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ON
NUMERALS
IN
AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES
AND THE
INDIAN MODE OF COUNTING.
By J HAMMOND TRUMBULL, LL.D.
I From the Transactions
of the Am. Philological ABSOciation, 1874.1
HARTFORD, CONN.
1875.
If. iltttliimr V"-^
- W -
w
r
. ",
j-mntiMSiiiiUtu
-mtm
.T7
ON NUMERALS
IN AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES,
AND THE INDIAN MODE OF COUNTING.
That "all miinerals are derived from the fingers'" is
as generally true for languages of the new world as for
those of the old. The North American Indians have,
with comparatively few exceptions, adopted decimal systems,
reckoning the fingers of Iwth hands. Some South American
trihes have not advanced heyond a qimmri/ ; and a few are
said to be poorer even than this. The Brazilian Tupis had,
at one time, no names for numbers higher than 3,'^ and the
Abipones of Paraguay, as Dobrizhoffer states,^ could not count
beyond 4, giving to that number the name of ' the ostrich's
toes,' geyenknute. Some nations, particularly those of Mexico
and /Central America, and the Eskimos, have reckoned by
twenties instead of tens of^ves, counting toes with fingers
for the base of their numeral system. The Ti.le Indians of
Dariep reckon in this way : 2U ia ' a man,' i. e. all his fingers
1 " Alle Zahlwortcr gehn aus von den Fingern der Hande." — Grimm's Gescli.-.
der deutschen Sprache, i. 167.
'•'The fact that the Tupis lost their names for 4 and 5, after the coming of
Europeans, is worth noting. J. de Lery, who was in Brazil in 1557, writes that
the " Tououpenambaults usque ad numcrum quinque verbis notare, hoc
mode: augepe I, mocouein 2, mossapiU 3, oioicoudic 4, ecoinbo 5." — Hist Navig. in
Brasiliam, 1586, p. 272. (In the 5, we recognize po 'hand.') Jos. de Anchieta,
in his Tupi Grammar, 1595, says: "Os numeraes nao chegao mais quo ate
numero de quatro: nt oiepS 1, mocdi" 2, mogapir 3, oyoirundic 4." Eckart, a Jesuit
missionary in Brazil, 1753-57, gives the same names for 1, 2, and 3, adding:
" Non plus ultra Brasili hodie numerant," though he had seen names for 4 and 5
(monherondyq, ambd) in ' an ancient grammar by Father Anchieta' ; " sed uterqae
hie numeruB mode jam exolevit." — Specimen Ling. BrasilicK, 1778.
* DobrizhofTer's account of the Abipones, ii. 1 68.
1
'im
)eh
§
J. If. Trumhttll,
and toes, 100 is T) men,' and so on.^ Gallatin has given a
good account of these vigesimal systems in his " Notes on the
semi-civilized Nations of Mexico," etc.,"' tlie substance of
which was incorporated l)y Pott in his Ziihlmethode (Halle,
1847). Mr. CJallalin had i)reviously observed, in a note to
his Comparative Vocabulary of fifty-three North American
nations, " that all these had resorted to a decimal numeration."
More recently, Busclinmnn has shown' that the system of the
Athapascan family is clearly decimal, exhibiting traces of the
vigesimal in two languages only — the Umpqua of Oregon
and the Kinai ; while of the languages of his Sonora group
(including the Comanche, Paiute, Pima, and Shoshoni), seven
have the decimal and five the vigesimal system, one (the
Taralnnnara) possessing both.' In some dialects, indications
of a former vigesimal system, abandoned for or in progress of
change to a decimal, may be observed.
The derivation of numerals from the fingers admitted, an
answer to the question, Iti what ordrr are the fingers counted?
l)ecomes a necessary preliminary to the investigation of any
table of numerals. Which finger marks ' one ' ? Is it the
little finger — or, as in the designation of numbers by educated
deaf-mutes, the thumb ? And, in passing from 5 to 6, i. e.
from one hand to the other, is the sequence from finger to
finger — thumb to thumb, like the Zulu' — or thumb to little
finger, like the Veis ?
Nearly all the information given by Gallatin and Pott on
these points relates to the Eskimo numerals. In the language
of " the Eskimos of Hudson's Bay, the names of the numerals
8, 9, 10. mean respectively, the middle, the fourth, and the
* See Lull's Darien Vocabulary, in the Am. Philol. Associiition's Transactions
for 1873, p. 103.
6 Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. i. (1845).
B Worttafel des Athapask. Sprachstamms, §§114, 115, 157.
' Grammatik der Sonorischen Sprachen, Abth. 3, p. 141.
8 " The Zulu, counting on his fingers, begins in general with the little finger of
his left hand. When he comes to 5, this he may call edesaiita ' finish hand ' ; then
he goes on to the thumb of the right hand, and so the word tnlisilupa ' taking the
thumb ' becomes a numeral for 6."— Tylor's Primitive Culture, i. 228. " The
Vei people and many other African tribes first count the fingers of their left hand,
beginning, be it remembered, from the little one, then in the same manner those
of the right hand." — Id. 227.
H
<•
^ *
tmtimtm
On Numerals in American Indian Languages.
3
%♦
ii
J^" *
little finger.'" Pott, transferring this from Gallatin, infers
(Zahlmethode, JJOl) that the thunih of the second hand
designates 6, i. e. 1 + 5 of the first hand. The account given
hy Cranz,'" of the Eskimo mode of counting, is quoted by
Pott as the starting poin*: of his work : " Their numerals fall
very short. However, they can with difficulty make a shift
to mouiit as high as 20, by counting the fingers of botli hands
and the toes of both feet. But their proper numeration is
five : attau><elc, 1 — arloik, 2 — j^ingojuak, 3 — sismmat, 4 —
tdlimat, 5. If they nnist go further, they begin witli the
other hand, counting upon their fingers. The sixth [i.e. the
thumb] they call arhennek, but the rest, till 10, have no other
names but, again, ' two,' ' three,' ' four,' ' five.' Tlicy call
' eleven ' arkaugat, and ' sixteen ' arbarsanget, and these
-teens they count upon their toes. Thus they muster up 20.
Sometimes they say instead of it, ' a man,' that is, as many
fingers and toes as a man has ;" etc.
That the fingers of the two hands were counted by other
North American nations in the same order as by the Eskimos,
several writers inform us :
" The Dakotas, in counting, use their fingers, bending them
down as they pass on, until they reach ten. Then they turn
down a little finger, to remind them that one ten is laid away,
and commence again. When the second ten is counted,
another finger goes down, and so on." ' " The Aubsdroke or
Crows [who are of the Dakota stock] like all the Indians
with whom I am acquainted," says Dr. P. V. Hayden, " use
their fingers in counting, bending them down temporarily
against the inside of the hand •■■.s they proceed," etc.*
Mr. Say, describing thel....-?n sign-language, says: "To
indicate the digits, they clenci the hands and extend the
little finger of the left hand for one, the ring finger for two,"
'Gallatin's "Notes on the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico," etc. («< supra),
p. 49.
1" History of Greenland (English translation, i. 225). The Greenland numeral
system is more clearly and accurately exhibited by O. Fabricius, Gronlandsk
Grammatik, 58-63.
1 Kiggs, Dakota Grammar, p. 36.
* Contributions to the Ethnography and Philology of the Indian Tribes of the
Missouri Valley, u. 396.
4
\ ! M
,,;fe.
P-
4 J. H. Trvnihull,
and so on to "the tlmuil) for five, . . . the thumb of the right
hand for six," etc. " When enumeratin^r a small number,
where a considerable exertion of the memory is requisite, the
Indians extend the left hand with the palm upward, whilst,
with the index of the ri^lit, the fingers are successively bent
in to the palm, l)eginning as before with the little Jin(/cr, and
the greater difficulty in recalling to mind the numbers or
events, tiie more ap[)arent rosislauce is offered to the intlexion
of the finger.''^ Prince Maximilian von Wiud ' gives a similar
description, observing that " wenn man an den Fingern
alizilblt, so fiingt man an der lin/coi ILtnd an." Mr. Swan,
in his account of the ]\Iakalis of Caj)e Flattery (Straits of
Fuca), says of their mode of counting: "They commence
with the little finger of the left hand, closing each finger as
it is counted ; then pass from the left thumb, which counts
five, to the right thuml), which counts six, and so on to the
little finger of tiic right hand, which counts ten."'
The Muskokis (Creeks), Mrs. A. E. W. Robertson writes,
'• turn the back of the hand towards the face and, beginning
with the left hand little finger, end with the right hand little
linger." In continued intercourse with the whites, the
Creeks, like some other tribes, have learned to indicate
numbers by holding up instead of bendiwj dotvn the fingers :
but, as Mr. Say observes, '' when any considerable exertion of
the memory is requisite " Indians naturally recur to the
earlier mode. Major J. W. Powell informs me, that the
Yutes commonly answer the question "how many?" by
raising the fingers, but he has seen Indians of that nation,
when alone, reckon numbers by turning down the fingers
successively, from left to right, in the manner described by
Say.
Whether an Indian marks ' one ' by a thumb or a finger
does not seem at first sight a question of much interest to
students of language. It is, however, one of the thousand
questions which every philologist must be prepared to answer
^Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (Philadelphia, 1823), i. 388.
* Ueise in das Innere von Nord-America, Bd. ii. 6SU.
''Indians of Cape Flattery (Smithsonian Contributions, vol. xvi.), p. 100, ncte.
; -i^ltf<^t.lMll<fTni-nl
-^f^'mep-v^'ti iT-TTir; ' ;r''j'^''
*■!*
On Nuxicrah in American Indian Languagt's.
5
/f
i
before ho is fully competent to discuss the sulijcct of Mr.
Robert ElHs's lately published volume " On Numerals as
Sij^iis of Primeval Unity among Mankind" (London, 187.'5).
Mr. Ellis thinks that he has detected " a great number of
coincidences, aU'ecfing' not only numerals, but also the names
of the memliers of the body from which those numerals are
derived, in languages far removed from each other in position,"
and he presents these coincidences as " tho result of primeval
affinity — indications of unity of origin in human speech and,
probably, in the human race " (p. 4). He assumes that
" the names of numerals commonly carry in themselves the
proofs of their own great antiquity" (f). 2). For the Indo-
European and Semitic languages this assumption is perhaps
well grounded ; for the American, it is untrustworthy and
iinsustained by evidence, exce[)t — for reasons to 1)C mentioned
presently — as regards names for the first three numerals
in languages of the same linguistic group. Admitting tho
original unity of American speech, it is yet certain that its
division into widely sejjarated families must have preceded
the origin not of numerals oidy, but of the verbal or nominal
roots from which names of numerals in the several families
were derived. Even in the same linguistic group these
names, as compared with other portions of the vocabulary,
carry no indications of high antiquity, but rather the contrary ;
and in dialects of the same language names for the same
number are often radically unlike. Compare, for example,
the Algonkin ' fives ' : Massachusetts napanna taJishe, Micmac
ndn, Chippeway ndnan, Abnaki barenesku, Delaware palenach,
Illinois miaranui, Blackfoot nisito. Such dissimilarity is more
apparent and more general in numerals above 'five,' which are
with few exceptions composite. The Arikaras or ' Riccarees '
of the upper Missouri speak nearly the same language as th.d
Pawnees and, probably at no very remote period, belonged
to the same nation. Their numerals correspond with the
Pawnee numerals, to ' five,' inclusive ; but here the likeness
ends, not merely the names but the primary conceptions of the
higher numbex'S differing in the two dialects. One Yuma
dialect of the Colorado, the Mojave, repeats 1, 2, 3, in the
2
L
SUmli.
ii nyw ii f^—
■MMM
!•■
6
J. IL T,-umf>,ill,
:\ r
iianicB for fl, 7, and H, niul marks as ' next to ton ' ; another,
the Cuchan, near akin, regards 6 and 1), rcspoctively, as a
pair and a triplet of' threes,' and H as a douI)led 4. All these
in some sense " geliii ans von den Fingern," Imt the same
finger of the same hand or the liand itself may be — and in
fact very often is — ditilL'rently nunied, or the nnniber it marks
is difTorently expressed, by tribes speaking dialects of the same
langnage ; nor may we expect always to find names either of
' hand ' or ' finger ' in the numeral.
