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Re: Sound changes causing divergence of ordinals from cardinals

From:Chris Peters <beta_leonis@...>
Date:Friday, January 6, 2006, 0:31
>From: Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> > >I assume that -hon, -mai, -satsu etc. have meanings ?? >
You assume correctly. In this case the meanings are exactly that: the shape of the objects they're counting. The kanji that represent those suffixes can probably be detached from the number and used as independent words. I know "hon" can be -- but the additional meanings for that kanji don't really have much to do with the shape of the object it represents as a counting suffix. :Chris