u/KazakTurkArkadash

While comparing Proto-Dravidian and Proto-Turkic, I noticed four numbers that are suspiciously similar: 6, 7, 9, and 100. Today, Dravidian languages are concentrated in southern India, but many scholars believe that they were once spoken more widely across northern India. It seems that the Proto-Turkic speakers may have interacted with the Proto-Dravidians in the distant past.

Proto-Dravidian and Proto-Turkic:

6. PD *cāʈu - PT *altı

7. PD *eɻu - PT *yẹti

8. PD *toɭ, toɳ - PT *toquŕ

9. PD *nūʈ - PT *yǖŕ

The similarities appear even more striking when comparing modern Tamil and Turkic languages:

6. Tamil "āru" - Kyrgyz "altı"

7. Tamil "ēɻu" - Azerbaijani "yeddi"

8. Tamil "toɳʈu (obsolete) - Kyrgyz "toɣuz"

9. Tamil "nūru" - Volga Bulgar (Proto-Chuvash) "jür"

In many Uralic languages, the numerals 7, 10, 100, and 1000 have Indo-European origins, particularly Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic. However, I find it interesting that in the most divergent branch of the Uralic language family, the Samoyedic languages, two numerals have Turkic origins: 4 and 100. These numerals were likely borrowed from a Chuvash-like Turkic language rather than directly from Proto-Turkic. Tet/tettı/çett/çetı in Samoyedic clearly corresponds to tıvat in Chuvash (Proto-Chuvash töt), while dioll/diur/dir corresponds to jĭr in Chuvash (Proto-Chuvash cür).

(The transcription follows Turkish orthography.)