numeral nomenclature than that in which Dr. Trumbull embodies the results
of his scholarly research among the languages of the native Indian tribes
of this country.[147] As might be expected, we are everywhere confronted
with a digital origin, direct or indirect, in the great body of the words
examined. But it is clearly shown that such a derivation cannot be
established for all numerals; and evidence collected by the most recent
research fully substantiates the position taken by Dr. Trumbull. Nearly all
the derivations established are such as to remind us of the meanings we
have already seen recurring in one form or another in language after
language. Five is the end of the finger count on one hand--as, the Micmac
_nan_, and Mohegan _nunon_, gone, or spent; the Pawnee _sihuks_, hands
half; the Dakota _zaptan_, hand turned down; and the Massachusetts
_napanna_, on one side. Ten is the end of the finger count, but is not
always expressed by the "both hands" formula so commonly met with. The Cree
term for this number is _mitatat_, no further; and the corresponding word
in Delaware is _m'tellen_, no more. The Dakota 10 is, like its 5, a
straightening out of the fingers which have been turned over in counting,
or _wickchemna_, spread out unbent. The same is true of the Hidatsa
_pitika_, which signifies a smoothing out, or straightening. The Pawnee 4,
_skitiks_, is unusual, signifying as it does "all the fingers," or more
properly, "the fingers of the hand." The same meaning attaches to this
numeral in a few other languages also, and reminds one of the habit some
people have of beginning to count on the forefinger and proceeding from
there to the little finger. Can this have been the habit of the tribes in
question? A suggestion of the same nature is made by the Illinois and Miami
words for 8, _parare_ and _polane_, which signify "nearly ended." Six is
almost always digital in origin, though the derivation may be indirect, as
in the Illinois _kakatchui_, passing beyond the middle; and the Dakota
_shakpe_, 1 in addition. Some of these significations are well matched by
numerals from the Ewe scales of western Africa, where we find the