Words in a space

It seems like a good enough time to write in this space again -- the license expires in 24 days. It wouldn't make sense to renew if I don't write here, and for some reason I'm reluctant just to forget about it.

Plus, I keep coming across arcane things that I'd like to share. For example, this comprehensive database of the numbers from 1-10 in over 5,000 different languages. You can scan them all, in one mombo file, or study them as grouped by language family. There's even a clickable map. It's mind candy for people who like tracing/speculating about affinities and common origins, as well as for those who prefer revelling in the complexity and variety of human linguistic history.

yi er san si wu liu qi ba jiu shi (Mandarin)

hana tul set net tasôt yôsôt ilgop yôdôl ahop yôl (Korean)

pitö puta mi yö itu mu nana ya könönö töwo (Old Japanese)

yksi kaksi kolme neljä viisi kuusi seitsemän kahdeksan yhdeksän kymmenen (Finnish)

bat bi hiru lau bost sei zazpi zortzi bederatzi hamar (Basque)

moja mbili tatu nne tano sita saba nane tisa kumi (Swahili)

tasi lua tolu fa lima ono fitu valu iva sefulu (Samoan)

wanji nupa yamni topa zaptan s'akpe s'akowin s'aglohan nepchunka wikchemna (Lakhota) 

10:00:08 PM   |