On 2008-02-21 14:56, Patrick Ryan wrote:
> So, on *dwo:u-, the bottom like for me is I think the final -*u is this
> 'number'-element miraculously surviving. This has applications for
> *ok^to:u-
> as well. No dual!
And of couse it's pure coincidence that *dwo:(u) is declined like a
thematic animate _dual_, not at all like a singular or a plural, and
that it's only animate, its inanimate counterpart being *dwo-ih1, again
declined like any thematic neuter dual. By contrast, '1' is declined
like a _singular_, '3' and '4' like ordinary _plurals_, and the basic
cardinal numerals from '5' to '10' are indeclinable ('10' behaves like a
declinable noun only when it forms complex numerals).
Piotr