The Number Concept: Its Origin and DevelopmentConant, Levi L. (Levi Leonard)
History
The Number Concept: Its Origin and Development
Conant, Levi L. (Levi Leonard)
Number concept
1. sa.
2. rewe.
3. tini.
4. etse.
5. se dono = the end (of the first hand).
6. dono ne sa = end and 1.
7. dono ne rewe = end and 2.
8. dono ne tini = end and 3.
9. dono ne etse = end and 4.
10. rewe tubenine = 2 series (of fingers).
11. rewe tubenine ne sa re tsemene = 2 series and 1 on the next?
20. sa re nome = 1 man.
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.
6. batissa = 2d 1.
7. batiwwi = 2d 2.
8. batti-biata = 2d 3.
9. batti-biama = 2d 4.
10. bauwe = 2d 5.
That this method of progression is not confined to the least developed
languages, however, is shown by a most cursory examination of the numerals
of our American Indian tribes, where numeral formation like that exhibited
above is exceedingly common. In the Kootenay dialect,[93] of British
Columbia, _qaetsa_, 4, and _wo-qaetsa,_ 8, are obviously related, the
latter word probably meaning a second 4. Most of the native languages of
British Columbia form their words for 7 and 8 from those which signify 2
and 3; as, for example, the Heiltsuk,[94] which shows in the following
words a most obvious correspondence:
2. matl. 7. matlaaus.
3. yutq. 8. yutquaus.
In the Choctaw language[95] the relation between 2 and 7, and 3 and 8, is
no less clear. Here the words are:
2. tuklo. 7. untuklo.
3. tuchina. 8. untuchina.
The Nez Perces[96] repeat the first three words of their scale in their 6,
7, and 8 respectively, as a comparison of these numerals will show.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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