• jinarched@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    80 (quatre-vingt) comes from the base 20 system. That’s a vestige from pre indo-European languages (specifically the Gauls) that ended up influencing France.

    Interestingly (if I’m not mistaken), in Switzerland they actually say “huitante” and in Belgium they say “octante”.

    • fluckx@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      In Wallonia ( french belgium ) you’re also likely to hear “nonante” for 90 IIRC

    • hakase@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      The Gauls were Celtic, which is Indo-European. Maybe you meant “Pre-Romance”?

      • jinarched@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        I was mentioning Indo-European in the draft of the comment and then I changed it and I didn’t modified it correctly. You are right.

    • MxM111@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Maya use mostly base 20 system. Mostly, because all digits go from 0 to 19, except for the second one, that goes from 0 to 17.