In the investigation of the origin of American numerals
and in inferences as to their antiquity, two facts must be
borne in mind :
1. The primitive mode of indicating numbers by the/H^«T«
is still in use. The tiaine is not completely independent of
the sign, and, consequently, the constancy of the name in
passing from one dialect to another is less assured. When
an Indian marks ' five ' by showing or bending down all the
fingers of his left hand, the vocal utterance — whether ndnan
or bareufsku — is of secondary importance. In the Indo-
European languages the vocal was long ago substituted for
the digital expression. " It was no easy task for the
linguistic faculty to arrive at a suitable sign," as the
exclusive designation of a number, " and when the sign
was once found, it maintained itself thenceforth iu use
every where, without danger of replacement by any other,
of later coinage."' But this is necessarily true only of
languages iu which the earlier sign — by show of fingers —
is obsolete.
2. The origin of names for ' one,' ' two,' and probably
* three,' in all languages, preceded formal numeration.
Pairs, couples, doubles, were known before ' two ' was
counted on or marked by the fingers. The conception of
duality dates from the first conscious separation of the 'not-I'
from the 'I': and, with the first perception of ditferences
in the 'not-I' — as 'this' and 'that,' 'here' and 'yonder,'
' thou ' and ' he,' ' before ' and ' after,' came the notior nd
J iduie of ' three,' as something ' beyond,' ' besides,' or 'above'
"Whitney, Language und the Study of Language, 195.
N
!
■
On Numeraln In American Indian Lnnguagea. 7
(tar, tri, trniis, tros, tries') the primary distinction; and
tlioroupon, the exclusive and inclusive dual, ' tliou-ho ' (and
not ' I'), ' I-tliou ' (and not ' lie ') ; after this, the conception
of phmdit//, and numeration. Some nations, as we have
seen, never advanced beyond the ' three.' Others (to bo
mentioned hereafter) only found their way to ' ten ' by help
of 'pairs' and 'triplets.' Hence, as Mr. Gallatin observcct
of American languages generally, " there is much confusion
and but little regularity in the formation of the names
expressing the higher numbers," even in nearly related
dialects.
Mr. Ellis's first group of coincidences, and the one he
regards as most important of all, includes North American
words "of which different names for 'finger' supply the
elements." These words, ho thinks, " sufficiently illustrate
the manner in which names for 'finger' and 'hand' are
employed to form numerals ; and by showing, moreover, that
hand miiy = fingers = finger-finger {\\\\\d\ last would be the
rude plural of j^w^/fr), they explain how 'hand' and 'two'
may be the same word, as in the Omaha nomba which has
both these meanings" (p. 6). He goes on to detect in the
Basque language terms for ' finger,' ' one, i. o. finger,' and
'five = hand = fingers=finger-finger,' that correspond nearly
with terms derived from North American languages, and
finds coincidences with one or another of these in European and
Asiatic names for ' thumb," finger,' 'palm,' 'five," six," arm,'
'ten,' etc. (pp. 13, 14). He suggests the probability that "the
Aryan languages virtually cutain the forms svas and saz for
' five,' as the Basque contains zaz and as the North American
languages contain forms like azbaz, such as Natchez i»peiihe
' hand.' " And he argues (.p. 18) that " if the resemblances
between all these s fives, as they may be called by way of
definition, were sufficient to imply affinity wherever they
were detected, such affinity could be no other than a primeval
one," — an inference the justice of which no one is likely to
question. Even those much-vexed Etruscan dice of Toscanella
are made to testify to primeval unity ; for why may not much
[conjectured by Mr. Isaac Taylor to stand for] 'one,' be
if
-« ^T.'»3Vi^^"t'"
wmmmm
8
J. H. Trumlmll,
I
connected Avitli "California (Sekumiic) ma ' liand '" and
" Coniaiiclie »j(wa ' linnu,' ' aim,' " as well as with Siamese
mec ' hand,' Armenian mi and Greek ^kt ' one,' and African
(Melon) moe ' finger ' ?
Rigidly examined, these and a host of other coincidences
which Mr. Ellis with much ingenuity presents, would prove
to be less remarkable than they seem to him. It is not my
purpose, however, to discuss them in detail, or to seek for
them, collectively, any other explanation than the one which
I am assured in advance "is not satisfactory" — namely,
that so far as they are not imaginary, they " are merely
accidental." I propose instead to make some observations
on the composition and primary meaning of Indian names
for numbers, and first, to t oint out such relation as I can
find between some of these and names for the hand and
the fingers. The examples will be taken chiefly — but not
exclusively — from two great families of North American
speech, the Algonkin and the Dakota, because, in these,
published grammars and dictionaries facilitate etymological
research and afford means of noting differences, phonetic
and radical, between names in one and other dialects of the
same stock.
I. In some languages we find only one name for ' hand '
and 'fingers' collectively; and generally, for designating
the fingers individually, names are formed from the word for
'hand,' with a descriptive prefix, e.g. the third finger is
' middle of the iiand.'
Pott (Ziihlmethode, 234 ff.) has given illustrations from
American languages of the recognition of a likeness bp^^woen
me7i and trees, and of figures of speech drawn from iv. liie
arms are ' limbs' or ' branches' qf the human 'trunk' ; the
hands and fingers are 'branches' of the arms; the fingers
' sprouts ' or ' leaves ' ; the thumb a ' spur ' or ' oii-[;]ioot.'
Sometimes the fingers, collectively, are a ' roAV of branches,'
or a ' fence.' Compare
Dakota . nape ' hand ' ; napsvkdza ('small piece of hand ') ' finger.'
Iowa nuwe ' hand ' ; nawepa {' hand jioint ') ' finger.'
Chippeway -nindj 'hiuul' ; hhilt 'in a row'; -ikwan 'branch'; binakxanindj
' linger,' ' (one of) a row of branches of the hand.'
-3^
'^m^'
%/
On Numerals in American Indian Languages. 9
Massachusetts -nulch ' hand ; ' pnclii ' divided ' ; pochatiik ' a brr.nili, or division ' ;
pochanutch 'a finger.'''
Cree (Western) -tchihhiy 'hand'; yiyiki 'forlced,' 'branching'; yujikUchitch.ln
'finger.''
In some of the Algonkin languages, the name for ' hand '
seems to be formed from a verbal root meaning ' to seize,'
' to lay hold of : anun ' he lays hold of, catches,' anutch 'the
layer hold of, the seizer'; -nutch (with pronominal prefix)
'hand.' In the western Cree, -tchiuMy (in composition,
otcW) 'hand' is from the same root as the Mass. -tchan
'nose' (Chip, odjanj), whicli is found again in uio final
tchdn of Cree 'finger,' meaning 'projecting,' 'point,' 'vertex.'
The names for 'nose,' ' nead,' 'fore-arm,' 'hand,' in the
Dakota are apparently related one to another, their common-'
root denoting ' pointed,' ' a projection, vertex, or extremity.'
Compare with Dakota pe ' pointed, sharp,' pe ' top of the
head,' pa ' head,' paha ' hill,' pa-sH ' beak or bill,' ' snout
of an animal,' aj^d ' a part,' ap^ ' a leaf,' ' a fin,' etdpa ' the
right hand,' ishpd ' the fore-arm ' ; and Iowa ndwe ' hand,'
ndwe ' leaf,' naw^pa ' finger,' pa ' nose,' pa-thukh ' beak.'
'Compare Hawaiian lima 'arm' and 'hand'; manamdna 'branching,' 'a
brancn' (rednpl. of mann 'to be divided,' 'to branch'); mammami lima 'fingers.'
"My principal authorities for Aloonkin languages are: Masmchmetts, Kiiot's
Indian Grammar and version of the Bible; Chippewai/, Baraga's Otcliipw6
Dictionary and Grammar; Cree, Lacombe's Grammairc ct Dictionnaire do la
Langno des Oris, and (Hudson's Bay dialect) Howse's Cree Grammar;
Delaware, Zeisberger's Grammar, and Vocabulary ; Almaki, Haslcs's Dictionary,
by Pickering; Micmac, Maillard's Grammar; Dr. Hayden's Vocabularies of
the Dlackfoot, Shi/eme, Arapoho, and Atsina. For the Dakota, my chief
reliance is, necessarily, the invaluable Dictionary compiled by the Rev. 8. R.
Riggs and his associates in the Dakota mission of the American Board;
and for other dialects, Dr. W. Matthews's Uidatsa (Minitari) Dictionary, Dr!
Hayden's Assiniboin, Auhsuroke (Crow), Mandan, Omaha, Iowa, and Winnebago
Vocabularies, the Rev. Wm. Hamilton's loua Grammar ; for the Ponka numerals,
a primer, "Ponka ABC Wa-ba-ru" (prepared by the Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, of
the Episcopal mission); and for the Osaije, Prince Maximilian von Wied-Neuwied's
Vocabulary, compared with Gallatin's (in his Comparative Vocabulary).
The vowels arc to be sounded as in German, except u which is the short
English u in but, or the neutral vowel, variously represented in vocabularies as
a, fi, u, and V. For the n which marks a nasalized vowel, I have substituted a
■superior' C), and for the gutturals — variously represented by ch, H, h, Xy
etc. — I have used cii or kk. The italic ch has the English sound (as in church),
atid th, sh, and zh (used interchangeably with j) are as iu English.
w
m
iW
10
J. H. Tnimbull,
II. Counting -the fingers from left to right, the numerals
are distributed thus : Little finger, 1 and 10 ; Fourth finger,
2 and 9 ; Middle finger, 3, 8 ; Fore finger, 4, 7 ; Thumb, 5, 6.
1, 10. The fifth or little finger is variously designated in
American languages, as ' tiie last of tha h id,' ' the least,'
' the youngest son,' ' the little daughter of the hand,' etc.
From one or another of these names, that of the numeral
' one ' has, in many languages, been taken ; but in others
we find another expression for unity, ' one by itself,' which is
probably of earlier origin than finger-counting. A distinction
corresponding to that which is marked by the Indo-European
cardinal and ordinal, between one airiffle and one coming
before others, ' fore-est,' first of a numeral series, seems to be
universal in language.
In the Algonkin, these two names are represented by
Massachusetts pdsuk and n'liitt, nequt.
Cliippowiiy pai/zhik (f'ejig) ningoto.
Crce peiak, paiak, niktit 'aome one,' nikuton 'formcr\y.'
A note in Cotton's vocabulary of the Massachusetts
language distinguishes these names thus : " Nequt, a thing
that is pasL Pasuk, a thing in being." This note has
puzzled more than one writer on the Algonkin languages."
Cotton himself had only half caught the tiuo distinction
between pdsuk ' one onlt/,'' literally, ' a small thing,' and
n'qut 'first' or ' fore-est,' ' beginning.' The latter was used
when speaking of a one which had been (or necessarily must
be) followed by another, and in this way came its appropriation
to " a thing that is past," i. e. a former, thing. Hence, Mass.
nukkone ' old,' i. e. passed by, and the ordinal ne-gonne 'first,'
and ne-kutche ' the beginning,' ' it begins.' The prefixed n'
in easteiMi Algonkin numerals is merely demonstrative.
Pdsuk is a contraction of piasuk Q^easik, Eliot) ' very
small,' the diminutive of piak ' small, little."" Comp. Chip.
pangi ' a little,' pangishe ' very little.' The root, pi, is seen
" See Mr. Pickering's note, in his reprint of Eliot's Indiiin Grammar (2 Mass.
Hist. Sec. Coll., ix.) p. xlv. ; Dnponceaii's Memoire, 389, 390.
1" Abn. ii, plu. 6(-((i-, Mass, piak, a 'grain,' 'bit,' or ' bead ' of shell money;
whciice the name adopted by the English for unstrung ' peag' = Abn. ioa^ban-biak
'white beads,' Eng. 'wamponipeag.'
I
s
(
"^■■■«sBiWMHR<j*«^^
On Numerah in American Indian Languages. 11
in Cree peiak ' one ' and apis ' small,' diaiin. apids ' very
small.' The little finger being counted as 'one,' j)dsuk,
bezhik, 'the very small' has, as a result of association, been
substituted in several dialects for ti^qid, nikoto, as the name
for ' one,' but the latter reappears in tiie composition of the
higher numerals : e. g, Cree peiak 1, nikot-ivaxsik 6, i. e. ' one
over ' ; Abuaki pezuku 1, nekiid-a's 6, nekuda"nkdo 11.
