Cumbrian Numbers
The Cumbrian numbers, often called 'sheep counting numerals' because of their (declining) use by shepherds to this very day, show clear signs that they may well have their origins in Cumbric. The table below shows the variation of the numbers throughout Cumbria, as well as the relevant cognate in Welsh, Cornish and Breton, which are the three geographically closest British languages to Cumbric, for comparison.
| Keswick | Westmorland | Eskdale | Millom | High Furness | Welsh | Cornish | Breton | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yan | yan | yaena | aina | yan | un | onen/unn | unan/ un |
| 2 | tyan | tyan | taena | peina | taen | dau/dwy | dew/diw | daou/div |
| 3 | tethera | tetherie | teddera | para | tedderte | tri/tair | tri/teyr | tri/teir |
| 4 | methera | peddera | meddera | pedera | medderte | pedwar/pedair | peswar/peder | pevar/peder |
| 5 | pimp | pip | pimp | pimp | pimp | pump | pymp | pemp |
| 6 | sethera | teezie | hofa | ithy | haata | chwe(ch) | whegh | c'hwec'h |
| 7 | lethera | mithy | lofa | mithy | slaata | saith | seyth | seizh |
| 8 | hovera | katra | seckera | owera | lowera | wyth | eth | eizh |
| 9 | dovera | hornie | leckera | lowera | dowera | naw | naw | nav |
| 10 | dick | dick | dec | dig | dick | deg | dek | dek |
| 15 | bumfit | bumfit | bumfit | bumfit | mimph | pymtheg | pymthek | pemzek |
| 20 | giggot | - | - | - | - | ugain | ugens | ugent |
NB: when these numerals were used for counting sheep, reputedly, the shepherd would count to fifteen or twenty and then move a small stone from one of his pockets to the other before beginning again, thus keeping score. Numbers eleven, twelve etc. would have been 'yandick, taendick', while sixteen and seventeen would have been 'yan-bumfit, tyan-bumfit' etc.
Although yan is still widely used, wan is starting to creep into some sociolects of the area.
Read more about this topic: Cumbrian Dialect
Famous quotes containing the word numbers:
“The barriers of conventionality have been raised so high, and so strangely cemented by long existence, that the only hope of overthrowing them exists in the union of numbers linked together by common opinion and effort ... the united watchword of thousands would strike at the foundation of the false system and annihilate it.”
—Mme. Ellen Louise Demorest 1824–1898, U.S. women’s magazine editor and woman’s club movement pioneer. Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly and Mirror of Fashions, p. 203 (January 1870)