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 Post subject: very large Irish numbers
PostPosted: Wed 30 Oct 2024 2:58 pm 
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106 "Million" was originaly deich gcéad míle or míle míle, but milliún has become normalised.
109 billion: billliún
1012 quadrillion: cuaidrilliún
1015 quintillion: cuintilliún
1018 sextillion: seisilliún
1021 septillion: seachtuilliún
1024 octillion: ochtuilliún
1027 nonillion: naonuilliún
1030 decillion: deichilliún

You may need these if you are ever doing a particularly large shop in an Irish grocery store. I blame the high prices charged in a shop called Centra. They will happily relieve you of a few deichilliúin for a can of Cóca-Chóla.

The higher numbers are difficult to work out. Undecillion, 1033 - how can you use aondéag to form this? Éinnilliúndéag? Seems like nonsense? Or just míle deichilliún?


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PostPosted: Wed 30 Oct 2024 4:12 pm 
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djwebb2021 wrote:
106 "Million" was originaly deich gcéad míle or míle míle, but milliún has become normalised.
109 billion: billliún
1012 quadrillion: cuaidrilliún
1015 quintillion: cuintilliún
1018 sextillion: seisilliún
1021 septillion: seachtuilliún
1024 octillion: ochtuilliún
1027 nonillion: naonuilliún
1030 decillion: deichilliún


When you say milliún has become normalised, do you mean in the education system, or among native speakers?

This seems like the kind of thing that is likely heavily influenced by English being the daily language, even among native speakers. For example, traditionally, billliún used refer to 1012. The American billion, 109, used be known as a milliard in British English, and was expressed in Irish by míle milliún. The British more or less transferred from the "old" billion to the American billion for official purposes since the 1970s, as this allowed for standardising of calculations on shared projects. This never happened in any official capacity for Irish that I'm aware of, and I think speakers of most other western European languages just keep their own counting systems in place as the standardisation was really only necessary in English. So, if native Irish speakers are using billliún to translate "billion" (and so on for higher powers), this would suggest that they're tying the term to the word "billion" in British English rather than to the number in question.

djwebb2021 wrote:
You may need these if you are ever doing a particularly large shop in an Irish grocery store. I blame the high prices charged in a shop called Centra. They will happily relieve you of a few deichilliúin for a can of Cóca-Chóla.


Sure, at least you can get 15c back for the can if you return it. :LOL:


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PostPosted: Wed 30 Oct 2024 5:22 pm 
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Joined: Thu 27 May 2021 3:22 am
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Yes, I mean that milliún is used by native speakers too - Peadar Ua Laoghaire used it. As for billiún and the long count, I suspect it means the same as billion in US English in all usage in Ireland today. The fact that Ireland once used billion to mean a million million was entirely down to British influence, and so the fact that it means a thousand million today is British/American influence. I wish England would go back to its former counting system, but it's not going to happen.

If you spend 1 decillion euros and get 15c back, then it has set you back 999 nonillion 999 octillion 999 septillion 999 sexillion 999 quintillion 999 quadrillion 999 trillion 999 billion 999 million 999 thousand and 999 euros and 85 cents.


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PostPosted: Wed 30 Oct 2024 8:47 pm 
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Joined: Thu 22 Dec 2011 6:28 am
Posts: 459
Location: Corcaigh
djwebb2021 wrote:
Yes, I mean that milliún is used by native speakers too - Peadar Ua Laoghaire used it. As for billiún and the long count, I suspect it means the same as billion in US English in all usage in Ireland today. The fact that Ireland once used billion to mean a million million was entirely down to British influence, and so the fact that it means a thousand million today is British/American influence. I wish England would go back to its former counting system, but it's not going to happen.


I'm inclined to agree. I wish English in general would. As terms go, "milliard" is a sore loss. There's something to be said as well for counting in base-twelve, I think.

djwebb2021 wrote:
If you spend 1 decillion euros and get 15c back, then it has set you back 999 nonillion 999 octillion 999 septillion 999 sexillion 999 quintillion 999 quadrillion 999 trillion 999 billion 999 million 999 thousand and 999 euros and 85 cents.


I'd take anything I can get in this economy. :LOL:


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