The number 605 in Khmer numerals, from the Sambor inscriptions in 683 AD. The earliest known material use of zero as a decimal figure.^[1]

Written Khmer numerals date back to at least the oldest known epigraphical inscription of the Khmer numerals in 604 AD, found on a stele in Prasat Bayang, Cambodia, located not far from Angkor Borei.^[2][3]

Numerals

The Khmer numerals depicted in four different typographical variants.

Having been derived from the Hindu numerals, modern Khmer numerals also represent a decimal positional notation system. It is the script with the first extant material evidence of zero as a numerical figure, dating its use back to the seventh century, two centuries before its certain use in India.^[2][4] However, Old Khmer, or Angkorian Khmer, also possessed separate symbols for the numbers 10, 20, and 100. Each multiple of 20 or 100 would require an additional stroke over the character, so the number 47 was constructed using the 20 symbol with an additional upper stroke, followed by the symbol for number 7.^[5] This inconsistency with its decimal system suggests that spoken Angkorian Khmer used a vigesimal system.

As both Thai and Lao script are derived from Old Khmer,^[6] their modern forms still bear many resemblances to the latter, demonstrated in the table below:

Modern Khmer numbers

The spoken names of modern Khmer numbers represent a biquinary system, with both base 5 and base 10 in use. For example, 6 (ប្រាំមួយ) is formed from 5 (ប្រាំ) plus 1 (មួយ).

Numbers from 0–5

For the most part, the etymology of the Khmer numbers from 1 to 5 are derived directly from proto-Mon–Khmer.

• Some authors may alternatively mark as the pronunciation for the word two, and either or for the word three.

• In neighbouring Thailand the number three is thought to bring good luck.^[8] However, in Cambodia, taking a picture with three people in it is considered bad luck, as it is believed that the person situated in the middle will die an early death.^[9][10]

• Note: As the UNGEGN romanization system is based on the 1972 BGN/PCGN system with little to no difference in spelling, the former will be used alongside the ALA-LC romanization system throughout this article.

Numbers from 6–20

As mentioned above, the numbers from 6 to 9 may be constructed by adding any number between 1 to 4 to the base number 5 (ប្រាំ), so that 7 is literally constructed as 5 plus 2. Beyond that, Khmer uses a decimal base, so that 14 is constructed as 10 plus 4, rather than 2 times 5 plus 4; and 16 is constructed as 10+5+1.

Colloquially, compound numbers from eleven to nineteen may be formed using the word ដណ្ដប់ preceded by any number from one to nine, so that 15 is constructed as ប្រាំដណ្ដប់ , instead of the standard ដប់ប្រាំ .^[11]

• In constructions from 6-9 that use 5 as a base, may alternatively be pronounced ; giving , , , and . This is especially true in dialects which elide , but not necessarily restricted to them, as the pattern also follows Khmer's minor syllable pattern.

Numbers from 30–90

The numbers from thirty to ninety in Khmer bear many resemblances to both the modern Thai and Cantonese numbers. It is likely that Khmer has borrowed them from the Thai language, as the numbers are both non-productive in Khmer (i.e. their use is restricted and cannot be used outside 30 to 90) and bear a near one-to-one phonological correspondence as can be observed in the language comparisons table below.

Informally, a speaker may choose to omit the final and the number is still understood. For example, it is possible to say (ប៉ែតមួយ) instead of the full (ប៉ែតសិបមួយ).

Language Comparisons:

• Words in parenthesis indicate literary pronunciations, while words preceded with an asterisk mark are non-productive (i.e. only occur in specific constructions, but cannot be decomposed to form basic numbers).

Numbers from 100–10,000,000

The standard Khmer numbers starting from one hundred are as follows:

Although មួយកោដិ is most commonly used to mean ten million, in some areas this is also colloquially used to refer to one billion (which is more properly មួយរយកោដិ). In order to avoid confusion, sometimes មួយដប់លាន is used to mean ten million, along with មួយរយលាន for one hundred million, and មួយពាន់លាន ("one thousand million") to mean one billion.^[14]

Different Cambodian dialects may also employ different base number constructions to form greater numbers above one thousand. A few of the such can be observed in the following table:

Counting fruits

Reminiscent of the standard 20-base Angkorian Khmer numbers, the modern Khmer language also possesses separate words used to count fruits, not unlike how English uses words such as a "dozen" for counting items such as eggs.^[16]

Sanskrit and Pali influence

As a result of prolonged literary influence from both the Sanskrit and Pali languages, Khmer may occasionally use borrowed words for counting. Generally speaking, asides a few exceptions such as the numbers for 0 and 100 for which the Khmer language has no equivalent, they are more often restricted to literary, religious, and historical texts than they are used in day to day conversations. One reason for the decline of these numbers is that a Khmer nationalism movement, which emerged in the 1960s, attempted to remove all words of Sanskrit and Pali origin. The Khmer Rouge also attempted to cleanse the language by removing all words which were considered politically incorrect.^[17]

Ordinal numbers

Like Thai (ที่ thi) and Vietnamese (thứ from Chinese 第), Khmer ordinal numbers are also formed by placing ទី in front of a cardinal number.^[18]

Angkorian numbers

It is generally assumed that the Angkorian and pre-Angkorian numbers also represented a dual base (quinquavigesimal) system, with both base 5 and base 20 in use. Unlike modern Khmer, the decimal system was highly limited, with both the numbers for ten and one hundred being borrowed from the Chinese and Sanskrit languages respectively. Angkorian Khmer also used Sanskrit numbers for recording dates, sometimes mixing them with Khmer originals, a practice which has persisted until the last century.^[19]

The numbers for twenty, forty, and four hundred may be followed by multiplying numbers, with additional digits added on at the end, so that 27 is constructed as twenty-one-seven, or 20×1+7.

Proto-Khmer numbers

Proto-Khmer is the hypothetical ancestor of the modern Khmer language bearing various reflexes of the proposed proto-Mon–Khmer language. By comparing both modern Khmer and Angkorian Khmer numbers to those of other Eastern Mon–Khmer (or Khmero-Vietic) languages such as Pearic, Proto-Viet–Muong, Katuic, and Bahnaric; it is possible to establish the following reconstructions for Proto-Khmer.^[20]

Numbers from 5–10

Contrary to later forms of the Khmer numbers, Proto-Khmer possessed a single decimal number system. The numbers from one to five correspond to both the modern Khmer language and the proposed Mon–Khmer language, while the numbers from six to nine do not possess any modern remnants, with the number ten *kraaj (or *kraay) corresponding to the modern number for one hundred. It is likely that the initial *k, found in the numbers from six to ten, is a prefix.^[20]

References

General

1. David Smyth (1995). Colloquial Cambodian: A Complete Language Course. Routledge (UK). ISBN 0-415-10006-2 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
2. Huffman, Franklin E.; Charan Promchan and Chhom-Rak Thong Lambert (2008). "Huffman, Modern Spoken Cambodian". Retrieved 2008-03-25.
3. Unknown (2005). Khmer Phrase Book: Everyday Phrases Mini-Dictionary.
4. Smyth, David; Tran Kien (1998). Practical Cambodian Dictionary (2 ed.). Tuttle Language Library/Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 0-8048-1954-8 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
5. Southeast Asia. Lonely Planet. 2006. ISBN 1-74104-632-7 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK].
6. "The original names for the Khmer tens: 30-90". 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
7. "SEAlang Library Khmer Lexicography". Retrieved 2008-12-07.
8. "Veda:Sanskrit Numbers". Retrieved 2008-12-10.

Specific