The following are some of the names of the little finger, in
, North American languages : —
Alo. Cree iskwetchiiclumis 'lust little finger.'
Cliippewny isUkwe' nindj 'last of the hand.'
Ahnaki askwaiimireisi ' youngest (last born) of the hand.'
Massachu. mutldnonitch 'youngest son {multdsons) of the hand.'
Dak. (Sioux) shashte ? Comp. clii' stin ' little ' ; chatan' name of a fourth son.
Minnitari (Hidatsa) shdki-kazki diminutive of shdki 'hand.'
Mandnn tingkni inyka ' little finger.' Comp. Iowa i-yangke 'one.'
MuSKOKi (Creek) eirke-eclihuswuvhe 'hand's little daughter.'^
Choctaw ibbak-ushi-uldi ' hand's little son.'
Pawnee sAe/s-;>i< 'finger little.'
Gallatin's vocabulary (from Parry) of the Hudson's Bay
Eskimo gives eerkitkoka (Greenl. eMkkuk) ' little finger ' as
the name for 'ten.' The Algonkin 'tens 'are related to —
bu,t not derived from — names of this finger. The^e will be
noticed hereafter.
2, 9. The Fourth finger — second by Indian reckoning —
is in some American languages, as it has been in many
languages of the eastern world, ' the nameless ' (Sansk.
andman, andmikd ; lAiXman. hewardia ; Tibet, mingmed). In
others, it is designated only by its position ' next the little '
or 'next the middle' finger. In mission-Indian it lias
received the name of ' ring finger.' Lacombe gives Western
'For translations of this and other Muskoki (or Creek) finger names, I am
indebted to Mrs. A. E. W. Robeitson of the Tullahasse mission, and !o Buckner
and Hcrrod's Muskoki Grammar. For other languages of this group, I use ti.e
Rev. Cyrus Byingtuu's "English and ChocUw Definer" (1852) and his Choctaw
Grammar (posthumous) edited by Dr. D. G. Brinton (1870), and valuable
vocabularies (MSS.) of the Muskoki, llitcliitce, Coassutti, and Alabama, collected
by Gen. Albert Pike, in possession of the bmithsonian Institution, which 1 hope
will soon bo published, and with them, one of the Muskoki language, compiled
by the Rev. W. S. Robertson and Mrs. Robertson. Eor the Pawnee, uud related
Arikara, I rely on Dr. Hayden's vocabularies.
* "'<J"'»W ' -^""'W * ' I I"" r
"* i -f l U
MiiiiM
■p
».
i.
I.
|-
12
-/. IL Trvmbull,
Creo atchdni-tchitchan (f vom atchaniH 'a riiip;'), and so Vou
Tschudi ill his WiJi-tcrbucli of the Kccliua of Porn has niui-
rucanu ' ring finger,' from siui ' ring.' In a few languages,
its name denotes ' becoming smaller ' — whether from its
shape, more 'tapering' than other fingers, or from its size,
as between the middle and little fingers, is not certain.
Dakota shdsle ii/okihe ' littlc-liiiper next-to.'
Miiiitari shaki-kazi-utidn 'that wliioli the little finger joins,' or, as Dr. Matthews
(Hidatsa Dictionary) translate*, 'hase of the little finger.'
Muskoki enkehochffkU stku 'hand's name-without,' 'the nameless.'
As a numeral I find the name of this finger only in the
' nines,' and here only in the
Eskimo, Hudson's Bay mikkecliikkamoot ' nine' = 'fourth finger' (Parry).
Greenland niikkekrak, 'fourth finger,' liternlly 'it hccomcs smaller.'
Algonkin, Sliyenne na-so'toyos 'my fourth finger'; sohh'tu 'nine.'
3, 8. The ' Middle ' finger is so named in almost all
languages, but it not unfrcquently has the additional
designation of ' the groat ' or ' chief.' It gives in many
dialects a name — but not generally its otvn name — io the
numerals ' three ' and ' eight.' In the Algonkin languages,
of two expressions for ' in tlie middle ' or ' iialf-way between '
(Mass. noeu and nashaiie, Chip, nawaii and nassaivaii), one
is given to the finger, the other to the numeral.
Ahnaki na"wi-relsi ' middle of hand ' ; nass ' three.'
Chippeway ndwi-nindj " " nisswi 3 ; nijwasii S.
Creo tdwi-tchitchdn 'mu\(i\c finpcr;' nisloo.
Mass. (nas/uiKc, 's/inii'e 'half-way'); nish,nishwi'\'shwi- 3; shwosukS.
Arapoho (n«i//it" 'in the middle'); nais3; naisa-loh' S.
Saul(i nissoaS; shtUishic 8.
Shycnne no'/oyos 'middle finger'; naa 3; na-nuhh'tu 8.
■? Blackfoot nohkh, noho-ka ' three.' [Mass. noeil 'in the middle.']
Dakota mipeoclwkai/a 'middle finger' (ochokaija 'in the middle').
Minitari shdki-dumdtadit 'middle of the Iiand'; ddmi, ndwi 'three'
(dumdta 'in the middle,' nmvah'taru 'between').
Muskoki (Creek) enke nurkiiphueiU 'hand's middlestander.'
Choctaw iWiui Ss/ii')X-/iin)ia ' hand's middle son.'
Pawnee skUsi-kadika ' half-way finger.'
Navajo htillah ndizi " " {hulali', eld 'hanA').
In one dialect of the Eskimo (Hudson's Bay) the name,
as in the Shyenne above-noted, appears only in ' eight : '
MUuklimut 'the middle finger,' 'eight' (Parry).
i^MmSfnffffflftftf"
On Numerals in American Indian Languages. 13
4. 7. The Fore linger has been, almost universally, the
'showing finger' or 'index.' Names for 4 and 7 are in
Algonkin languages taken from it, or from the act of
showing, or their connection Avith it is established through
the demonstrative pronouns :
Eskimo (Greeiil.) t|■i■c^• ' the pointer.'
Algonkin, Ciiip. imi-nimlj ' siiowitig finger ' ; niwin ( = niouin) ' four.'
Crco ittmiliii/ani-trhilchi!/ ']>()iiiter finger'; newu 'four.' Comp.
Mtiih 'tiiiit yonder!,' ainih 'tliis one.' [As was !)efore
reinnrkcd, the n' prefixed to the Algonkin numerals is a
demonstrative panielc, and docs not belong to the root.]
Massachusetts ynii (Eliot; = mi) 'four'; yen 'this,' 'there.'
Narragiinsett yoh " ;jo ' there,' ' that way ! '
Illinois niwi.nhii " newa, newe "voilsV, regardo \h,"
iwa, iiwe "le voilik."
nani'sotoyos 'my fore finger'; ni'soto ' seven' ;2 compare
nisiwo 'that.' But Shyenne nipa 'four' has a different
origin.
yen 'four'; ti'v.na 'to touch one to call his attention to
anything' (llayden).
ni-sui ' four ' ; sumis ' look ! '
nape tokaheya 'hand's first' (modern'!).
nape apazo 'hand's ))ointer' (pnzo, iipdzo 'to point to, to
show by pointing' — >/;)a denoting action of the hand).
Mdskoki (Creek) fliifce-esHipttit 'hand's pointer.'
Choctaw ibhalc-ushi-tiklM ' foremost (or eldest) son of the hand.'
(The name for 4 is not, in any language of the Chahta-
' Muskoki group, taken from this finger.)
Navajo <t" 'four'; ti 'here,' 'this'; n'la'-te 'there' (/a = hand).
Apache Hi " ti' this,' ' who ' ; ti-tchi ' this day.'
5. 6. The Thuaibs mark ' five ' and ' six,' but rarely, if
ever, give a name to either number, in American languages.
In Algonkin, and in many other American languages, the
tl urab is the 'big,' 'thick,' or 'stout' finger; sometimes,
' the chief."
Shyenne
Arnpoho
Black foot
Dakota
2 The Zulu corresponds with the Shyenne in taking numeral names from the
fingers of the second hand. " The Zulu verb komha ' to point,' indicating the fore
finger or ' pointer,' makes the numeral 7. Thus, answering the question, ' Hovir
much did your master give you V a Zulu would say, ' Ukombile ' ' He pointed with
his fore finger,' i. e. ' he gave me seven,' and this curious w / of using the
numeral verb is shown in such an example as ' amahusi akombile ' ' the horses
have pointed,' «. e. 'there were seven of them.'" — Tylor's Primitive Culture, i.
228.
'Compare Latin pollex, "vocatus quod inter cseteros polleat virtute et
potestate." — Isidori Origines, quoted by Pott, 'Zahlmethode,' 288. ^
8
i
^w
% 'j^^'^^iu^'^*^*****'"'
»mmmmiiiiiiiisSSSlil&m
■ i !
ifi
I
J. H. Tnmhull,
Alo. Cliippcwny mitchitchi-mndj 'great tiiiKcr.'
Crco (Western) misi-tchitchitn
Abnaki
Miissiiehusetts
Dakota
MnsKOKt
Pawnee
Navajo
(C/AiV/i-vrf-iT/x/ 'chief (yrciitest) t1ni;er.'
I.elllqitaiiilch, niiieklbot oinaki'cliia {omidh-u 't;reat'), and
Sliyeiinc iiamii-ii-im'oil.-, Imivc the same meaning.
napulmuka 'the liiiiid's elder' (Imnhn '|)aroiit, ancestor
elder brother.' HifrK'*)-
enke klihki, and Clioetaw ibbak ishke, ' the hand's mother.' '
stas'-si-ri^s 'lar<:e linger.'
hitllah ts('> ' tliiok ' or ' bij; finger.'
III. Names of miinl)cr that are not derived from the
fingers individually. Names for ' one ' and ' two,' as has
been said (p. 6), must have preceded digital numeration.
1, Tliere are, as we have seen, two expressions for the
numeral 'one'; namely, ^ onli/ one' and '■first (fore-cst)
one.' In Algonkin languages these arc represented in
Mass. pdsuk and ntjuf. The former exi)rcssion is sometimes
related to the pronoun of tlie first person singular and to the
demonstrative 'this'; sometimes it has the meaning ' alone,'
' single,' or ' by itself.' Its root in Algonkin and Dakota
languages denotes 'small.' The other expression for ' one '
( = Mass. n'qut} is from a root denoting j^'writy or /ore-
coming, in order or time, ' beginning:' and it has in many
languages the secondary meanings, ' old,' ' aforetime,' etc.
In the Dakota family, one of these expressions is used for
the cardinal, the other to form the ordinal: e. g. Dak. tvamhi',
wa"zhi'-da",' wa'cha 'one'; toka'heya 'first' (from tokd 'at
the first'); Hidatsa (Minitari) duStsa, Ivefm 'one,' itsika
'first'; Iowa Tya"gke 'one,' pakranaha 'first.' Between
phonetic decay and dialectic growth ,= the Dakota 'ones'
* So in Mahuan (Pott, 'Ziihimethodc,' 299), and in American Maya, Huasteca,
Tamanaca, etc. ; and in Botocudo nipo-diik ' hand's mother.'
oihankton wa"zhi-na. The suffix, dan, Ihank. na, is restrictive; 'one on/y.'
"The form in counting is waiir.ha" (A. L. Riggs) or, as Dr. Hayden writes it,
vmnch, Tliis is furtlicr contracted in the Ponka to win, and in the Omalia to wi,
«0r rather, between "laziness and emphasis," as Mr. A. H. Sayce (Principles
of Comparative Philology, 16) prefers to call the two great causes of ])honetic
change. Compare Whitney, I-anguagc and the Study 6f Language, 70, 95.
