Commenting on the measures in Alma 11, Brant Gardner noted that:
Each of
these measures is defined by a specific term, not by a count of the measure.
Although a limnah of gold is the equivalent of seven senines, the term is
limnah, rather than “7 senines.” (Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness:
Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. [Salt
Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007], 4:183 n. 7)
Gardner then notes that there is a parallel with
Mesoamerican practice. He quotes Wichmann, whose work is available online:
The simplex
numerals [with a unique name rather than a name created by the combination of
two numbers, i.e., fourteen from four-ten[ are “1,” “2,” “3,” “4,” “5,” “10,” “15,”
“20.” In addition, there is *mon?e “400,” which is a standard measure as
well as a numeral. The Nahuatl-derived [language of the Aztecs] equivalent term
is “un zontle.” This term is still used by present-day Indians as a measure of
400 ears of corn (my observations among Zoqaues of Oxolotán, Tabasco), *mon?e
does combine with other numeral roots in [Chiapas Zoquean]. Some [Mixe-Zoque]
languages, however, prefer expressing “400” by “4 x 100.” It is assumed that *mon?e
was more of a standard measure and “4 x 100” the true numeral. (Søren Wichmann,
The
Relationship among the Mixe-Zoquean Languages of Mexico [Salt Lake
City: University of Utah Press, 1995], 111)
