Mystery of Native Japanese 1, 2, 3 .....

Native Japanese numbers are mysterious. Where did they come from? Although we have the China origin numbers which are more commonly used than the native counterparts, still the Native Japanese numbers are used in everyday life especially 1 to 10. Let's look at them.

1.  ひとつ　 hi-to-tsu
2.  ふたつ　hu-ta-tsu 
3.  みっつ    mit-tsu  
4.  よっつ　 yot-tsu 
5.  いつつ　 i-tsu-tsu
6.  むっつ　 mut-tsu 
7.  ななつ　 nana-tsu
8.  やっつ　 yat-tsu
9.  ここのつ　kokono-tsu
10. とお　　tō

In case we count one to ten continually and fast in Native Japanese, they become

1.  ひ　 hi
2.  ふ　hu
3.  み    mi
4.  よ　 yo
5.  いつ　 i-tsu
6.  む　 mu
7.  なな　 nana
8.  や(あ)  ya (a) -  relatively long <ya>
9.  ここの　kokono
10. とお　　tō

These sound more native Japanese but seldom used in this was except 10.　とお (tō). So these are not independent except again 10. とお (tō).

How many pieces you have?   - as an answer only 10. とお (tō) is OK. The others are not used as an an aswer as they are. The answer should be 1.  ひとつ (hi-to-ts),  2.  ふたつ (hu-ta-tsu). etc.


Days of a month - 1 to 10. Some modification made in pronunciation but generally the number + ka.

1st day -  tsuitachi - exception 
2nd day - hu-tsu-ka
3rd day - mi-kka
4th day - yo-kka
5th day - itsu-ka
6th day - mui-ka
7th day - nano-ka
8th day - yō-ka
9th day - kokono-ka
10th day - tō-ka

Please note that these are not the ordinal numbers and only show the days of a month.

Origin of the Native Japanese numbers

1.  ひとつ　 hi-to-tsu    <---- hi-to    <---- hit
2.  ふたつ　hu-ta-tsu   <---- hu-ta   <---- hut
3.  みっつ    mit-tsu     <---- mit
4.  よっつ　 yot-tsu     <----  yot
5.  いつつ　 i-tsu-tsu    <---- yit  +  tsu + tsu (doubled) (*)
6.  むっつ　 mut-tsu     <---- mut
7.  ななつ　 nana-tsu   <---- nana
8.  やっつ　 yat-tsu      <---- yat
9.  ここのつ　kokono-tsu   <---- kokono
10. とお　　tō

Comparing with the number of the other languages, the Native Japanese numbers seem very systematic in pronunciation as  1 - 9 have the same ending <-tsu>.  This <-tsu> is probably added to the original-original word to show the number and likely its origin was <-t>. This <-t> seems foreign as almost all Native Japanese words end with a vowel. We did not notice as we learned at very early age but these number words are a bit difficult to pronounce due to <-tsu>. 10 (tō) shall be treated as an exception.

＜age＞

age 20 - hata-chi
age 30 - mi-so-ji
age 40 - yo-so-ji
age 50 - i-so-ji (not i-tsu-so-ji)
age 60 - mu-so-ji
age 70 - nana-so-ji
age 80 - ya-so-ji
age 90 - kokono-so-ji

Some people say "ji" and "chi" of "hatachi" are the same origin so "ji" is Japanese origin although it sounds like Chinese origin.



I made a wild guess of the origin of these numbers and the conclusion is as below. Please see the above Origin of the Native Japanese numbers as well.

1.   hit  (phonetically used to be <phit>)
2.   hut (phonetically used to be <phut>)
3.   mit
4.   yot
5    yit
6.   mut
7.   nana
8.   yat
9.   kokono

Quite systematic or simple in terms of the ending, isn't it? Except  7 (nana) and 9 (kokono), which sound more like Native Japanese.

Reference (to show almost no connection with other languages)

          Korean                         Mongolian                        Turkish          
1     하나      hana               нэг          Neg                   bir  (BEER)

2     둘          dul                  хоёр        Khoior               iki  (ee-KEE)

3     셋          set                   гурав      Gurav                 üç   (EWCH)

4     넷          net                  дөрөв     Döröv                 dört  (DURRT)

5     다섯      daseot             тав          Tav                     beş  (BEHSH)
       
6     여섯      yeoseot            зургаа     Zurgaa                altı  (ahl-TUH)

7     일곱      ilgop               долоо     Doloo                  yedi  (yeh-DEE)

8     여덟      yeodeol            найм      Naym                  sekiz  (seh-KEEZ)

9     아홉      ahop               ес           Es                         dokuz  (doh-KOOZ)

10     열        yeol          арав.арван   Arav Arvan            on      (OHN)


sptt