Definition:Number/Linguistic Note

Linguistic Note on Number
The word number comes from an Indo-European word meaning share or portion.

It appears to have been originally associated with the division of land.

Hence we have the derived terms:


 * nimble: descriptive of one who is quick to take his share


 * nemesis: your share of fate


 * numb: originally meaning seized or taken


 * nomad: a person who wanders in search of some pasture he can take a share of


 * Supernumerary, which means redundant, but originally had the sense of meaning over and above the numbers stated by the rules

The root nom can be found in the following examples of technical terms:


 * Binomial: a mathematical object with two numbers


 * Astronomy: the science of numbering the stars


 * Economy and economics


 * Autonomy

The German word nehmen means to take, which has the imperative form nimm.

This word is found slightly modified in archaic English as nim, which by the time of had evolved to mean to steal or to pilfer.

The word nim still lives on as the name of a game whose mechanics consist of taking objects from a heap.

In Latin and Greek, the word nomisma meant coin.

The word lives on in the English word numismatist, a collector of coins.

We also have nummulite, which is a coin-shaped fossil.