DEVELOPMENT OF COMPOUND NUMERALS IN ENGLISH BIBLES, LETTERS, DIARIES AND DOCUMENTS
HASHIMOTO, ISAO
KANSAI GAIDAI UNIVERSITY, JAPAN
FACULTY OF FOREIGN STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Prof. Isao Hashimoto
Department of English Language
Faculty of Foreign Studies
Kansai Gaidai University,
Japan
Development of Compound Numerals in English Bibles, Letters, Diaries and Documents
Synopsis:
My objective is to investigate the processes underlying the shift from the Old English type to the Modern English type of compound numerals 21-99. Data are collected from diaries, letters, other literature including the Bibles mainly in the early Modern English periods.
Development of Compound Numerals in English Bibles, Letters, Diaries and Documents
Isao Hashimoto Kansai Gaidai University, Japan
SYNOPSIS
There have been three basic patterns for compound numerals from 21 to 99 in the history of English. These types can be exemplified as follows, the Old English type “one and twenty”, the early Modern English type “twenty and one” and the Modern English type “twenty-one”. Rissanen (1967: 30-32) states that “it seems that at least in some of these ME instances (i.e., twenty (years) and one) the construction was primarily caused by the demands of poetic diction”; and he also claims that “ … it is not impossible that the early type ‘twenty and one’ was a pred ecessor of the modern ‘twenty-one’, which comes into use at the end of the ME period.” Schibsbye (1977: 112) points out that the modern type “appeared at the end of the 15th century, when French influence was strong … .”
Schibsbye’s statement about French influence contradicts Wagner and Pinchon’s statement (1962: 107). They claim that in the classical period, i.e., from 1600 to1700, the middle type was common in French, that is, the units were still combined with the tens by et. On the other hand, as Rissanen and Schibsbye observe, the Modern English type had already appeared in English by the end of the ME period. This suggests that the Modern English type occurred earlier in English than in French and that this occurrence should be attributed to factors which differ from those that influenced the development in French.
My objective is to investigate the processes underlying the shift from the Old English type to the Modern English type via the early Modern English type, to explore the origin of the early Modern English type and to shed new light on the history of the Modern English type. Data from diaries, letters, other literature including the Bibles in the Middle English and the early Modern English periods will be used for the purpose.
Development of Compound Numerals in English Bibles, Letters, Diaries and Documents
Isao Hashimoto Kansai Gaidai University, Japan
1. Introduction
There have appeared three basic patterns for compound numerals from 21 to 99 in the history of the English language. The first is a type like one and twenty, which was used mainly in the Old English (hereafter, OE) period, the second is a type like twenty and one, which was used mainly in the late Middle English (hereafter, late ME) and the early Modern English (hereafter, early ModE) periods, and the last is a type like twenty-one, which is used in the Present-day English (hereafter, PE) period. The first type will be called “the OE type, ” the second type will be called “the middle type” and the third type will be called “the modern type” according to Hashimoto’s nomenclature (2012: 49).
Rissanen (1967) states about the origin of the middle type as follows.
It seems that at least in some of these ME instances the construction was primarily caused by the demands of poetic diction (cf. Tietjens, p.15). But it is not altogether impossible that the early type ‘twenty and one’ was a predecessor of the modern ‘twenty -one,’ which comes into use at the end of the ME period ,
(Note: “the construction” in the senten ces refers to twenty (years) and one.) (Rissanen, 1967: 31-32)
On the other hand, Schibsbye (1977) points out about the modern type as follows.
“The present-day type: twenty-one, etc. appeared at the end of the 15.c., when French influence was strong (Caxton even has sixty and eleven (cp. soizante onze)). ” (Schibsbye, 1977: 112)
This statement by Schibsbye about French influence contradicts the following statement by Wagner and Pinchon (1962).
