Angkorian Numbers
It is generally assumed that the Angkorian and pre-Angkorian numbers also represented a dual base (quinquavigesimal) system, with both base 5 and base 20 in use. Unlike modern Khmer, the decimal system was highly limited, with both the numbers for ten and one hundred being borrowed from the Chinese and Sanskrit languages respectively. Angkorian Khmer also used Sanskrit numbers for recording dates, sometimes mixing them with Khmer originals, a practice which has persisted until the last century.
The numbers for twenty, forty, and four hundred may be followed by multiplying numbers, with additional digits added on at the end, so that 27 is constructed as twenty-one-seven, or 20×1+7.
| Value | Khmer | Orthography | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ១ | mvay | |
| 2 | ២ | vyar | |
| 3 | ៣ | pi | |
| 4 | ៤ | pvan | |
| 5 | ៥ | pram | (7 : pramvyar or pramvyal) |
| 10 | ១០ | tap | Old Chinese *di̯əp. |
| 20 | ២០ | bhai | |
| 40 | ៤០ | plon | |
| 80 | ៨០ | bhai pvan | Literally "four twenty" |
| 100 | ១០០ | çata | Sanskrit (100, sata). |
| 400 | ៤០០ | slik |
Read more about this topic: Khmer Numbers
Famous quotes containing the word numbers:
“I had but three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship; three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)