To David James -
Your message about the Cumbrian sheep counting
numerals is one of the most interesting messages I've
seen on CyBaLiSt so far. The fact that a separate,
archaic-looking set of numerals has survived into our
time is fascinating to me - I haven't heard about
anything like this before. You pointed out that the
words for "five" and "ten" have a Celtic origin and
asked if the others were just "fanciful inventions". I
don't think so - these words look very ancient to me
(even though it is also obvious that they have been
made to ryme with each other). Compare "tethera" /
"teddera" (four) with Greek "tessares" or "gigot"
(twenty) with Latin "viginti". A professional linguist
would no doubt find more and deeper historical
connections than I am able to do. Let us know if you
learn more about this!
Hakan
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