaced "other".
<<<

Perhaps one of the Swedish speakers would like to comment on Sw. "foersta,
*andra*, tredje" in this context?  It must surely be cognate with the German
"andere" = other (and maybe even "alter" as well??)?  Did "andra"
re-displace a "second" cognate, or was it simply never displaced itself?

Jonathan.

'O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages...'
Auden/Britten, 'Hymn to St. Cecilia'

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