--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "petusek" <petusek@...> wrote:
> Vaclav Blazek (Numerals) offers a weird solution to some numerals
in some of the World's languages.
>
> He suggests that some of the strange phonetic irregularities in
numerals may be due to an analogy, alliteration and sandhi that take
place when numbers are counted in a set (e.g. from 1 to 10 or sim.)
We have all encountered alliterative and analogical changes, of
course. However, here is what Blazek assumes for IE (not that he
claims it is the only correct explanation, in fact, he asks):
>
> *oy- *dwoH1 *tri-*kWe *dur- *pen(gh?)- *kWe = "1", "2", "3"
plus, "4", "5" plus >> *oy- dwoH1 *tri- *kWetur- *penkWe (???)
>
> /t/ in *kWetur- would be due to analogy after *tri-
>
> External parallels supporting the reconstruction *dur-, *dwor- etc.
would be in Altaic *to:r-/*tu:r (Starostin).
>
> Does anybody know of analogies in other language groups? Any
supporting or disagreeing ideas?
It's appealing to analyse *kWetwor as actually being *pWetwor, whence
Germanic f-, and related to the Afro-Asiatic forms - see e.g.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/6673 or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/14952 .
Sanskrit _cátasras_ 'four (f.) argues against there being a *twer
root.
On the other hand, Sanskrit _tur(i:)ya_, Avestan tu:irya- 'fourth'
offers some slight support. It's slight, as _tur(i:)ya_ could easily
be a reduced form of *ktur(i:)ya.
Richard.