...with links to less dilettantish material:
On this page I have compiled some "basic" vocabulary (beginning with numerals) in different languages, both living and dead. Words are grouped according to the so-called language families. By doing so I have wished to demonstrate on one page the richness and diversity of the languages of the world, and also their more or less obvious relations to each other. Of course, some of these relations remain yet to be discovered. I have selected only a few of the numerous languages in various groups, trying to give wide-ranging examples. Moreover, not nearly all known language groups are presented here, so if you want to see a more exhaustive list of numerals, check this link.
This page is not intented to be the ultimate analysis of every dialect spoken on our planet - it just reflects my own amateurish but still somewhat keen interest in languages. Here you can see some examples of how certain things are expressed in certain tongues, and I hope they will give a glimpse into the fascinating world of languages. Language is a doorway into the culture which it represents and, above all, language may be the most important tool of us humans.
The word list will be updated and added to every now and then. There is also a great mass of linguistic information availaible elsewhere on the internet, so I'll try to present some relevant links, too. There may be some orthographic, transliterational or other errors, but they are due to the fact that computers don't always do what they're supposed to do. Of course, they are not my mistakes... :-) Anyway, all comments, suggestions, or other kinds of feedback will be welcomed with delight ( yrhrosc (at) jyu . fi ).
| * | a reconstructed or hypothetical word or a whole language of which there are no written sources |
| a proto-language | a hypothetical parent language from which all other languages of the same branch have developed, one way or another |
| + | a 'dead' language, that is, a language no longer spoken as a native tongue |
| A > B or B < A | 'B has developed or derived from A', where the direction of the development or derivation in question is this: earlier > later or later < earlier (a simplified example: Latin > Spanish or Spanish < Latin means that Spanish has (gradually) developed from Latin) |
NOTE: The different gender forms are only partially presented, for the sake of better readability.
| *Proto-Indo-European | +Samskr.ta (Sanskrit) | Lietuviškai (Lithuanian) | Hindi | Fārsi (Modern Persian) | +Latīna | Castellano / Español (Spanish < Latin) | +Hellēnikē (Classical Greek) | Ellinika (Modern Greek < Classical Greek) | Hayeren (Armenian) | Shqip (Albanian) | Russki (Russian) | Cymraeg (Welsh) | Íslenska (Icelandic) | Deutsch (German) | +Angul-Seaxe (Old English) | English (< Old English) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *oi(nos) / *sem |
eka- | vienas | ek | jek | ūnus, ūna, ūnum | uno | heis, mia, hen | enas, mia, ena | meg | një | odin, odna, odno | un | einn, ein, eitt | eins | án | one | 1 |
| 2 | *duwo | dvi- | du, dvi | do | do | duo, duae, duo | dos | dyo | dhio | yergu | dy | dva, dve | dau, dwy | tveir, tvaer, tvö | zwei | twegen, twá | two | 2 |
| 3 | *treyes | tri- | trys | tin | se | trēs, trēs, tria | tres | treis, treis, tria | treis, tria | yerek | tre, tri | tri | tri, tair | þrír, þrjár, þrjú | drei | þreó, þrió | three | 3 |
| 4 | *kwetwores | catur- | keturi | char | čahār | quattuor | cuatro | tettares, tettares, tettara | tessereis, tessera | chors | katër | tshetire | pedwar | fjórir, fjórar, fjögur | vier | feówer | four | 4 |
| 5 | *penkwe | pañca- | penki | panch | panğ | quīnque | cinco | pente | pende | hink | pesë | pjat | pum(p) | fimm | fünf | fí(n)f | five | 5 |
| 6 | *sweks | s.as.- | šeši | chhah | šeš | sex | seis | heks | eksi | vets | gjashtë | shest | chwech | sex | sechs | six | six | 6 |
| 7 | *septm | sapta- | septyni | sat | haft | septem | siete | hepta | efta | yoteh | shtatë | sem | saith | sjö | sieben | seofon | seven | 7 |
| 8 | *okto | as.t.a- | aštuoni | ath | hašt | octō | ocho | oktō | okhto | uteh | tetë | vosem | wyth | átta | acht | eahta | eight | 8 |
| 9 | *newn | nava- | devyni | nau | noh | novem | nueve | ennea | ennia | inneh | nëntë | devat | naw | níu | neun | nigon, nigen | nine | 9 |
