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Name for an indefinite number | ||
Tags: Multilingual | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Zimena Tetraglot Groupie Norway Joined 4594 days ago 75 posts - 146 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish Studies: Czech, Mandarin | Message 1 of 30 29 August 2012 at 8:34pm | IP Logged |
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I was browsing a topic about words to describe things that you've forgotten the name of here on HTLAL just yesterday, and suddenly it occurred to me that it would also be interesting to see what words we have for an indefinite number in different languages.
In English, I believe an indefinite number of something that has already been repeated many times would be "umpteen". As in: "We've discussed that umpteen times already." In Norwegian, the word that automatically comes to mind for me is "ørten" - sometimes combined with more specific numbers, to form words like "ørtenhundre" ("umpteen-hundred") or even "ørtenhundreogtjue" (="umpteen-hundred-and-twenty"). In any case, it's used for an indefinite amount of "many". Is there a similar word in your language? Let's hear it! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5534 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 30 29 August 2012 at 8:53pm | IP Logged |
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The other popular word in English is "zillion", which is larger than umpteen, though
nobody's quite sure about the relative sizes of "zillion", "bazillion" or "gazillion". 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4846 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 3 of 30 29 August 2012 at 10:11pm | IP Logged |
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In German, there's "zig" like in: "Wir haben das zig-mal diskutiert" (We've discussed it umpteen times), and then there's the very colloquial "drölfzig", a mixture of "drei" (3), "zwölf" (12) and "zig" (-ty).
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4709 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 4 of 30 29 August 2012 at 10:12pm | IP Logged |
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Tig in dutch. We hebben daarover al tig keer gediscussiëerd. Very colloquial
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 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6911 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 30 29 August 2012 at 10:19pm | IP Logged |
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Femtioelva (fifty-eleven) - a large number
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| a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5258 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish | Message 6 of 30 30 August 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged |
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Our амнайсет comes from shortening 17 or 18 - седемнайсет/осемнайсет.
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4641 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 7 of 30 30 August 2012 at 3:35pm | IP Logged |
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In Spanish I have heard "muchocientos" (from "mucho" - much and "cientos" - hundreds). However I believe it is more common to use "un montón (de)" (which literally means a large mountain, but is normally translated as "a lot".)
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| Majka Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic kofoholici.wordpress Joined 4659 days ago 307 posts - 755 votes Speaks: Czech*, German, English Studies: French Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 30 30 August 2012 at 3:55pm | IP Logged |
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In colloquial Czech, there are following "numbers": mraky (clouds), hory (mountains) and moře (sea) for "a lot". At the opposite spectrum, there is drobky or drobek (crumbs) for "a little".
The equivalent of "We've discussed that umpteen times already." would be "Debatovali jsme o tom už donekonečna / tisíc krát." (we've discussed that till eternity / 1000 times already). 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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