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#fucking MATH can't believe yall brought me outta retirement for MATH
project-shereshoy · 1 year
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Numbers
What's 6 in Mando'a? What about 501st? How do you say "execute order 66"? In this blog post, we'll cover the Mando'a cardinal and ordinal number system, how to make any number from 0-9,999 and other words useful when discussing number and math. Sources are indicated with symbols (^ *) and listed at the bottom.
Numerals
Mando'a uses a base-5 numbering system supplemented with base-10 suffixes. This means 1-5 are unique words along with 0, 10, 100, and 1000. All other numbers are a combination of those words. As it stands, KT Mando’a allows us to count up to 9,999. Here are the counting numbers:
0 - naas^ (literally "nothing") 1 - solus (prefix: sol) 2 - t'ad (prefix: ad) 3 - ehn (prefix: ehn) 4 - cuir (prefix: cur) 5 - rayshe'a (prefix: she) 6 - resol (prefix: rol) 7 - e'tad (prefix: tad) 8 - she'ehn (prefix: shen) 9 - she'cu (prefix: shek)
For the tens place numerals (20, 30, 40, etc), add the “tens” suffix -’eta to the prefixes above above. 0 and 1 do not act as prefixes for counting purposes. 10 is a unique number (ta+raysh aka "two fives").
10 - ta'raysh 20 - ad'eta* 30 - ehn'eta* 40 - cur'eta* 50 - she'eta* 60 - rol'eta* 70 - tad'eta* 80 - shehn'eta* 90 - shek'eta*
For the hundreds place numerals, the principle is the same. Add the “hundreds” suffix -’olan to the original numbers. Like 10, 100 is a unique number.
100 - olan* 200 - ad'olan^ 300 - ehn'olan^ 400 - cur'olan^ 500 - raysh'olan* 600 - rol'olan^ 700 - tad'olan^ 800 - shen'olan^ 900 - shek'olan^
For the thousands place numerals, the pattern continues. The suffix for “thousands” is a conjunction between the suffixes for “ten” and “hundreds”, -’eta’olan. This makes it literally “tens of hundred”. 1000 is an exception to the rule and is instead “ten hundred”.
1000 - ta’raysh’olan* 2000 - ad’eta’olan^ 3000 - ehn’eta’olan^ 4000 - cur’eta’olan^ 5000 - she’eta’olan* 6000 - rol’eta’olan^ 7000 - tad’eta’olan^ 8000 - shen’eta’olan^ 9000 - shek’eta’olan^
More Numbers
To fill the gaps in the above list, simply write out each place with a space between. Eleven (11) is ta'raysh solus*. Two hundred-sixty-three (263) in English is ad’olan rol’eta ehn^ in Mando’a. "Execute order sixty-six" becomes "Ke narir haar’ke’gyce rol’eta resol".
Ordinals
To turn a numeral into an ordinal (1 to 1st or 10 to 10th), add the descriptor suffix -yc. Theoretically this should also work with the suffix -la, but -yc is the one explicitly acknowledged in the KT dictionary. The last (singles) place numeral receives the descriptor suffix. E.g. she’olan sol'yc (501st) or cur’etayc (40th)
Other Useful Words
Soletar, verb, "to count" Sosol ti, phrase, "equal to" Majycir, verb, "to add" Te'habir, verb "to remove or take out" aka subtract
There's no ready answer for "multiply" or "divide", though creative use of tatugir "to repeat" could work in some cases. Fractions might be verbally represented as solus be ta'raysh "1 of 10" or some other prepositional combo that can also represent division. "Mathematics" also doesn't have a dedicated word, but "to calculate" is mirdir.
"But do Mandalorian space-barbarians really need to know math--" Yes. Ballistics. Logistics. Counting pay. Math is everywhere, it is inescapable. Inevitable. Evil Essential.
Sources
Words without source symbols are from officially published works by Karen Traviss, namely the Republic Commando novels. Reference this index to see the book & page number.
Asterik* words are from the lexicon Karen Traviss published digitally, which is hosted as-is on Mandoa.org without alterations (or corrections).
Carat^ words are derivations from the canon words' established patterns. As such, if you want to go with a different interpretation, have fun! These are suggestions and I ain't a cop. We'll answer follow-up questions on how they're derived, but we're not interested in arguing merits of one interpretation over another.
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