INFLEXION A-ND CONSTRUCTION OF WOKDS. 



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§ 213. This custom of counting by cowries also gives rise to the following, 



Cardinals of Price. 



okdr) (owo kdi)) 



edzi 



eta 



eriq 



aruq 



efa 



edie 



ediq 



esaq 



1 cowry. 



2 



3 



4 

 5 

 6 



7 



ewa 



6k6wo . 

 ogborjwo 

 ogodzi (1 string) 



OgOlTI) (2 



ogofa (3 



ogodi^o (4 



igbtio (5 



iriqwo (10 



10 cowries. 



20 " 



30 " 



40 " 



80 " 



120 " 



160 " 



200 " 



400 " 



It will be oliserved that up to ogodzi, fort !/^ the first vowel of each numeral is 

 long. The reason of this is that okaq, edzi, &c., are contractions of ow6 kdq, ow6 

 edii, 0716 coiory, two cowries, &c. 



Construction of Cardinals. 



§ 214. The cardinal units, from tioo to ten inclusive, have ' m ' prefixed to them when 

 they belong to nouns expressed or understood, as, ^nia mewa, ten men. Eni, one, 

 is used only in counting. The word ' kdi} ' is employed when the noun is ex- 

 pressed; as, enia kdq, one man; and ' okaq ' when the noun is not expressed; as, 

 okai) de, one came. 



The ' m ' prefixed to the numerals is probably a contraction of mil, to catch, used in the sense of amounting 

 to. When an African speaks in English, he generally says, he catch ten, he catch twenty, for there loere 

 ten, dc. 



§ 215. The round numbers, as-egui), ogboq, ogodzi, &c., are generally placed be- 

 fore the nouns to which they belong ; as, ogiiq enia, twe7iti/ men. The other numerals 

 follow the noun ; as, enia medzi, two men ; enia metalelogboq, tliiiiy-three men. 



§ 216. The ordinals, from one to nineteen, are formed by prefixing 'ek' or 'ek' 

 (the choice being determined by the law of euphonic concord) to the cardinals ; as, 

 ekim, first ; eked^i, second ; eketa, third, &c. But the vowel of the jwefix is often 

 omitted ; as, kini, kedi;i, keta. These ordinals follow the noun ; as, odzo ekedzi 

 or ked:^i, the second day. 



DISTRIBUTIVES. 



§ 217. The distributive numerals are of two kinds. 



1. Distributives of number or quantity, formed as follows : 



a. By doubling the cardinals which commence with ' m ' ; as, mediimedzi, two 

 hy two / metameta, three hy three. 



b. By reduplicating the two first letters of such cardinals as do not commence 

 with 'm ' ; as, okokari, one hy one ; ogoguq, ttventy by twenty. 



2. Distributives of price, formed by reduplicating the two first letters of the 

 cardinals of price; as, okokai),' one cowry each; ed^edii, two cowries each. 



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