Re: Numbers from 1-10

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Bleackley" <Peter.Bleackley@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 10:13 AM
Subject: Re: Numbers from 1-10


> 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".
Indeed?  You won't want to use the Old Welsh numbers directly, though, but a
variant.

> Pete
>

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