In no American family of language is the operation of these princjples
more ai)parent and more troublesome than in the Dakota. Not merely that
wa'zhidan is shortened to Omaha i«j or changed to Mandan makh'ana and Iowa
iyangke, but in the same dialect, and from the lips of the same speaker, a name
•o*^
man m
mmm
,rrr''Tfiilii
at
'*i^
' i '
On Numerah in American Indian Laiiguages. 15
have becjomo so widely variant that they oamiot all be
confuleutly referred to a comiuou root. In several^ dialects,
if not in all, the numeral has lost all consciousness of its roots,
becoming a mere phonetic mark. Compare
Ponkn mn
Omiilii. tt'i nnd miaxtcheh
Mnnilan makliana
Osage minche
Dakota wa'M'da"
Assiiiiboiii washtna
Winiieliago izlmk'ida, hezunkera
Iowa liia"(ike
Hidntsa duetsa, Itietsa
and — least conformable of all — Aubsaroko hamat'.
I was at first inclined to refer the Dakota 'wa"zhi to the
root wi"zh 'to bend,' from the bending down of the little
finger in counting. Comparison of ten dialects of the same
family makes it more probable, if not absolutely certain, that
it is the equivalent of Algonkin }i(tsuk 'the least' or 'very
small': compare with ivazhi, u'a'nikhadan 'very little' and
waTicha-dan 'very little, none'; wrfVce, the name of the
fourth child in a family, if a daughter (remembering that
the thumb is 'parent' or 'elder' of the hand), and tvdnka
'soft, weak, tender.' With Iowa iyagke, comp. Mandan
ungkni-ingke 'hand's little one'; and Winneb. izhdki-da,
with wachek 'young." In the Assiniboin, nape 'hand,' with
may vary as noivassa, duetsa, luetsa (Minitari) 2; pilika, pirika, 10; nahwi,
dami, 2 ; bim, mida ' a tree,' etc. In this last-mentioned Dakota dialect, the
Hida'tsa (called Minitari and Gros Ventres), Dakota i/ becomes d (ya ' thou| and
ya 'to go' = (/e), 6 and w are interchangeable with m, and I, n, and r, with d
(Matthew's llidatsa Dictionary and Grammar, p. 28).
' Since this paper was written, I have been favored by the Rev. A. L. Riggs ot
the Dakota mission (Santee Agency, Nebr.), with some notes on the Dakota
numerals, to which his father, the Rev. Stephen L. Riggs, contributed some
suggestions. For the grammar and vocabulary of the language, I could have
no higher authority; and when I have ventured to differ from Mr. Riggs's
conjectures as to the origin of the numerals, it has been only after thorough
comparison of the names in eleven languages of this family, with whatever light
was to be had from published and manuscript vocabularies. Of the names for the
lower numbers, Mr. Riggs writes: "I have thought that, as high as 'three,' the
names of numbers arose from sight of outward objects, as 'one' evidently does."
" Wanji, root twin, interjectional, 'seel'; ji [dii] is not necessary, as the form in
counting is wanchi (for wan-e-cha). Ji means 'separately'; dan added has
■ something the foi . e of ' only.' Nonpa, 2. Root, onpa ' to lay on,' ' to add.' The
origin of the n will be sought in different directions, according to the theory of
the numeral It may be that it comes from 7iape. While nape is the whole
hand, in composition it may stand for a 'finger,' which is nape-sukaza = ' a single
hand ' " [or, ' a portion, particle of hand "i].
1
t-*****!/*"
MWFH«i«MM*m«fM
immmmmUSim
! :
> \
16 J. H. TnmhnU,
nape-washi 'finger,' i.e. ' luiml's little one,' and .r««;i/-««
'one'=='a finger only.' The Dakota for 'fingers is 7iap-
suJcdza 'hand's sumll portions,' tVom su 'seed, gram, i.e.
'a particle,' which in Dakota more commonly becomes,^ ni
composition, chi or cho, as in Dak. chilca-da 'very small _==
Assiniboin c/u7ca-«« = Omaha Mn^a 'young,' Mandau -aulc,
and diminutive shuke, as a suffix."
In Hidatsa dm-tsa (otherwise luem, nowasscO there is
wider divergence from the root ; but we recover the meiining
through shaki-adutsamlke 'fingers' («/m/c/=hand), aduma
'a seed,' adutsdhi 'fiVo\nt,M tapering end or part' (Matthews).
Aubsaroke (Crow) hamat' has the same liican.ng. Comp. .
Mandan hdmahe 'small,' mk-hdmahe 'little child'; and Aubs.
amue ' a grain, a kernel.' The suffix -at, -ate, is the common
Aubs. diminutive, i/amaf 'one' = ' the least.
In the Chahta-Muskoki family, N\e find the two forms —
'one only' and 'the first,' represented in
Choctaw ach&fa 1 ; ' sole, single, only one.'
tikha ' the first ' ; also, ' before,' ' ancient,' of time past.
Ummona ' once.'
Muskoki hiim'lcin ' one.' ^
Coassatti cha/dka and Alabama chafuhka-schle ' one.
Without attempting an exact analysis of these names, 1
remark (1) that Ch. ummona 'first,' Mmona 'once,' is merely
a demonstrative : Mmo, himak ' now,' ' at this time,' 'to-day ;
Mmonasi 'instantly,' &c.; obviously related to Muskoki
Mm'kin V and homa 'before': (2) that G\u achufa and
Coas. chafdka, seem, like the Algonkin and Dakota 'ones,
to be derived from a root meaning 'very small, 'a grain,
particle, or point 'j_«mip^i^^M/i^ an ^U^^
~7^;;mr^o7Dl^";U^ younger b'.^ili^rMOmaha sanga), contractea to
.un . ,11 ' a law. a nail ' (Om. sha-ge) ; cho and .u ' a kernel,' ' g-n. 'seed.
« Mrs A E. W. Robertson (wife of the Rev. W. S. Robertson, of TuUahassee
Ind. T^^ritory), whose knowledge of the Creek language is a. thorough as that
of any one now living, writes (under date of Aug. 3d 1874). I sec no
connection between the [lower] Muskoki numerals and the names of tod or
Zers unless hu.nke 1, may be a contraction of h.yu enke ' .h.s hand. In
fonCction, m and „ seem to run into each other: e. g ,no.et ^-0- «on. /.j-
becomes /.fim. before words beginning with m; as heyun mechetu. to do th s
becomes kmlnecketU, heyUn v.aketU ' to say this ' becomes km,naketu. In a s.mdar
way, Aei/un «ifce[' this hand'] might become Aumie one.
.^**»^
msssL.
-f-fgr^.:,&4^n9V¥m^^^m'
•ft-**"^
On Numerab in American Indian Lam/mges. 17
ehush 'tip,' 'point' (e. g. ihhak-chmh 'finger nair=' hand's
point'), i6(i/fc-<.-A»/-««?i 'tapering,' elmld"haH 'little, not mucl..
Pawnee &»ka 1, is evidently IVom a root found in i>Hl-,Uki
and pir-mU 'young,' /«<«Z«8'Ai ' small,' and probably in >ikcts
2 Names for two seem to come from roots denoting (1)
separation or distinction, as ' that," tlie other,' (2) likeness,
equality, or opposition, (3) addition, ' putting to' or ' putting
with,' (4) coupling, pairing, or the like. These names, as
has been said, must have preceded finger-countmg or any
formal numeration. They are often related to -possibly
may have in some languages been derived from — names of
natural pairs, as ' arms,' ' hands,' ' feet,' ' wings,'^etc. From
them or from the same roots come, by later derivation, names
of artificial pairs, e. g. 'moccasins,' 'leggings,' etc., and of
dual relation, as 'wife,' 'husband,' 'brother,' etc' And
here is the explanation of that connection between names of
the ' hand' and 'two,' which Mr. 11. Ellis regards as evidence
"that hand may =fi»grrs =fingcr-fiu</err and as "helping
to exhibit the radical affinity which unites the North American
languages" (p. 6).
Of natural 'pairs,' the hands have most often given
a name to — or received it from — the numeral; because
they are two, not because they " = finger-Hnger." Pott
(Zahlmethode, 29) notes Puris (Brazilian) core ' band,' cunrt
2 ; Hottentot tlcoam ' hand ' and 2 ; Sanskrit^ra ' hand^
'Ti;7^;;^„M^l^o^^^)r^d 'husband/ kl-W ■wife,' giU 'two,' m.d ki-alsi'^
■near' i e. 'next to'; of all which the common root is found in ki-n he,
i e. 'another'; and Choctaw tuk-lo 'two,' tek^hi 'wife.' The connection of the
grammatical dual with the idea of correlation, or of collocation merely, m dlustrated
by a peculiarity of Keelumn speech. The regular termination of the plural is
-ama, but thc,-e is a special plural in -ntin, for objects belonging to or associated
with the noun in the singular: e. g. hhmsl 'house,' M«a«NTiN ' all who belong
to the house 'or are 'of the household'; and with a noun denoting aftinity or
consanguinity this sufKx -ntin forms a dual, inclu.ling two individuals in
coirelaiion : e. g. chosa 'husband,' chosantln ' husband and wife ; mama ' mother.
mamantin 'mother and child'; ususi 'daughter,' ususintin 'daughter and mother ;
pana 'sister,' panantin 'sister and brothe, '; with masi 'companion and yaua
'servant' it forms nouns meaning 'a pair,' masmtin being mure commonly u.std
for persons and yanantln for inanimate objects. -Von Tschudi, die Kechua
Sprache, pp. 95, 161.
'«..M«^^-
-1
t ;
PI
IX
J. U. TrumhuU,
hdhn ' anil,' pakxha ' wing,' aiul netra ' eye,' uU used
also Ibr ' two.' The Samoycd Tawgi, also, exprcs.scs the
immhor 2 aiul tlie snhstaiitivo ' liund ' liy terms nearly
identical.'^ In Labrador Kskinio, Richardson's vocabulary
has iiKii/i/oJc and (igunit lor 2, nggu ' hand ' and aggait ' the
hands.' In the Algonkin and Dakota languages names for 2
and Ibr 'hands' or 'arms' seem to be nearly related, cither
by derivation of one from the other or of both from a common
root. In Algonkin dialects, compare —
Chip.
Cl-L'O
■tiiiidj
■nisk
linml'
two.'
(■nisk, however, being used only
ill composition, us kilchi-m'ak
'right hand').
Muss.
■nutch,
•nitch '
hand *
nis
ti
cf. nisin 'copuliit,' nlchaii 'who
Almnki
-reisi
((
nisa
II
gives liirtli to u child.'
Illinois
ninch-ui
ti
Miami
•
nichui
■ II
Arapoho
■ichet
(*
nis
11
cf. Inush ' arm,' inailuka ' the
other side,' nesltise 'eyes.'
Shyenne " men "
In one Algonkin language only, the Micmac (of Nova
Scotia), Ave find another name for 2, tabu, i. e. 'equal' ('par,'
' pair') ; but that it had once a wider range, we have proof in
the Cree tcpa-kup, Abnaki td'ha-tca's, Mohegan tupou-ivus,
and Montauk (L. I.) UiTpa-wa 7, i. e. 2 + (or 2 of the second
luuid). The root, in the sense of 'equal,' and of 'enough,'
' sufficient,' is found in all Algonkin languages : e. g. Mass.
(redupl.) tatup, tatuppi, .\bn. tetebi-tvi ' equally,' etc. ; Cree
niya-tipiycvw ' I myself,'' tiplyaw ' he him-self,' etc., tipi-new
' he measures it,' i. e. ' makes it eqxial to,' tepi ' enough,' etc.
Mass. tatitp-pin ' a string' or ' cord ' is as near akin to Micmac
tabu 2, as is Engl. ' twine ' to ' twain.'
[The presence of this 2 in one Algonkin language, and
evidence (in the 'sevens') of its former use in others,
suggested a doubt as to the origin of the relation I had
believed to exist between ' twos ' and ' hands ' in this family
of speech. The authority of W. von Humboldt^ and of Pott
2 Benloew, Kecherches sur I'Origiiie dcs Noms de Nombre, p. 50.
"Die Kuwi-Sprachc aut'der Insel Java, Bd. i. s. 20 ft".
•i-.
'who
On Nmneralu in Anertiutn Imlmu Lti>i<iiht;i,'H.
1S>
disposed iiic to reco^'iii/o this relation. \ comp.irisoii of
the several Aljionkin diiiloots and evidiMice sup|)lie(| l>y other
Anieriuan languages led nie to (luestion it, and now 1 am
nearly eonvineed that the eonncetion of the numeral with
natural duals, 'hands' or the like, is not l>y derivation of
one name from the other ; that the likeness, if not aecidental,
is a consequenf-e of derivation from a eommon root; and
that the primary eoneeption of the Algonkin ' two,' whether
expressed by Micmae (aim or Chip, nij, is that of ' sameness,'
' likeness,' or ' equality,' represented in the modern Chip, iji,
Crco hue ' 80,' ' sueh.'
