Re: & Hundred &

From: The Egyptian Chronicles
Message: 68263
Date: 2011-12-12

PIOTR Wrote :

A similar use of <hund> in decad names is found in West Germanic (most consistently in Old English), but there <hund> comes first:
 
 70  hund-seofontig
 80  hund-eahtatig
 90  hund-nigontig
100  hund-têontig (= hund)
110  hund-aendlaeftig
120  hund-twelftig
 
The correspondence <sibuntêhund> = <hund-seofontig> suggests that the correct division of <sibuntêhund> is <sibuntê-hund>, where <-tê> corresponds to <-tig>. Since <-tê> can hardly derive from Goth. *-tigjus, we can hypothesise that the more archaic neuter variant *-texu < *-téxu: survives here:
 
*sibuntexuxunda- > *sibunte:xunda (haplology combined with compensatory lengthening)
 
I don't think this dialectal use of <hund> in upper decad names has anything to do with the original function of PIE *dk^mtóm as a Gen.pl. form ("of sets of ten"). It's quite evident that <hund> in these constructions means simply "a hundred (or something of that order anyway)", and that the decad names in the range 70-120 denoted such "approximate hundreds" in an explicit manner, with some redundancy.
 
(A curiosity: Crimean Gothic had <sada> '100', an Iranian loan.)
 
Comments welcome.
 
 
 
ISHINAN: I would add that the "curiosity" you alluded to above is repeating itself verbatim in Arabic.  As 's.dd', according to Lane, is a Persian word <sada> for 100 which is used often by Arabs.
 
However, amazingly, in another situation,  Arabic 's.dd' (a homonym) means side, beside, and aside.
 
Compare with:
 
sîdôn f. Seite. an. sía f. Seite (des menschlichen und tierischen Körpers), Küste; as. sîda, afries. ags. sîde f. (engl. side); ahd. sîta, sîtta, mhd. sîte f., nhd. Seite. Substantiviertes Adj. sîda.
 
 
side (n.) O.E. side "flanks of a person, the long part or aspect of anything," from P.Gmc. *sithon (cf. O.S. sida, O.N. siða, M.Du. side, O.H.G. sita, Ger. Seite).
 
 
 
It is also pertinent to mention that 'hnd' in Classical Arabic (a non-Indo-European language) means a hundred, a hundred camels, a hundred other things, a hundred years. 
 
 
Compare with
 
hundred  O.E. hundred "the number of 100, a counting of 100," from W.Gmc. *hundrath (cf. O.N. hundrað, Ger. hundert), first element is P.Gmc. *hunda- "hundred" (cf. Goth. hund, O.H.G. hunt), from PIE *kmtom "hundred" (cf. Skt. satam, Avestan satem, Gk. hekaton, L. centum, Lith. simtas, O.Ir. cet, Bret. kant "hundred").
 
 
hundred; pl. u; n. A hundred :-- Getalu vel heápas vel hundredu centurias, Ælfc. Gl. 96; Som. 76, 25; Wrt. Voc. 53, 34. Ðeáh ðe heora hundred seó though there be a hundred of them, Ps. Th. 89, 10. On lxv and þreó hundræd hi beóþ tódlede they are divided into three hundred and sixty-five, Nar. 49, 25. Seox hundred wintra and iii and hundseofenti wintra, Chr. 656; Erl. 33, 34. Hundrað scillinga centum denarios, Mt. Kmbl. Lind. 18, 28. On twegera hundred penega wurþe. Jn. Skt. 6, 7. Wið þrím hundred penegon, 12, 5. Mid twám hundred penegon, Mk. Skt. 6, 40. Hí ðá ston hundredon and fíftigon discubuerunt per centenos et per quinquagenos, 37. [O. Frs. hundred, hunderd: Icel. hundrað: O. H. Ger. hundert: Ger. hundert. Two etymologies are suggested for the word; according to one hunder- corresponds to Lat. centur-ia; according to the other -red (Icel. rað) is a suffix akin to the -ræðr which is found in Icel. átt-rædr, etc. v. Grmm. Gesch. D. S. 175-6.]
 
Lastly, I would like to mention that A.E. has 'sht' which means a hundred.  The reading 'shnt' has been also proposed.
 
The gist of mentioning all these parallels in Arabic (a non Indo-European language) demonstrates how flimsy PIE reconstruction can be. Not everything advertised is to be taken as sacrosanct.  A simple comparison, which includes the FULL extent of the available isoglosses (often extending to non-Indo-European languages), can be very persuasive. Reconstruction ought not to be pick and choose.
 
 
All the above examples, with full definitions in Arabic and English dictionaries, can be viewed by clicking the following URL: