Oneth, Twoth, Threeth
Judy from Elk Rapids
asked why we use the adjectives first, second, and third instead of oneth,
twoth, and threeth. After all, the rest of the numerical adjectives (fourth,
fifth, sixth, etc.) routinely end in –th
or –eth.
First of all, we need to
make a distinction between types of numbers. When you add up and proclaim the
actual number of units involved (one. two, three . . .), you are dealing with
the cardinal numbers. Cardinal in this sense means a hinge. The choice of the
adjective to describe a particular number hinges
upon how many items are involved. For instance, if we are focusing on the
numbers six, seven, and eight, we wouldn’t choose ninth, tenth, and eleventh to
represent them. It would be sixth, seventh, and eighth.
Now, those adjective
forms ending in –th or –eth are called ordinal numbers. They
show the spatial or chronological order or sequence involved—the fifth window from the left, the eighth
person to come through the door.
Back to oneth, twoth,
threeth. The reason why they don’t exist, logical though they might be, was
that they were preceded by different well-established forms. First was firmly
set in place in Germanic and Old English. Second was locked in by Latin/French
words that meant next after the first.
Third was also set in stone by Latin/Germanic words, and unlike first for one
and second for two, at least third and three bear some resemblance to each
another.
And there’s another
reason why one/first, two/second, and three/third aren’t all that unusual in
English. There are many adjectives that look nothing at all like their nouns.
That’s because they don’t share the same root. Technically, such an adjective
is called a collateral adjective.
The animal kingdom is
rife with such disparities. Consider the
following animal names (nouns) and the adjectives that represent them:
cat (feline)
dog (canine)
cow (bovine)
dove (columbine)
gerbil (cricetine)
pig (porcine)
sheep (ovine)
wolf (lupine)
The
absence of tightly woven resemblances (no cat/catine or dog/dogine in that list)
makes one/first and two/second look a lot less exotic.
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