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Re: Sound changes causing divergence of ordinals from cardinals

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Friday, January 6, 2006, 6:28
Another case, perhaps, of ordinals that are not regularly relatable
(anymore) to the cardinal, my Gwr lang., which is monosyllabic and tonal.
The proto-lang. was mainly CVCV(C), and one could form adjectives with a
prefix *m-

one: ay (hi) < had, first fay (mid) < m+had
two: ni (hi) < hVní, 2nd di (mid) < m+(hV)ni
three: hr (lr) < hVqV[+str]r, 3rd gr, Nr or kr (undecided)
(four exists, but for some reason isn't in the dictionary yet...)
five; fifth: dzi (low) < dVsí
six: ho (hi) < qahú,  sixth go, No, or ko
seven: shr (hf) *sí(dg)Vr, jr (m) seventh
(eight: fang (m), 8th pang (m) < Kash fanu)
(nine: sang (m), 9th tsang (m) < Kash sana)
ten (decimal, old octal): maq (h) < *kVmáC; baq (m) tenth

hundred (decimal) : loq (m), hundreth doq (m) < **rog < Kash roNgo
thousand (decimal, old octal) : chih (h) < *kitís,  giq (m) thousandth (app.
< m+kítis

One might get the impression that not all sound changes have been worked
out....A project for dreary winter days.