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Counting in Irathient

Language overview

Forty-two in Irathient The Irathient language (l’irathi) has been designed by David J. Peterson for the Syfy TV series Defiance, aired from April 2013. He also developed the Castithan, the Indojisnen and the Kinuk’aaz languages for the same series, and is already known for the Dothraki language of Game of Thrones. Spoken by the Irathient people, one of the Votan races, it is predominantly head-initial (contrary to German, Japanese, and Castithan alike), and built around an extensive noun class system. Its numeral system is vigesimal.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 19 in Irathient. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Irathient numbers list

  • 120 – zema
  • 220 – ekta
  • 320 – kagne
  • 420 – retha
  • 520 – warte
  • 620 – patre
  • 720 – hothe
  • 820 – tashe
  • 920 – theganu
  • A20 – thetusu
  • B20 – dema
  • C20 – kome
  • D20 – sagye
  • E20 – magbe
  • F20 – dale
  • G20 – nesa
  • H20 – teimba
  • I20 – thenu
  • J20 – thenu ki zema
  • 1020 – suta
  • 2020 – kámasta
  • 3020 – dúnista
  • 4020 – súrista
  • 5020 – gyálista
  • 6020 – víngasta
  • 7020 – úgasta

Counting on fingers

The Irathients originally used a base-18 system, which as been replaced by a base-20 system under Castithan imperialism. They were counting on their fingers, starting with the left thumb (1), then counting the space between the thumb and the index (2), then the index (3), and so on until the little finger (9). They jumped onto the right hand, counting this time from the pinky (10) to the thumb (18). Three number words keep this way of counting in their etymology. The word for nine, theganu, comes from the same root as eganu (fist): one hand has been counted when nine is reached. The word for ten, thetusu, is related to the verb shetusu (to jump), as going to ten means changing hand. The word for eighteen, thenu (end, conclusion) tells both hands have been used. Nineteen (thenu ki zema) has been added later: it means eighteen and one, ki being borrowed from Castithan.

The vigesimal system

The Irathient language follows a vigesimal numeral system, which is a base 20 system. To better understand this numeral system, let’s start with a more familiar one: the decimal system. In the decimal system (or base-10), we have ten digits, from zero to nine. When we add 1 (one) to 9 (nine), we get 10 (ten), or the unit 1 (one) followed by 0 (zero). This system is positional (the digits represent the units, and their rank the matching power of ten). Thus, 132 decomposes in 100 + 30 + 2 = 1*102 + 3 *101 + 2 *100. This system is also known as a positional decimal numeral system.
Base-20 uses digits from 0 to 19. Its first ten is twenty in decimal (2010 = 1020), the base is noted in subscript. The decomposition of a vigesimal number (in a positional system) is the same as the one of a decimal number, only the base changes: (132)20 = 1*202 + 3 *201 + 2 *200. If we carry it out, we get the matching decimal number, here 461.

Irathient numerals

0
020
1
120
2
220
3
320
4
420
5
520
6
620
7
720
8
820
9
920
10
1020
11
1120
12
1220
13
1320
14
1420
15
1520
16
1620
17
1720
18
1820
19
1920

Irathient numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

  • The Irathient digits from zero to nineteen (or nine in base 20) are: kanu [010] (a loan word from Castithan), zema [110], ekta [210], kagne [310], retha [410], warte [510], patre [610], hothe [710], tashe [810], theganu [910], thetusu [1010], dema [1110], kome [1210], sagye [1310], magbe [1410], dale [1510], nesa [1610], teimba [1710], thenu [1810], and thenu ki zema [1910] (18 and 1).
  • The Irathient tens are: suta [1020/2010], kámasta [2020/4010], dúnista [3020/6010], súrista [4020/7010], gyálista [5020/8010], víngasta [6020/10010], úgasta [7020/12010]… Since the base-20 tens did not exist in Irathient, these numbers were borrowed from Castithan, which pronunciation evolved separately since then.
  • The compound numbers are formed by linking the ten and the unit with the word ki (and, Castithan loanword), separated with spaces (exp.: suta ki zema [2110], suta ki kagne [2310]).

Articles

David J. Peterson David J. Peterson

After his linguistics studies at University of California, David J. Peterson has been chosen by HBO to create the Dothraki language for its series Game of Thrones. He then invented many other languages for television, the movie industry, and literature.

Source

Defiance languages

Castithan, Indojisnen, Irathient, and Kinuk’aaz.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.