Numbers

one two three four five, hand As for the Indo-European numerals: one ? two has a cognate in AfroAsiatic and Austronesian three has a cognate in AfroAsiatic and Austronesian four has a cognate in Austronesian five has a cognate in AfroAsiatic and a related cognate in the Austronesian word for "hand" six has a cognate in AfroAsiatic seven has a cognate in AfroAsiatic eight is reconstructible from within Proto-IndoEuropean nine has been related to the Proto-IndoEuropean root for "new" i.e. the next after eight which speaks volumes of the antediluvian cultural level of Indo-European speakers (or perhaps not, cf the use of Chinese numerals in Japanese or Danish numerals in Greenland Eskimo). Back