Re: [tied] Etruscan numerals

From: "Harald Hammarstrom" <haha2581@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>

> > Harald:
> > >> Well, I perfectly agree.
> > >>
> > >> As for the semantics of "5" > "4" (or v.v.), I've been too buy to

look

> > for
> > >> any examples, yet.
> > >
> > >I highly doubt there are any.
> > >
> > >> However, there are some languages (don't ask me where,
> > >> when or which) forming "4" < "lesser 5"/"lesser fist"/"lesser hand"

or

> > sim.
> > >> in the world, aren't they....?
> > >
> > >Maybe, but I don't think so since I have never seen a case. There is an
> > >abundance of such cases for numbers above five though.
> >
> > Anatolian *meyu- "4", originally "less (hand)" or "little (finger)", cf.
> > Greek my'ops "little finger", mei'on "lesser"
>
> I think this etymon is rather Hittite-Luvian than pan-Anatolian. Moreover
> we don't know if it's meaning was "four" rather than something similar
> like "group of four" or "member of a group of four", or whether it was
> the standard Hittite cardinal.
>
> If anything, this etymon means "small (hand)" rather than "lesser 5",
> according to Eichner in "The Indo-European Numerals".
>
> /H

I see. So, I must've been mistaken. Anyway, the semantics of "5" to "4" is
possible, isn't it...? (via "4" = small (hand)) As I've mentioned already, I
forgot to write that this was partially a quotation from Blazek's book. I
relied upon it, which seems to have been a mistake :-(...Thanks for
correcting it.

Petusek