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.

2016 HAWAII UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

ARTS, HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES & EDUCATION JANUARY 8 - 11, 2016

ALA MOANA HOTEL, HONOLULU, HAWAII

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.

1

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 tha t “it seems that at least in some of these ME in-

stances (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 “ap-

peared 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 sti l l combined with the tens by et . On the other hand, as

Rissanen and Schibsbye observe, the Modern English type had already ap-

peared 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 l iterature including the Bibles in the Middle English

and the early Modern English periods will be used for the purpose.

2

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 Eng-

lish (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 wil l 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 i t 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

3

eleven (cp. soizante onze)) . ” (Schibsbye, 1977: 112)

This statement by Schibsbye about French influence contradicts the fol-

lowing 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 sti ll 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 com-

pound numerals are controversial . But i t is clear from their statements that

though the English compound numerals have some opaque linguistic pro-

cesses in their history, their dramatic changes occurred during the periods

from Late ME to early ModE. Furthermore the Latin influence on the Eng-

lish 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 .

4

2. Corpora Investigated

Data to accomplish the purpose will be collected from the following

li terature .

I. Old English period

1. OE Version of the Heptateuch (The) = OEH

II. Middle English period

1. Early Wycliff i te 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) = Autobi-

ography

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

5

and the units are combined with and, will be called, here,

‘Roman numerals with and .’

e.g., . i i i i .┐.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, ‘word-

numerals with and.’

e.g., seofan & twentig (OEH, Genesis 23:1), fyue and

thretty winter (WB, Genesis 11:12) , two and seuenty disci-

plis (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 includes the following D1 and D2 , which are

both called socre-numerals.

Type D1 : two score and one , where the word score is used to ex-

press 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 ex-

pressed by Roman numerals.

e.g., i i i j . score and v. thousinde (WB, Isaiah 7 :20)

Type D2 : i i xxi , where score is expressed by Roman numerals in su-

persubscript ‘xx. ’

e.g., i i i x xvj vnc. (Paston: 159), i i i j xxxviij vnces (Paston:

6

211).

3. Analysis of the Data

Hashimoto (2012) deals with data only on word-numerals in eight Eng-

lish 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 trace-

able 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 nu-

merals 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 classifi-

cation. 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) . i i i i . & .xxx . (OEH, Genesis 11:16. Cf. Latin: triginta quattuor)

Word-numerals were also used usually with and between the units and the

tens in OE, though the corresponding Latin numerals are expressed by the

modern type in the Vulgate .

(3) fif 7 feowtig (OEH, 18:28. Cf. Latin: quadraginta quinque )

7

Table 1

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 Ro-

man 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 numer-

als. 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: tr iginta 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 fol-

lowed the tens.

(6) foure score and foure (WB, Nehemiah 11:18. Cf. Latin octoginta

quattuor)

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 .

OE ME

OE*

Heptateuch

Wycliffite

Bible

Tyndale's

Pentateuch

Bishops'

Bible

Rheims-

Douay

Bible

King James

Bible

(1) ixx 1 0 0 0 0 0

(2) xxi 0 0 95 1 0 0

(1) i and xx 1 0 0 0 0 0

(2) xx and i 0 0 3 0 0 0

(1) one and twenty 1 314 0 60 157 87

(2) twenty and one 0 50 1 0 0 257

B2 (3) twenty(-)one 0 0 0 271 17 1

(1) i and twenty 2 0 0 0 196 0

(2) twenty and i 0 0 4 0 0

(1) two score and one

(2) four score and vi

(3) iixx

vi

Early Modern English

examplesBasic

Types

Types

of

Numerals

Mixed Numerals C

A1

A2

Roman Numerals

B1

Word-Numerals

sub-

types

30Score -Numerals D 0 3 0 0 3

8

Hashimoto (2012: 56) states about the middle type that “the Hebrew mid-

dle 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 in-

fluence is supported by the following examples.

(7) Hebrew Bible, Genesis) (transliteration: sixty and-six) שּשים ושש

46:26)

(8) . lx. and .vi . (TP, Genesis. 46:26)

The example (7) is cited from the Hebrew Bible, where most of the com-

pound numerals are expressed by the middle type (Hashimoto 2012) . Tyn-

dale translated the Pentateuch directly from the Hebrew Bible and he re-

produced 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 ex-

pressions 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 ‘xx ,’

which were brought into English in the early ModE period , had a word-

order where the units were placed after score usually without the conjunc-

tion and after i t , as shown in (9) and (10) . Scocre-numerals in the score-

supersubscription ‘xx’ occurred rarely with the conjunction and. One of

the rare examples is shown in (11)

1 Vid: OED , sco re .

9

(9) Probably 1459-60: a lely weyng i i j x x vj vnc (Paston: 159).

(10) Probably 1459-60: Summa vnc. xl x x viij vnc. (ibid.)

(11) Probably 1459-60: viijx x 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 ; (Polit ical : 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 ‘xx’

were read or transliterated; that is, i i j x xvj in (9) could be read as ‘sixty-

six.’

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’ with-

out the conjunction between the tens and the units, as shown in the fol-

lowing examples.

(17) 1426 -1427: þe xxviij day of August (Paston: 8)

10

(18) 1450: xxxij . sawcers (Lincoln : 44)

(19) 1530: .xxxv. yere (TP, Genesis . 11:12)

Readings and t ransliterations of Roman numerals without the conjunction

and would produce the modern type , that is, xxviij in (17) can be translit-

erated 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 con-

junction and after the word score. This score-numerals themselves began

to be used without the conjunction in around 1600, as show in the follow-

ing 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 nu-

merals pervaded Europe naturally and rapidly (Ifrah, 2000: 577) . In Indo-

Arabic numerals , of course, the tens precede the units without the con-

junction and . The earliest example of Indo-Arabic numerals in our data is

shown below.

(21) 1556: He died in the 53 yei r 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

11

The present paper investigates the data from letters, diaries and docu-

ments mainly in the Early Modern English Period as well as English Bibles,

and it gives new explanation to their history from the viewpoints of rhym-

ing, score numerals, score-supersubscription, and Indo-Arabic numerals .

References

A. Literature Examined

Apology = An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, attributed to Wiclif fe Now

First Printed from a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity College

Dublin, introduction and notes by James Henthorn Todd . 1842. Lon-

don: 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 Con teynynge the Olde Testa-

ment 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 Kitt le . 1977.

Stuttgart : Deutsche Bibelstiftung.

KJ = The King James Bible = The Holy Bible: A Facsimile of the Author-

ized 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 Eng-

lish Text Society, O.S. 160.

Paston = Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century , ed. by Nor-

man Davis. 1976. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

12

Political = Political, Religious, and Love Poems, ed. by Frederick J . Fur-

nivall . 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 reproduc-

tion) 1990. Kyoto: Rinsen Book.

TP = Tyndale’s Penta teuch = 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 Rob-

ert Weber, 1969. Stuttgart : Württembergische Bibelanstalt .

WB = The Early and Late Wyclif f ite Bible = The Holy Bible: containing

the Old and New Testament, with the Apocryphal Books in the Earli-

est 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 Eng-

l ish Biblical Transla t ions,” Middle and Modern English Corpus Lin-

guistics: A Multi -dimensional Approach (Studies in Corpus Linguis-

tics 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 Uni-

versity Press.

13

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 Néophi-

lologique.

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.