Questions tagged [numbers]
Questions relating to the use of numbers or numerals in Latin or Greek, both as words (unus, duo) and Roman numerals (I, II).
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Why don't "number" and "count" have the same root?
I noticed that in Turkish "number" (sayı) and "counting" (saymak) come from the same root (say-). In English and other European languages number comes from Latin "numerus"...
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How would you say "I have been to Croatia numerous times." in Latin?
"I've been to Croatia once." would, if I am not mistaken, be "Fui in Croatia semel.". "I've been to Croatia two times." would be "Fui in Croatia bis.". "...
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What other numeral systems were used in Classical Rome?
In a recent question, I asked what the symbol was used for a thousand in Classical Latin, because I had heard somewhere that it was not 'M' which is what we are currently taught is the symbol (Short ...
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What was the symbol used for 'one thousand' in Ancient Rome?
I saw an episode of QI (Quite Interesting, a British 'quiz' show that just sort of presents trivia). I don't know the episode or when it was produced (I've searched for it on youtube but haven't found ...
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Why are 18 and 19 expressed differently from 11 - 17?
Why are 18 and 19 expressed as something less than 20, while 11 - 17 are expressed as something more than 10? Why are only 18 and 19 chosen to be expressed that way?
Are 8 and 9 expressed as ...
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What is the word for number "0"?
Unus, -a, -um means number "1". What is the word for number "0"?
https://www.translate.com/english-latin says it is nulla. Is it correct?
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What is going on with the symbol in the weight here?
So this is an image from William Musgrave's account of the Southbroom Hoard discovered outside Devizes, Wiltshire, in England in 1714. They seem to be some local's cache hidden away around the reign ...
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How to write 13 in Roman Numerals (Unicode)?
I know the answer seems trivial but believe me, it is not! In Unicode There are different characters for Roman numerals. For example, one is not i but ⅰ which is a different character; or a better ...
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Is there an adjective for "of eight years, eight years old"?
I was looking for "of eight years", and I saw "octoni, ae, a."
Then I saw:
Septuennis "of seven years, seven years old. (Puer Septuennis, a seven years old boy)
Quinquennis: &...
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Is there a zeroth Greek number noun below trias, dyas, monas?
I gave a list number-based nouns borrowed from Greek as an answer to a question on using numbers as nouns:
monas, dyas, trias, tetras, pentas, hexas, heptas, octas, enneas, decas…
One can conceivably ...
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How do you use a numeral as a genitive substantive?
In English, you can use a bare numeral as a substantive and refer to a group as something like "The Nine." You can then say something like, "The House of the Nine."
How would you ...
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What numbers (e.g. 0, -1, or 1.0) are plurals in Latin?
The basic question is: With which numbers should I use a plural form of the noun?
Background: English
In English it seems to me that the only singular number is 1 (and maybe -1), but everything else ...
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Is there a Latin word for 225th anniversary?
If bicentennial is the Latin word for the 200th anniversary, what word would one use for the 225th anniversary?
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Conciseness of Roman Numerals
I noticed earlier that a roman numeral (8) is written as VIII. It appears that it is more concise (less characters) to write it as IIX (meaning 2 before 10 instead of 3 after 5). Could someone give me ...
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Why does the tradition talk about four types of Latin numbers when there are more
In reviewing this question, a brief discussion arose in the comments about how many types of numbers Latin has. The suggestion was that the tradition states that there are four, and other types of ...
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Is neuter verb agreement of mīlia when paired with animate genitives a confirmed usage?
Having just reviewed this question, I find that I am surprised by the verb agreement in this sentence:
Nam d[ecum] mīlia Americānōrum cōnāta sunt ad centiēs centēna mīlia dollāriōrum raedāriīs mittere ...
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Help with (big) numbers including 'decena'
I wonder if you could help me with the text below. I get the gist of the message, but am struggling with decena.
Nam decēna mīlia Americānōrum cōnāta sunt ad centiēs centēna mīlia dollāriōrum ...
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How big is "duas partes decimarum"?
This record is from The Cartulary of Newnham Priory, transcribing a record from 1166. Simon [II] de Beauchamp granted whole churches and fractions of other tithes to Newnham priory. Here is how it was ...
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A question about etymology of the Etruscan word for number eight
An often cited etymology is that the Etruscan word 𐌂𐌄𐌆𐌐 (kezp, eight) is a compound word from 𐌂𐌉 (ki, three) and 𐌆𐌄𐌐 (zep, hand), that it meant literally "three plus the number of ...
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Names for digits or numbers
How would you say "I write zeroes and ones" or "I need a fiver" or "the number seven" in Latin?
There are a couple of cases where in some languages one uses instead of a ...
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Number of adjectives in polite plural address
This question concerns using the plural vos instead of the singular tu for polite address of a single person in Latin.
This is not a classical feature but arises later.
When using this address, are ...
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Is unius an irregular genitive?
I notice that the genitive of unus can apparently be either the regular uni, or can also be unius.
Is this form, unius, just a completely irregular oddity, or is there some logical precedent for it? ...
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What does the "Roman" numeral Ɔ represent?
It's conceivable that the numeral Ɔ and letters it combines with are a mediaeval conceit rather than truly Roman — hopefully this is still on topic. I'm trying to decipher the publication date of a ...
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Correct pronunciation of full Latin dates
What is the correct Latin pronunciation of modern full dates, where the word 'anno' is omitted e.g. 'die 24 Augusti 1954 nata'? In which case stands the numeral of the year?
Is the word 'anno' ...
