Re: numerals

From: John Croft
Message: 1669
Date: 2000-02-23

Guillaume wrote

> Therefore, the Semito-IE-Kartvelian situation is quite abnormal as
> regard to how numbers are loaned; it means that it is not really
> through commerce that the numeral "seven" was loaned, I think.

I wonder could it have been calendrical? Seven is a quarter of a 28
day "moon-th". A lunar based calendar would tend to foster seven day
periods.

There is also a very old religious link. The six days and the seventh
as the day of rest is not just Biblical. Like most of this it is built
into the Sumerian mythos (six generations of gods and then they rested
(because the gods had created humankind to be their servants!).

But then calendars and religions have been linked for millenia.

Regards

John