You know what I've always wondered? How did they pronounce each number? I mean, I read it "eye, eye-eye, eye-eye-eye, eye-vee, vee, vee-eye."
But of course, there's no way they actually said it that way.
Right? Right??
But of course, there's no way they actually said it that way.
Right? Right??
1: Unus -a -um | primus -a -um
2: duo, duae, duo | secundus -a -um
3: tres, tria | tertius -a -um
4: quattuor | quartus -a -um
5: quinque | quintus -a -um
6: sex | sextus -a -um
7: septem | septimus -a -um
8: octo | octavus -a -um
9: novem | nonus -a -um
10: decem | decimus -a -um
11: undecim | undecimus -a -um
12: duodecim | duodecimus -a -um
13: tredecim | tertius decimus -a -um
14: quattuordecim | quartus decimus -a -um
15: quindecim | quintus decimus -a -um
16: sedecim | sextus decimus -a -um
17: septendecim | septimus decimus -a -um
18: duodeviginti | duodevice(n)simus -a -um
19: undeviginti | undevice(n)simus -a -um
20: viginti | vice(n)simus -a -um
30: triginta | trice(n)simus -a -um
40: quadraginta | quadrage(n)simus -a -um
50: quinquaginta | quinquage(n)simus -a -um
60: sexaginta | sexage(n)simus -a -um
70: septuaginta | septuage(n)simus -a -um
80: octoginta | octoge(n)simus -a -um
90: nonaginta | nonage(n)simus -a -um
100: centum | cente(n)simus -a -um
500: quingenti | quingente(n)simus -a -um
1000: mille | mille(n)simus -a -um
Just like an English speaker sees "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6" and pronounces "one, two, three, four, five, six". Sure, the Roman numerals look like letters, but that doesn't mean you pronounce them that way.
There aren’t many (if any?) human languages that duplicate this feature of being a purely positional system.