Re: JG's list of conlangs

--- Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>
wrote:

> > Did I ever send you any of mine?
> Yes, you send me the Kerno one. An impressive
> thing, I must admit.
Did you get the Giants' numerary? The peculiar
way the Giants of Kemrese legend count. When they
can count at all. If not, it's:

1       oue
2       touey
3       threy
4       pouer
5       fife
6       selccan
7       sevyn
8       exten
9       nexen
10      tyne
11      ethelenlevene
12      tweleven
13      threllevyn
14      forenten
15      fifenten
16      selckenten
17      senenten
18      exentyne
19      nexentyne
20      deccantyne

> Last September there even was a small thread
> about it. It resulted in lots of
> interesting info about Talarian and other
> languages, but as far as I recall,
> not in numbers. I'm still interested, BTW.
Ah - well, Talarian has two sets of numbers, a
usual base twelve and a mathematical base ten.
The mathematical numbers are Sanskrit in origin;
the usual numbers derive from some adstrate
language or other. I don't know what one, though,
and there are no traces of IE roots at all in
this number set.

      Usual          Maths
0     tlaram         safra
1     çatla          ecas, ecar
2     rilo           twwo
3     hohoc          trayas, trayan
4     limtellor      cattâror
5     pamtra         pamtras
6     rimtelloc      ççaç
7     matellor       saptas
8     pretellor      açtor
9     amtelloc       nâfa
10    rapamtra       lâsa
11    hacra          ecalâsa
12    himtroc        twwolâsa
13    çatla-wa-himtroc  trayalâsa
...
24    rintroc
36    hotroc
48    limtroc
60    pamtroc
72    rimtroc
84    matroc
96    partroc
100                  çatam
108   hamtroc
120   rapamtroc
144   maharaç
1000                 sahaçram
1728  maxamaharaç

*****

The Daine in general do not count the way Men do.
Until the late 19th century, Men simply assumed
that Daine were stupid. It turned out that they
_can_ learn human numbering systems, but their
cultures just don't place a value on detailed
records of that sort. They use "number
estimations", so in stead of saying they have
twenty-seven widgets, they'd say they have a
score and a half or five hands; and not worry
about the extra or lacking widgets.

They often count in fives, sevens or elevens. In
general, the native Daine numbers are:

0   coram
1   cam
2   alat
3   chiev
4   rath
5   paench
7   elat
10  crunc
20  gamal  (=quite a few)
100 taltan (=lots)

"Paench is the fist or fingers of one hand
together; crunck is the two fists together;
gammal means hands and feet together. There be a
nother word for ten, boadh, which means the two
feet together. Taltan means "many", and they
often use this number for any large quantity."
[Norwycce, 2003]

Only in Westmarche do the Daine count in Mannish
fashion:

1   ayn
2   tiw
3   thri
4   feor
5   fyv
6   syx
7   sevana
8   acht
9   nyn
10  ten
11  elevunn
12  twaliv
13  threllev
14  feorlieven
15  fyfelven
16  syxelven
17  sevandlieven
18  achtelven
19  nundlieven
20  twentig
100 hunnert

By hunnert, "they mean no more than "many" in
likewise to taltan used by other Daine."
[Norwycce]

Out in the Whythy Hills, to the northeast of
Westmarche, they use these numbers, counting
especially by hands and elevens:

1   ar
2   yi
3   neylth
4   rayth
5   puor
7   oth
10  san
11  eren
100 rimmen

*****

The Dream Language numbers:

1  zhen
2  dheu
3  dhri
4  cah
5  cou
6  selk
7  sach
8  ock
9  nein
10 zhack
11 zhenzhack
12 dheuzhack

*****

Mentolatian, spoken by a curious people a ways
down the coast whose chief occupation is the
cultivation and export of medicinal herbs:

1  çam
2  du
3  der
4  quadur
5  ponc
6  sano
7  saffo
8  oggun
9  novun
10 dus

Padraic.


=====
Ne savem rhen cong quen dormises l' Etang; mays ieo savem que ne dormises
rhen di solèz.
    -- per tradicièn Ewrnor



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