Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: One And A Half

From:Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...>
Date:Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 19:57
 --- 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

Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>