NODE / 0242reconstructedProto-Germanic
*tehun
ten
- DATE
- Proto-Germanic reconstruction, c. 500 BCE–200 CE
- SENSE
- cardinal number
- FAMILY
- Indo-European / Germanic
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:5:tehun:reconstructed:sense:cardinal-number
The asterisk marks the Germanic form as reconstructed rather than directly attested.
*This form is reconstructed by comparison. It is not directly attested in this exact written form.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
GO DEEPERinheritanceprobable
Proto-Indo-European · Proto-Indo-European prehistory · ten cardinal*dekm̥
ten
- SOUND
- Germanic *tehun continues Indo-European *deḱm̥ with the initial stop shift and branch-specific treatment of the following consonant cluster.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Both references connect the Germanic and wider Indo-European numeral family; notation varies between *deḱm̥ and *dekm̥.
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
DESCENDANTinheritanceprobable
Old English · Old English, before 1150 · cardinal numbertīen / tēn
ten
- SOUND
- Old English tīen and tēn continue Germanic *tehun through West Germanic consonant loss and vowel development.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Proto-Germanic to Old English.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — The Germanic and Old English forms are given, while this edge summarizes multiple regular developments rather than one spelling substitution.
03TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE
EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE
This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.
- UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
- 3
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 3
- DEEPEST PATH
- 3
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 1
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01inheritanceprobable
- SOUND
- Old English tīen and tēn continue Germanic *tehun through West Germanic consonant loss and vowel development.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
HISTORICAL STEP 021 EDGE
STEP 02inheritanceestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English ten continues Old English tīen and tēn with vowel shortening and spelling convergence.
- MEANING
- The cardinal meaning remains ten.
HISTORICAL STEP 031 EDGE
STEP 03historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Modern English ten continues the Middle English spelling with ordinary phonological stabilization.
- MEANING
- The cardinal value remains ten while later noun, rating, money, and idiomatic senses branch from it.
“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.
04RECORDED EVIDENCE
ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.That is expected for a reconstructed form: the node is inferred from comparison, not quoted from a surviving occurrence.
05EDITORIAL REUSE
WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE