Etruscan numerals
Etruscan numerals
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Etruscan numerals

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Etruscan numerals

Etruscan numerals are the words and phrases for numbers of the Etruscan language, and the numerical digits used to write them.

The Etruscan numerical system included the following digits with known values:

(With the proper Unicode font installed, the first two rows should look the same.)

Examples are known of larger numbers, but it is unknown which digit represents which numeral. Most numbers were written with "additive notation", namely by writing digits that added to the desired number, from higher to lower value. Thus the number '87', for example, would be written 50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 1 + 1 = "𐌣𐌒𐌒𐌒𐌑𐌠𐌠". (Since the Etruscan script was usually written from right to left, the number would appear as "𐌠𐌠𐌑𐌒𐌒𐌒𐌣" in inscriptions. This caveat holds for all the following examples.)

However, mirroring the way those numbers were spoken in their language, the Etruscans would often write 17, 18, and 19 as "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌒𐌒", "𐌠𐌠𐌒𐌒", and "𐌠𐌒𐌒" – that is, "three from twenty", "two from twenty", and "one from twenty", instead of "𐌒𐌑𐌠𐌠", "𐌒𐌑𐌠𐌠𐌠", and "𐌒𐌑𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠". (The Romans occasionally did the same for 18 and 19, matching the way they said those numbers: duodeviginti and undeviginti. This habit has been attributed to Etruscan influence in the Latin language.)

The same pattern was used for 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, etc. In contrast, the Etruscans generally wrote "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" for 4 (alone and in 14, 24, 34, etc.), "𐌒𐌒𐌒𐌒" for 40, and "𐌑𐌠𐌠", "𐌑𐌠𐌠𐌠", "𐌑𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" for 7, 8, and 9 alone. (In that they were unlike the Romans, who would write 4 as "IV", 9 as "IX", 40 as "XL".)

These digits were used throughout the Etruscan zone of influence, from the plains of northern Italy to the region of modern Naples, south of Rome. However, it should be kept in mind that there is in fact very little surviving evidence of these numerals.

The Etruscan digits for 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 ("𐌠", "𐌑", "𐌒", "𐌣", and "𐌟") have been assigned specific codes in the Unicode computer character set, as part of the Old Italic block.

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