Today I learned something interesting about numbers. Turns out, the French are not the most convoluted when it comes to naming the tens up to a hundred. It seems the Danes hold that title.
In Danish, 92 is “tooghalvfems. It breaks down like this: “to” is two (2), “og” means and, and “halvfems” is 90. But why halvfems? halv means “half,” that much is clear. However, in this context, it’s not literally 0.5. When used with numbers ending in “-fems,” it signifies “minus half of the next multiple of twenty. Then comes fems: This is a shortened form of fem gange tyve, which means “five times twenty, thus, halvfems translates to “halfway into the fifth twenty”. The fifth twenty ranges from 80 to 100. Halfway equals 90 🙂
50 is “halvtreds” in Danish. Here “halv implies “halfway to the next multiple of twenty”. treds is the condensed form of tredje sinde tyve, which translates as “three times twenty, or 3 × 20 = 60. Thus, halvtreds can be understood as “halfway to sixty, that is: 60 – (0.5 × 20) = 60 – 10 = 50.
It’s clear that this is because of the vigesimal (base-20) numbering system.
I recalled the French because they too have 80 = quatre-vingts (four twenties), 90 = quatre-vingt-dix (four twenties and ten), 75 = soixante-quinze (sixty and fifteen).
P.S. Thanks to Timofey for the tip
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 