The first three numerals are, in the Massaehusetts dialect,
1. mi (jut, 2. ?i is, 2. nish;
in the Chippeway,
1. nin goto, 3. n z)', 3. n isnwi.
In these the prefix is, apparently, merely demonstrative
(Mass. ne 'this,' 'that'), and docs not belong to the root.
In the 'two,' we have, I think, the Chip, iji, Cree issi and iji,
'so,' 'so as,' 'like' — which Baraga (Otchipwe Grammar,
493) classes as a conjunction, and Howse (Cree Grammar,
132, 142) as "the relative adverb of manner" and also " a
generic noun." As a verb, it signifies, in the Chippeway, ' to
be like ' or ' the same as ' : e. g. anishinabeg nind-ui ' I dress
like (appear like) an Indian ' ; iji-nagwad ' it looks like '
something, etc. Niji, contr. nij, 'two,' is 'this, such as' or
' like ' the first ~ corresponding nearly to Micm. tahu ' par,'
' that wliich pairs.' The same root is in the Chip, nidji, or
nidf ' like myself,' ' my fellow,' ' alter ego,' which is only
distinguished from the numeral by the change of pronoun
in the second and third persons — kidji, kidf 'thy fellow,'
'thy equal,' widf 'his fellow, or equal' — used chiefly
as adjectives, as ividf-anishinaben 'his fellow-man.' The
dialectic variations of this particle correspond with those of
the numeral ' two ' : Chip, iji and n'ij, Cree isi and niso, etc.
In the Illinois dialect, ninchui is 2, nichl or nigi " comme
cela" (Gravier).
If, then, Algonkin ' hands ' and ' twos' are directly related,
it is nearly certain that their relation is that of derivatives
M
iiimwui i Maia
mt^
sir-
— %/-M(4lJ«
I,
20
.7. //. Trmnhull,
from ii coniinoii root, or that tin; forinor riM^eivo tlioir name
IVuiii — iiiNlc'iid of fiiviiijf it to — tlie iiuincM'al. And this
appoars to he Iiik; of the relation of corresponding names iii
other Amoriean families of Hpoech.J
The Dalvota 'two' is the most constant of all tho
numerals, and dialectic variations nowhere disguise its
relation to natural ' pairs.' The ' twos ' arc :
(Sioux) Dakota ho'jxi, nuni, Omaha lUDiilKi, irumfia, Mandan
m'lm'pa, Osage nomlxnit/h, I'onka ndulm, Iowa ii6tvc^ Winnebago
nomp, Auhsaroke noinpe, IJidatsa ndpa, ddpa.
Witl) these compare: Dak. nape 'hands' and 7iapm *a
pair, they two,' hiTpd (a pair of) 'moccasins,' etc., Om.
U'lDiha ' hands,' ' fingers,' Osage tiam/ir ' hands,' Fonka mtiipr,
Iowa naw6-pa ' finger ' = ' hand's head, or tip,' Winneb. niihara
' hands.' untnp-wiiiKirct ' fingers,' Aubs. ndpcre 'both,' Ilidatsa
huupa ' moccasins.'
The primary meaning of tlie root, o"pa, seems to be ' to put
to, with, on, or against,' 'ap-ponere' or 'op-ponere'; as a
verb, o"pa is ' to place or lay any thing' on or with another :.
comp. o'pa 'to go with,' ' to he at' or 'on,' and (contr.) ovi
' with ' ;* ao'pa, contr. ao", ' to lay or place on ' (as, wood on
the fire); sa'pa 'over, beyond, more than,' used in forming
the numerals 11 to 19 (o. g. ivikchemna sa'pa topa 14 = 10
-f4); ha"pa 'moccasins,' aka-sa'pa 'opposite,' 'set over
against,' etc. Perliaps. a"pa 'day' (^a"pa-o 'dawn') is from
the same root. We shall find it again in topa 4. Tho
prefixed n' m no'pa — which in other dialects varies to w and
(/ — seems to be merely a demonstrative or directive, as in
the Algonkin numerals, and as in the Dakota verbal particle
na ' take it' (imperative only), and in mo" or nu" ' be it so.'
In the Chahta-Muskoki group, the ' twos ' have a similar
origin, in tho notion of ' coupling,' ' mating,' or ' ad-joining ' :
Choctaw tuklo, Muskoki (Creek) hokkdUn, Hitchiti tvkh'lun,
Coassati tdkoluo, Alub. tdkolo-chie.
The root is represented in Choctaw okla, a collective
♦"Kocile, Gram, of Vei Language, notices that /fro means both 'with' and
2, ond thinks tlie former meaning original (compare the Tahiti piti ' together,'
thence 2)." Tylor's Primitive Culture, i. 235.
HMDP
fif-'ifHittiHiiTimipi
On Numerah in Amrrlrnn Ttvlian Langungi'g. 21
pwnnuu U9e«l f » form the plural of nouuH and both tlio dual
and plural (J\<\ ttiii^r. ) of vcrl)S, with tlio iiioaniiins 'they
two,' ' tiioy,' ' people,' ' tril)C,' etc., motlified as <Jcluha " all,
the entire crowd, niiinlier, or quantity" (Hyin^^ton, Choctaw
Grani.,:l2,41). The Chuctfiwf', prefixed, probably represents
the "distinctive jtrcposition" ct 'here, this way,' etc. (id. 42),
a demonstrative. From the same root, apparently, are Ch.
ho'cu/iln, conjunction copulative, 'also,' ' of the same class,'
hltukla (^=rd-okhi) 'twice,' and the verbs (ok-chi. 'to tie,'
and iha-takht ' to go with,' ' to accompany.' Comp. Musk.
mhokolii ' twice,' hlim-hohtlat ' secondly,' etc.
Athapascan 'twos' are, more commonly, related to names
for ' feet ' than to ' hands.' Chepcwyan " h:h ' foot,' ' shoe,'
'track'" (or their plurals), is often used as a numeral for
2 or 'a pair.' In the Apaciie, 2 is na-ki; 'foot' or 'feet,'
ki-e; 'moccasins,' si-ke; Navajo na-ki 2; ik4 'foot'; kikh
'moccasins."'
3, Names for 'three' when not taken directly from tho
middle finger or 'half-way' of the hand, sometimes have
the meaning, 'beyond,' 'further' ('trans'), or 'greater';
sometimes 'much,' 'the many' — a plural as distinguished
from a dual.
All the Algonkin ' threes ' are of the ' middle ' (see p. 12,
ante), except the Micmac tchicht, whicli seems to have had
the meaning of ' more ' or ' again ' ( = Delaware tehitch ' still
more').
In the Dakota family, the ' threes ' exhibit wider variance
than the ' twos ' from the original stock :
Winneb. id", tau"
Iowa Ulni/i
Omaha thdbathi
Ponka thdbthin
Osago laubena
The etymology is obscure. Comparing the Dakota and
Aubsaroke forms with the Omaha, Ponka, and Osage, it
seems probable that -am is a contraction of a"pa — as nom is
the contraction of no"pa 2, and torn of topa 4. This would
6 Gallatin, Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, p. 215.
Dak. ydmni, ydmini
Assinib. ydmini
Mandan ndmeni
Hidatsa ddmi, ndwi
Aubsar. nam
*
I
siS****^
. s'l a ff-u
**'";«HS4"..*«
; t
22
J. if. Trumhnll,
refei the numeral to the same root with the ' two.' The
prefix may he the simple verbal yn (Hidatsa (7^ 'going,' as
in dya ' they go together' and ' it becomes,' or more probably
the inseparable prei)osition i (combining with the following a,
as ?/rt) meaning ' next in order,' 'again.' Tiiis would make
yam = i-ao'pa or ?/rt-o>a — agreeing nearly with the verb
iydo"pa ' to lay on, to place on,' of Riggs's Dictionary. The
pronunciation of the numeral is marked ya'mni, which
suggests a reference to the verbal root mni 'spread out' or
mna ' gathered, collected ' ; but the other dialects show that
this root is not essential to the name, and if it enters
into the composition of the Dakota name, it is probably
supplementary to the principal root, so that ya'mni =
yam-mni.^
The Winnebago and Iowa names have, apparently, a
different origin, and Winneb. ta may be the (regular)
contraction of taka ' great.'
In many dialects of the west and southwest, the name of
the numeral has this meaning of ' great,' ' much,' ' many,' or
the like : e. g.
Yuma (Mqjiive) Anwioco 3, ' hnmik ' \^Tcai.'
(Cuclian) /loiHufc, n'ljamuk "
Pawnee tawit, -taMj/o (suffix) 'over, ahove,' /lawa 'more.'
Ankara tawhit (wA English), terlme ' many,' tiiincheu 'jiveat.'
Navajo tahh, Ma ' much,' na-Ui-ni ' a chief.'
4, Above 3, traces of digital numeration become more
common, but the fact that in many languages 4 is a ' doubled
2,' or pair of pairs, seems to indicate that in these its
conception and name were earlier than finger-counting. All
8 The Rev. A. L. Riggs, i" his letter of July 27th, before mentioned, regards
mni as the root. He writes as follows :
" Yamni; root mni or mna. Mni is ' to gather in a eircle or group'; as i/hmni
wachipi ' the circle dance,' umchij/api ' assembly.' Three is the smallest number,
of course, that can make a group or circle. The correlate root mna is more
widely in use, and the meaning clcaren: ioMNA 'lo acquire or gather for one's
self,' Mvxyan ' to gather,' opa-mna ' a cluster,' as of young trees growing up out
of the root or sttini]) of an old one. If yamni comes from mna, the change of a to
I would be for eui)hony. If yamni comes from the sight of outward objects
[preceding formal enumeration], then we may find the i/a to signify grouping by
ca//jn(7 — 'calling' another to the two. If it springs from the finger count, the
origin of ya is not clear. As causative affix, it should come after."
;;.,j^B MW i Wi iiMWWii '«<MWWiWWW<1l«"»(»WW>li''
1
or
\ ■ ■
On N'umerals in American Indian Languages. 23
Algonkiii ' fours,' as was seen, are demonstrative, derived
from the indcx-fiiiger; but in two or tlu-oe dialects tlie 'eights'
suggest a primitive uumeratiou by pairs. Of this mode I
will apeak more particularly hereafter, aud here mention only
the Dakota 4, formed apparently as a ' pair of pairs ' :
Dak. tdjm, cuutr. torn, Hidatsa tdpa, Mandan tdpe, Pouka
and Omaha ddba, Iowa tdwe, Winneb. chop, Avibsaroke shop.
There are several Dakota expressions for 'pairs' and
'doubles'; nrt/«'n (from nape 'hands'?) 'they two,' 'both,'
sakim 'tvvo together,' and from the numerals, by the prefix
ta, as ta-wa"zhi.. ' a i)air,' ta-no"pa ' 2 pairs,' ta-yamni ' 3 pairs.'
In tano"pa, or rather in the earlier ta-o'pa, ta-dpa, ' 2 pairs,'
we have, I think, tiie origin of topa 4.
In some languages ' all the fingers' give the name to this
numeral, as, apparently, in Pawnee skitiks i, = skets-iks
' fingers [of^ hand.'
5. There 's much diversity, even in languages of the same
stock, in expressions for o and 10. In these sometimes,
but by no means always, is found a name of 'hand' or
'fingers,' or a suggestion of such name. In the instances —
comparatively few — in which names for 'hand' and 5 are
identical, or nearly so, we cannot confidently decide which of
the two is borrowed from the other.'
Of Algonkin ' fives ' there are two principal types :
(1.) Massachusetts napanna, meaning ' on one side,' i. e.
' one of the two hands.' It is the Chip, nahane, Cree nabat,
but is not in either of those dialects used for the numeral.
