Sheep scoring numbers

These numbers are thought to be remnants of Brythonic languages related to Welsh and Cornish. They were collected from many parts of the British Isles mainly during the 19th century and there are many versions of them. They were used in children's counting games, and to count sheep and cattle, knitting stitches, money and so on.

Like traditional Welsh numbers, the sheep scoring systems are vigesimal. Most versions only go up to 20, and for each 20 or score shepherds would put a pebble in their pocket, scratch a mark on a stick or stone, or use grooves, nobbles and nicks in their crooks to keep track of how many they'd counted.

These numbers were used in some places, particularly the Lake District, until the early 20th century, though by then only a few people remembered them.

Here is a selection of sheep scoring numbers from Cumbria and Yorkshire:

If any of the numbers are links, you can hear a recording by clicking on them. If you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Cumbria Millom Keswick Kirkby Lonsdale 1 aina yan yaan 2 peina tyan tyaan 3 para tethera taed'ere 4 pedera methera mead'ere 5 pump pimp mimp 6 ithy sethera haites 7 mithy lethera saites 8 owera hovera haoves 9 lavera dovera daoves 10 dig dick dik 11 aina-dig yanadick yaan'edik 12 peina-dig tanadick tyaan'edik 13 para-dig tetheradick tead'eredik 14 pedera-dig petheradick mead'eredik 15 bumfit bumfit boon / buom / buum 16 aina-bumfit yanabumfit yaan'eboon 17 peina-bumfit tanabumfit tyaan'eboon 18 para-bumfit tetherabumfit tead'ereboon 19 pedera-bumfit petherabumfit mead'ereboon 20 giggy jiggit buom'fit / buum'fit Yorkshire North Riding Swaledale Wensleydale 1 arn yahn yan 2 tarn tayhn tean 3 tethera tether tither 4 fethera mether mither 5 pubs mimph pip 6 aayther hither teaser 7 layather lither leaser 8 quoather anver catra 9 quaaather danver horna 10 dugs dic dick 11 arnadugs yahn-dic yan-dick 12 tarnadugs tayhndic tean-dick 13 tetheradugs tetherdic tither-dick 14 fetheradugs metherdic mither-dick 15 buon mimphit / mump bumper 16 arnabuon yahn-a-mimphit yan-a-bum 17 tarnabuon tayhn-a-mimphit tean-a-bum 18 tetherabuonf tether-a-mimphit tither-a-bum 19 fetherabuon mether-a-mimphit mither-a-bum 20 gun-a-gun jigit jiggit

Hear some of these numbers:

Here's a song I wrote featuring these numbers:

Information about Cumbric | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

More information about the sheep scoring numbers

http://www.lakelanddialectsociety.org/counting_sheep.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Tan_Tethera

http://www.fellpony.f9.co.uk/country/wool/count.htm

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba46/ba46int.html

http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/sheep.htm

Numbers in Celtic languages

Proto-Celtic, Proto-Brythonic, Old Irish, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, Gaulish, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh

Numbers in other languages

Alphabetical index | Language family index

Why not share this page:

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

report this ad

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com , Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.