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Clem :sncf:

@lizzard @gunchleoc @sarahbecan
… 50 is "halvtredsindstyve" which literally means "half three times twenty". But like in germanic languages, they count backwards when it comes to numbers and times. So basically what it literally means if "half of the third time twenty" (halv = half / tred = three / sinds = times / tyve = twenty).

70 is then "half of the fourth time time twenty" (halvfjerdsindstyve) and 90 is "half of the fifth time twenty" (halvfemsindstyve).

6 Dec 2023 at 21:54 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mstdn.io
3 comments
Clem :sncf:

@lizzard @gunchleoc @sarahbecan

I'm not sure I managed to really explain it, but when a Dane says "97" they actually say "seven and half of the fifth time twenty".

6 Dec 2023 at 21:54 | Open on mstdn.io
GunChleoc

@clem @lizzard @sarahbecan Yep, the subtraction thing is fun in Danish and really does your head in.

On the bright side, you can cram these as pieces of vocabulary, and the rest is then just 10-based math.

For Gaelic, they actually dug out a medieval numbering system that is 10-based to teach math in schools. This has the additional advantage of not having to change word order from 39 to 40: In the traditional system, 23 = three over thwenty, 63 = three twenty 'n' a-three.

6 Dec 2023 at 22:39 | Open on mastodon.scot
GunChleoc

@clem @lizzard @sarahbecan There's also some shortcuts: 50 = half hundred if you want to avoid two thwenty 'n' a-ten, and 99 = hundred but one, if you want to avoid four twenty 'n' a-nineteen.

6 Dec 2023 at 22:41 | Open on mastodon.scot
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