Re: Base 8 counting in Gevey

On Monday, October 15, 2001, at 10:05 , Andreas Johansson wrote:

> Rik Roots wrote:
>>
>> Gevey, like most other Vreski family languages, uses a base 10 number
>> system. However, all other languages on the continent use a base 8
>> system. Now as Gevey is a widespread trading language, it needs to be
>> able to count in base 8 as well as base 10.
>
> Is there a "reason" for base 8? I don't know any real-world language that
> uses it (octal numbers in compsci don't count!), and unlike base 10 or
> base
> 20 I can't think of any obvious conection to countable appendages etc.
>
Taliesin cited "spaces between the fingers," and I can't remember who or
where, but I remember reading some history-of-math-and-number-systems book
that did cite some culture/language that does, indeed, use base 8 for that
reason.

YHL