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Initially, Russian used the same convention for 40 as it does for other multiples of 10. Other Slavic languages still do. However, 4 (четыре) is the longest wor
by Fins 9y ago
Initially, Russian used the same convention for 40 as it does for other multiples of 10. Other Slavic languages still do. However, 4 (четыре) is the longest word by syllable count in the 1..10 range, so over time a shorter word that used to mean "a bag with 40 skins" (apparently a standard count to make some article of garment) came to replace it. The original meaning is all but forgotten now, and сорок means only 40 now.
90 also used to use the more common form of "nine tens", but for some reason came to be replaced by something that looks like it means "nine out of hundred" but the etymological explanations for it seem to be rather inconsistent. One explanation is that Russians used to count by 9 -- remnants of that can be seen in fairy tale expressions for "very far" -- "beyond three times nine lands".
- drewmate 9y agoThanks for sharing. Studying Russian has helped me notice interesting patterns in languages. Where there is much friction (due to heavy usage, difficult pronunciation, or both) languages tend to break rules to make things easier to say. For example, it's trivial to conjugate a verb like "контролировать" that you might only use occasionally, but verbs that you say dozens or hundreds of times a day, like "идти" become increasingly irregular.
- Fins 9y agoYou're welcome. Irregular verbs generally tend to be the ones that are used most often, and that are most archaic. Looking at languages there are lost of interesting patterns you can notice. It's even more fun if you look at ones from an entirely different family. Some agglutinating languages may have no irregular verbs at all.