In Abnaki bare-nesku, Del. palenacn, the name for 'hand'
is added, the expression r-^rresponding to Chip, -hane-nindj
' of one hand,' as in ningoto-bane-nindj ' one handful,' nin
T<'A. V. Humboldt's plausible comparison between Skr. pancha 5, and Pers.
penjeh ' the palm of the hand with the fln^^ers spread out, the outspread foot of a
bird,' as though 5 were called pancha from being like a hand, ia erroneous. The
Persian penjeh is itself derived from the numeral 5, as in Skr. the hand is called
pancha^dkhn ' the flve-branchcd.' The same formation is found in English ; slang
describes a man's hand as his 'fives,' or 'bunch of fives,' thence the name of the
game of fives, plaj-ed by striking the ball with the open hand, a terra which has
madeits way out of slang into accepted language."— Tylor's Primitive Culture,
i. 235, note.
Mmnv-MniMMMMatMlltllM
If
«*
I
'■"t'JMM^Ii^TT"*"
I '
r
i
r.
I M U
u
ajaSSS i SltMtJJU^JUUIIM a
^
J". IT. Trnmbull,
nahane-nindj 'I am one-handed,' 'have only one hand,' etc.
The. Abnaki noTneda '5 times' and naJ'nalcao 'fifteen'
( = 5 + ) arc from a different root, and are related to
(2.) Chip, ndnan, Cree niannoii, nli/<fnan, Micm. nan,
Moheg. nunon; and Sliawuno nlaUn-ui, Miami ydlan-ne, lUin.
miaran-ui, etc. These, thongh perhaps not all from the
same root, have nearly the same meaning, ' gone,' or ' spent,'
i.e. all the fingers of one hand. Comp. Cree nit/an ' va,
pars,' pi. luyank ' allcz, partez,' a " verb used only in these
two persons of the imperative"; niydk 'forwards,' 'onward'
(Lacombe, Diet. Crise); Shawn, niala, Illin. miara = Cveo
niydn. ^
Dakota 'fives' are plainly digital: Dak. zdpta , Ora.
sdtan, Ponka sdta, Iowa Ihdta, Osage mttah, Winueb. mtch;
Hidatsa Mchm, Mandan kecwiin. Dak. zdpta" = za (for
mka-za ' fingers ') +j»^<a" 'turned down.'* Hidatsa Hchm,
from ciiu 'thrown down' or 'overturned,' with /«, the
intensive and frequentative prefix, ' wholly, completely,' i. e.
' all turned down.' Or, if we suppose the word to have lost
a syllable, and restore it as sdki-c^u, we have ' hand turned-
down ' = Dak. za-pta".
Choctaw taldapi 5, seems to be compounded of ^aJili
'to finish' Or 'complete' and ahpi 'the first' = ' first hand
ends.' In Muskoki chagh'kih'pln, and Hitchitee clmghkupun,
the Musk, chunggi or chunki 'my liand' may perhaps be
recognized, but if so, it is nearly lost in the Musk, ordinal,
hlisa choUkepe ' fifth.'
Pawnee sihuks is from iksu-huks 'hands half; still more
contracted in Arikara ^hehii (?*.•/*«=' hand').
In the Athapascan, la 'hand' seems to be found in Navajo
dst-la, Apache dsht-la 5; but only in these two of the eleven
languages of that family compared by Buschmann, who
remarks on the general resemblance of tbe Athapascan 5 to
the 1. Eskimo (Labrador) tedli-ma, telUmet 10, is probably
related to tallek 'hand.'
"This agrees nearly with the meaning given hy the Rev. A. L. Riggs (in his
letter of July 27th); " Zaiitu". Roots za imd ptan. Z(i is 'the hand'; thus,
yu-za is 'to hold,' 'to handle.' Ptan is 'turned over.' The whole of the hand
[i. e. all the Jinyers] is now turned down."
ftf iiiiifl
■i
:^
On Numerals in American Indian Languages. 25
In the Shoslioni family, Comanche motvaka {mown 'arm,
hand, fingers,') and in another dialect mo'ovct (moo-oijet
'hand all'), Shosh. mandgct, Yute manigin {moo-ninch
'hand'), all give evidence of their manual origin.'
6. Names for this numeral in Algonkin, Dakota, and some
other families of language, mark it as the first that is counted
on tlie second hand. This is done (1.) by affixing to a name
for 'hand' a particle moaning 'one,' 'first,' or 'other,' or
(2.) by repeating the name for 1 and affixing a word meaning
' again,' ' besides,' ' beyond,' ' more,' or the like, or (3.) by
merely expressing change ' to the other side.' Of these, the
second is the most common type : e.g. —
Alg. Cree niJcoto-wasik, nikut-ivassik = ■ 1 on the other side'
(Cree awas ' further on,' aivasd-yik ' on the other side '),
Chip, ningot-wdsstvi (awdssaii 'further'), Abn. nekuda"s,
Moll, n'guittus, Shaw, nigote-wathwi, Sauki kotoashek ; Mass.
nequtta-tahshe, Del. qnttasch (the affix, adtahsJw, means
'counted' or ' added '). — Micmac aahugOm {apch 'again,'
' following' ; apchku ' going back'), and Mareschit kdmachin,
seem to be similarly formed. — Illin. kakatchui 6 denotes
'passing beyond the middle' (Icakatahe). — Shyenne nasutu
(jnahsoto, Abert) is ' one over.'
The Dakota presents two types — which, however, may
prove to be originally identical :
Dakota shdkpe IIi<latSii aka-wa, aka-ina
Assinib. shd-kpa Wiiiiieb. akewe
Om. and Ponka s/i((-/)e Aubsaioke ki-ina
Iowa sha-kwe Muiidun akd-mak
Osage sha-pah
Oto slia-kiva
Hidatsa m and M; = Dak. p. The only question is as to
the precise meaning of the Dakota prefix. Dakota pe is
'finger' or 'fingers' <hand 'points,' as in napehu-pe,
etc.), as is more clearly shown by Ponka 7, pe'namha ( = 2
fingers), and 8, pe'thabthin ( = 3 fingers). The prefix 1 take
to be Dak. a-kshd 'more, in addition to.' Then shdkpe=
a-kshd-pe='l in addition' or 'besides' (the 5); and Hidatsa
iFor other 'fives' of Buschttiann's Sonora family, including the Slioshoni, see
his Gramraatik d. Sonor. Sprachen, 3tc Abth. ss. 1 14, 119.
Ji:*y'
-t /^i,, "^
li^ L i ian ai ^ ii Wiiw i— w oi ' in ' t
*mmmmm
!
\U
J. H. Trumbull,
akdwn = ak(t-ma ' ono over'; comp. Assiuib. akdn 'above,'
hake-cha ' afterwards,' tfec.'^
In tbe Atlialiascaii family, Buschmann' finds 6 expressed
by 3x2 in five languages (of eleven compared).
7, 8, The composition of these numerals from 2 and 3 ia
as common in American as in other families of speech, Aa
independent name for cither 7 or 8 is exceptional. The 8 is
sometimes designated from its proximity to 10 — as 'two
lesi;,' 'two left,' or as -coming near' tiie end; 7, more rarely,
as ' wanting 3,' or the like. The common expression for both
numerals is formed by affixing to the names for 2 and 3,
respectively, a word denoting addition or repetition. In some
languages, an indication of ' hand ' or ' finger ' is comprised
in the name. The Algonkin 7 has generally the same affix
as the 6, meaning ' on the other side' or 'again,' The full
expression is preserved in Chip, nij-tvdssiui 7, nish-tvdsswi
8; com])are ningot-tvdssu'i 6: a contracted form, in Del. chash
and, with a guttural modification, in Moh. ghimt. The Oree
and Chippeway languages have each another name for 7 :
Cree tSpakup (teypuckoop, Howse), Chip, tupomvus { = tepu-
awassivi), the latter agreeing with the Abnaki 7, ta'bawas;
all formed from a ' two ' which is not now found in any
Algonkin language except the Micmac (see p. 18, ante). The
Crees have also two names for 8 ; skwdsaik {=znishu-awdsih)
and aiendneivu or ayendneu. The latter is peculiar. It seems
to be formed of iyin ' more ' and nSwu 4 = ' 4 again ' or 2x4.
An exceptional name for 7 is found in the Narragansett ^nada
(Mass. enotta of Wood's Vocabulary) ; perhaps related to
Mass. nahohtoeu ' second,' literally ' tiiat which comes next,'
or perhaps from the index-finger and act of 'showing' (Mass.
ndtin-au ' he shows it to,' Ciiip. enoad ' showing with the
fingers '). The Sauki 7, ndtvia, may have had a similar origin.
Illinois parare, Miami pohine 8, mean 'nearly ended,'
'almost done.' The composition of lUin. suatatchui, Mi.
suaxtetatii 7, is not clear.
i* Tlic Kev. A. L. Rijfgs has siifrgestcd a different deiivation of Duk. shakpe
"from s/iuti ' the nail' and kpa or k/ie 'punched out.' The prominent thumb
nail of the second hand is now pusliud down."
^Sj-8tem. Worttafel d. Athap. Sprachstnmras (3te Abth. des Apache;, s. 508.
""- 1
!
mOm
^
'■^' 1
On Numerals in American Indian LanguayeH. liT
In the Cliahta-Muskoki group wo have —
Choctiiw (i(Wo 2, and un-lidhl.
- tuchiiiaa, itn-lMcliimiS. '; ^
Coassatti luloluu 2, lion-toLolor, 7.
Alabaiuiv tdkoldcliie 2, " hon-tnkoUi-cliie 7.
The prefix un- or /wn- ( = Choctaw o«0 means 'again.'
In other languages of this family, the names for 2 and 3 are
similarly modified by a suffix :
Musk, hokkokn 2, and . kdlU-pakcn 7.
Hitehiti tokhlnn 2, kola-}Hiken 7.
Musk, tutchenen 3, chenu-fitiken 8.
Hitehiti tohchiinim 2, idsna-paken 8.
One of Mr. Ellis's mistakes is that of regarding these
adverbial affixes as representatives of names for ' hand ' or
' finger,' or ' five ' ; and some of the most striking of the
coincidences that seem to him " to exhibit the radical affinity
which unites the North American languages" vanish with
the correction of this error. He finds, for example, his "a2
finger" or his " J«2 finger," or tlie two combined as ''azbaz
'finger-fing^er':i=hand," in Delaware cottash 6, nishash 7,
old Algonkin (Nipissing) ninskwassoo 7, nisswassoo 8, Cree
"nikutwassik 6, nishwassik 7, etc.^ Whatever the Basque zaz
(conjecturally extracted from Basque zazpi 'seven') or a
possible svas of " the original Aryan vocabulary " may have
denoted, it is certain that in the Del. -ash, Alg. ivassoo, Cree
wassik, etc., we have merely an adverb meaning 'further,'
' on the other side,' or the like.
In the (semi-Algonkin) Atsina dialect, 7, 8, and 9 are
formed respectively from 3, 2, and 1, by a suffix that denotes
the ' fingers ' remaining to be counted. %
In the Dakota family, there are at least two and perhaps
three types of ' sevens ' :
Ponka pi nanba Dak. shako-wi" Hidatsa shdpua
Omaha, pe-namba Assinib. shakii-wi Aubsar. khdpua
Osage pdnompd Winneb. shag6-wi Mandan kupa
Iowa slidhma
The first three prefix to 2, pe, pd ' fingers ' (lit. hand
' points '). Of the others, I find no satisfactory analysis that
'%:tmHt J * - }"'"»» •
ll
28
J. H. Trumhull,
will apply to hotli <?roups. [The Rov. A. L. Ri,t?gs has
suggosted, for the Dakota proper, xhake 'a nail ' and win ' to
bend,' with the proposition o 'in' oi- 'on' interposed, the
fore-finger (of the second hand) being bent upon the nail of
the previonsly turned thumb.]
The Ponka and Omaha ' eights ' are formed like the
' sevens' — by prefixing /*« to 8 ; the ilidatsa and Aubsaroke,
by suffixing pe, pi, to 2, the numbers of fingers remaining
uncounted :
Ilidatsa rfoyia 2, dd/m pi 6, {pitikn \0). ,
Aiibsar. in'ij) 2, nOpa-pe 8, (pirtika 10).
