Proto-Indo-European_numerals

Proto-Indo-European numerals

Proto-Indo-European numerals

Names of numbers in the Proto-Indo-European language


The numerals and derived numbers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) have been reconstructed by modern linguists based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. The following article lists and discusses their hypothesized forms.

Cardinal numbers

The cardinal numbers are reconstructed as follows:

More information Number, Reconstruction (Sihler) ...

Other reconstructions typically differ only slightly from Beekes and Sihler. A nineteenth-century reconstruction (by Brugmann) for thousand is *tūsḱmtiə.[3][4] See also Fortson 2004.[5]

The elements *-dḱomt- (in the numerals "twenty" to "ninety") and *dḱm̥t- (in "hundred") are reconstructed on the assumption that these numerals are derivatives of *deḱm̥(t) "ten".

Lehmann[6] believes that the numbers greater than ten were constructed separately in the dialect groups and that *ḱm̥tóm originally meant "a large number" rather than specifically "one hundred."

Gender of numerals

The numbers three and four had feminine forms with the suffix *-s(o)r-, reconstructed as *t(r)i-sr- and *kʷetwr̥-sr-, respectively.[5]

Numerals as prefixes

Special forms of the numerals were used as prefixes, usually to form bahuvrihis (like five-fingered in English):

More information Number, Prefix (Fortson) ...

Ordinal numbers

The ordinal numbers are difficult to reconstruct due to their significant variation in the daughter languages. The following reconstructions are tentative:[8]

  • "first" is formed with *pr̥h₃- (related to some adverbs meaning "forth, forward, front" and to the particle *prō "forth", thus originally meaning "foremost" or similar) plus various suffixes like *-mo-, *-wo- (cf. Latin primus, Russian perv-).
  • "second": The daughter languages use a wide range of expressions, often unrelated to the word for "two" (including Latin and English), so that no PIE form can be reconstructed. A number of languages use the form derived from *h₂enteros meaning "the other [of two]" (cf. OCS vĭtorŭ, Lithuanian añtras, Old Icelandic annarr)
  • "third" to "sixth" were formed from the cardinals plus the suffix *-t(ó)-: *tr̥-t(ó)- / *tri-t(ó)- "third" etc.
  • "seventh" to "tenth" were formed by adding the thematic vowel *-ó- to the cardinal: *oḱtow-ó- "eighth" etc.

The cardinals ending in a syllabic nasal (seven, nine, ten) inserted a second nasal before the thematic vowel, resulting in the suffixes *-mó- and *-nó-. These and the suffix *-t(ó)- spread to neighbouring ordinals, seen for example in Vedic aṣṭa- "eighth" and Lithuanian deviñtas "ninth".

Reflexes

Reflexes, or descendants of the PIE reconstructed forms in its daughter languages, include the following.

Reflexes of the cardinal numbers

More information Number, Reconstruction (Sihler) ...

In the following languages, reflexes separated by slashes mean:

Reflexes of the feminine numbers

More information Number, Reconstruction ...

Reflexes of the numeral prefixes

More information Number, Reconstruction ...

Reflexes of the ordinal numbers

More information Number, Reconstruction ...

Notes

  1. Sihler (1995:402–24)
  2. Beekes (1995:212–16)
  3. Lehmann (1993:252–255)
  4. Fortson (2004:131–132)
  5. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "one" and "first"". In: Sborník prací Filosofické fakulty Brněnské university, A 47. Brno: MU, 1999. p. 7-27. A 47. ISBN 80-210-2098-9.
  6. de Vaan, Michiel. "Proto-Indo-European *sm and *si 'one'". In: The Precursors of Proto-Indo-European. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill|Rodopi, 2019. pp. 203–218. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004409354_015
  7. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "two"". In: Sborník prací Filosofické fakulty brněnské university. Brno: Masarykova universita, 1998. p. 5-25. A 46. ISBN 80-210-1796-1.
  8. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "three"". In: Lingua Posnaniensis, Polsko: neznámý, 1998, vol. 40, No 1, p. 33-45. ISSN 0079-4740.
  9. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "four"." In: Indogermanische Forschungen, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1998, vol. 103, No 1, p. 112-134. ISSN 0019-7262.
  10. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "five"". In: Indogermanische Forschungen, Berlin-NY: Walter de Gruyter, 2000, vol. 105, No 1, p. 102-120. ISSN 0019-7262.
  11. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "six"". In: Sborník prací Filosofické fakulty brněnské university. Brno: Masarykova universita, 2000. p. 5-18. A 48. ISBN 80-210-2350-3.
  12. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European 'Seven'". In: Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph Series 22 (1997): 9-29.
  13. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-european "eight"". In: Historische Sprachforschung. SRN: neznám, 1998, vol. 111, No 1, p. 209-224. ISSN 0935-3518.
  14. Craig Melchert stated: "Meriggi, 'Fs Hirt' 266, suggests 'eighty' and 'ninety' respectively for aitãta and nuñtata ... 'Eight' and 'nine' are not only more reasonable contextually ... The remaining *aita- and *nuñta- may be derived from *ok̂tō and *néwn̥ ... " Melchert, H. Craig. "New Luvo-Lycian Isoglosses". In: Historische Sprachforschung. 102 Band. 1 Heft. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1989. pp. 24-25. ISSN 0935-3518
  15. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "nine"". In: Historische Sprachforschung. Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999. vol. 112, No 2, p. 188-390. ISSN 0935-3518.
  16. "This numeral ... is obviously derived from the word for "nine". (...) The etymological connection with PIE *newn ... is evident ...". Eichner, Heiner. "Anatolian". In: Gvozdanovic, Jadranka (ed.). Indo-European numerals. Trends in linguistics: Studies and monographs n. 57. Berlin; New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 1991. p. 87. ISBN 3-11-011322-8
  17. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "ten"". In: Bygone voices reconstructed. On language origins and their relationships: In honor of Aharon Dolgopolski. Ed. by Vitalij V. Shevoroshkin & Harald U. Sverdrup. Copenhagen: Underskoven Publishers ApS, 2009. pp. 113-123. ISBN 978-87-91947-33-9.
  18. Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European "hundred"". In: History of Language. Melbourne: Association for the History of Language, 1999, 5.2, No 2, p. 71-82. ISSN 1441-5542.
  19. Douglas Q. Adams, A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., 2013, ISBN 9401209367 s.v. yaltse

References

Further reading

  • Bammesberg, Alfred (1995). "Latin quattuor and Its Prehistory". In: Journal of Indo-European Studies (JIES) 23 (1-2): 213–222.
  • Beekes, Robert S. P. (1987). "The Word for 'Four' in Proto-Indo-European". In: Journal of Indo-European Studies (JIES) 15 (1/2): 215–219.
  • Bomhard, Allan. "Some thoughts on the Proto-Indo-European cardinal numbers". In: In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology. In honor of Harold Crane Fleming. Edited by John D. Bengtson. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2008. pp. 213-221. 10.1075/z.145.18bom.

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