Re: [tied] Re: Numerals query again

11-11-03 13:59, Harald Hammarstrom wrote:

> Just for the record, in ON, did skor only mean notch
> and was borrowed/calqued/resembled into English with that meaning only or
> was the 20-meaning present in ON as well?

<skor> meant 'tally, record' and '(a group of) twenty' already in Old
Norse, AFAIK. They also had the verb <skora> 'make an incision; count,
record by notches', cf. English <to score>.

> How early is this system attested
> btw? 500 A.D or 1000 A.D -ish?

Older. West Germanic and Gothic have similar, though not identical
systems (ON had a regular [or rather regularised] series with <tiger>
'sets of ten'). The special status of the upper decads may go back to
Proto-Germanic, though the particular implementations of the system are
dialectal. For details see Ross's article in _IEN_.

> Also, what theory do you subscribe to
> as to the proto-Germanic 70-120?

See

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/6791

and the ensuing discussion between Miguel and me.

Piotr