270 CHAPTER 5. COUNTERS AND COUNTING
Multiplication
A final simple operation is multiplication, which uses the noun
. This is
actually a rather interesting word, because on its own it means ”two fold”,
such as in for instance:
”(Our) problems doubled.”Interestingly, this noun can also be used in combination with other
numbers (except of course the number 1) to indicate any random multipli-
cation:
”7 times 5 is 35.”Here, the literal statement is ”the five-fold of seven is 35”.
This is basic multiplication, but there’s also another word that’s
used for the x-fold for one through ten involving the counter , which
is pronounced in various different ways this role:
xYou may have noticed that this is perhaps the most bizarre counter
series the language has; the counter has three different possible readings,
has a mix of possible native Japanese and Chinese readings for the num-
bers, and the native reading used for 10 is very rare one, not to mention
the question word uses instead of.
Needless to say this counter series is ”special”. In fact, it’s so special
that it’s a mainly literary counter for ”-fold”, where it depends on the con-
text which reading is used. In eloquent language, is more likely, and in
technical literature, will be used more.