The Number Concept - Its Origin and Development by Levi Leonard Conant
page 55 of 286 (19%)
page 55 of 286 (19%)
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30. sa re nome ne rewe tubenine = 1 man and 2 series.
40. rewe ne nome = 2 men. Examples like the above are not infrequent. The Aztecs used for 10 the word _matlactli_, hand-half, _i.e._ the hand half of a man, and for 20 _cempoalli_, one counting.[89] The Point Barrow Eskimos call 10 _kodlin_, the upper part, _i.e._ of a man. One of the Ewe dialects of Western Africa[90] has _ewo_, done, for 10; while, curiously enough, 9, _asieke_, is a digital word, meaning "to part (from) the hand." In numerous instances also some characteristic word not of hand derivation is found, like the Yoruba _ogodzi_, string, which becomes a numeral for 40, because 40 cowries made a "string"; and the Maori _tekau_, bunch, which signifies 10. The origin of this seems to have been the custom of counting yams and fish by "bunches" of ten each.[91] Another method of forming numeral words above 5 or 10 is found in the presence of such expressions as second 1, second 2, etc. In languages of rude construction and incomplete development the simple numeral scale is often found to end with 5, and all succeeding numerals to be formed from the first 5. The progression from that point may be 5-1, 5-2, etc., as in the numerous quinary scales to be noticed later, or it may be second 1, second 2, etc., as in the Niam Niam dialect of Central Africa, where the scale is[92] 1. sa. 2. uwi. 3. biata. 4. biama. 5. biswi. |
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