“A l’époque classique on coordonnait encore les unités aux dizaines au moyen de et, comme c’étai l’usage en ancien français. Corneille, dans sa comédie la veuve (Au lecture), écrit les vingt-et-quatre heures.” (Wagner and Pinchon, 1962: 107)
Wagner and Pinchon claim about French compound numerals that the middle type was common in the classical period, that is, from 1600 to 1700, and that the units were still combined with the tens by et. If their statement is right, the modern type occurred in English much earlier than the modern type in French, without the influence of French.
Mitchell (1985) suggests Latin influence on the middle type and the modern type in OE, as follows.
Occasional exceptions occur in the glosses under Latin influence, e.g. MattPref 8. 2 tuoentig feuer aldra, Latin uiginti quattuor seniorum and John(Li) 2. 20 feortig 7 sex, Latin quadraginta et sex. (Mitchell, 1985: 219)
As stated by the various scholars, processes of the changes of the compound numerals are controversial. But it is clear from their statements that though the English compound numerals have some opaque linguistic processes in their history, their dramatic changes occurred during the periods from Late ME to early ModE. Furthermore the Latin influence on the English compound numerals should be taken into account.
My purpose in the present paper is to collect data from Bibles, letters, diaries and documents mainly in the Early Modern English Period and to give light to processes in the history of the English compound numerals.
2. Corpora Investigated
Data to accomplish the purpose will be collected from the following literature
I. Old English period
1. OE Version of the Heptateuch (The) = OEH
II. Middle English period
1. Early Wycliffite Bible (The) = WB
2. Apology for Lollard Doctrines, Attributed to Wicliffe (An)= Apology
3. Altenglische Legenden: Neue Folge Mit Einleitung und An merkungen = Neue Folge
III. Early Modern English Period
1. Tyndale’s Pentateuch = TP
2. Tyndale’s New Testament = TN
3. Bishops’ Bible (The) = BB
4. Rheims-Douay Bible (The) = RB
5. King James Bible (The) = KJ
6. Autobiography and Diary of Mr James Melville (The) = Autobiography
7. Body of Divinity (A) = Body of Divinity
9. Lincoln Diocese Documents, 1450-1544 = Lincoln Diocese
10. Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century = Paston
11. Political, Religious, and Love Poems = Political
12. Tundale = Tundale
Numerical expressions found in the data are to be classified into the following four types A to D.
Type A1 : xxi or ixx, where Roman numerals are used without and between the tens and the units, will be called, here, ‘Roman numerals’. e.g., .vxxx. geare (OEH, Genesis 11:12), “.xxxv. yere (TP, Genesis 11:12).
Type A2 : xx and i or i and xx, where Roman numerals in the tens and the units are combined with and, will be called, here, ‘Roman numerals with and.’ e.g., .iiii.┐.xxx. geara (OEH, Genesis 11:16).
Type B1 : twenty and one or one and twenty, where numerals in the tens and the units are expressed by English words and they are combined with and, will be called, here, ‘wordnumerals with and.’ e.g., seofan & twentig (OEH, Genesis 23:1), fyue and thretty winter (WB, Genesis 11:12), two and seuenty disciplis (Apology: 31), seuenty and two disciplis (ibid.), thirtie and foure yeres (BB, Genesis 11:16).
Type B2 : twenty(-)one, where numerals both in the tens and the units are expressed by English words without and between the tens and the units, will be called, here, ‘word-numerals.’ e.g., seuentie six (RD, Numbers 26:22), two hundred and thirty two (KJ, 1 Kings 20:15).
Type C: twenty and i or i and twenty, where a numeral in the tens is expressed by an English word, a numeral in the units by a Roman numeral, and they are combined with and, will be called, here, ‘mixed numerals.’ e.g., nynetye and .v. (TP, Genesis 5:17).
Type D: This type include s the following D1 and D2, which are both called socre-numerals.
