5 ms·

You know what I've always wondered? How did they pronounce each number? I mean, I read it "eye, eye-eye, eye-eye-eye, eye-vee, vee, vee-eye." But of course, th

You know what I've always wondered? How did they pronounce each number? I mean, I read it "eye, eye-eye, eye-eye-eye, eye-vee, vee, vee-eye." But of course, there's no way they actually said it that way. Right? Right??

flatline 9y ago
That's certainly one way to do it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnuetbfDLpE&t=1m14s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnuetbfDLpE&t=1m14s
madcaptenor 9y ago
There are words for numbers in Latin. From Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_cardinal_numerals https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_cardinal_numer...): unus, duo, tres, quattuor, quinque, sex... Just like an English speaker sees "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" and pronounces "one, two, three, four, five, six". Sure, the Roman numerals look like letters, but that doesn't mean you pronounce them that way.
- fela 9y ago
  But that is very interesting, that means that when saying the numbers they were basically using something similar to Arabic numbers!
  - jacobolus 9y ago
    In my opinion the important innovation of Hindu–Arabic numbers is not having different symbols for each digit, but rather using the same ten symbols (and no others!) for representing larger groups, which gives the system a lovely uniformity across numbers of different scales. There aren’t many (if any?) human languages that duplicate this feature of being a purely positional system.
SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
Arabic numeral: Cardinal number name | Ordinal number name, with conjugation information 1: Unus -a -um | primus -a -um 2: duo, duae, duo | secundus -a -um 3: tres, tria | tertius -a -um 4: quattuor | quartus -a -um 5: quinque | quintus -a -um 6: sex | sextus -a -um 7: septem | septimus -a -um 8: octo | octavus -a -um 9: novem | nonus -a -um 10: decem | decimus -a -um 11: undecim | undecimus -a -um 12: duodecim | duodecimus -a -um 13: tredecim | tertius decimus -a -um 14: quattuordecim | quartus decimus -a -um 15: quindecim | quintus decimus -a -um 16: sedecim | sextus decimus -a -um 17: septendecim | septimus decimus -a -um 18: duodeviginti | duodevice(n)simus -a -um 19: undeviginti | undevice(n)simus -a -um 20: viginti | vice(n)simus -a -um 30: triginta | trice(n)simus -a -um 40: quadraginta | quadrage(n)simus -a -um 50: quinquaginta | quinquage(n)simus -a -um 60: sexaginta | sexage(n)simus -a -um 70: septuaginta | septuage(n)simus -a -um 80: octoginta | octoge(n)simus -a -um 90: nonaginta | nonage(n)simus -a -um 100: centum | cente(n)simus -a -um 500: quingenti | quingente(n)simus -a -um 1000: mille | mille(n)simus -a -um From Cassell's Latin English Dictionary, second edition.

flatline 9y ago

That's certainly one way to do it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnuetbfDLpE&t=1m14s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnuetbfDLpE&t=1m14s

madcaptenor 9y ago

There are words for numbers in Latin. From Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_cardinal_numerals https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_cardinal_numer...): unus, duo, tres, quattuor, quinque, sex... Just like an English speaker sees "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" and pronounces "one, two, three, four, five, six". Sure, the Roman numerals look like letters, but that doesn't mean you pronounce them that way.

fela 9y ago
But that is very interesting, that means that when saying the numbers they were basically using something similar to Arabic numbers!
- jacobolus 9y ago
  In my opinion the important innovation of Hindu–Arabic numbers is not having different symbols for each digit, but rather using the same ten symbols (and no others!) for representing larger groups, which gives the system a lovely uniformity across numbers of different scales. There aren’t many (if any?) human languages that duplicate this feature of being a purely positional system.

SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago