Re: Counting on fingers (was: Re: [CONLANG] A question regarding dictionary entries)

On Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:45:32 +0200, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>
wrote:

>On 8/1/07, Benct Philip Jonsson <conlang@...> wrote:
>> I have thought about how octal and duodecimal counting may
>> arise in a language of five-fingered humans thru either
>> not using the thumbs when counting, or adding the palms to
>> get six positions on each hand.
>
>I recently read about a group of people somewhere who count not on
>their finger(tip)s, but on the spaces between the fingers, therefore
>also arriving at an octal system.
I once heard someone's theory of the duodecimal system's origin that said
the segments on the fingers of one hand not including the thumb were
counted, arriving at twelve. Numbers would be signed by touching the thumb
to the appropriate segment. For example, touching the thumb to the base of
the middle finger would mean 6.