Type D1 : two score and one, where the word score is used to express a group or set of twenty. e.g., foure score and eiჳt (WB, 1 Paralipomenon = 1 Chronicles 25:7), thre score & sixtene soules (TN, Atcts 7:14). Type D1 includes an example, where the units are expressed by Roman numerals. e.g., iiij. score and v. thousinde (WB, Isaiah 7:20)
Type D2 : ii x xi, where score is expressed by Roman numerals in supersubscript ‘ xx.’ e.g., iii x x vj vnc. (Paston: 159), iiij xx xviij vnces (Paston: 211).
3. Analysis of the Data
Hashimoto (2012) deals with data only on word-numerals in eight English Bibles from the ME period to the early Modern English period, the Latin Bible called the Vulgate , and the Hebrew Bible . He analyses them and states about the English middle types that “the Hebrew middle type and the Latin modern type played an important role in inducing the English middle type, which accelerated the occurrence of the modern type in the English Bibles” (op. cit.: 56). He also states about the modern types that “the origin of the modern type in the English Biblical translations is traceable to the Latin modern type in the Vulgate ” (ibid.). Though he gives us the valuable data and information, he does not deal with the types A1. A2, C and D. The present paper will discuss all the types A to D on the basis of the data collected from the corpora I to III.
At first we will survey processes of the changes of the compound numerals in the English Bibles. Compound numerals were collected from the twenty-seven books (Genesis to Daniel) in the Old Testament, except in the case of Tyndale’s Pentateuch and the OE Heptateuch. The numbers of the examples in the OE Heptatpeuch are much small er than those of the other Bibles. This is because many parts of the MS. are lost. Table 1 shows types of the numerical expressions in the Bible s according to our classification. The table reveals useful historical facts.
In OE were used Roman numerals with or without the conjunction and between the units and the tens, and the tens follow the units.
(1) .vii.xx. gear. (OEH, MS. C, Genesis 23:1. Cf. Lain: vingiti septem)
(2) .iiii. & .xxx. (OEH, Genesis 11:16. Cf. Latin: triginta quattuor)
Word-numerals were also used usually with and between the units and thetens in OE, though the corresponding Latin numerals are expressed by themodern type in the Vulgate.
(3) fif 7 feowtig (OEH, 18:28. Cf. Latin: quadraginta quinque )
In OE occurred mixed numerals, where the units usually preceded the tens. They had two cases. One is a case where the units were expressed by Roman numerals and the tens by word-numerals, and the other is a case where the units were expressed by word-numerals and the tens by Roman numerals. They both had the conjunction and between the units and the tens.
(4) .v. & sixti (OEH, Genesis 5:15. Cf. Latin: sexaginta quinque)
(5) þreo & .xxx. (OEH, Genesis 46:15. Cf. Latin: triginta tres)
The score-numerals were made in the ME period. This caused a dramatic change of the word-order of the compound numerals in that the units followed the tens.
(6) foure score and foure (WB, Nehemiah 11:18. Cf. Latin octogintaquattuor)
The middle type (twenty and one) also appeared in the ME period, where the same word-order change occurred, that is, the units followed the tens. Hashimoto (2012: 56) states about the middle type that “the Hebrew middle type and the Latin modern type played an important role in inducing the English middle type, which accelerated the occurrence of the modern type in the English Bibles.” Hashimoto’s statement about the Hebrew influence is supported by the following examples
(7) ושש שיםּש) transliteration: sixty and-six) (Hebrew Bible, Genesis 46:26)
(8) .lx. and .vi. (TP, Genesis. 46:26)
The example (7) is cited from the Hebrew Bible, where most of the compound numerals are expressed by the middle type (Hashimoto 2012). Tyndale translated the Pentateuch directly from the Hebrew Bible and he reproduced the Hebrew middle type in his English translations, as a Roman numeral with and (Type A2), which belongs to the middle type .