| 10 | *dekm | daśa- | dešimt | das | dah | decem | diez | deka | dheka | dasseh | dhjetë | desat | deg | tíu | zehn | tén, teón | ten | 10 |
| 100 | *(d)km.tom | s.ata- | šimtas | sau | sad | centum | ciento | hekaton | ekato | harur | njëqind | sto | cant | hundrað | hundert | hund(red) | hundred | 100 |
| Suomi (Finnish) |
Eesti (Estonian) |
Sámegiella (Northern Saami) |
Magyar (Hungarian) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | yksi | üks | okta | egy |
| 2 | kaksi | kaks | guokte | kettő |
| 3 | kolme | kolm | golbma | három |
| 4 | neljä | neli | njeallje | négy |
| 5 | viisi | viis | vihtta | öt |
| 6 | kuusi | kuus | guhtta | hat |
| 7 | seitsemän | seitse | čieža | hét |
| 8 | kahdeksan | kaheksa | gávcci | nyolc |
| 9 | yhdeksän | üheksa | ovcci | kilenc |
| 10 | kymmenen | kümme | logi | tíz |
| 100 | sata | sada | čuođi | száz |
| Türkçe (Turkish) | |
|---|---|
| 1 | bir |
| 2 | iki |
| 3 | üç |
| 4 | dört |
| 5 | beş |
| 6 | altı |
| 7 | yedi |
| 8 | sekiz |
| 9 | dokuz |
| 10 | on |
| 100 | yüz |
(WHICH IS SOMETIMES CONSIDERED A MEMBER OF THE ALTAIC FAMILY)
|
pure Korean numbers (Sino-Korean numbers) | |
|---|---|
| 1 | hana (il) |
| 2 | twul (i) |
| 3 | set (sam) |
| 4 | net (sa) |
| 5 | tasŏt (ŏ) |
| 6 | yŏsŏt (yŭk) |
| 7 | ilgop (ch'il) |
| 8 | yŏdŏl (p'al) |
| 9 | ahop (kŭ) |
| 10 | yŏl (sip) |
| 100 | paek |
| Hanyu Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | yī |
| 2 | èr |
| 3 | sān |
| 4 | sì |
| 5 | wŭ |
| 6 | liù |
| 7 | qī |
| 8 | bā |
| 9 | jiŭ |
| 10 | shí |
| 100 | băi |
| Indonesia | |
|---|---|
| 1 | satu |
| 2 | dua |
| 3 | tiga |
| 4 | empat |
| 5 | lima |
| 6 | enam |
| 7 | tujuh |
| 8 | delapan |
| 9 | sembilan |
| 10 | sepuluh |
| 100 | seratus |
| SEMITIC LANGUAGES | ||||
| +R. n. k.m.t (Ancient Egyptian) |
+Lišānum Akkadītum (Akkadian) |
Al-Arabiyya (Modern Arabic) |
Ivrît
(Modern Hebrew) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | uā | ishtēn | wâkhid | 'akhat |
| 2 | sen | shena | ithnân | shtayim |
| 3 | khemet | shalash | thalâtha | shalosh |
| 4 | aft.u | erbe | 'arba'a | 'arba |
| 5 | t.uau | khamish | khamsa | khamesh |
| 6 | sas | shishshu | sitta | shesh |
| 7 | sefekh | sebe | sab'a | sheva |
| 8 | khemennu | samāne | thamâniya | shmone |
| 9 | pest. | tishe | tis'a | tesha |
| 10 | met | esher | 'ashra | eser |
| 100 | śaā | me'at | mi'a | meah |
| Kiswahili (Swahili) | |
|---|---|
| 1 | moja |
| 2 | mbili |
| 3 | tatu |
| 4 | nne |
| 5 | tano |
| 6 | sita |
| 7 | saba |
| 8 | nane |
| 9 | tisa |
| 10 | kuma |
| 100 | mia |
| Nahuatl (Aztec) | |
|---|---|
| 1 | cē |
| 2 | ōme |
| 3 | ēyi |
| 4 | nāhui |
| 5 | mācuīlli |
| 6 | chiquacē (literally, '5+1') |
| 7 | chicōme ('5+2') |
| 8 | chicuēyi ('5+3') |
| 9 | chicunāhui ('5+4') |
| 10 | mahtlactli |
| 100 | mācuīlpōhualli ('5x20') |
(NO UNDISPUTED RELATIVES DISCOVERED SO FAR)
| +Eme-gir (Sumerian) |
+Rashna (Etruscan) |
Euskara (Basque) |
Nihongo (Japanese) Sino-Japanese numbers (native Japanese numbers) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ash | thu | bat | ichi (hitotsu) |
| 2 | mina | zal | bi | ni (futatsu) |
| 3 | esh | ci | hiru | san (mittsu) |
| 4 | lim(mu) | mach | lau | shi (yottsu) |
| 5 | ia | huth | bost | go (itsutsu) |
| 6 | i-ash (literally, '5+1') | sha | sei | roku (muttsu) |
| 7 | i-min ('5+2') | semph | zazpi | shichi (nanatsu) |
| 8 | ussu (i-esh, '5+3') | cezp | zortzi | hachi (yattsu) |
| 9 | i-lim(mu) ('5+4') | nurph | bederatzi | kyū (kokonotsu) |
| 10 | (h)u | shar | hamar | jū (tō) |
| 100 | ? | ? | ehun | hyaku |
| 60 | nesh | |||
| 3600 | shar |
-And finally: Numbers from 1 to 10 in over 5000 languages by Mark Rosenfelder... I have to admit that I was both fascinated and frustrated when I found this site - it was only after I had begun to write my own page; always someone gets there before you... :-) But seriously, this site is quite a remarkable piece of work. However, it is also a jungle of words, so I find some justification for my own page in presenting just a few examples for a beginning. Of course, I encourage you to examine more scholarly and useful sources than my page. In the end, the present page is just my own exercise, as I already mentioned.