Come to think of it, I forgot something. The contact with NWC
had to have occured with _Proto-Tyrrhenian_ (c.8000-7000 BCE)
since without the introduction of *penkWe "five" from Old NWC,
the word *kWat:Wa would not have undergone a semantic shift to
"four" from original "five" (attested as "four" in _both_
Tyrrhenian *xotta and IE *kWetwores, yet "five" in Altaic, and
"six" in Uralic).
The reason for the IT semantic shift would have been due to the
inability and lack of need for wandering hunter-gatherers to keep
the rather consistent number set that it had inherited. (The
reason for the original Steppe number set in the first place
involves the interaction of Steppe peoples within the larger
Asian economy, especially with the SinoDene. The IndoTs
had eventually disassociated themselves from this economy by
moving further west...) Hence, "four", "five" and "six" were
all "several", so to speak, to these nomads. Numerical exactitudes
were unneeded.
Carry on.
-------------------------------------------------
Glen Gordon
Webdeveloper
home:
http://glen_gordon.tripod.com
email:
glengordon01@...
ph: (604)904.0320
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