It is also possible that the following irregular and new types of the expressions might promote the change from the OE type to the middle type. The score-numerals were created in the ME period, “Presumably from the practice, in counting sheep or large herds of cattle, of counting orally from 1 to 20, and making a ‘score’ (sense 9) or notch on a stick, before proceeding to count the next twenty”. 1 In the score-numerals, numbers larger than score were placed before numbers smaller than it. As a result, chances increased that the word-order ‘tens – units’ would be produced. Therefore the score-numerical systems could be one of the triggers to make a change from the OE word-order ‘units – tens’ to the word-order ‘tens – units’ of the modern type.
Furthermore, Roman numerals with the score-supersubscription ‘ x x ,’ which were brought into English in the early ModE period, had a wordorder where the units were placed after score usually without the conjunction and after it, as shown in (9) and (10). Scocre-numerals in the scoresupersubscription ‘ x x ’ occurred rarely with the conjunction and. One of the rare examples is shown in (11)
1 Vid: OED, sco re
(9) Probably 1459-60: a lely weyng iij xx vj vnc (Paston: 159).
(10) Probably 1459-60: Summa vnc. xl x x viij vnc. (ibid.)
(11) Probably 1459-60: viij xx and xvij vnc. (ibid.)
In the making of rhymed verses, e ither of the two different word-orders was flexibly used. The examples are found often in the late ME and the early ModE periods, as shown below.
(12) a. For thurgh þo sayntes war helid þen
b. Of seke and sore sexty and ten. (Neue Folge : 32)
(13) a. And fel fro Cristes passion euyn
b. To rekyn sexty ȝeres and seuyn (op.cit.: 41)
(14) a. or he wald sese þat sawl of pyne
b. Þan sang he twenty daies & nyen (op.cit.: 148)
(15) a. In Rome Y shałł ȝou steuene
b. And honþred kyrkes fowrty and seuen; (Political: 143)
(16) a. He made colages and kyrkes mony,
b. The nowmbur of foure and fourty, (Tundale: 126)
4. The Middle Type and the Modern Type
The last stage to reach the modern type is a deletion of the conjunction and in the middle type. Many chances occurred to lead the middle type to the modern type. For example, It is sure that the modern types were easily produced, when Roman numerals with the score-supersubscription ‘ x x ’ were read or transliterated; that is, iij x xvj in (9) could be read as ‘sixtysix.’
Other data which might induce the deletion of the conjunction in the middle type appeared in the early Modern English period, probably much earlier. They are Roman numerals with the word-order ‘tens – units’ without the conjunction between the tens and the units, as shown in the following examples.
(17) 1426 -1427: þe xxviij day of August (Paston: 8)
(18) 1450: xxxij. sawcers (Lincoln: 44)
(19) 1530: .xxxv. yere (TP, Genesis. 11:12)
Readings and transliterations of Roman numerals without the conjunction and would produce the modern type , that is, xxviij in (17) can be transliterated as ‘twenty-eight’, xxxij in (18) as ‘thirty-two’ and xxxv in (19) as ‘thirty-five.’
The score-numerals written by English words had usually with the conjunction and after the word score. This score-numerals themselves began to be used without the conjunction in around 1600, as show in the following example.
(20) in the yeir of God a thowsand fyve houn drethe threescore nyntein yeirs, (Autobiography: 295)
The most important contribution to the change is what was going in the world of arithmetic in the sixteenth century; Indo-Arabic arithmetic began to be used widely in the century and, at the same time, Indo-Arabic numerals pervaded Europe naturally and rapidly (Ifrah, 2000: 577). In IndoArabic numerals, of course, the tens precede the units without the conjunction and. The earliest example of Indo-Arabic numerals in our data is shown below.
(21) 1556: He died in the 53 yeir of his age, (Autobiography: 14)
5. OE Type and Modern Type
The modern type appeared in the sixteenth century and became popular in the next century, but the OE type persisted over the century.
