Re: IE right & 10

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, enlil@... wrote:

> Peter:
> > This is interesting. The modern Finnish word for 10

is 'kymmenen'.

> > It's etymology is given as unknown in the sources I have. It is
> > presumed to be fairly recent in Finnish since the original FU
> > speakers had a base 6 number system, [...]
>
> Really? Then where does Hungarian /húsz/ "20" come from? If I

understand

> correctly, Uralic *k becomes Hungarian /h/ as in /hát/ "6" <

*kutte when

> followed by a back vowel. So I have this fetish for the idea that
> *kumX > /húsz/ (where X = unknown for arguement's sake). Afterall,

*tumta

> > /tud/ by similar denasalization of *m. Nobody so far has said

that this

> can't be so. And as I've said, it's funny that it shows up in CK

too.

>

As far as I can find out, Hungarian húsz, 20 comes from kúsz 'man
crawling on hands & toes'(20 digits) <*kuj, man. Perhaps any
Hungarian speakers can confirm this.

Peter P