Why doesn't the French language have 'proper' words for the numbers 70, 80 and 90?

Question

Sixty-ten, four twenties, four twenties and a ten - why don't they have words like septante, hiutante and neufante? Anybody know the history?

Answer 1

Words very similar to the ones you've suggested do actually exist: septante, huitante/octante and nonante/nunante, but they are used only in the French-speaking parts of Belgium and Switzerland and in certain French dialects.

I'm not certain of the history of words like quatre-vingts and so on, but I have a hunch that, before the Romans occupied much of northern and western Europe, most of tribes had vigesimal counting systems (i.e. based on 20). The evidence for this is that many of the languages on the periphery of what was the Roman Empire still use vigesimal or partly vigesimal counting systems, e.g. Basque, Breton, Cornish, Danish. In fact, in the Bretons still count in 20s right up to 180.

If my hunch is correct, that means that those 'improper' words in French are a survival of an older counting system.

Answer 2

Septante, huitante (octante) and nonante are used, particularly in the French speaking parts of Switzerland. In English we used to say four score ( a score being twenty) and ten (90).
Why not complain about the German five and twenty, which was also formerly used in English?
How did the Brits come up with 12 as a base? 12 pennies=1 shilling, 12 inches to a foot. It couldn't have been because Anne Boleyn had 6 fingers.

Answer 3

There are two reasons -

1. They just haven't got round to changing it yet. Our thirteen used to be three-ten but we kinda squashed it together (similarly fourteen, etc.). And we used to count in 20's, too - called "scores". In the Bible there's the famous quotation about our lives lasting "three score years and ten or four score years". But as time moved on the use of counting in tens became more popular.
2. In France there's an official committee which oversees the French language. It rules on the admissability of new words. One of the committee's jobs to to try to stop the French language from being "taken over" by English - or even worse - Americanisms. It hasn't completely halted the invasion of foreign words - "le weekend" and "le hamburger" are well used - but it has slowed down the rate of change.

Answer 4

It's because they are French...always want to be a little special...
But here in Belgium, in the French speaking part of the country they do use the words septante (70), huitante (80) and nonante (90).
Apparently it comes from the Latin...

Answer 5

Why not? It makes us different. Imagine how boring it would be if we all had the same way of pronouncing numbers. As efionrefail said "Vive la difference!" . P.S In japanese, to say 28 for example you would need to say Two - Ten - Eight and 70 would be Seven - Ten

Answer 6

It comes from the links with the old Celtic system, which still counts in units of twenty. Sixty is three twenties, eighty four twenties and as you reach each "twenty" landmark you count on to the next. Welsh speakers will note the similarity.

The Swiss and the Belgians have indeed adopted "septante", "octante" and "nonnante" and these words are used on the international telephone exchange.

Answer 7

actually, there is septante, huitante/octante and nonante for 70, 80 et 90...
but that's in belgium and in switzerland.
i don't know why we say quatre-vingt-dix... sometimes it's really not important to know.
and hey: who drives on the wrong side of the street?
:o)

Answer 8

That's a good question. Four score and six years ago they just made it up.

Answer 9

Tenuous but it might have something to do with the French use of Roman numerals until quite late.

Answer 10

Says us who have twenty-six different meanings for the word 'set'.