(22) 1584: this twentie-sax yeirs, (Autobiography: 203)
(23) 1620-1686: The four and twenty elders (Body of Divinity: 39)
6. Conclusion
The present paper investigates the data from letters, diaries and documents mainly in the Early Modern English Period as well as English Bibles, and it gives new explanation to their history from the viewpoints of rhyming, score numerals, score-supersubscription, and Indo-Arabic numerals.
References
Apology = An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, attributed to Wicliffe Now First Printed from a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, introduction and notes by James Henthorn Todd . 1842. London: Camden Society.
Autobiography = The Autobiography and Diary of Mr James Melville, ed. by Robert Pitcairn. 1842. Edinburgh: Printed for the Wodrow Society.
BB = The Bishops’ Bible = The Holie Bible Conteynynge the Olde Testament and the Newe . 1568. London: R. Jugge.
Body of the Divinity = A Body of Divinity: Contained in Sermons upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism, Thomas Watson. 1958. London: Banner of Truth Trust.
Hebrew Bible (The) = Biblia Henraica, ed. by Rudolf Kittle . 1977. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelstiftung.
KJ = The King James Bible = The Holy Bible: A Facsimile of the Authorized Version Published in the Year 1611 . (reprinted) 1982. Tokyo: Nan’un-do.
Lincoln = Lincoln Diocese Documents, 1450-1544, ed. by Andrew Clark. 1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OEH = The OE Heptateuch = The Old English Version of the Heptateuch: Ælfric’s Treaties on the Old and New Testament and His Preface to Genesis. (reprinted) 1969. ed. by Samuel John Crawford, Early English Text Society, O.S. 160.
Paston = Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century , ed. by Norman Davis. 1976. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Political = Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall. 1965. Early English Text Society, O.S. 15
RB = The Rheims-Douai Bible = The Holie Bible Faithfvlly Translated into English, ovt of the Avthentical Latin: Diligently Conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke, and Other Editions in Diuers Languages (vol. I, 1609, vol. II, 1610). Douai: Laurence Kellam. (facsimile reproduction) 1990. Kyoto: Rinsen Book.
TP = Tyndale’s Pentateuch = The Fyrst Boke of Moses Called Genesis, The Seconde Boke of Moses, Called Exodus, …. 1530. Malborow: Hans Luft.
Tundale = Tundale. Das mittelenglische Gedicht über Die Vision des Tundalus auf Grund von vier Handschriften, ed. by Albrecht Wagner. 1893. Halle: M. Niemeyer.
Vulgate (The) = Biblia Sacra Iuxta ulgatam versionem 2 vols, ed. by Robert Weber, 1969. Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt.
WB = The Early and Late Wycliffite Bible = The Holy Bible: containing the Old and New Testament, with the Apoc ryphal Books in the Earliest English Versions Made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and His Followers, 4 vols. 1982. ed. by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden. (reprinted) 1850. New York: AMS Press.
B. Books and Articles Cited
Hashimoto, Isao. 2012. “The Development of Compound Numerals in English Biblical Translations,” Middle and Modern English Corpus Linguistics: A Multi-dimensional Approach (Studies in Corpus Linguistics 50) 49-58. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ifrah, Georges. 2000. The Universal History of Numbers from Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer (translated from the French by David Bellos, et al.). New York, Chichester, Weinheim, Brisbane, Singapore, and Toronto: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Mitchell, Bruce. 1985. Old English Syntax. Vol. 1. Oxford, Clarendon Press. OED = The Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2013. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rissanen, Matti. 1967. “The Uses of One in Old and Early Middle English”, Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki Publiés sous la Direction de Tauno F. Mustanoja, XXXI. Helsinki: Société Néophilologique.
Schibsbye, Knud. 1977. Origin and Development of the English Language . Vol. III. Copenhagen: Nordisk Sprog- og Kulturforlag.
Wagner, Robert-Léon and Jacqueline Pinchon. 1962. Grammaire du Fran- çais Classique et Modern. Paris: Librairie Hachette.