Re: Nouns for things that occur in pairs

2008/5/26 caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...>:
>>Eric Christopherson <rakko@...> wrote:
>
>>I remember reading somewhere that some languages have a special
>>marking for nouns for things that normally occur in pairs. What do
>>you call this phenomenon? Is it an example of grammatical number (and
>>if so, what is that number called?) And does anyone how those
>>markings evolved?
>
> On this subject, I have a word in Senjecas "gaqtos" which means one of
> a pair.  The trouble is that I can't think of a situation in which it
> might be used!  BTW, the word is from the proto-Dravidian lexicon.
>
> Charlie
Perhaps like this?

Yesterday, I was looking for my rubber boots, but I could only find gaqtos.
My eyes are usually fine, but today gaqtos is hurting.

Defined by context, just like "I need to buy two".

René