O/P term for one thousand

[Jonathan Holmes]

Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu> wrote:    ...I noticed recently a remark in Dorsey's paper on dwellings, tools, etc.,
that the Omaha dealt with arrows in standardized sets - there is even a
word for such a set - and not as individual artifacts. Since sets were
usually of ten arrows each, it seems on that basis that the urge to count
by tens may go back at least as far as the introduction of the bow. On
the other hand, perhaps throwing spears were also handled in sets, though
maybe smaller ones. Another instance of systematized counting might be the
use of bundles of sticks to represent honors. Men are reported to have
recounted their honors by working through their sets of sticks. The
handgame also involves a system of formal counters, though the modern form
is fairly recent and I don't know if the counters are earlier.

Rory - what do you think about the use of kku'ge 'box' for 'thousand'?
Does this imply that 1000 is a new concept, or is it a new word for an old
concept? How widespread is 'box' in this sense? I just noticed in the
texts that kku'ge often appears glossed 'box' when a numerical
interpretation is clearly meant.
   
  John,
  If I may offer...in Dr. James H. Howard's work titled "The Ponca Tribe" (BAE Bulletin 195) he states on page 73,
   
  "The term for one thousand is derived from the fact that the money which the Ponca received for treaty payments came in boxes which contained $1,000 each." 

Hope it helps,
  Jonathan




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