4 ms·
As the sibling comment already said "kai" (pronounced ke like in keg) just means "and". So it literally means 4 and 10 sides in greek. But I have often seen it
by gapan 5mo ago
As the sibling comment already said "kai" (pronounced ke like in keg) just means "and". So it literally means 4 and 10 sides in greek. But I have often seen it written as τετραδεκάεδρο (tetradecahedron) in greek as well, so without the kai part. I'm not sure why it is 4 and 10 instead of 14 though. It would be more natural in greek that way (δεκατετράεδρο - decatetrahedron). Maybe it is for putting the distinctive part (4) first, or maybe it sounded more "poetic" like that to someone and then it stuck.
- fhars 5mo agoNobody would be so weird as to put the "four" first when pronouncing "14". :-)
- gapan 5mo agoHaha, right!
- cratermoon 5mo agoFour score and seven years ago...
- corkybeta 5mo agoFour and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence
- shever73 5mo agoI think the three-and-ten, four-and-ten way of expressing numbers is primarily an ancient Greek thing. The modern numbers are expressed differently (δεκατέσσερα / dekatessara for fourteen, for example). In a lot of older European languages 11 and 12 behaved irregularly. You could argue that they do in English too (we don't have oneteen and twoteen). I haven't read of any particular reason for this, but I'd posit that numbers up to twelve were more commonly used in everyday life, so shorter, irregular forms were easier to use and remember. Much like many of the irregular verb forms in spoken language happened because they were so commonly used. The ancient Greek system also gave us triskaidekaphobia - the fear of the number 13.
- gapan 5mo agoIndeed, in ancient greek they put the "δέκα" (ten) part second. Τρία και δέκα (13), τέσσερα και δέκα (14), πέντε και δέκα (15), etc, but 11 and 12 was (and still is in modern greek) irregular, έντεκα (enteka) and δώδεκα (dodeka) respectively.
- shagie 5mo agoFrench has some weirdness to its counting. 11 - 16 is specific words, 17 - 19 is "ten {number}" (dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf). There's also some fun when you get to 70... which is soixante-dix (sixty ten)... and 80 which is quatre-vingts (four twenties)... and 90 as quatre-vingt-dix (four twenties ten). Some dialects of French outside of France have changed how they count.
- dylan604 5mo agoWith Spanish being similar with distinct words for 11-15 with 16-19 being 10+number. Taking Spanish in high school made me consider that for the first time while never having thought about 11,12 being similar in English until that same thought process.
- anthk 5mo agoOn_ce, do_ce, tre_ce, cator_ce, quinc_e seem to share similar Latin roots with uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco...
- shagie 5mo agoLatin has 1 to 10 as quite reasonable. 11 is "undecim" (one ten), and 12 is "duodecim" (two ten)... 16 is "sedecim" (six ten), 17 is "septendecim" (seven ten)... 18 is duodeviginti (two from twenty) and 19 is undeviginti (one from twenty). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_numerals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_numerals
- shever73 5mo agoYes, there are lots weird remnants of the vigesimal system around in French. You can see it in names like the Quinze-Vingts hospital - literally "fifteen twenties" because it was designed to have 300 beds.
- beeforpork 5mo ago> "kai" (pronounced ke like in keg) Ancient Greek spans several centuries of sound shifts and many dialects. It cannot easily be simplified into one specific pronunciation, particularly not one that is based on your specific dialect of English. Wiktionary has /kǎi̯/, /ˈkɛ/, /ˈcɛ/ and /ˈce/ for "καὶ".
- gapan 5mo agoYou don't have to span several centuries to witness that. "και" is pronounced in several different ways in modern greek as well. But that's besides my original point.