The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11483 Message #3356710
Posted By: Nigel Parsons
29-May-12 - 06:09 AM
Thread Name: Yan Tan Tethera - more words in the count?
Subject: RE: Yan Tan Tethera - more words in the count?
With a time-lag
Gaelic counts in 20s too. I don't think there's any Celtic language that didn't use base-20 in some way. Some Teutonic languages (English, Danish) have irregular formations for 11-19 but they don't count in 20s beyond that.
(Kipling): Five & Twenty ponies
(Nursery rhymes) Four & Twenty blackbirds
(King James Bible) Three-score years & ten.
Yes, English does sometimes use base 20.