LL-L "Numerals" 2005.02.13 (07) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 13.FEB.2005 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Dutch Matters <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
Subject: Numerals.


Thank you Lowlanders: you all have given me a lot to think about.

Thanks Domhnall, for your extensive treatise on a 12 based counting system.
I would have never thought about that one. And don’t forget that systems
change. The English were quite willing to put four and twenty blackbirds in
a pie, but nowadays they stick to twenty four.

However I missed the Persian number six in your list. Let me know please

There seem to be several ways in which people started counting.

A 12 based count seems to have more ways to go than a ten based count ( 2 x
5 or 5x 2 being the only logical ones)

Then again you can see 60 as 5x 12, which would integrate these two systems.

Re German/Dutch elf, zwolf (elf, twaalf) switching to dreizehn (dertien)
etc. and the French onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize and then
switching to dix-sept etc. Maybe that is because you can pronounce treize,
quatorze etc with more ease than dritze/drieze without making it sound like
either an ordinal number or a plural. Did you ever try and pronounce
 “septze” with a french accent, without letting it sound like seize?

In the mean time I am proposing a trip to the global sand box to teach my
self how other cultures taught themselves to count!

Jacqueline [Bungenberg de Jong]

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