Counting
Counting in English is based on two different methods. The numbers from 13-19 follow the Germanic way of counting, while numbers from 20 on follow the French way of counting (with some simplifications). In Germanic languages, the numbers are read in a mixed way. So for 14 the German word is vierzehn which literally means four-ten (English: fourteen). However, in 18th century the Germanic way of counting was still used as can be found e.g. in Sing a Song of Sixpence. Nowadays, numbers of 20 and higher follow the French way, except 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71 and 70-99. E.g. French: vingt-quatre, English: twenty-four. However, numbers ending with one do not follow the French way. Numbers ending with one in French are bound with "et", e.g. French vingt-et-un literally means twenty-and-one. Numbers between 70 and 99 are built by multiplication and addition (French: quatre-vingt-dix-neuf literally means four-twenty-ten-nine (4*20 + 19)(compare: "Fourscore and seven years ago", or "threescore and ten").). Although the terms septante (70), octante (80) and nonante (90) are officially recognised by the Académie française, they remain rarely used by most French speakers, except in Belgium (and its former African colonies), Switzerland, parts of French-speaking Canada (Acadian French), Jèrriais, and some parts of France. However, octante (80) is now rare in Belgium where it has been supplanted by quatre-vingt and in Switzerland where it has been supplanted by huitante.
Read more about this topic: Foreign Language Influences In English
Famous quotes containing the word counting:
“What we commonly call man, the eating, drinking, planting, counting man, does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself. Him we do not respect, but the soul, whose organ he is, would he let it appear through his action, would make our knees bend.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Love is sinister,
is mean to us in separation;
makes our thin bodies thinner.
This fellow Death
lacks mercy
and is good at counting our days.
And Master,
you, too, are subject
to the plague of jealousy
so think:
how could womenfolk,
soft as sprouts,
live like this?”
—Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)
“If all power is in the people, if there is no higher law than their will, and if by counting their votes, their will may be ascertained—then the people may entrust all their power to anyone, and the power of the pretender and the usurper is then legitimate. It is not to be challenged since it came originally from the sovereign people.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)