In international (cross cultural) trade, numerals are
essential tools of communication. Hence, through commerce its
vocabulary can be quite invasive and will travel across cultures. In
subsequent exchanges numerals can be diffused by an elite scientific
community. What comes to mind is the history of the spread of "Arabic"
numerals, starting from their source in India to Western Europe.
Further examples below are illustrated to support
this view. Dictionary entries can also be viewed by clicking on
the following URL:
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1 - C. Arabic myl: as used by the Arabs, [A
mile:] the distance to which the eye reaches along a land: according to ancient
astronomers, three thousand cubits: according to moderns, four thousand cubits:
but the difference is merely verbal: for they agree that its extent is ninety
six thousand digits; [about 5196 feet;] each digit being the measure of six
barley corns, each placed with its belly next to another; but the ancients say
that three cubit is thirty two digits; which makes the mile three thousand
cubits.
2 - C. Arabic "hnd": A hundred camels, a hundred of
other things, two hundred years, and a hundred years.
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BTW, all of these example are from the gahiyliyah
period, long before any Islamic expansion took place.
If one doesn't come to the logical conclusion
that "myl" & "hnd" are a perfect match
(in form and meaning) to "mile" and "hund", then we might as well believe
in a parallel universe.
Ishinan