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submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It supposedly comes from originaly counting in base 20 ( a.k.a : vigesimal system) in some proto-european language. There are traces of it in breton, albanese, basque and danish for example. Even in english, there is a reminiscence of vigesimal, in the "score", see for example Lincoln's Gettysburg Address which famously starts with : "Fourscore and seven years ago...", meaning 87 years ago.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

As a frenchman who always found quatre-vingt weird but never bothered to find out why, thanks :)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Mais je t'en prie :)

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

In English is this why we say fifteen instead of tentyfive?

this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2024
1103 points (99.7% liked)

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