A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c7.89

v1.c7.89

In "seventy-seven" we ought to have सतात्तर, and probably such a form did once exist, but was crushed into sat by the weight of the double tt of hattar so close after it. Only Marathi retains a form satyáhattar. Similarly the form for "seventeen" was originally sattárah, and is so still in Panjabi; perhaps some obscure idea of its similarity in sound to sattar, "seventy," may have operated in the minds of the people to shorten it.