το άνευ κλίσι Ελληνικό: Numerals

[Introduction] [The cardinal numbers: summary] [Ordinals, n-tuples, collectives & adverbs] [Fractions]

Introduction

Joseph Peanou followed the same sort of procedure as with nouns and adjectives, namely: use the 'compositional base' form. Let us, therefore, consider what this form is.

zero

The ancient Greeks did not have a proper understanding of 'zero'. How can 'nothing' have any existence, was how they tended to think of it. The concept did not really become commonplace in our western world until the adoption of Arabic numerals. Our modern word is derived from French 'zéro' which in turn is derived from the Venetian 'zero' ['tsero], a contraction of the Italian 'zefiro', from the Arabic şifr (zero, nothing). Now although in WHATL there was no Latin and hence no Italian as we know it, there was a similar borrowing of the Arabic word but with different results. Joseph Peanou, however, eschewed the later borrowings from Arabic and adopted the ancient neuter μηδέν (nothing) as the ΤΑΚΕ word for 'zero'.

one

Compounds of εἷς [m.],μία [f.], ἕν [n.] "one" always begin ἑνο- cf. English 'henotheism'. The word is fully declined as an adjective, and by the rules for deriving ΤΑΚΕ adjectives from ancient Greek, we have ενό (← masc. & neuter genitive ἑνός).

two

The ancient word was δύο (or δύω according to dialect). In the earliest Greek it was declined with dual endings, but even from Homeric times there was a tendency towards making the word indeclinable. In Classical Attic and the Koine it was indeclinable δύο. However, only a few compounds in δυο- are found; most words used δι- (← δίς "twice"), or even δια-, in compounds. But this can cause confusion with compounds beginning with the preposition δι(α)-. Taking advantage of doublets like διφυσίτης (diphysite) ~ δυοφυσίτης (dyophysite), Joseph decided to retain the form δύο in ΤΑΚΕ.

three ... ten

τρία is the neuter form of the ancient (and modern) Greek word for "three". As several of the others also ended in -α (namely: τέσσαρα/ τέτταρα [neut.] 4, ἑπτά 7, έννέα 9 and δέκα 10), -α- tended to be added to others when forming compounds, e.g. 5 was πέντε, but in compounds πεντα- is commoner than πεντε-, hence, as Joseph Peanou was chosing the 'compositional base' for his words, he chose πέντα as the ΤΑΚΕ for "five".

The only modification to the numerals quoted above will be to 4. Although τεσσαρα- was used, by far the greater number of compounds begin τετρα-, and the form τέτρασι was used by poets as the dative plural. Joseph, therefore, abstracted from this dative plural the word τέτρα for "four" in ΤΑΚΕ. Likewise, from the rare dative plural form ἑξάσι he abstracted the word εξά as the ΤΑΚΕ word for "six".

The ancient word for "eight" is ὀκτώ, but this is rarely compounded. Nearly all compounds begin ὀκτα-, including ὀκτάπους "octopus" (our English form is derived from the Latinized form of the Greek; but in WHATL there is no Latin). Therefore Joseph adopted the form οκτά for "eight".

eleven ... ninety-nine

11, 12, 13 etc. are δέκ' ενό, δέκα δύο, δέκα τρία etc.
For 20, 30, 40 etc. Joseph at first considered using the ancient words, all of which, except for 20 (εἴκοσι), ended in -α; but in view of the irregularity of the formations (e.g. 70 was ἑβδομήκοντα and 90 was ἐνενήκοντα) he decided simply to say "two tens", "three tens" etc., writing the compound as one word. The resultant compound is accented on the syllable before -δεκα, thus: δυόδεκα (20), τριάδεκα (30), τετράδεκα (40) etc.

hundreds, thousands & more

The ancient word for 100 was ἑκατόν; however in compounds it was ἑκατον(το)- but there are only a few such compounds in any case. The words for 200 through to 900 are, except for διακόσιοι (200) and ἐνεκόσιοι (900), plural adjectives formed by adding -κόσιοι to the same base as the ΤΑΚΕ words for 3 to 8 inclusive. Therefore Joseph Peanou simply abstracted the word κόσιο for the ΤΑΚΕ word for 100. Thus we have: κόσιο (100), δυοκόσιο (200), τριακόσιο (300) etc.

