actual name for the number, perhaps no language in the world surpasses the Zulu. The Zulu counting on his fingers begins in general with the little finger of his left hand. When he comes to 5, this he may call edesanta 'finish hand;' then he goes on to the thumb of the right hand, and so the word tatisitupa 'taking the thumb' becomes a numeral for 6. Then the verb komba 'to point,' indicating the forefinger, or 'pointer,' makes the next numeral, 7. Thus, answering the question 'How much did your master give you?' a Zulu would say 'U kombile' 'He pointed with his forefinger,' i.e., 'He gave me seven,' and this curious way of using the numeral verb is shown in such an example as 'amahasi akombile' 'the horses have pointed,' i.e., 'there were seven of them.' In like manner, Kijangalobili 'keep back two fingers,' i.e. 8, and Kijangalolunje 'keep back one finger,' i.e. 9, lead on to kumi, 10; at the completion of each ten the two hands with open fingers are clapped together.[1]
The theory that man's primitive mode of counting was palpable reckoning on his hands, and the proof that many numerals in present use are actually derived from such a state of things, is a great step towards discovering the origin of numerals in general. Can we go farther, and state broadly the mental process by which savage men, having no numerals as yet in their language, came to invent them? What was the origin of numerals not named with reference to hands and feet, and especially of the numerals below five, to which such a derivation is hardly appropriate? The subject is a peculiarly difficult one. Yet as to principle it is not altogether obscure, for some evidence is forthcoming as to the actual formation of new numeral words, these being made by simply pressing into the service names of objects or actions in some way appropriate to the purpose.
People possessing full sets of inherited numerals in their
- ↑ Schreuder, 'Gr. for Zulu Sproget,' p. 30; Döhne, 'Zulu Dic.'; Grout, 'Zulu Gr.' See Hahn, 'Gr. des Herero.'
