• MartinXYZ@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’ve always found the Danish numbers intriguing. I understand the whole “halvfem-sinds-tyve”- thing and the other ones of similar origin but I can’t wrap my head around “elleve” and “tolv”. Do you remember the origin of those?

    • SmoothOperator@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not really, but they’re essentially the same as the German “elf” and “zwölf”, so we probably got them from the same place as them ;)

      • vidarh@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Wiktionary suggests the common proto-Germanic root of eleven/twelve, elf/zwölf are likely to have been “ainalif” and “twalif” - “one left over” and “two left over”.