older (and therefore better) ways of counting

“The long hundred, also known as the great hundred or twelfty,[1] is the number 120… that was referred to as "hundred" in Germanic languages prior to the 15th century, and is now known as one hundred and twenty”

Number Bowland Rathmell Nidderdale Swaledale Wharfedale Teesdale
1 Yain Aen Yain Yan Yan Yan
2 Tain Taen Tain Tan Tan Tean
3 Eddera Tethera Eddero Tether Tether Tether
4 Peddera Fethera Peddero Mether Mether
5 Pit Phubs Pitts Pip Pip
6 Tayter Aayther Tayter Azer Lezar
7 Layter Layather Layter Sezar Azar
8 Overa Quoather Overo Akker Catrah
9 Covera Quaather Covero Conter Borna
10 Dix Dugs Dix Dick Dick
11 Yain-a-dix Aena dugs Yaindix Yanadick Yan-a-dick
12 Tain-a-dix Taena dugs Taindix Tanadick Tean-a-dick
13 Eddera-a-dix Tethera dugs Edderodix Tetheradick Tether-dick
14 Peddera-a-dix Fethera dugs Pedderodix Metheradick Mether-dick
15 Bumfit Buon Bumfit Bumfit Bumfit
16 Yain-a-bumfit Aena buon Yain-o-Bumfit Yanabum Yan-a-bum
17 Tain-a-bumfit Taena buon Tain-o-Bumfit Tanabum Tean-a-bum
18 Eddera-bumfit Tethera buon Eddero-Bumfit Tetherabum Tethera-bum
19 Peddera-a-bumfit Fethera buon Peddero-Bumfit Metherabum Methera-bum
20 Jiggit Gun a gun Jiggit Jigget Jiggit

Oh like the jake thackray song

lots going on there :o

The existence of a non-decimal base in the earliest traces of the Germanic languages is attested by the presence of glosses such as "tenty-wise" or "ten-count" denoting that certain numbers are to be understood as decimal. Such glosses would not be expected where decimal counting was usual. In the Gothic Bible,[4] some marginalia glosses a five hundred (fimf hundram) in the text as being understood taihuntewjam ("tenty-wise"). Similar words are known in most other Germanic languages. Old Norse clearly used a duodecimal system, with its words "one hundred and eighty" meaning 200 and "two hundred" meaning 240.[5] Its use in medieval England and Scotland is documented by Stevenson[6] and Goodare, although Goodare notes that it was sometimes avoided by using numbers such as "seven score".[7] The Assize of Weights and Measures, one of England's statutes of uncertain date from c. 1300, shows both the short and long hundred in competing use: the hundred of kippers is formed by six score fish and the hundred of hemp canvas and linen cloth is formed by six score ells but the hundred of pounds to be used in measuring bulk goods is five times twenty and the hundred of fresh herring is five score fish.[8] Within the original Latin text, the numeral c. is used for a value of 120: Et quodlibet c. continet vi. xx. ("And each such 'hundred' contains six twenties.")[2]

The reckoning by long hundreds waned as Arabic numerals (which require uniform base 10) spread throughout Europe during and after the 14th century.

i was being lazy and just c&p'd the table but you get the idea

lol also:

The thirteen individual pieces that made up the Parisian pile de Charlemagne comprised an outer containing cylinder nominally weighing 20 marcs, and a set of hollow nesting cups within, topped with a filled weight as the smallest piece.[23][25][26] The heaviest cups were nominally 14, 8, 4, and 2 marcs, sub-totalling 48 marcs; followed by a nominally 1 marc hollow cup which was termed the marc creux (hollow mark); and followed by 6 further cups (4, 2, and 1 onces, and 4, 2, and 1 gros) with a final seventh filled 1 gros weight, all totalling 1 marc, which was termed the marc plein (filled mark).[23][25][27][26]

Unfortunately, the weights were not consistent, with the marc plein not being the same weight as the marc creux, and neither being the same as a mean 1 marc weight determined from the weight of the whole pile.[23][27] So when the time came to work out the conversion factors between these measures and the metric system, the whole pile was taken to define 50 Parisian standard marcs, and thus 230 400 grains (the number of grains in 50 marcs).[23] Louis Lefèvre‑Gineau initially determined that the metric mass of the whole pile was 12.227 947 5 kg,[27] later corrected to 12.2376 kg,[28] thereby making (by division and rounded to three decimal places) a marc 244.753 g, a livre esterlin 367.129 g, and a livre actuelle 489.506 g.[19][29] Hence further the (Parisian) once was 30.594 g, the gros/drachme was 3.824 g, the denier/scruple was 1.274 g, and the grain was 0.053 g.[18][15]

