Re: One And A Half

 --- Carsten Becker <naranoieati@...>
skrev:
> On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 18:32:25 +0300, Dan Sulani
> <dansulani@...> wrote:
>
> >    Are there natlangs where there _are_ simple
> terms for things like
> >"one and a half"? How about anyone's conlang(s)?
In Russian, 'poltora god' = 1 1/2 year. 'Pol' like in
'polovina' (half), and 'tora', like, ehm, no idea. Ah
wait, 'poltorasta' = 150, says my dictionary. But
where does this 'tora' come from ? Dunno.

'Polu-' is used as a prefix, meaning the same as
'semi-' or 'hémi-'. Ex: poluten' = semi-obscurity,
polukol'tso = half circle...

> Maybe someone mentioned it already, but German has
> "anderthalb" or
> "eineinhalb" -- OK, the latter is just the three
> words written as one and
> the second is a dialectical, though widespread
> variation.
Yes, I learned 'anderthalb' too. This is impossible in
French, you have to say 'un et demi', or 'une et
demie' (if: 1 1/2 hour, 'une heure et demie').

BTW, should we write 1 1/2 hour, or  1 1/2 hours ?


=====
Philippe Caquant


Ceterum censeo *vi* esse oblitterandum (Me).

Reply