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From Ray
Smith Sheep counting in binary
and
from Tony Walker
Te deu
wid sheep
From
Ted Relph
From time to time we are asked for
information about the old system of counting sheep, beginning 'yan, tyan,
tethera.' As it is over a quarter of a century since an article about
this appeared in our Journal (LDS No.30, 1968) perhaps it would be
helpful to resurrect something about this rather academic and
complicated subject.
Most writers admit that they have
never actually heard anyone counting in this way. It seems to be a bit
of 'folk-history' which reappears in articles and 'readers' letters'
from time to time, but it is obvious that unique counting systems did
exist in former days, not only for counting sheep but in games of
different sorts, knitting, fishing and in counting the goods in
warehouses.
There would seem to be a clear
connection with counting on the fingers, particularly after getting to
10, as the best known local examples then go 1 and 10, 2 and 10, etc up
to 15, then 1 and 15, 2 and 15, etc up to
20. The count invariably ended at
20. This was a 'score' and a scratch was then put in a stick or stone,
and the count recommenced. In this way things were counted in scores. It
is said that the shepherds, on reaching 20, would transfer a pebble or
marble from one pocket to another, so as to keep a tally of the number
of scores.
Michael V. Barry, of Queen's
University, Belfast states that over a hundred different versions of the
numbers had been collected, mostly from 19th century publications. Many
people who submitted numbers did not say what they were used for and
over half of them gave no supporting information of any kind. From those
who did, it was found that they were in fact rarely used by shepherds
but more often by children, as counting rhymes, or by parents and
nursemaids in amusing them! It would seem that every fifth numeral was
considered of more importance and the intervening numbers were said very
rapidly. This perhaps accounts for the fact that there is more variation
in these intervening numbers than in 5, 10, 15, 20.
5 is usually 'pimp', but can be
pip, fip, pitts and, in Ayrshire, bamf. 10 is almost always 'dick', dix
or deg but clen or galen in parts of Wales. 15 is typically 'bumfit' in
Northern England and 20 is commonly 'giggot' or jiggot. The 'dick', or
'deg' for 10 suggests a strong Celtic origin, which was in the same
group of languages was Latin [decem], French [dis] and even Hindi [das].
Similarly, 'pimp' for 5 is obviously connected with the modern Welsh
[pump] and probably with Latin [quinque] and Hindi [panch]. Bumfit can
perhaps be identified as 'pump-dec' [ 5 plus 10 ] but giggot [20] is not
explained!
There was an article on the
subject by J. R. Witty in the 1927 Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect
Society and an earlier article by A. J. Ellis on the 'Anglo-Cymric
Score' in 'Transactions of the Philological Society' in 1877-8-9. Ellis
concluded that most informants took the score very lightly and that it
could not have been used much after 1825, though it may have been more
much common two or three centuries earlier. Strenuous efforts by other
researchers, including Prof. A. H. Smith and Harold Orton have failed to
find the numerals in actual use. 'Many people know it and recite it out
of an antiquarian interest, or as some kind of philological curiosity,
but no one uses it for a geniunely utilitarian purpose'. After all, it
is difficult enough trying to count sheep in 2s or 3s, never mind
singly!
Welsh would seem to be the only
Celtic language which counts to fifteen and then to 20. Mr. Barry says
that various theories have been put forward to explain the survival of
the numerals mainly in North West England. One is the Survival theory,
suggesting that they have remained from Celtic times, where isolated
pockets of Britons survived the Anglo-Saxon and later invaders. There
are two 'Importation' theories; the first presupposes the survival of
the numerals in Strathclyde, and that they then came to Lakeland via the
Scottish drovers; the second suggests they came in from Wales during
Medieval times. Evidence is scanty for any of the theories, and the
surviving versions of the score have become so garbled that any real
analysis of them is now impossible. (Just to correct a common fallacy,
there seems to be no direct connection whatsoever with Scandinavia via
'Old Norse').
Here are a few examples to show
the local variations, though there are often conflicting versions
collected from the same dale. In Eskdale, 8 & 9 seem to have been
exchanged with 6 & 7.
1 2 3 4 5
Keswick.
yan tyan tethera methera pimp.
Westmorland.
yan tyan tetherie peddera gip.
Eskdale.
yaena taena teddera meddera pimp.
Millom.
aina peina para pedera pimp.
High Furness.
yan taen tedderte medderte pimp
Wasdale.
yan taen tudder anudder nimph
Teesdale.
yan tean tetherma metherma pip
Swaledale
yahn tayhn tether mether mimp(h)
Wensleydale
yan tean tither mither pip
Ayrshire
yinty tinty tetheri metheri bamf
6 7 8 9 0 15
Keswick
sethera lethera hovera dovera dick bumfit
Westmorland
teezie mithy katra hornie dick bumfit
Eskdale
hofa lofa seckera leckera dec bumfit
Millom
ithy mithy owera lowera dig bumfit
High Furness
haata slaata lowera dowra dick mimph
Wasdale
..........not given.........................
