Counting Sheep
Ain, Tain, Tethera, Methera, Mimp,
Ayta, Slayta, Laura, Dora, Dik,
Ain-a-dik, Tain-a-dik, Tethera-dik, Methera-dik, Mit,
Ain-a-mit, Tain-a-mit, Tethera-mit, Gethera-mit, Ghet.
(1 -20 in Wiltshire Sheep Counting System)
Over recent years a range of evidence - archaeological, genetic and linguistic - has been use by historians to throw doubt on the traditional view that the native Britons or Welsh were largely driven out of England. A less well-known strand of evidence that supports the theory of continuing `Welsh' presence throughout Britain - that of rural dialects.
I am sorry to say I have never heard a shepherd use this but it was apparently still used in my Father's lifetime. The final survival of these counting systems has usually been as children's rhymes rather than as working tools.
- a universal example is the rhyme that I learnt as a child
"Eeny, meeny, miney, moe; Catch a nigger tiger by his toe".