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Does Latin have any words for specific numbers apart from the numbers themselves (akin to the English "dozen", for example)
In English, many numbers have specific words that denote them, distinct from the number itself. For example "dozen" means group of 12; "gross" means 144; and "score" ...
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1 to at least 200 Latin list cardinal numbers
Aiming to answer this Stack Exchange puzzle, I am looking for a list of the n first numbers with n being a positive integer greater than 200. I already have a list of the first 100 numbers by ...
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Does it make sense to display a decimal number such as 12.34 as Roman numerals? If not, how else?
I'm auto-converting any "Arabic" number in a text to Roman numerals.
This means that:
123
Becomes:
CXXIII
But what to do when I encounter decimals such as:
12.34
? Should I really do:
XII....
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Did "quartilis" exist?
In statistics, a point that separates out (a multiple of) 25% of the data set is called a "quartile". Similarly, if it separates out 20% of the data, it's a "quintile", 1% a "percentile", and in ...
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Why is largest number in Roman Numerals not represented as "MMMIM"?
according to wikipedia, the largest number Roman Numeral system can represent is represented like following: (answer below has much bigger number represented)
MMMCMXCIX
why can't it be represented ...
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Two by four meters in size
If I want to describe the dimensions of my office, I might say that it is about two by four meters.
How do I phrase this size, "two by four meters", in Latin?
I don't just want to say that the area ...
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How were fractions written and pronounced?
In English, when we want to express parts of wholes and certain numbers of said parts, we use fractions consisting of a denominator indicating how many equal pieces an item has been broken or divided ...
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Why aren't cardinal numbers over three inflected?
I've been looking through some etymologies and it seems to me that cardinals past trēs aren't inflected. Is this correct, and if so, what's the logic in forming words with indeclinable numbers? Take, ...
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An error message in Latin for my programming language
I am writing a piece of software that translates programs into programs (a "compiler", in informatics lingo) and my source language allows the programmer to specify Latin numerals.
In case the ...
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Why was ante tribus translated as "fifteen years ago"?
In an answer I posted here, I provided someone else's translation which translated ante tribus as "fifteen years ago". The translation provided in the question also translated tribus the same way:
...
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Understanding "decimam decimae"
I'm struggling to see the logic behind the expression "decimam decimae". In the Vulgata, we read (Numbers 29: 11-13):
In calendis autem offeretis holocaustum Domino, vitulos de armento duos, ...
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Ordinal adjectives for single things modifying plural noun?
To refer to "the first and second chapters", do I say:
capitula prima et secunda
or:
capitula primum et secundum?
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What would a Roman license plate number look like? [closed]
My state recently changed the formatting of our license plate numbers (from 123-ABC to ABC-1234) in an effort to increase the number of available plate numbers. This got me thinking as to what a Roman ...
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Quinquies and quinquiens
Consider the word quinquies/quinquiens ("five times").
It has two alternative spellings.
Having the options -ies and -iens seems to be common for numerals of this kind.
What is the origin of these ...
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Comparing decem and -decim
The Latin cardinal numbers starting at ten are decem, undecim, duodecim…
Does the -decim (roughly "-teen") come from decem or from the same root?
(I faintly recall decem and δέκα coming from ...
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What is a digit?
Is there a good Latin word for a digit or figure?
I might want to say that the sum of the digits of 43 is 7 or that an actor was paid a six-figure salary for a movie.
It occurred to me that I don't ...
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Singulae aut unae scopae?
Tuomo Pekkanen's grammar (§92.1) explains how to express the number of something that is expressed by a plural-only word.
Numbers greater than one are expressed with bini, trini etc. but a single one ...
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The middle A of quadraginta
Consider these Latin cardinal numbers:
quadrAginta,
quinquAginta,
sexAginta,
nonAginta.
The -ginta seems to stand for tens (cf. triginta, octoginta) and the initial parts quadr-, quinqu-, sex-, and ...
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What is the correct Latin prefix for 'two-and-a-half-times'?
Question.
What is the latin prefix for "2½ times" ?
Remark.
The question asks for the correct analogue of the prefix "sesqui-" which, of course, is the prefix for "1½ times".
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Expressing a number of years with a single word
An answer to an earlier question about age of wine introduced me to adjectives for specific ages in years.
Similarly, there are nouns for periods of time in years.
For example:
bimus & biennium
...
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Do Roman numerals stand for something?
This may be an incredibly obvious question, but if so it's not immediately clear to me and probably deserves a question here.
Two Roman numerals seem to have an obvious parallel to an existing word:
...
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Can Roman numerals stand for any kind of Latin numbers?
Latin has four classes of number words.
Can Roman numerals (I, II, …) be used to for any class, or should they be restricted to, say, cardinals and ordinals?
For example, can I abbreviate any ...
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How do I specify how many "litterae" or "castra" there are?
Certain words in Latin have a special meaning in the plural, which is often translated with the English singular. One obvious example of this is litterae, -arum, which means, "a letter."
...
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What are the decimal and grouping marks in modern Latin?
To write non-integer numbers in the decimal system (without fractions), one needs a decimal mark.
In English one uses the decimal point, but in many other languages one uses a comma instead.
Wikipedia ...
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Adverb for approximate numbers
In classical Latin, what is the best adverb for describing approximate numbers?
If several work well, are there any differences?
I mean saying things like "I have about ten euros".
I would translate ...
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A counting poem or song
There are some traditional songs that are very repetitive and involve counting up or down.
The only English example I know is "99 bottles of beer", and I know two in Finnish: "the elephant march" (...
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