The words we employ to
designate the higher orders of units, as million, billion, trillion, etc.,
are appropriated bodily from the Italian; and the native words _pair_,
_tale_, _brace_, _dozen_, _gross_, and _score_, can hardly be classed as
numerals in the strict sense of the word. German possesses exactly the same
number of native words in its numeral scale as English; and the same may be
said of the Teutonic languages generally, as well as of the Celtic, the
Latin, the Slavonic, and the Basque. This is, in fact, the universal method
observed in the formation of any numeral scale, though the actual number of
simple words may vary. The Chiquito language has but one numeral of any
kind whatever; English contains twelve simple terms; Sanskrit has
twenty-seven, while Japanese possesses twenty-four, and the Chinese a
number almost equally great. Very many languages, as might be expected,
contain special numeral expressions, such as the German _dutzend_ and the
French _dizaine_; but these, like the English _dozen_ and _score_, are not
to be regarded as numerals proper.
The formation of numeral words shows at a glance the general method in
which any number scale has been built up. The primitive savage counts on
his fingers until he has reached the end of one, or more probably of both,
hands. Then, if he wishes to proceed farther, some mark is made, a pebble
is laid aside, a knot tied, or some similar device employed to signify that
all the counters at his disposal have been used.
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