Teesdale
lezar azar catrah horna dick bumfit
Swaledale hith-her lith-her anver danver dic mimphit
Wensleydale
teaser leaser catra horna dick bumper
Ayrshire
leetera seetera over dover dik - -
Among children¨s
counting out games they found the following; observe these seem to count
in fours, probably to suit the rhyme
[Edinburgh]"Inty, tinty,
tethery, methery; Bank for over, dover, ding .."
[London]
"Eena, deena, dus;
cattala, wheela, wheila, wus; spit, spot, must be done.
[Universal]
"Eeny, meeny, miney, moe; Catch a nigger by his toe".
Scores have even
been found in a number of places in U.S.A.
[Cincinnati] een, teen, tother, feather, fib,
soter, oter, poter, debber, dick
[Vermont] eeni, teni, tudheri,
fedheri, fip, saidher, taidher, koadher, daidher,
dik
These were
probably taken to the new world by Cumbrian settlers !!
Footnote...
In addition to
those quoted, a number of other articles have been written on the
subject, the more important of these are ...
Rev. T. Ellwood.
"Numerals formerly used for sheep scoring in the Lake Country"
C & W Trans. O.S. Vol III 1876-1877
xxxii-xxxiv.
E. E. Speight.
Antiquary. 1893 Vol. XXVIII.
K. Jackson.
"Language and History in Early Britain" Edinburgh, 1963
D. MacRichie.
"The Celtic Numerals of Strathclyde"
Proceedings,
Society of Antiquaries, Scotland. Vol XLIX 1915.
Sturdy There is a common
belief that some shepherds had the knack of removing the `sturdies', by
rapping the sheep on the head with their crooks, and the sheep often
recovers. In fact The old shepherds bored a small hole through the skull
over the site of the 'sturdy', then inserted a small barbed 'instrument'
prepared from a feather stem or a reed, twisted it around to catch the
sac containing fluid and the 'eggs' of the parasite, and so pulled it
out. It was essential to remove the sac without bursting it, then the
'auld yowe' had an excellent chance of recovery.
From Ray Smith in
Australia
I was reading with some interest
your article on the counting of sheep and it put me in mind of a chap I
worked with in the late '60's and early '70's.
I was living at Carle Cross, Soutergate by the Duddon Estuary and
working on a number of farms in the district. On one of the farms I met
a chap who used to count the yows in binary!!
His left thumb was one, then his left index finger (alone) was two,
index finger and thumb was three then the second finger (alone) was
four. Continuing in this fashion his ring finger (alone) was eight and
his little finger (alone) was sixteen! The right hand started at thirty
two and the count continued. He generally ran out of fingers before he
ran out of yows and I never saw him miscount in all the time I spent
with him.
From Tony
Walker
wcti@btinternet.com
Sheep Counting.
The Cumbrian sheep numerals are clearly Celtic in origin and clearly
Brittonic rather than Gaelic. Their closest relatives are those of
Welsh, Cornish and Breton. However, I think that the form 'giggot'
proves that they are not imported from Wales (though they may be from
Stratchclyde). Actually the Strathclyde survival is a bit of a red
herring as the Medieval Kingdom of Strathclyde with its language 'Cumbric' was alternatively known as Cumbria or Cambria. So to talk
about importing from Strathclyde to Cumbria is tautological.
Ok, Giggot.
20 in Irish is Fichead and 20 in Welsh is Ugain. So far no
obvious
connection. In Middle Welsh it is ugeint. Getting closer. Both the Irish
and Welsh forms point back to a Common Celtic form *wicant.
In Welsh
and in Cumbric an initial 'w' can grow a "G" in front of it.
Normall
does actually, but irritatingly not in ugeint (=20). Compare Gwas (a
servant) Welsh and "Gos" a servant as in "Gospatric"
and early Cumbrian
aristocrat. So common Celtic would regularly give something like
"Gwigent" in early Cumbric. Now another thing that Cumbric
appears to do
is, after growing a g in front of a w sound, it loses the 'w' leaving
just the G. Compare Gospatric against the Welsh Gwaspadrig and the
Galloway word "gossocks" which is of the same origin.
Still with me? So I would expect the Cumbric word for 20 to have
been Giggent. Clearly I have still to explain the loss of
the 'n'. Irish
does it too in 'Fichead' notice above, but I am not claiming Irish
influence. It is either a development of the Cumbric langauge that we
know nothing about or it has just got worn down over the centuries
There you go - pretty strong arguments in favour of the Sheep counting
numerals in the North West of England and Scotland to be relics of the
native Cumbric langauge rather than imports or reinventions. For
comparison I give the Welsh numberals to 20 in their feminine forms.
Remember sheep 'dafad' is feminine so I would expect the Cumbric
numerals to be feminine too.
Un, dwy, tair, pedair, pump (pron. pimp), chwech, saith, wyth, deg, un
ar ddeg, deuddeg, tair ar ddeg, pedair ar ddeg, pymtheg, (pron.
pumtheg), un ar bymtheg, dwy ar bymtheg, deunaw, pedair ar bymtheg,
ugain
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