Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics - The set of numerals

Notes from the book
Theoretical Bases of Indo-European Linguistics
Winfred P. Lehmann
Publish by Ruthledge, 1993


Notes on the numerals 1 to 10 in Indo-European languages
The set of numerals
P253
Numeral systems in general are constructed around some selected standard, often that of the digits of one hand or both. The Sumerian system is constructed on the set of fingers for one hand; 6 is 5 + 1, 7 is 5 + 2, and so on to ten, which is an independent lexical item, as are the numbers 1-5. The Indo-European system is also based on the digits of one hand (Greek pénte ”five” – Hittite pankus “the whole”), but differs from Sumerian in having independent lexical items for 6, 7, 9, and probably 8 as well, although the suggestion has been made that the word for eight is a dual of the etymon of Avestan ašti- “four fingers” that was selected to represent the numeral (Henning 1948: 699).
After 10, differences are found from dialext group to dialect group. Gernaic and Baltic represent 11 and 12 as “one left over” and “two left over”, Latin and Greek as 1-10, 2-10, but from 13 the Greek form is “three and ten”, etc.; moreover, Latin represents 18 and 19 as “two from twenty, one from twentty”. More such forms that are restricted to one dialect or one dialect ggroup could be cited.

The numerals from 20 to 100 show further differences. For our purposes those numerals may be adequately represented by giving side by side representations for 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.

Numbers
Sanskrit
Greek
Latin
Gothic
20
viṃśatí
eikosi
vīgintī
twai tigjus
40
catvāriṁśát
tetterákonta
quadrāgintā
fidwor tigjus
60
ṣaṣtí
heksékonta
sexāgintā
saihs tigjus
80
aśītí
ogdoékonta
octōgintā
ahtautehund
100
śatá
hekatón
centum
hunda



P254
Treatment of the system of the lower numerals has yielded explanations for those to 5. Proto-Indo-European *oinos has long been explained as based on the root ?ey- “this one”. I have proposed that the word for two is based on the root *dew- “further”, as in Hittite tuwa “distant”. Moreover, that the word for three is based on the root *ter- “even further”, as in Sanskrit tiráh (1990a: 40). We may recall that Greek énē “the third day” is in origin “that (day)” (Specht 1944: 16). And if the Hittite meywes is a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European word, an additional numeral has been explained (Neu 1987: 176-7); based on the root *mey- “lessen”, the word for 4 would represent the lesser hand of four fingers, in contrast with 5 for the whole hand. The initial system would then have been based on pointing to objects – first as closest at hand, second as farther from the speaker, the third even farther, while the words for 4 and 5 represent symbolizations with four and five fingers.

The most convincing explanation for the words for 6 to 9 is by means of borrowing or calques, although the word for 9 may be related to the root *new- as in Latin novus “new”.


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