[The Number Concept by Levi Leonard Conant]@TWC D-Link book
The Number Concept

CHAPTER IV
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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, _bahu_, arm, _paksha_, wing, or _netra,_ eye.[149] Still more remote from anything digital in their derivation are the following, taken at random from a very great number of examples that might be cited to illustrate this point.


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