Saturday 29 December 2012

Japanese, Ainu and Korean: Native Numbering

Native non-Asian numbers in Japanese and Korean are very different (1-10) from each other and from the Chinese numbers...

English 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Japanese ひとつ ふたつ みっつ よっつ いつつ むっつ ななつ やっつ ここのつ
hitotsu futatsu mittsu yottsu itsutsu muttsu nanatsu yattsu kokonotsu to
Ainu shi-ne tu re i-ne ashikne iwa(n) arawa(n) tu-
pe-san
shi-ne-
pe-san
wa(n)
Korean 하나 다섯 여섯 일곱 여덟 아홉
hana tu seht neht tah-sot yah-sot il-gop yo-dolp a-hop yol

There is little similarity between any of these numeral systems.

Notes:

Ainu 8 and 9 - tu-pe-san and shi-ne-pe-san ... could these be (2 from 10) and (1 from 10)?  That would be a little unusual.

Ainu 2 and Korean 2 are similar (even to English).

Ainu do not resemble Inuit numerals, nor Manchu numerals, nor Chukchee numeralsItelmen only has a few numerals before resembling Russian.

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