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Re: Numbers from 1-10

From:Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>
Date:Monday, September 1, 2003, 9:13
Staving Nik Taylor:

>Most languages are base 10, pure and simple. English, for example, is >pretty much purely base 10, altho sound changes have obscured the origin >of "eleven" and "twelve". Some languages are base 20, some are base 5, >some are other bases. Some languages have a mixture, usually due to >language contact or change; for example, the Celtic languages used base >20, French, due to Gaullish influence, acquired some base 20, while >Nahuatl uses 5's for 1-19, but then 20's above that, so that 57 would >translate literally as something like "two twenties three fives two", >and then special words for 400, 8000, 160,000 etc. > >Why those numbers? Obviously because humans have 5 fingers on each >hand, 10 total, and 5 toes on each foot for a total of 20 digits. There >are some languages
Can anyone tell me where I can find Old Welse numbers up to 100? I'm thinking of extending "yan, tan, tethera" above "jiggit". Pete

Replies

Joe <joe@...>
Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>