_Serian_
A. kwáetūm, _kwáe-tūm_
B. huavat’hom, _kova-t`hom_
C. kuaotom, _kuao-tom_, kooχtom, _kooχ-tom_
D. kouton, _kou-ton_
_Yuman_
8. hairrap’k
6. harabk
22. herápe
18. hěrä´pi
10. hatábuk
11. hûtápa
2. satabé
IV. hwipey (Laymon)
II. muguacogüi
III. naganná tejueg ignimel=“one whole hand”
IV. naganna tejuep=“one hand”
I. nyakivampai
9. çarhápa
7. tharrapa
4. saráp
5. saráp
13. sarap
15. saráp
17. sarap
24. sarap
20. saaráp
16. sarrap
14. selkhakai
12. seráp
21. seräpa
19. sarápi
23. sol-chepam
3. s’rap
The several forms of the Serian numeral “five” appear to be derivatives
from a common original. There seems to be no doubt that it is a
compound expression, meaning “one full, complete (hand)”. The final
_-tūm_, _-t’hom_, _-tom_, and _-ton_ are evidently forms of _tó`χun_,
_tohom_, _tokχom_, meaning “one”, while the initial _kwáe-_, _huava-_,
(_kova-_ in “fifty”), _kooχ-_, and _kou-_ are apparently derived from
the term _kov’_, occurring in _ishshaχ´ kov’_, “full, complete moon”.
In the Yuman list, however, there are several different stems employed
to designate the digit “five”. The forms _sarap_, _seráp_, _harabk_,
and _hairrap’k_ are clearly variants of a single original. Its literal
signification, however, is not so evident, but from the data at hand
the inference is warranted that it signifies “entire, whole, complete”.
In the Mohave of Dr Corbusier _hi-sal koçar̃ápa_ signifies “the whole
hand”, and “fingers”, _koçar̃ápa_ being also written _kothar̃ápa_.
Now, _hi-sal_ means “his hand”, and _koçar̃ápa_ or _kothar̃ápa_ would
soon lose its initial _ko-_, from the wear to which it is subjected.
In _hatábuk_, _hûtápa_, and _satabé_ a new stem is to be recognized;
it signifies “to grasp”, or rather “grasps”, and is found in _aauwa
sataba_, “fire-tongs”, in which, _aauwa_ means “fire” and _sataba_
“to hold, take hold”. The reference here is to the clasped hand as
signifying the digit “five”, because in counting the fingers are bent
down upon the palm of the hand, the result being a closed or clasped
hand. Now, in _selkh-akai_ and _sol-chepam_, a form of the usual
_säl_, “hand”, occurs, and _-akai_ and _-chepam_ have presumptively
a signification semantically equivalent to _koçar̃apa_ and _sataba_
in the preceding Yuman examples, but the meagerness of the material
at hand prevents the setting forth of the data necessary to prove
this conjecture; yet it may be stated that if the term “hand” is a
constituent element of the name for the digit “five”, it is because of
the fact that the fingers and the thumb thereof are in number “five”,
so that “the entire hand, the whole hand, the complete hand”, may
become the name for the digit “five”. Hence, when the word hand is an
element of the name thereof, as it is in the present instance, it is
presumptively certain that some word like “entire, complete, whole,
clasped, bent down”, must form the other element of the compound.
The Cochimi (II) _muguacogüi_ is seemingly a combination of _mugua_
for the cognate _humuga_, “three”, and _cogüi_ for _goguó_, “two”.
And the Cochimi (I) _nyakivampai_ is a compound of _gi-nyak_, “hand”
[_mi-nyak_, foot], and some element denoting the completion of the
count of the digits of one hand, _-i-vampai_ or _vampai_. The Cochimi
(III) and (IV) are self-explanatory, _naganna_, signifying “hand”,
while Laymon (IV) is not explainable from the accessible data. These
analyses fail to show genetic relationship between the two lists, in so
far as the digit “five” is concerned.