r word
there may be some metaphor, which cannot always be distinctly traced; and
where the metaphor was born of the hand or of the foot, we inevitably
associate it with the practice of finger counting. But races as fond of
metaphor and of linguistic embellishment as are those of the East, or as
are our American Indians even, might readily resort to some other source
than that furnished by the members of the human body, when in want of a
term with which to describe the 5, 10, or any other number of the numeral
scale they were unconsciously forming. That the first numbers of a numeral
scale are usually derived from other sources, we have some reason to
believe; but that all above 2, 3, or at most 4, are almost universally of
digital origin we must admit. Exception should properly be made of higher
units, say 1000 or anything greater, which could not be expected to conform
to any law of derivation governing the first few units of a system.

Collecting together and comparing with one another the great mass of terms
by which we find any number expressed in different languages, and, while
admitting the great diversity of method practised by different tribes, we
observe certain resemblances which were not at first supposed to exist. The
various meanings of 1, where they can be traced at all, cluster into a
little group of significations with which at last we come to associate the
idea of unity. Similarly of 2, or 5, or 10, or any one of the little band
which does picket duty for the advance guard of the great host of number
words which are to follow. A careful examination of the first decade
warrants the assertion that the probable meaning of any one of the units
will be found in the list given below. The words selected are intended
merely to serve as indications of the thought underlying the savage's
choice, and not necessarily as the exact term by means of which he
describes his number. Only the commonest meanings are included in the
tabulation here given.

1 = existence, piece, group, beginning.
2 = repetition, division, natural pair.
3 = collection, many, two-one.
4 = two twos.
5 = hand, group, division,
6 = five-one, two threes, second one.
7 = five-two, second two, three from ten.
8 = five-three, second three, two fours, two from ten.
9 = five-four, three threes, one from ten.
10 = one (group), two fives (hands), half a man, one man.
15 = ten-five, one foot, three