More information about numerals

Spelling of ordinal numerals
Fractions
Declension of numerals
Numerals in attributive function in Old Georgian
 

Spelling of ordinal numerals

If an ordinal numeral is formed by prefixing me- me- to the beginning of the stem, when writing it with a cipher, it is spelled like this: me-cipher, me-cipher; e. g.:
mesamoceme-samoc-e (sixtieth) may be spelled like this: me-60.

If an ordinal numeral is formed by affixing me- me- to the last component of the stem, when writing it with a cipher, it is spelled like this: cipher-e cipher-e; e. g.:

samocda-me-aT-e samocda-me-at-e (seventieth) may be spelled like this: 70-e.

Fractions

Fractions denote the part of somthing, e. g.:

 1/3 _ erTi mesamedi (erti me-sam-e-d-i)
 1/4 _ erTi meoTxedi (erti me-otx-e-d-i)
 3/10 _ sami meaTedi  (sami me-at-e-d-i) etc.
 

Fractions are derived from the adverbial case of ordinal numerals:
 

Cardinal numeral
Ordinal numeral
Adverbial case of ordinal numeral
Fraction
sam-i me-sam-e me-sam-e-d  me-sam-e-d-i
sam-i me-sam-e  me-sam-e-d me-sam-e-d-i
three-Nom. third.Nom third-Adverbial one third-Nom.

In Old Georgian, an ordinal numeral followed by the word nawili (part) can express a fraction thus: me-xuT-e nawili (one-fifth part).

There is another way to produce fractions from some simple cardinal numerals in Old Georgian and in some dialects of Modern Georgian, but these are very rare forms:
 

Cardinal numeral
Fraction
sam-i
sam-i
three
na-sam-al-i
na-sam-al-i
one-third
oTx-i
otx-i
four
na-oTx-al-i
na-otx-al-i
one-fourth
xuT-i
xut-i
five
na-xuT-al-i
na-xut-al-i
one-fifth

Fractions formed from cardinal numerals by adding the suffix -eul- eul (usually, modified by the attribute noun in Genitive) are proved in Old Georgian: aT-eul ifql-isa at-eul ipkl-isa (one-tenth of wheat)

Declension of numerals

Numerals are declined similarly to nouns.

Cardinal numerals usually have no vocative case nor any plural form in modern Georgian (Table 1).

Table 1

Nominative sam-i sam-i
Ergative sam-ma sam-ma
Dative sam-s(a) sam-s(a)
Genitive sam-is(a) sam-is(a)
Instrumental sam-iT(a) sam-it(a)
Adverbial sam-ad sam-ad

The plurals of cardinal numerals formed by -n -n / -T -t suffixes are attested in Old Georgian and in the modern mountaineer dialects (Table 2).

Table 2

Nominative sam-n-i sam-n-i
Ergative sam-T(a) sam-t(a)
Dative sam-T(a) sam-t(a)
Genitive sam-T(a) sam-t(a)
Instrumental sam-T(a) sam-t(a)
Adverbial sam-T(a) sam-t(a)

Only two cardinal numerals -- "8" rva rva and "9" cxra cxra -- are ended by vowels. They are clippable (Table 3).

Table 3


Nominative rva-ø rva-ø
Ergative rva-m rva-m
Dative rva-s(a) rva-s(a)
Genitive rv-is(a) rv-is(a)
Instrumental rv-iT(a) rv-it(a)
Adverbial rva-d rva-d

Only the last word is declined in the composite numerals (Table 4).

Table 4
Nominative aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-i atas cxraas ormocdashvid-i
Ergative aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-ma atas cxraas ormocdashvid-ma
Dative aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-s(a) atas cxraas ormocdashvid-s(a)
Genitive aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-is(a) atas cxraas ormocdashvid-is(a)
Instrumental aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-iT(a) atas cxraas ormocdashvid-it(a)
Adverbial aTas cxraas ormocdaSvid-ad atas cxraas ormocdashvid-ad

Ordinal numerals and fractions have all seven cases. All ordinal numerals are clippable in the singular (Table 5).

Table 5

Nominative meaTe-ø meaTe-eb-i
Ergative meaTe-m meaTe-eb-ma
Dative meaTe-s(a) meaTe-eb-s(a)
Genitive meaT-is(a) meaTe-eb-is(a)
Instrumental meaT-iT(a) meaTe-eb-iT(a)
Adverbial meaTe-d meaTe-eb-ad
Vocative meaTe-v meaTe-eb-o

Transliteration

Nominative meate-ø meate-eb-i
Ergative meate-m meate-eb-ma
Dative meate-s(a) meate-eb-s(a)
Genitive meat-is(a) meate-eb-is(a)
Instrumental meat-it(a) meate-eb-it(a)
Adverbial meate-d meate-eb-ad
Vocative meate-v meate-eb-o

Numerals as attributes
When the numeral is used as an attribute, the noun is used in singular: ori Zma ori dzma "two brothers";  xuTi cxeni xuti cxeni "five horses". Numerals as attributes are declined like adjectives as attributes:

Two friends

Nominative or-i megobar-i or-i megobar-i
Ergative or-ma megobar-ma or-ma megobar-ma
Dative or-ø megobar-s or-ø megobar-s
Genitive or-i megobr-is or-i megobr-is
Instrumental or-i megobr-iT or-i megobr-it
Adverbial or-ø  megobr-ad or-ø megobr-ad

Eight friends

Nominative rva-ø megobar-i rva-ø megobar-i
Ergative rva-ø megobar-ma rva-ø megobar-ma
Dative rva-ø megobar-s rva-ø megobar-s
Genitive rva-ø megobr-is rva-ø megobr-is
Instrumental rva-ø megobr-iT rva-ø megobr-it
Adverbial rva-ø  megobr-ad rva-ø megobr-ad

 

Numerals in attributive function in Old Georgian
In Old Georgian, when -n -n /-T -t suffixes were used for plural, both the numeral and the noun were inflected as plural:

Nominative or-n-i megobar-n-i or-n-i megobar-n-i
Ergative or-T-a megobar-T-a or-t-a megobar-t-a
Dative or-T-a megobar-T-a or-t-a megobar-t-a
Genitive or-T-a megobar-T-a or-t-a megobar-t-a
Instrumental or-T-a megobar-T-a or-t-a megobar-t-a
Adverbial or-T-a megobar-T-a or-t-a megobar-t-a

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