Lakes Guides, topics |
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| sheep count, Cumbria | ||||
| county:- | Cumbria | |||
| Count in 20s |
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| Shepherds in Westmorland and Cumberland famously used old numerals in a mixed base
10 and base five system for counting their sheep, or more exactly scoring the sheep,
counting them in scores. These are not peculiar to the Lake counties but were more
widely used in the north of England, in Cornwall, Britanny, and even by north american
indians in New England - according to Ellwood. |
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 BMQ88.jpg yam, tyan, tethera, methera |
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| Of the various recorded versions of the numbers, the most widely known is one from
the Borrowdale area:- |
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| "yan tyan tethera methera pimp sethera lethera hovera dovera dick yanadick tyanadick tetheradick metheradick bumfit yanabumfit tyanabumfit tetherabumfit metherabumfit gigot" |
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| The count system is for scoring sheep, counting them in twenties, a score at a time.
At the end of each score a mark is made, or a pebble dropped in a pocket, or whatever,
and the count begun again. |
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| Quite how one counts even a small herd of sheep running by with these polysyllabic
counting words is beyond me; I'd fall asleep. |
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| references, Cumbria:- |
Ellwood, T: 1877: Numerals Formerly Used for Sheepscoring in the Lake Counties, part
1: TransCWAAS: vol.3: pp.381-384 Ellwood, T: 1877: Numerals Formerly Used for Sheepscoring in the Lake Counties, part 2: TransCWAAS: vol.3: pp.385-397 Ellis, A J: 1874 (May): : Philological Society: vol.15: pp. : 1877 (July-December):: Athenaeum (newspaper?):: pp.338, 371, 402, 433, 469, 629, 662 : 1868 (March): : Historical Magazine (New York, United States): 2nd series vol.3: p.129 : 1863: Knitting Song: Notes and Queries: 3rd series vol.4: p.205 Mitchell, W R: 1978: Cumbrian Blacksmith, A: Dalesman Publishing Co (Clapham, Yorkshire) Sheep ScoringPages from several sources about sheep scoring in Westmorland and Cumberland, and in other parts. |
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| Birtwhistle, Harrison: 1984: Yan Tan Tethra (chamber opera) |
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| references:- | counting in general |
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| Flegg, Graham: 1989: Numbers through the Ages: Macmillan Education (London):: ISBN
0 333 49131 9 (pbk) Ifrah, Georges: 1998 (translation): Universal History of Numbers: Harvill Press (London):: ISBN 1 86046 324 X |
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