n_, hand turned down; and the Massachusetts
_napanna_, on one side. Ten is the end of the finger count, but is not
always expressed by the "both hands" formula so commonly met with. The Cree
term for this number is _mitatat_, no further; and the corresponding word
in Delaware is _m'tellen_, no more. The Dakota 10 is, like its 5, a
straightening out of the fingers which have been turned over in counting,
or _wickchemna_, spread out unbent. The same is true of the Hidatsa
_pitika_, which signifies a smoothing out, or straightening. The Pawnee 4,
_skitiks_, is unusual, signifying as it does "all the fingers," or more
properly, "the fingers of the hand." The same meaning attaches to this
numeral in a few other languages also, and reminds one of the habit some
people have of beginning to count on the forefinger and proceeding from
there to the little finger. Can this have been the habit of the tribes in
question? A suggestion of the same nature is made by the Illinois and Miami
words for 8, _parare_ and _polane_, which signify "nearly ended." Six is
almost always digital in origin, though the derivation may be indirect, as
in the Illinois _kakatchui_, passing beyond the middle; and the Dakota
_shakpe_, 1 in addition. Some of these significations are well matched by
numerals from the Ewe scales of western Africa, where we find the
following:[148]

1. de = a going, _i.e._ a beginning. (Cf. the Zuni _toepinte_, taken to
start with.)
3. eto = the father (from the middle, or longest finger).
6. ade = the other going.
9. asieke = parting with the hands.
10. ewo = done.

In studying the names for 2 we are at once led away from a strictly digital
origin for the terms by which this number is expressed. These names seem to
come from four different sources: (1) roots denoting separation or
distinction; (2) likeness, equality, or opposition; (3) addition, _i.e._
putting to, or putting with; (4) coupling, pairing, or matching. They are
often related to, and perhaps derived from, names of natural pairs, as
feet, hands, eyes, arms, or wings. In the Dakota and Algonkin dialects 2 is
almost always related to "arms" or "hands," and in the Athapaskan to
"feet." But the relationship is that of common origin, rather than of
derivation from these pair-names. In the Puri and Hottentot languages, 2
and "hand" are closely allied; while in Sanskrit, 2 may be expressed by any
one of the words _kara_, hand, _ba