Teens and Twenties

[Waruno Mahdi]

>  (a) a vigesimal counting system, and
>  (b) a perspective in which counting proceeds forwards (16, 17, 18 ...)
>  towards a fixed salient target of 20

David, that sounds logical alright, the problem is only, I forgot to
add in my previous mail, the Javanese term for 20 itself, _ro-ng-puluh_,
follows the decimal system, cf. _se-puluh_ '10'.

And while we're at it, I have the impression that there have been two
separate mechanisms in the construction of numeral systems by humans,
that involved two different sets of numerical steps or barriers.
The one, digital - quintal - decimal - vigesimal, that we have been
talking about so far, is apparently determined by the naturally given
groupings of anatomically available counting aides: the fingers (and
toes).

There seems however to be another scale of systems of numeration,
'1, 2, many', then '1,2,3,4,5,6,many', etc. My pet theory is that
these are the steps followed by zoological evolution, there apparently
being animals that only distinguish the first-mentioned quantities,
and some that are more advanced and "count" till seven. And these
evolutionary phases of development seem (so my pet theory, at least)
to still be reflected in the structure of some part of the human brain
that is responsible for counting. Hence, in human tradition too, three
and seven constantly reoccur, be it the 3 wizards or the 3 little piggies,
the seven dwarfs or 7-mile boots (if you ask someone to name an arbitrary
number less than 10, he/she will almost always say "7").

My reason for bringing this up: the last step after 3 and 7 seems to
be 40 (cf. Alibaba and the forty thieves). Russian has a normal decimal
system of numeration (_desjath_ '10', _dvadcath_ '20', _tridcath_ '30',
etc.), with one conspicuous exception, _sorok_ '40' (after that follows
pjathdesjath '50', etc.). In old Russian folklore, the expression for
'a countless (very great) quantity' was _sorok sorokov_, lit. 'forty
forties' suggesting an association with the notion 'many'.

My question: does a comparable quadragesimal system exist in any AN
language?

Aloha,  Waruno
_______________________________________________
An-lang mailing list
An-lang at anu.edu.au
http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/an-lang