since A. von Humboldt first pointed out the resemblance between the Sanskrit pañk′an and the Persian penjeh, ‘the outspread hand,’ some connection between the two has always been admitted. . . . So also dvakan seems to be for dvakankan, meaning ‘twice five’ or ‘two hands’; dakan points to δεξνός, dexter, δέχομαμ, etc., or else to δάκτνλος, digitus, zehe, toe. Thus, whatever original forms we assume for these two numerals their roots appear again in some name or other for the hand or fingers. It is intrinsically probable, therefore, that pankan means ‘hand,’ and that dakan means ‘two hands’ or ‘right hand.’ It may be suggested here that the intervening numerals are the names of the little, third, middle, and fore fingers of the right hand. Thus, the little finger was called by the Greeks ώτίτης, by the Latins auricularis. This name is apparently explained by the Germans, who call this finger the ‘ear-cleaner.’ Now, ksvaks or ksvaksva seems to be a reduplicated form, containing the same root as ξέω, ξαίνω, ξνρέω, etc., and meaning ‘scraper.’ The name saptan seems to mean ‘follower’ (έπ–ομαμ, etc.), and the third finger might very well be so called because it follows and moves with the second, in the manner familiar to all musicians. The name aktan seems to contain the common root AK, and to mean, therefore, ‘projecting,’ a good enough name for the middle finger. Lastly, the first finger is known as άσπαστικός, index, salutatorius, demonstratorius (= ‘beck–oner,’ ‘pointer’), and the meaning probably underlies navan, which will then be connected with the root of novus, νεύω, new, etc., or that of νεύω, nuo, nod, etc., or both. Whatever be thought of these suggested etymologies, it must be admitted that there is no evidence whatever that our forefathers counted the fingers of the right hand in the order here assumed. They may have adopted the reverse order, from thumb to little finger, as many savages do,[1] and as, in fact, the Greeks and Romans did with that later and more complicated system of finger-counting which we find in use in the first century of our era. If this reverse order be assumed, the numerals may still be explained in accordance with other finger-names in common use, besides those which have been cited. But, after all, the main support of these etymologies is their great a priori probability. The theory on which they are based brings the history of Aryan counting into accord with the history of counting everywhere else; and it explains the Aryan numerals in a way which is certainly correct for nearly all other languages. It is hardly to be expected that such a theory should be strictly provable at all points."
- ↑ The order of counting from the little finger to the thumb is, however, the more usual method with savages. See a paper by Lieutenant F. H. Cushing, entitled Manual Concepts, in the American Anthropologist for October, 1892 (vol. v).
