[maryz]

I have no idea what they called ‘em before they were used to count prayers

Likely "corns" -- The Old English corn meant "a little roundish thing," hence the reference in one OE poem ("The Seafarer" maybe?) to "corns of hail."

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread! ;-)

[Mad Dawg]

Bless you for that suggestion.

Corned beef anyone? (”corns” of salt). Maybe “corns of clay” or something. We gotta find a smart person who knows.