Dr. Matthews (Ilidatsa Grammar, 56) remarks that dopapi
probably signifies ' ten less two,' and that pi seems to be the
root of pitika 10. But the primary meaning of pi, pe, is
' pointed ' (or as a verb, ' to penetrate '), and hence ' point,'
' extremity,' ' finger,' as in Hid. icpii and iehprc = Dak. ehupe
in nap-chupe ' fingers,' i. e. ' hand points.' In ^Vpe ' the tail
of a bird,' Dak. upi. we have another modification of this
root ; and again in Hid. ipl-ta ' at the rear, behind,' i. e. ' at
the end.'
Iowa kre-ra-pa-ne 8, is clearly related (as a diminutive?)
to kre-jM-na 10. Dakota sha-hdo'gha" and Assinib. shakando-
gJiah follow the ' sevens,' the first element of the name being
the same in each, but I must leave both — with Mandau
tetu/e'e — unexplained.
9, very generally, is named as being the ' last but one ' ;
occasionally, as ' fourth ' of the second hand :
Ai-G. Croe kcka miirilat 'almost 10.' ^keka 'au point de.'
Chip. shcing-asswi (and contr. shany); comp. chdyisse 'used up,' 'all spent.'
Shaw. chakatswi " " " "
Mass. paskugnn ' it comes near.'
Del. /)cf/ifa(H^ 'coming near.'
lUin. nignlu-iiinnekki ' only one left,' lit. 'only one, no more.'
Arapoho f/iia(oWi' or sialokh' 'again last,' 'one after'; from chia 'again' and
tdkli (comp. tiikh-su 'last,' takhu-u 'after').
Dak. Omaha, Osage, and I'onka, slidnka, Iowa shamjke. Sioux nap-chi'wanka.
Prince Maximilian von Wied notes tlic Osage as a contracted abbreviation
of (jiithona-liJieh-wininyka = 1 less 1 . Thi.s is certainly the meaninfj, but not a
tmiislation of the name. In the Sioux, imp = nape ' hand.' In other dialects,
shdnka is Iowa ii/am/ke'one,' ' little one' (and, as diminutive, cMnije), Mandan
ingka (as in ungkni-ingka 'the little finger'), Or, '■•'■ shOiga (ruAwpl. shinge-
shinge 'an infant,' very small), Sioux cht'chy. "uOa one,' and in chi-Ka-dal*
«i.,- .....,'! ...JUiWi
On Numerals in American Indian Languages.
29
has
, 'to
'very simill ' (with whicli compare tmmd-i-dan 'very little,' wa''ske 'the
fourth (Rinalc) ehilil '). Sioux rhi'watika in 9, seems to oontiiin an iidilitional
element, which may l)e eclu' 'only' or ,W,i" 'now.'^ The mfanm- is the
same, in all theses iliaiei'ts, 'only one (inp'r' remains.
Hidatsa tluttm-pi im>\ Aul.saroke a„Hilniil have the same meaninj,' — 'one
finger' ; and so has Mamlan iimcii jie, from macn'nna 1.
CllAHTA-MusKOKi. Choetaw rliukali 9 = chki-rMi ' soon the end,' next the last.
[The root, cha, che, is the nearest aipproximation to a conjunction copulativo,
and may he translated ' and then,' or ' next.'] The same component is in
Alahama iln-ch.ilihili-chie (chie - finger) and Coassatti hih,-h,iha,iln. Ihxik.
nstapahkin and lliichiti ostii-jHikin, are from Musk, ostin, Hiteh. aitdkin,
'four.'
Natchkz witip'katiiiis, 1 left?
Caddo hiwiisika, 4 + hand,
Adair, sikinish, ' hands' minus !
Pawnee d'hfik'sidi-wa, 10 minus,
Arikara nucnimwm, "
Wichita chius-skinte, 1 left'?
Kichai tanerokat, "!
SiiosuoNI shimmiromen, 10 minus?
Comanche
shcmnn'-uwum, "
" se'ermano,
Yute surrom-siwne, "
" suioiirroiimsoi/uni, "
Yuma : Cuchan hum-hamook' , 3x3?
Mojave pai'<t ' near '
eliju-thouk ' near '
from wlla 1.
" hiweit 4, stciie ' hand.'
" sfAiiJ 'hand.'
" d'luiksidi 10.
" nuciiini 10.
" chius I.
{arisko 1).
sliiinmer 10.
shiiiman 10 (Pike, MS.).
se'ermitno-wiimpnet 10.
tom-snene 10.
toamsniiinimi 10 (Powell, MS.).
hnmuok' 3 (humhook 6).
{Jtipau'ac 'near').
{lliotvk " ).
10 The tenth finger — the little finger of the second
hand — gives in some languages a name to the corres-
ponding numeral; but more often, 'ten' is designated
as the 'completion' of the digital series, 'all gone,' 'none
remaining,' or the like. Occasionally, the name may liave
been taken directly from the ' hands' or ' all the fingers.'
In Algonkin languages, the 'tens' are of four types — of
which two are nearly related :
1. Chip, midasswi, mitasui, Illin. matatehui, Shawano
metathwi, Cree mitatat, Shyenne matoouto, Arapoho metaitoCK,
and Ataina matatasits — meaning ' no further,' ' completed.'
"TTf^ly regarded this chi" as the representative of the verbal root cAi«
'wanting.' To this, the Rev. A. L. Riggs objects, with good reason, that "cAi^
is not 'want' in the sense of 'lack,' but always of 'aesire';" and that if it
made part of the name, "it should come last, as the principal verb. I do not
agree with him, however, as to the impossibility of getting 'one (or rather
' finger,' or-- little one ') out of wanka. The other related dialects seem to testify
unmistakably to this meaning.
5
-^■.«*«4s
•MiiMia
30
J. 11. Trumlmll,
2. Abnaki m'tdrn, Micinac m'trin, Delaware tnfrllcn, frllni,
Moliep;. ?»V«/iH/<=' 110 more.'
3. Massaclnisetts and Narra^axuHet pai'uk.
4. Sauki aiitl (Northern) Cliippeway kwrtrh, used occa-
Bionally in ra].id countinfj. This is either a contraction of
isku'dtch (Cree ukwry,1trh:) 'lastly,' 'at the end' (C'.nip.
ishhretchagan 'the last or youngest child in a raniily'),or
it is Nii»issing-Algonkin kaijoirctah ' no more.'
The prefix in Illin. mat-atchni. Chip, mid-asswi, Ahn.
m't-dra, etc., is the negative and privative particle, Ibnnd in
all Algonkin langnagos, though less common in Chippeway
than in eaKtern dialects. It is found, however, as a prefix,
in many Cliippoway words (e. g. nin gi^asikan ' 1 arrive in
time,' iiin med-n>s>iihin ' I do not arrive in time,' ' I am too
late ' ; n'md apdh ' I sit upon ' (a seat), nin mit-ab ' I sit upon
the bare ground, the snow, or the like,' ' have nothing to sit
upon ' ; etc.). As a verbal prefix, it has sometimes, with a
modified vowel, the meaning of 'ceasing,' 'leaving off,'
•' completing ' ; e. g. Mass. mahtu 'he ceases speaking,' Abn.
met-anaskiwi ' imaWy; llVm. mita-tewi ' au abandoned cabin,'
ni metassa 'I bury (i.e. have done with) him ' = Chip, mid-
dgwena ' I put him aside, or out of the way.'
The suffix dsstvi is the same as in Chip. ningoUvdsmi 6,
nishwdsswi 7, meaning ' further' or ' beyond.' At 10, there
is ' no further ' count, ' a completion.' Abn. -am, Del. -elen,
Moh. -anit, are forms of the same particle of comparison,
meaning ' more,' ' above ' ; and mid-dmvi = m''t-dra.
I have the more particularly pointed out the composition
of this Algonkin 'ten,' because more than one writer on
American languages has been struck by the likeness of Chip.
midasso (the ordinal) 10 and middss 'a legging.' Mr. R.
Ellis" observes this likeness in six or seven Algonkin
languages, and infers that " forms like -doswe, -tathi, -tato,
■tato, etc., may be compared with Uchee (Florida) tetliah
' shoes,' and tetAihah ' feet,' " etc., all contributing to show
that the " az finger" and the '' azhaz hand" prevail, and are
employed numerally, over the greater part of North America
« On Numernls as Signs of Primeval Unity, etc., p. 9.
»
mmm
r^
>?/, fi/Irn,
sed occa-
i-action ol'
' (cuinp.
uily '), or
iwi, AUn.
, found in
Jhippeway
3 a prefix,
arrive in
I am too
I sit upon
liing to sit
les, with a
aving off,'
Ling,' Abn.
icd cabin,'
Chip, mid-
t-wds8tvi 6,
t 10, there
, Del. -elen^
omparison,
a.
jomposition
writer on
!8S of Chip.
;.' Mr. R.
I Algonkin
■tathi, -tato,
•ida) tethah
ng to show
'ail, and are
'th America
I
Oh Nuinemh in AmeriiMn Indian Languages.
31
as well as on the eastern continent, " the vi- prefix " in
midanso, etc., " appearing the su as a Californian and New
Mexican prefix m-, which is used to convert 'arms' into
' legs,' "
The learned author of " Ktudes riiilologiques snr quelques
Langues Sauvages" (pp. 1:?1, 132) has given an etymology
ofmitami which is ingenious, but to which llicre is, 1 think,
one iiisuperal)le objection. He derives the name from the
particle mi ' so,' and tasui, tano, " a {)article that expresses
quantity and is the eipiivalent of [the French] adverbs tant,
autant, comhien:' When an Indian would express ■ ten,' he
puts forward l)oth hands and spreads the fingers saying,
mi-tami ' so many.' The objection to this is, that it will not
ap[)ly to other Algonkin dialects, nor to other numerals in
the same dialect: it will not serve either for Abn. mHdra and
Cree mitatat 10, nor for Chip, ningotami 6, changami 9, etc.,
in which M. Cuoq finds, not dasso ' so many,' but asiii " en
BUS, de ])lus."
In the Massachusetts and Connecticut dialects another
name is found for 10, juam/fc {piuk, piogquS, Eliot), but the
Chippeway mitami is represented in Mass. muttdsons 'the
youngest child in a family ' (mat-dm ' not after,' with -ona
diminutive), and in muttasp-nitch 'the little finger,' i. e. the
least and last. Mass. and Narrag. paiuk is, probably, a
similar expression, related to peauk (=pi-es-uk, dimin. of
pi-ak) ' least,' ' one only,' and to Cree peyak ' one,' ' alone,'
as well as to piko ' only,' ' no more than,' and piyis ' finally,'
' lastly.'
The Dakota 'tens' may be reduced to two groups, the name
having in both the same general meaning, but not formed
from the same roots :
(1.) Sioux-Dnk. and Assiniboin wikchemna, wikchem'ini.
Ponka gthe-ba.
Omaha chrabcm, and g'kh'ba,'' Iowa krfpana, Oto krahbra", Osage krabra,
Winneb. kherapun (or kherapim-axe, Haydcn).'*
(2.) Mnndan pirakh, Aubsar. pirakd, Hidatsa pilika.
7 Prince Maximilian's vocabulary gives chrabene; Dr. F. V. Hayden's (in Proc.
Am. Philos. Society, x. 407), g'M-ha, but the second h probably is by misprint
for 6, since 20 is g'th'eba-namba ' two tens.'
8 In this group of Dakota ' tens ' we have a good illustration of one difficulty in
^.MMMIIWJM I iWli lJ Miau ifc li li *'
L, ^IIM
ijll
t:''
1
ir '
l;i
iB J. U. Tnmhidl,
At 10, the fingers fluit linve heeii liciit down arc fitrai(/htined,
and "the hands xjircdd out side by side."" Wlkchnima is
from ^'7;(« ' straiglit,' 'nnlxMit,'' and mna 's|)read ont,' with
the gcnvrallziwi [)refix ol' Sionx nouns, wi or «''. Ilithitsr,
pitika is from the \Qvh pt'iki "to smooth out, to iron ch)tlies,"
whicli ^lattliews (Hidatsa Dictionary) refers to pokUi (fi'om
kiti^ 'to press to snioolhnoss with f/ir hnmlx."' Both
expressions "gehn ans von den Fingern," hut in neitlier
does a name of ' finger ' or ' liaiid ' show itself.
