4 ms·
What other languages have unusual constructs, à la soixante-dix and quatre-vingts?
by gniv 3y ago
What other languages have unusual constructs, à la soixante-dix and quatre-vingts?
- munch117 3y agoCounting in multiples of 20 is not really that unusual. But if you like, I'll give you the Danish word for 70, "halvfjers", literally "half-fourish", meaning half way between three and four 20's.
- gerdesj 3y agoEnglish also uses 12 and 20: "half a dozen" = six, "four score" = 80.
- gniv 3y ago> Counting in multiples of 20 is not really that unusual. Wow, there's an entire Wikipedia article on this with lots of interesting tidbits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigesimal#Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigesimal#Europe
- gniv 3y agoLooks like Danish went all-out with the 20s: https://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/danish.htm https://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/danish.htm TIL. Thanks!
- interfixus 3y agoOr, to be exact, halvfjerds.
- munch117 3y agoI stand corrected. You rarely spell out these larger numbers, so the exact spelling can be hard to remember. On similar lines, seeing "tredivte" on the list gave me a start - it somehow doesn't look right, even though it is.
- jhncls 3y agoFrench might have evolved as a latinized version of the Basque language.
- NeoTar 3y agoWhilst possible, the ‘standard’ origin for French is that (the language as a whole) derived from Latin combining with native Celtic and Germanic languages. Of course this doesn’t mean that specific words (for example the numbers) may not have derived from or been influenced by other languages like Basque.
- gku 3y agoHogei, twenty in basque, is said to be related to other Celtic languages, for example, ugain in Welsh and ugent in Breton. I miss a note in https://www.omniglot.com/celtiadur/2023/07/11/twenty/ https://www.omniglot.com/celtiadur/2023/07/11/twenty/.
- yorwba 3y agoThe connection doesn't appear to be generally accepted: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=lxwp23-08-edb.pdf&site=1#page=304 https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=lxwp2...
- DonaldFisk 3y agoBreton, Cornish, and Manx, like French, are still all base 20. Recently (a few decades ago) the other Celtic languages: Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic, switched to base 10. Numbers in Danish are a bit odd.
- westernpopular 3y agoFun fact: the unusual way of saying eighty in French ("four twenties") actually came about through the local contact with Celtic languages! I'm linguistic terms this is called "substratum influence"