four-twenty-ten

[Taliesin]

The Old English counting system had twelve and sixty as the important numbers (I think this is why there are twelve inches in a foot); so, there are unique numbers from one to twelve, and then three-ten, four-ten, etc. above that. Then, all numbers above twenty are written in the form "one and twenty, three and thirty", etc. Further, all numbers above sixty-nine have the prefix hund- added to them: hundseofontig, hundeahtetig, hundnigontig, nigon and hundnigontig, an hund, hundendleofantig (literally, "eleventy"!), and then either hundtwelftig or hundtwentig, continuing with hundþrittig, etc. 154 would be "feower and hundfiftig."

It's all very silly-sounding.

 

[ironduck]

Really? Vier and Ceathair? Funf and Chuig?

No, those are where the Latin comes in But the initial sound in my head was very Germanic (I have heard Irish spoken).. it was just the feel I got from the numbers that surprised me with how German they sounded

 

[Masquerouge]

The Old English counting system had twelve and sixty as the important numbers (I think this is why there are twelve inches in a foot); so, there are unique numbers from one to twelve, and then three-ten, four-ten, etc. above that. Then, all numbers above twenty are written in the form "one and twenty, three and thirty", etc. Further, all numbers above sixty-nine have the prefix hund- added to them: hundseofontig, hundeahtetig, hundnigontig, nigon and hundnigontig, an hund, hundendleofantig (literally, "eleventy"!), and then either hundtwelftig or hundtwentig, continuing with hundþrittig, etc. 154 would be "feower and hundfiftig."

It's all very silly-sounding.

Well twelve and sixty certainly are still important numbers today, just look at the way we measure time. IIRC that's from babylonian numbers, they had a base-60 numerical system and so deserved to be wiped out.

 

[ironduck]

The Old English counting system had twelve and sixty as the important numbers (I think this is why there are twelve inches in a foot); so, there are unique numbers from one to twelve, and then three-ten, four-ten, etc. above that.

That's very similar to Germanic too.. 1-12 are unqiue, then the 3-ten onwards..

 

[emzie]

Is that italian?? It's very similar to spanish. Germany does similar with eleven and twelve being different then 13 being 3-10...

Unfortunately what I do know is spoken (and badly) so I won't be spelling it...

Funny sidebar: Most of my mexican friends never realized that Adios (goodbye) is just a contraction of to (a) and God (dios)

Yeah, German is elf (11), zwölf(12) then number-10: dreizhen (13).

and it's French =p

 

[Dionysius]

<purged.>

 

[nonconformist]

The Germans also have the sillines to express their times as minutes to the hour.


So what is half past two, to them is half to three, and what is quater past five is three-quarters to six

 

[Urederra]

Recently I realized that the way French people count is really strange.

Finally you realize.

Seriously, Could it be Basque influence? We count that way in basque too.

hamar is 10
hamabost is 15
hogei is 20
hogeita hamar is 30 (literally 20 and 10)
hogeita hamabost is 35 (literally 20 and 15)
berrogei is 40
berrogeita hamar is 50 (literally 40 and 10)
berrogeita hamabost is 55 (40 and 15)
hirurogei is 60
hirurogeita hamar is 70
laurogei is 80
laurogeita hamar is 90
ehun is 100

 

[MamboJoel]

A notable difference about numbers in the languages I use is that often when using big numbers in English you very soon tend to avoid using the literal expression.
3 568, three thousands one five hundred and sixty eight would easily get shorten, it's impossible in French : Trois mille cinq cent soixante huit.

There is also the three thousand five hundred or thirty five hundred issue in French by the way.

 

[emzie]

The Germans also have the sillines to express their times as minutes to the hour.


So what is half past two, to them is half to three, and what is quater past five is three-quarters to six

You can say a quarter past five in German. Es ist viertel nach fünf

Though the half hour thing is odd to me. The "quarter 'till six" isn't uncommon in English (or is it there?)

 

[ironduck]

The expression of time varies a lot between languages with funny little idiosyncracies

Dionysius, thank you for the phonetics!

 

[Sophie 378]

augery: Up to and including X.30 (where X is an hour) is always referred to as Y (minutes) past (X) - except for 24-hour clocks, where they say "fifteen-twelve" for 1512. Occasionally, someone will say "it's thirty-three minutes past four" or something, but I've never heard "Y past X" where Y is more than maybe forty minutes (or twenty mins to the next hour).
Hopefully that clarifies rather than confuses.

 

[Quinzy]

irish is far closer to greek roots than germanic, IIRC. the Brothers' Grimm's father was an expert at languages, and did extensive studies into indo-european languages

 

[ironduck]

There's also.. three minutes to half four. But not in English

 

[Quinzy]

There's also.. three minutes to half four. But not in English

yeah, we just tend to say "its almost half past!"

 

[nonconformist]

Though the half hour thing is odd to me. The "quarter 'till six" isn't uncommon in English (or is it there?)

No it isn't but in English you go the way it's shortest.

 

[ironduck]

yeah, we just tend to say "its almost half past!"

That's because you're so sloppy!

How is the time described in Gaelic?

 

[Quinzy]

tr&#237; a chlog: 3 o'clock (3 on the clock)
deich noimead tar eis a naoi: 10 minutes past 9

deich: ten
noimead: minute
tar eis: after/past
a naoi: a nine

 

[mrtn]

Swedish numbers are logical.

However, I can't say I like the English time keeping system, most notably that you can't really talk about quarters, and get people to understand that you're not talking about coins, but about time.

"Kvart i fyra" A quarter (i e 15 minutes) to four.
"Kvart &#246;ver fyra" A quarter past four.
"Halv fyra" Half past three.
"Vi ses om en kvart" We'll meet in a quarter.

A similar thing is that you don't talk about half-years in English. You don't say "I haven't seen him for a half-year" which is what I'd say in Swedish. Bloody 6 month bloody exactness...

 

[Dionysius]

<purged.>