Teens and Twenties

[Ross Clark]

The Polynesian *tekau words do not seem to be related to any word for "man" or "person" in PN. 
They are, however, plausibly derived from te (specific article) + kau. 
 
The *kau can be seen functioning independently with the specific sense of "20" in, for example Tongan    ha kau 'ufi 'e taha    a score of yams
 
Elsewhere in PN *kau is very widespread as a collective or plural marker before various classes of nouns ("bunch, group").
 
Ross Clark

________________________________

From: an-lang-bounces at anu.edu.au [mailto:an-lang-bounces at anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Richard Parker
Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2007 4:41 a.m.
To: an-lang at anu.edu.au
Subject: [An-lang] Teens and Twenties


I've had a bit of stick (off-list and on) for claiming that 
'tekau' as 20 in Marquesan, Niuean, Tokelauan, and Tongan and 
at one time, in Maori, means 'man'. 
 
It patently isn't the same word as 'man' or 'person' in those 
languages, and I should have checked before I used 'man' as 
shorthand for 'man-connected word or phrase', like:
 
Taiof - tangau
Haku - tanoge
Solos - tanaok 

Tapota - oroto-i-irage
Kehelala - oloto emosi ihilage
Igora - tamori emota
Gapapaiwa - otomoa
Gitua - ongere eze
Sio - tamota taitu
Nengaya - lipu tenina kisi
Malasanga - korapta
Mangap - tomota
Waropen - nunggu natio
 
But then, in WMP, one of the very, very few words I have at all for 20 is 
Cebuano - kawhaan 
and I haven't a clue what that's connected with.
-----------------------------------------------------------
However, a further check on whether an archaic number form 
still persists in a language is whether 40 = 2x20 or 4x10
 
Ta'au in Tahiti is only used now for 20 in 'traditional 
counts' like pairs of coconuts, etc. Modern Tahitian has piti 
'ahuru (2 tens).
 
But David Meyer kindly provided me with a clue from the 1838 
translation of the Bible into Tahitian:
 
'e 'a piti ta'au a'era mahana tôtôvahia ihora 'oia e te di'abolo
"Being forty days tempted of the devil" (King James translation)
 
piti ta'au is 2 x 20. In Modern Tahitian, that would be maha 
'ahuru (4 x 10).
 
Whether 'tekau' really has anything to do with 'man' or not, 
it is an archaic word from an archaic system, clearly not derived 
from proto-Oceanic 20 = *rua-nga-puluq
 
regards
 
Richard

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