First, let us make it clear that we are not talking about number symbols in Greek and Latin\u2014for example, the \u201cRoman numerals\u201d I, V, X, L, C, D, and M\u2014interesting though that topic may be. What this chapter will consider are the actual words developed in the Greek and Latin language to identify and describe numbers. There is some advantage in viewing both languages in the same chapter. All Indo-European number words tend to have a cognate relationship, and that in itself may be revealing. Also, by looking at Greek and Latin side by side we may be able to clarify points of confusion in English, so as to determine which of our number words are descended from one or the other of these classical languages.<\/p>\r\n
As you learned in Part I, Table 2.2<\/a>, the Latin noun for \u201cnumber\u201d is numerus<\/b>\u2014and that is the source of our English word number<\/i>. The regular Latin ADJECTIVE, therefore, is numeralis <\/b>(\u201cpertaining to number\u201d), though we use its English derivative numeral<\/i> more often as noun than adjective. It is an easy step from numerus<\/b> to the DENOMATIVE verbs (\u00a776<\/a>) numerare<\/b> and e-numerare<\/b> (> E numeration, enumerate<\/i>).<\/p>\r\n A cardinal<\/i> number (< cardo<\/b>, cardinis<\/b>, \u201chinge\u201d) may be considered to be in a pivotal position; in a variety of semantic areas, cardinal<\/i> came to have the general meaning \u201cchief\u201d or \u201cimportant.\u201d An ordinal<\/i> number, in contrast, stands in a \u201crow\u201d or \u201crank\u201d (ordo<\/b>, ordinis<\/b>); its etymology makes it easy to remember this adjectival label that is attached to numbers like \u201cfirst,\u201d \u201csecond,\u201d and \u201cthird.\u201d<\/p>\r\n The Greek equivalent of Latin numerus<\/b> was \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 (arithmos<\/b>), a word that has not given us a simple English noun. Our word arithmetic<\/i> derives from G \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7, which is short for\u00a0\u1f21 \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u1f20 \u03c4\u1f11\u03c7\u03bd\u03b7 (h<\/b>\u0113<\/strong> arithm<\/b>\u0113<\/strong>tik<\/b>\u0113<\/strong> tekhn<\/b>\u0113<\/strong>, \u201cthe numbering art\u201d). In a later chapter, we\u2019ll see that \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7-\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 is a standard adjective form, derived regularly from the verb \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd (base \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7-), \u201cto number,\u201d \u201cto count.\u201d<\/p>\r\n We already know that geometry<\/i> was originally \u201cearth measurement.\u201d Among the other branches of mathematics<\/i> (< \u03bc\u03b1\u03b8\u03b7, \u201cthings learned\u201d), algebra<\/i> is a loan-word from Arabic (< al-jabr<\/i>), and trigonometry<\/i> will be explained later in this chapter.<\/p>","rendered":" First, let us make it clear that we are not talking about number symbols in Greek and Latin\u2014for example, the \u201cRoman numerals\u201d I, V, X, L, C, D, and M\u2014interesting though that topic may be. What this chapter will consider are the actual words developed in the Greek and Latin language to identify and describe numbers. There is some advantage in viewing both languages in the same chapter. All Indo-European number words tend to have a cognate relationship, and that in itself may be revealing. Also, by looking at Greek and Latin side by side we may be able to clarify points of confusion in English, so as to determine which of our number words are descended from one or the other of these classical languages.<\/p>\n As you learned in Part I, Table 2.2<\/a>, the Latin noun for \u201cnumber\u201d is numerus<\/b>\u2014and that is the source of our English word number<\/i>. The regular Latin ADJECTIVE, therefore, is numeralis <\/b>(\u201cpertaining to number\u201d), though we use its English derivative numeral<\/i> more often as noun than adjective. It is an easy step from numerus<\/b> to the DENOMATIVE verbs (\u00a776<\/a>) numerare<\/b> and e-numerare<\/b> (> E numeration, enumerate<\/i>).<\/p>\n A cardinal<\/i> number (< cardo<\/b>, cardinis<\/b>, \u201chinge\u201d) may be considered to be in a pivotal position; in a variety of semantic areas, cardinal<\/i> came to have the general meaning \u201cchief\u201d or \u201cimportant.\u201d An ordinal<\/i> number, in contrast, stands in a \u201crow\u201d or \u201crank\u201d (ordo<\/b>, ordinis<\/b>); its etymology makes it easy to remember this adjectival label that is attached to numbers like \u201cfirst,\u201d \u201csecond,\u201d and \u201cthird.\u201d<\/p>\n The Greek equivalent of Latin numerus<\/b> was \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 (arithmos<\/b>), a word that has not given us a simple English noun. Our word arithmetic<\/i> derives from G \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7, which is short for\u00a0\u1f21 \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u1f20 \u03c4\u1f11\u03c7\u03bd\u03b7 (h<\/b>\u0113<\/strong> arithm<\/b>\u0113<\/strong>tik<\/b>\u0113<\/strong> tekhn<\/b>\u0113<\/strong>, \u201cthe numbering art\u201d). In a later chapter, we\u2019ll see that \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7-\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 is a standard adjective form, derived regularly from the verb \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd (base \u1f00\u03c1\u03b9\u03b8\u03bc\u03b7-), \u201cto number,\u201d \u201cto count.\u201d<\/p>\n We already know that geometry<\/i> was originally \u201cearth measurement.\u201d Among the other branches of mathematics<\/i> (< \u03bc\u03b1\u03b8\u03b7, \u201cthings learned\u201d), algebra<\/i> is a loan-word from Arabic (< al-jabr<\/i>), and trigonometry<\/i> will be explained later in this chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Chapter 20: Numerals in Greek and Latin","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[52],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-90","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":89,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/90\/revisions\/513"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/89"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/90\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/greeklatinroots2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}