Have you ever thought, who decided blue is blue, and two is too? Wait, what? Today we will dive into the number One. Who decided we shall call it one. Why is it pronounced the same as WON? Here we go!
The number one is believed to have originated from the Middle East around 4000 BC. The Babylonians, who used a base 60 numbering system, had a symbol for one and the ancient Egyptians used a vertical stroke to represent the number one. The modern shape of the number one, which is a vertical line, is believed to have been influenced by the Phoenician letter "aleph" which also represented the number one.
The word "one" comes from the Old English word "an" which means "one" or "single". The pronunciation of "one" and "won" sounding the same is likely due to the Great Vowel Shift, a historical linguistic phenomenon that occurred in the English language during the 15th and 16th centuries.
As for who decided to call it "one", it's difficult to pinpoint a specific person or group. The concept of counting and numbers is thought to have developed gradually over time, with different cultures and languages developing their own words and symbols for numbers.