This paper is an attempt to shed light on the cause of the occurrence of the numerals “tens and digits” in these biblical translations, [a]
the Rushworth Gospels, [b]
the Lindisfarne Gospels, [c]
the West-Saxon Gospels, [d]
the Old English Version of the Heptateuch, [e]
the Wycliffite Bible, [f]
the Story of Genesis and Exodus: an Early English Song about A. D.1250, [g]
Tyndale's Bible and [h]
the Authorized Version. The results of the examination of the texts may be summarized as follows.1) The numerals “tens
and digits” appear in the interlinear glosses [a] and [b] and even in the free translation [d], as the translation of the Latin numerals "tens et digits" (
e. g., quadraginta et sex, John ii.20)or “tens digits” (
e. g., nonaginta nouem, Luke xv.7). They are also used in [f], which is written “in the vulgar tongue and in easy language” for “laymen” according to the author of [f]. These facts suggest that the expressions “tens
and digits”, which appeared in the OE period, might continue to be used at least in biblical English until they were superseded by the expressions “tens-digits”, though it is generally accepted that the former first occurred in English at the end of the thirteenth century.2) The frequent occurrence of the numerals "tens
and digits" in [h]is caused by the influence of biblical Hebrew, where the most typical numerical expression is very similar to the expressions "tens
and digits".
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