Re: Finnish KASKA

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

>
> Well, Wikipedia is not really decisive, is it?
>
> But OK, what would like to say about thu(n)?
>
> I cannot imagine a PIE root as a good candidate for a word for 'one'

having

> a form similar except something like *te:u-, 'swollen' for 'thumb';

and the

> thumb usually seems to be reserved for more important uses: Egyptian

<djw>,

> 'five', 'thumb-like-number'.

I don't know if the root exists anywhere in PIE, aside from the dual
form *dwo:. The number one is interesting. There are two roots for
one, *sem and *H3ei. The root for first is unrelated, *pro.

It might be that the original root was lost for some reason. Perhaps
**dwe was too similar to *dwo: so it was replaced by other roots,
which would explain the diversity.