Balinese numerals

From HandWiki

The Balinese language has an elaborate decimal numeral system.

Basic numerals

A school identification number in Bali, written with Balinese numerals above and Arabic numerals below

The numerals 1–10 have basic, combining, and independent forms, many of which are formed through reduplication. The combining forms are used to form higher numbers. In some cases there is more than one word for a numeral, reflecting the Balinese register system; halus (high-register) forms are listed in italics.

Final orthographic -a is a schwa [ə].[1][2]

Numeral Basic Combining Independent
1 besik a-, sa-* abesik, aukud
(a)siki
2 dua duang- dadua
kalih kalih- kakalih
3 telu telung- tetelu
tiga tigang- tetiga
4 (em)pat petang- pa(t)pat
5 lima limang- lelima
6 (e)nem nem- ne(m)nem
7 pitu pitung- pepitu
8 (a)kutus kutus-, ulung- akutus
9 (a)sia sia-, sangang- asia
10 (a)dasa dasa- adasa

* A less productive combining form of a- 1 is sa-, as can be seen in many of the numbers below. It, ulung-, and sangang- are from Javanese. Tiga 3 is from Sanskrit trika. Dasa 10 is from Sanskrit daśa.

Teens, tweens, and tens

Like English, Balinese has compound forms for the teens and tens; however, it also has a series of compound 'tweens', 21–29. The teens are based on a root *-welas, the tweens on -likur, and the tens are formed by the combining forms above. Hyphens are not used in the orthography, but have been added to the table below to clarify their derivation.

Unit Teens Tweens Tens
1 solas 11 se-likur 21 (a-dasa 10)
2 rolas 12 dua-likur 22 duang-dasa 20
kalih-likur kalih-dasa
3 telu-las 13 telu-likur 23 telung-dasa 30
tigang-likur tigang-dasa
4 pat-belas 14 pat-likur 24 petang-dasa 40
5 lim-olas 15 salaé 25 seket 50
6 nem-belas 16 nem-likur 26 nem-dasa 60
7 pitu-las 17 pitu-likur 27 pitung-dasa 70
8 pelekutus 18 ulu-likur 28 kutus-dasa, ulung-dasa 80
9 siang-olas 19 sanga-likur 29 sia-dasa, sangang-dasa 90

The high-register combining forms kalih- 2 and tigang- 3 are used with -likur, -dasa, and higher numerals (below), but not for the teens.

The teens are from Javanese, where the -olas forms are regular, apart from pele-kutus 18, which is suppletive. Sa-laé 25 (one thread [of 25 Chinese coins]), and se-ket 50 (one tie [of two threads of coins]) are also suppletive, and cognate with Javanese səlawé 25 and səkət 50.

There are additional numerals pasasur ~ sasur 35 and se-timahan ~ se-timan 45 (one opium packet [costing 45 coins]), and a compound telung-benang (three threads [of coins]) for 75.

Higher numbers

A date, written in Latin and Balinese script

The unit combining forms are combined with atus 100, atak 200, amas 400, tali 1000, laksa 10,000, keti 100,000, and yuta 1,000,000 as they do with dasa 10:

100 s-atus
200 s-atak
300 telung-atus (tigang-atus)
400 s-amas
500 limang-atus
600 telung-atak (tigang-atak)
700 pitung-atus
800 domas ( ← *dua-amas or *ro-amas)
900 sanga
1000 siu
1200 (e)nem-bangsit
2000 duang-tali (kalih-tali)
1,000,000 a-yuta

Atak is a 'bundle' (of 200 coins) and amas is 'gold' (a gold coin being worth 400 copper coins). In addition, there is karobelah 150, lebak 175, and sepa (one pa?) for 1600. At least karobelah has a cognate in Javanese, ro-bəlah, where ro- is the short form for two (as in rolas 12).

See also

References

Further reading