From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 264
Date: 2003-01-31
----- Original Message -----
From: "H.M. Hubey" <hubeyh@...>
To: <Nostratica@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 1:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Nostratica] Cardinal and Ordinal Integers
> I was looking for a pattern.
The lowest numerals (if "one" is a real numeral) tend to lack "proper" ordinals. The word for "first" usually means, etymologically 'that in front, foremost, earliest', and the word for "second" typically originates as an adjective meaning 'next, another, the other' etc. For these reasons it's normal for the words "one"/"first" as well as "two"/"second" to have different histories and to derive from different roots -- as in English, and as in nearly all my examples.
Piotr