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Yan, tan, tethera

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on August 26, 2009 at 18:58

In Reply to: Yan, tan, tethera posted by Sara on August 26, 2009 at 13:20:

: "Yan, tan, tethera" posted by Henry,April 20 2004. Sounds like Welsh? Any response to possible Nordic origins? See musical "Music Man" and ref. to Native American Counting system in Oiwa-" I will now count in the native tongue- een, teen, pedera, pimp." Actual or faked up by playwright? Any experts in east coast Native American languages? .

There *are* no "possible Nordic origins", since these traditional shepherds' numerals derive from the pre-Roman Brythonic Celtic language, of which Welsh is of course the only living descendant. (There are many Nordic influences in Cumbrian culture, but Cumbria was also for centuries an outpost of Celtic language, as its name indicates.) You can see the numerals and their parallels in Celtic languages here, which puts the matter beyond question: en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Yan_Tan_Tethera.
The idea in "The Music Man" that they come from an Indian language is just a joke. (VSD)

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