This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Numeral systems are collections of symbols used to represent small numbers together with systems of methods for producing larger numbers.
When it became essential to count frequently to numbers larger than ten, the numeration had to be simplified and systematized; this was typically done through use of a group unit, just as might be accomplished nowadays by counting 43 eggs as three dozen and seven. The earliest numerals of which there is an unquestionable record were simple straight marks for the small numbers with some particular form for ten. These symbols emerged in Egypt as early as 3400 BCE in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BCE.
Of course, the special position occupied by 10 stems from the number of human fingers. It is still apparent in modern usage in the logical structure of the decimal number system and in the English names for the numbers.Currently, there are still existing many different numeral systems.
The map below created by mapologies shows the last double-digit number (99) in different counting systems.
In Europe, the most challenging counting system is used in Danish. In the Danish language, the numerals are formed based on a vigesimal system (base-20 numeral system) with diverse rules. In the word forms of numbers above twenty, the units are stated before the tens, so 21 is generated “enogtyve”, literally “one and twenty.”
The map below created by Reddit user Redstream28 is a particularly striking illustration of the unusual use of numerals in the Danish language to pronounce the number “92” among other European countries.
Reddit user BrianSometeimes, in response to the phrase “Thank you Denmark for being weirder than France!” said:
Just to correct this map (don’t worry it’s still super complicated), what we really say is this:
2 and half-fifth times 20 (“tooghalvfemsindstyve”, a slightly fucked up “tooghalvfemtesindetyve”)
– where half-fifth (“halvfemte”) is an outdated way of saying 4.5 (halfway from 4 to 5).
However, that’s the long form, we’ve shortened the word in speech and writing to “tooghalvfems”, which, on the face of it, translated without context, is “twoandhalffives”.
