Etruscan numerals

The Etruscan numerals were used by the ancient Etruscans. The system was adapted from the Greek Attic numerals and formed the inspiration for the later Roman numerals.

(* approximate shape of the symbols, because these are not included in the standard set available on the computer. In addition, a second shape used for 100 is an X with a vertical line going through its center - the symbol for 50 is the bottom half of it)

There is very little surviving evidence of these numerals. Examples are known of the symbols for larger numbers, but it is unknown which symbol represents which number.

Thanks to the numbers written out on the Tuscania dice, there is agreement about the fact that zal, ci, huθ and śa are the numbers up to 6 (besides 1 and 5). The assignment depends on the answer to the question whether the numbers on opposite faces on Etruscan dice add up to seven, like nowadays. It is a fact that some dice found don't show this proposed pattern.

An interesting aspect of the Etruscan numeral system is that some numbers, like in the Roman system, are represented as partial subtractions. So "17" is not written *semφ-śar as users of the Arabic numerals might reason. We instead find -- literally, "three away from twenty". The numbers 17, 18 and 19 are all written in this way.

The general consensus

Despite the continuing debate specifically about which of and <śa> are "four" and "six", the general agreement among Etruscologists nowadays is now the following:

Note. Recently (2006) S. A. Yatsemirsky ( [http://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/numeng.pdf PDF] ) has presented evidence that zar = śar meant ‘12’ (cf. zal ‘2’ and zaθrum ‘20’) while halχ meant ‘10’. According to his interpretation the attested form huθzar was used for ‘sixteen’, not ‘fourteen’.

The words for 17, 18, and 19 may have influenced Latin "duodeviginte" (18) and "undeviginte" (19), literally "two-from-twenty" and "one-from-twenty" (with Etruscan "-(n)em" apparently meaning "from"). Both these forms of 18 and 19 have disappeared from modern Romance languages.

The numerals seem to show that Etruscan is not an Indo-European language, because of the apparent impossibility in finding viable regular sound change correspondences between the Etruscan numerals and those in Proto-Indo-European.

ee also

* Etruscan civilization
* Etruscan language
* Old Italic alphabet

External links

*http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/etrusk/tex/grammar.html#num
*http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/language.html