How slowly the savage advanced in numeration may he
inferred from the traces found in many languages of a mode
of reckoning by j>airs and triplctH. There arc sonr^ reasons
for believing, not only that conceptions of ' one,' ' two,' and
'three' (as ' this,' ' that,' and 'beyond' — or the like) were
antecedent to digital numeration, i-ut that the first definite
conception of 'four' was as a M)air of [)airs,' and that
multiplication of the lower inunbi.'rs often preceded formal
numeration to the higher. Numher begins at ' two,' and we
may assume — without venturing far into the 'metaphysics
of language' — that 2 was the first named numeral, though
an earlier conception may be expressed in the name given to 1.
Considering that eve.'y decimal system is in fact a doubled
quinary, and was cou^a-ucted with as constant reference to
the way of provinp — or disproving — the 'primfival unity' of American speech,
on no better evidence tlian is iillbrded by l)rief and ofieii inaccur.ite vocaliularies.
In wikchemna (discarding tlie prefixed particle), (jlluha, and Lhrapmi, tiie sanio
name appears uiidc three dialectical variations: kclie-vma = (ilhe-ba = kh'iapnn.
And the results of 'laziness' and 'emphasis' arc so nearly balanced that — tried
by the Indo-European standard — it would Ite hard to say which of the three forms
best represents the primitive roots.
"The Kev. A. L. Uiggs, MS. The derivation he suggests I'or wikch'emiia is
"from IV, the sign of the abstract form, ikche 'in a commou manner,' and mna
'gathered together.'"
^ksha 'bent,' yuksha' 'to bend, to fold, to double'; kcha 'straight,' 'loose'
(un-heni), yu-kcha 'to untie, to loose,' etc. yu-kcha" 'to undcrstiii d, to compre-
hend' (i.e. to straighten out'!).
''If the Ilidatsa pllaka stood alone — the more probable derivation would be
from ipi 'extremity, end,' as in ipila 'at the rear, behind,' and ipilakoa 'at the
end'; which last might have I)ccn contracted to piUika. But the meaning of the
name in other Dakota dialects — 'unbent' — favors pliki, notwithstanding the
change in accent.
•alf/ht)"ncd,
'chiiirtia is
out,' witli
Uidiilsr.
I clothes,"
kUi (, iVom
<; ^ Both
n noitlicr
II uiiiy he
of a mode
I') reasons
two,' and
iko) were
st definite
and tliat
ed formal
•,' and we
etaphysics
il, though
;iven to 1.
1 douhled
ferencc to
irieiin s])ecch,
vocalmlarics.
mn, tliu sanio
= kh'iapun.
. that — tried
le three forms
wikch'tmna is
ler,' and mna
gilt,' 'loose'
i, to compre-
ion would be
lakoa ' at the
eaning of the
standing the
On Numerah hi Amtriean Indian lAinipv M
the numlier of the handn as of the fingers, inw mtioii K
ptiirs would seem to 1)0 a natural expedient for \ u\i to tho
higher ininibcrs.
In various North American languages of the West and
Southwest, wo find ' fours ' fornietl from ' twos,' ' eights '
from ' fours,' and, more rarely, ' sixes' and even ' nines' from
'threes.' East of the Rocky Mountains, traces of similar
numeration are uncommon. The Dakota topa 4=2 pairs,
has been mentioned (p. 2-5)- The Catawl»a (North Carolina)
purre-purra 4, apparently comes, by reduplication, from na-
pirra 2 ; l)ut both may have been derived from a common
root, found also in dn pimna 1, pukte-arra 5, and dipk-urra
6. In the (Algonkin) Cree, one of tlie two names for 8
is ayendneu, which seems to be a 'doulile 4' (see p. 26,
ante); and in the scmi-Algonkin Sliyenne, hJch is 1, tvtJ/m
' a pair ' ; rticii 2, eniCH-anst ' 2 pairs,' ni-nish-ii<h' ' you two ' ;
na'a, nd 3, e-na-hanHt ' a pair of threes,' ' o pairs' (Haydon).
In the Athabascan family, Buschmann's comi)arison of the
numerals in twelve languages gives these results : 6 has an
independent name in six languages and in six others is formed
as 2x3 or 8x2; 8 is expressed as 4x2 in eight languages,
and 9 is formed on tho 3 in only one.^
For example, in the northern Athabascan, Howse's vocabu-
laries^ give —
6, eike Uihey.
8, ellkee dinghe (also narki/ah-alitah = 2 less).
8, enchet'hentir (2X4)-
6, enchet'hiUy.
In the southern branch of this family, the same system
may be found, though less distinctly marked :
Navajo 3, t'ha, 6, has-tdr, 9, nas-tai'.
In another family, the Shoshoni (classed by Buschmanu
with the Sonora), doublets and triplets are common :
Comanche 3, pa-hist, 6, dyoh-pafist.
Chemelmevi 3, pai, 6, na-bai.
2, wait, 4, wat-chu'.
^ Worttafel d. Athapask. Sprachstamms (3te Abth. des Apache), §114, n. 2.
* Proceedings of the I'hilological Society (London, 1850), iv. 192 ff.
Chepewyan 3, tahhee,
4, dinghte,
Biber 2, omihaly,
4, tenter,
3, idhtir,
(
-'=-*«ww»«g*i**-ja*«'S'i
i.''^M»rt*>-»'"^^
J. H. Tnwi/.ii/t,
Slioshoni 2, wit, 4, mit suit.
Ciihiiillo 2, mfwi', 4, iiifirirhu.
Ki7.li '2.hii,he, i.hii.iha, », hiifhfthhiiatta. '
In one Yumiv dialect, the Crclian, we have
' n,l,iimimk\ (ijmm/iook', , hitm-himnok ;
thoufjh ill tlic Mojave, of the same group, the 0, 7, and 8 are
re^MiIarly Ibrmcd as 1, '2, 8 of tlic second hand.
The nunioral system of the Arikaras is peculiar, and
deserves special notice. Tlie Arikaras, or ' Rees ' as thoy
are called by the French traders, were originally the same
people as the Pawnees of the Platto River, their language
being nearly the same.'
The first five Pawnee and Arikara numerals correspond
nearly. From (> to 10, tin; Pawnees proceed in the more
common mode, by repeating 1, 2, and 8, as 'added' to 5, or
'of the second hand,' and naming 9 as 'less than 10.' The
Arikaras named 8 fi'om i', (|,y prefixing a particle), and the
odd numl)ers 7 and by a diminutive suffix to the name of
the next higher even number: thus,
6, shapis 8, tiip-slia'pia 10, niikh-ini
7, tiipslia'pistmn 9, mikh-ini-wan
And so with occasional variations, numeration [)roceeds to
20, which is 'a man' — for the system is vigesimal; 12 is
2 + 10 ; 11 is (2 + 10) viinus; 18, ndkugii-ivan, is ' lesi thf -. '
14, ndkugW, which, again, .seems to have been formed from
15, akh'hxjlt'u ( = aM'u glt'u 'the whole foot'). In the
next quinate the names all come from tiie 20, iri-tau' (wita
'a man'), those of 16 and 18 being the less composite and
probably the older :
20, wlttiif
1 9, wUmi-akhko-kiiki
18, witaw-an 16, wUiilch'
17, wllutchiskiigit.
The 19 is literally ' man one-not.' Dr. Hayden's vocabulary
gives the numerals as high as 1000, and similar derivation of
^Tit. F. V. Hayden's " Contriliutions to the Ethnology and Philology of
Indian Tribes of the Missouri Vnlley " (Philadelphia, 1862), p. 351. His
Ariknra vocabulary is the best and largest yet published. For the Pawnee
numerals, I use bi.s " Notes on the Pawnee (and other) Languages," in Proc.
Am. Philos. Society, vol. x. (1868), pp. 389 ff.; a.id for the Arikara, have
compared Prince Maximilian Wied-Neuwiod's vocabulary (Reise, T. ii. s. 465flF.),
and that of Geo. Catlin, in " Letters and Notes on the N. A. Indians," ii. 262.
On Nurntrnls in American Lulliin Laugii<ige»,
36
)mlKi,
and 8 aro
iliar, and
as tlioy
tl>c satno
language
iiTcapond
the more
' to 5, Ol-
io.' Tlie
, and tlio
name of
)ceeds to
vl; 12 is
381 thf>'-. '
ned from
In the
im' (wita
)sitG and
•git.
cabulaiy
vatioii of
liilology of
351. His
ho Pawnee
," in Proc.
kara, have
. 8. 465 ff.),
' ii. 262.
C'
lower from liiglicr nnmltcrs is ol)serval»lc tlirongliout, combined
with the common e.xpodicnts of vigesimal notation: '•
30, itain'ii («'ii//, Maxim.) M), iiil'iknuniu'' 2 |iers()iis
:i'i, w'ltiiHiiitihokh'ini- 30 + \'2 :w, iiiliLiiiianii-wnii 40 —
31, wilHHjiilibmriLh'mi-ivan^{'20 + \'i) - 39, /'(>//. iih((»« (iWio^'i/i -- 40, 1 not
100 is ' 6 men,' 98 is ' 5 men minus,'' and IMJ, '5 men, 1 not';
and so on.
I will not add to the length of this paper l>y pointing out
its shortcomingH. It is olTered not as a contribution to
American lingnistics, but with the purpoHC of .sliowing, by
examples taken from u few families of American speech, that
it is unsafe to assume uniformity in the conception or the
expression of numbers, even in dialects of the same language,
much less in languages whose attinity is not yi-t proved ; and
that it is ccpially imsafe to assume that the 'hand' or 'linger'
always gives its own name to the number it serves to mark in
digital numeration — in other words, that 'two' must =
'hands' or 'fingers,' and 'five' or • ten ' = ' hand ' ; tliat
although a general corresimiulence of numeral scries in two
languages may justify the infen nee that both came from
one stock, yet no evidence of such affinity is presented by
occasional coincidences between single numerals in different
languages or between the name of any number in one
language and that of the 'hand' or 'finger' from which in
another that name might have been derived; but that the
value of such coincidences must depend on the analysis of the
names and the ascertained meaiung of their components or
roots. I have thought it not impossible that, from a field as
yet almost unworked, some of the results obtained in even so
partial a survey might interest comparative philologists, as
bearing on the question of the origin of ideas of number and
the beginnings of the art of counting — antecedent to digital
numeration.
The comparison of only a few dialects is sufficient to prove
that the process of mental development in the apprehension
of numbers has not been uniform. The Algonkin Indian and
the Arikara have not taken the same way from the primary
conception of number to the full decimal system. It is
.01^*:"'
--% if<*^^,
, . *H~ r. \
IMi
80
/. H. Trumbull.
equally evident, that one ti-ihe may have advanced further
tliiui another hrfore resorting to finger-counting or estal)lishlng
a regular sctiuencc of earlier-acquired conceptions of number.
The priority of the conception of 'one' to that of 'two,' or of
'three' to 'four' — or of the vocal expression of either
conception — is not determined by priority in the numeral
series. To one tribe, progression by 2}ciirs may have seemed
as nattiral as progression by units does to those of higher
culture; and the result would be a system — partially
represented by the Arikara — in which the even numbers
were the earlier named, and the odd numbers intercalated,
just as differences by halves or other fractional parts might be
intercalated in the Indo-European decimal system. The pre-
digital numerals so formed might include the 4, the natural
order being
2 1 4 t{
that is :
a pair, less, 2 pairs, between (2 and 2 x 2).
Or it might stop at the 3, as trans 2. No evidence is found
that any tribe has advanced beyond 4 without digital
nuiiieration, and there are few numeral systems in which
some reference to the hand or the fingers may not be detected
in the name either of 3 or of 4. But when 3 = ' middle,'
' between,' or 'half-way' — as in the Algonkin languages —
it is not possible to decide whether this meaning comes
directly from the 'middle finger' (half-way to 6), or from
position between ' pair ' and ' pair of pairs,' i. e. between 2
and 4.
i {
1(1 further
itablishing
)f number.
two,' or of
of either
J numeral
^e seemed
of higher
- partially
numbers
orcalated,
1 might be
Tlie pre-
16 natural
id 2x2).
s is found
It digital
in which
J detected
' middle,'
»uages —
ig comes
or from
etween 2
r%'
**.'
^>P*-'
-JtaJSfr