The ancient word for 1000 χίλιοι[m.], χίλιαι [f.], χίλια [n]. When compounded χιλι(ο)- is the normal base; therefore the ΤΑΚΕ word for 1000 is χίλιο. The numbers 2000, 3000 etc. are written and pronounced as single words, thus: δυοχίλιο (2000), τριαχίλιο (3000) .... εννεαχίλιο (9000).

Similarly, the word for

10 000 was μύριοι [m.], μύριαι [f.], μύρια [n.] with compounds in μυρι(ο)-. Therefore the ΤΑΚΕ word for 10 000 is μύριο. However, unlike κόσιο and χίλιο. multiples of 10 000 are always written as separate words, e.g. δύο μύριο (20 000), τριάδεκα μύριο (300 000), πεντακόσιο μύριο (5 000 000)

There was no ancient Greek word for 'a million', and in WHATL Latin 'milio' was unknown. Indeed, in WHATL the higher numbers went in groups of 10000 and not in groups of 1000 as in our time-line. But these words do not occur in ΤΑΚΕ.

The cardinal numbers: summary

0 μηδέν	11 δέκ' ενό	100 κόσιο
1 ενό	12 δέκα δύο	101 κόσιο ενό
2 δύο	20 δυόδεκα	120 κόσιο δυόδεκα
3 τρία	21 δυόδεκ' ενό	122 κόσιο δυόδεκα δύο
4 τέτρα	30 τριάδεκα	200 δυοκόσιο
5 πέντα	40 τετράδεκα	300 τριακόσιο
6 εξά	50 πεντάδεκα	400 τετρακόσιο
7 επτά	60 εξάδεκα	500 πεντακόσιο
8 οκτά	70 επάδεκα	900 εννεακόσιο
9 εννέα	80 οκτάδεκα	1000 χίλιο
10 δέκα	90 εννεάδεκα	10000 μύριο

In the ancient language compound expressions could be go from lowest to highest or from highest to lowest and be connected by καί (and) in either order. However if καί was omitted the order had to from highest to lowest. As it can be inferred from the table above, the latter method was adopted in ΤΑΚΕ. Other examples are:
1452 = χίλιο τετρακόσιο πεντάδεκα δύο
2 4089 (i.e. 24 089) = δύο μύριο τετραχίλιο οκτάδεκα εννέα
600 0000 (i.e. 6 000 000) = εξακόσιο μύριο
9999 9999 (i.e 99 999 999) = εννεαχίλιο εννεακόσιο εννεάδεκα εννέα μύριο, εννεαχίλιο εννεακόσιο εννεάδεκα εννέα.
Of course it would be no more normal in ΤΑΚΕ to write that last number in words than it would be to write in English "ninety nine million, nine hundred (and) ninety nine thousand, nine hundred (and) ninety nine"!

As we said above, words denoting multiples of 10000 had developed in the modern languages of WHATL, but the only one that had currency in popular use was δύριοι [m.pl.] (a hundred million) in the guises under which it was adopted in the various languages of WHATL. The word δύριο is occasionally found in ΤΑΚΕ but is not considered 'official' by many.

Ordinals, n-tuples, collectives & adverbs

Ordinals

To express ordinal numbers, Joseph Peanou made use of a rather uncommon ancient adjective θετός 'placed, having position' which in ΤΑΚΕ becomes: θετό. This is, however, not the ΤΑΚΕ word for 'placed, having position', but was adopted solely as the ordinal marker; cf.
το τρία μικρό χοίρο = the three little pigs
το τρία θετό μικρό χοίρο = the third little pig
So also:
το εννεάδεκα τέτρα θετό ψαλμό = the ninety-fourth psalm, psalm 94
το χίλιο οκτακόσιο πεντάδεκα δύο θετό σελίδο = the one thousandth eight-hundredth (and) fifty-second page, page 1852.