However, the actual masses of the pre-metric measures were nowhere near even this simple.[30] These were just the Parisian standards, and individual provinces, cities, and even guilds, all had their own reference physical standards, which were not checked against one another and which sometimes conflated esterlin and actuelle.[30] For just some examples: the Marseille livre was 399.6 g, the Montpelier one 394.9 g, the Toulon one 465.5 g, and the Toulouse one 413.2 g; with all of the fractional subdivisions having different values accordingly.[31] The Limoges marc was 240.929 g, the Tours one 237.869 g, and the Troyes one 250.050 g.[32]

posted on this day Tournesol 19 Vendémiaire CCXXX of the revolution

"A normal French calendar year of 365 days was to consist of twelve 30-day months followed by 5 "complementary" days, the "sans-culottides," at the end of the year, i.e. in late September."

i'm not giving the nameday from the ten-day week aka décade (very unconfusing mes braves citoyens) bcz (a) it's hard to work out given leapyears -- which never really got bedded in -- and (b) they annoy me (duodi, quintidi, fuck off)

beware the sans-culottides of march i mean floréal, i squeaked

less than a décade later my head was off and a modern caesar had toppled the republic

4. The brightness of the forgotten 5
At first sight, 5 does not seem to form a part of the sym-
bolically relevant numerical entities of Dogon thinking.
However, in a closer analysis, its implied present reveals
a density of significance in a large numer of occasions,
some of which we will examine below.

5 and temporal maturity
The Dogon venerate the first 5 generations after Nommo,
as it is believed that is was during their age that all the
social and religious institutions were created. Even today,
every individual relates to the 5 generations around his
own, the three that preceded him, his own generation and
the one that will follow. This cult of 5 generations exists
regardless of the individual’s lineage, within the 4 funda-
mental Dogon lineages (Palau Marti 1957: 56).
Houses have 5 niches on each side of the door, for the
express purpose of representing these ancestors (Beaudoin
1984: 90).
The number 5 determines the age groups that are socially
recognised by the Dogon, namely, the period from birth
until the age of initiation, adolescence, youth, maturity
and old age (Palau Marti 1957: 49).
According to Paulme (1985), children are breast-fed for
5 consecutive seasons. The Dogon week has 5 days and
local market are held every 5 days. This temporal division
of time seems to have a symbolic relation to Nommo’s
blood, which ran for 5 days when he was sacrificed. In ad-
dition, it took Amma 5 days to resuscitate Nommo, which
explains the ritual of the dead (Dama) takes place every 5
years in every village. In addition, the Dogon believe that
the soul only reaches the land of the ancestors 5 years
after death (Beaudoin 1984: 87, 90, 174, 201–203).

https://www.emis.de/journals/ZDM/zdm992a4.pdf

Cool thread. Thought this might have been inspired by something recently on Foundation. Seem to recall some scene in Elling where he buys a train ticket and uses the more Danish style of numbers.

I believe 9 is a greater and more attractive number than 10. There is something hot + beautiful about 9, but 10 is a cold bastard number of capital and hard science.

Love the Republican calendar, such a ridiculous undertaking, it didn't work very well of course and having a ten day week was a pretty sneaky way of giving workers even less days off in a year.

a: i will never be inspired by something recently on Foundation

b: thermidor was bcz the jacobins were addicted to the number 10 (bad) and not les nombres enragé (7, 9, 13, numerals of that nature)

"I believe 9 is a greater… number than 10"

— the louis antoine léon de saint-just of ilx

their failed attempt at decimalising time seems quite amusing. A bit of a hard sell!

Very much a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The guy who came up with names of the months, Fabre d'Églantine, was quite a character.

everyone in a place of greater safety regards Fd'E as an overtheatrical and basically annoying dick, and enjoys points out that he invented the name d'Églantin for himself after a poetry prize he said he was awarded in a year the prize was not in fact given

however his month-names and day-names are good not bad and who is to say if his forgery and financial fraud are what brought down danton and then everyone else

There seem to have been an unusual number of actors and theatrical types involved in the French Revolution, among all the thousands of lawyers.

a: i will never be inspired by something recently on _Foundation_

I have the feeling that this is not the first time NV has beaten me to referencing that Jake Thackray track. Let me have it!

Jake is for everybody

wozzeck (berg) b/w yan tan tethera (birtwhistle: skip to 1:41 for some posh guy explaining the opera's central conceit, skip to 1:45 for space alien Tv visuals to calm down)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvHAMRxg7gc

wtf happened to tony harrison, i feel like he used to be everywhere

Yan Tan Tethera Methera

I took the family to Swaledale for summer holidays this year, never been there before and we were all just stunned by it, I've been all around the UK but I can't think of anywhere more beautiful and other-worldly. of course we listened to the jake thackeray song.