Lemizh / English dictionary

Ràbv.

to make some, a fairly small number/amount (relative weight 3⁄8; see unit 7, Weighting numerals – usually with partitive bracket; see unit 8, Cardinal numerals)

Etymology

< NLem yRbw‑a ‘a medium amount’
< LMLem, MLem yRbw‑yr
< Ghe xpˡ‑ə̄ /ʁbʷɯː/

The Ghean weighting numerals were (sorted from ‘few, little’ to ‘all, the whole’)
xpʳ‑ə̄ pʳ‑ə̄ xpˡ‑ə̄ pˡ‑ə̄ xp‑ə̄ p‑ə̄
/ʀ̥ʙɯː ʙɯː ʁbʷɯː bʷɯː χpɯː pɯː/

Only xpˡə̄, pˡə̄ (> bvà.) and xpə̄ (> xpàj.) have survived until today. The first two were fairly recently diminished in meaning, when the six-degree system was extended to an eight-degree one by inserting two new words between bvà. and xpàj., namely dmàj. and dmà..

xpʳə̄ was replaced with a native word originally meaning ‘negligible’ (modern càwb.) in Late Middle Lemizh. pʳə̄ and pə̄ never made their way into Lemizh; already Middle Lemizh had dropped them in favour of native words (modern crà. and jnà., respectively).