Liitarvsõnade varieerumine eesti vanas kirjakeeles
Variation of complex numerals in old written Estonian

Summary/Abstract: In the history of written Estonian, three patterns were used for number words ranging from 21 to 99. As a result, complex numerals varied considerably, e.g., the word 21 exhibited unit-before-ten order (üks peale kakskümmend ‘one upon twenty’), tenbefore-unit order (kakskümmend peale üks ‘twenty upon one’ ~ kakskümmend ja üks ‘twenty and one’ ~ kakskümmend üks ‘twenty one’), and overcounting (üks kolmatkümmend ‘one from the third decade’ ~ üks kolmat ‘one from the third’). This variation has been studied through analysis of the earliest extant Estonian texts from the 16th to 19th centuries, as evidenced by the corpus of old written Estonian, the historical concordance of the Estonian Bible translation, and the database of digitized Estonian newspapers. The first two preserved instances of Estonian complex number words, dating back to 1589 and 1601, followed the unit-before-ten order. This pattern was used throughout the 17th century and discarded at the end of the century, possibly due to puristic concerns, as several other German traits were also abandoned during this period. Only sporadic instances of this pattern were found in the 18th century. Overcounting was prevalent in the Bible translations of certain 17th century authors (e.g., J. Gutslaff, A. Virginius, and J. Hornung), while others, including translators who mentioned it in their own grammars (H. Stahl and H. Göseken), did not use the pattern at all. In texts published during the first half of the 18th century, overcounting prevailed. Thereafter, overcounting ceased to be the dominant pattern in books and gradually disappeared. The final instances of overcounted 21–99 appeared in newspapers in the 1820s. In oral usage, however, this pattern persisted well into the 20th century, particularly for counting yarn, fish, years of life, etc. The ten-before-unit order was used in almost all writings from the 1630s until the end of the 19th century. By the mid-19th century, it had become the exclusive pattern in written Estonian. The decline of overcounting and the prevalence of the ten-before-unit order coincided with a period during which the literacy of Estonians increased immensely. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the proliferation of literacy influenced the usage of complex numerals. While the logic of overcounting stemmed from oral traditions and finger-counting, the ten-before-unit order was more straightforward in written texts. This shift in number words was facilitated by the transition from Roman to Arabic numerals.

• Details
• Contents