In practice, these last two would normally not be written out in full any more than we would normally write them out in full in English. They would normally be written: το 94τό ψαλμό and το 1852τό σελίδο respectively.

'First' could be expressed by the adjective πρώτο but only in the meaning of 'foremost', the opposite of έσχατο = last, furthermost. We cannot, of course, combine this with another number such as *δύο δέκα πρώτο; that would be as meaningless as *'twenty-last' in English. We might use the term το πρώτο ανδρό (the first man) to refer to Adam, or to the first man to finish in a race etc. But if we mean 'first' as opposed to 'second', 'third' etc. it is better to use ενό θετό, e.g. το ενό θετό μικρό χοίρο, το δύο θετό μικρό χοίρο και το τρία θετό μικρό χοίρο = the first little pig, the second little pig and the third little pig.

Nor was πρώτο always 'το ενό θετό'. If, for example, we number the bits in a byte from 0 to 7, then το πρώτο δυαδικό ψηφίο * = the first binary digit, i.e. the zeroth bit (το μηδέν θετό δυαδικό ψηφίο).

In WHATL in a language called English (somewhat different from English in our time-line), "δυαδικ ψηφ" (the language didn't use any diacritics) had been shortened to "δηφ" and many of the modern languages of WHATL used similar forms. Occasionally δηφίο was used in ΤΑΚΕ, but it was not generally accepted.

N-tuples (single, double, etc.)

These adjectives are formed by adding the bound morpheme -πλάσιο (-fold) to the last element in a number, e.g. ενό--πλάσιο = single*; δύο-πλάσιο = double; τρία-πλάσιο = triple, treble, three-fold; δύο δέκα-πλάσιο = twenty-fold; επτά δέκ'επτά-πλάσιο = seventy-seven-fold; μύριο-πλάσιο = ten thousand-fold.

Often this meaning was expressed by μόνο = alone, solitary.

Collectives

These are nouns denoting a group of so many units. They end in the formative suffix -άδο, the final vowel of the number being dropped. Unlike the bound morpheme -πλάσιο, -άδο is not hyphenated and may be added only to single words, e.g ενάδο = a unit*; δυάδο = a pair, a group of two; δεκάδο = a decade, a group of ten; τριαδεκάδο = a group of 30; τετρακοσιάδο = a group of 400. However δέκα δυάδο does not mean a group of 12; it means ten pairs, ten groups of two.

Adverbs

The meanings 'once, twice, three times, four times' etc. are expressed analytically, thus:ενό καιρό, δύο καιρό, τρία καιρό, τέτρα καιρό etc. So also, e.g. τριακόσιο καιρό = 300 times, χίλιο καιρό = 1000 times, μύριο καιρό = 10000 times.

Fractions

Half is ήμισυ (← ἥμισυ [neuter]). In the ancient language it could e used either as an adjective, agreeing with a noun, or as a noun followed by a genitive. Joseph Peanou decided to adopt the latter use, e.g. ήμισυ 'κ ώρα (half of an hour, half an hour). When used with other numerals the following word order is adopted: τρία ώρα και ήμισυ (three and a half hours).

The other fractions are formed using μέρο (part), thus:
ενό 'κ τέτρα μέρο (a quarter [litreally: one of four parts])
τρία 'κ τέτρα μέρο (three quarters)
επτά 'κ δέκα μέρο (seven tenths)
δυόδεκα τρία 'κ τριάδεκα δύο μέρο (23/32)
Note: μέρο may be omitted if the meaning is clear, e.g.:

τρία 'κ τέτρα μέρο 'κ ώρα (three quarters of an hour)
δύο ώρα και τρία 'κ τέτρα (two and three quarter hours)