Gothic Numerals over 999

With modern Gothic language writing projects, the question arises of how Gothic numerals can be used to write numbers above 999, to write for example the current year. So, here’s my case for how Gothic numerals would have been written above 999.

Attested Use

Firstly though, a bit about what is attested. The Gothic Bible, Skeireins, deeds (signatures) and calendar fragments make extensive use of Gothic numerals, for tallies, numbering, currency and dates. Within the Gothic numerals system, each of the 27 Gothic alphabet letters is assigned a value. They are often bracketed between two middle dots and/or an overline spanning the number, and in the Codices Ambrosiani also with middle dots between each letter. The letters are written by order of magnitude from largest to smallest, for example ·𐍄𐌽𐌰· (300+50+1) in the margins of the Codex Argenteus. Even larger numbers into the thousands are mentioned within the Codices Ambrosiani but they are separated in writing, e.g. ·𐌱· 𐌸𐌿𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌿𐍃 ·𐍃·𐌺·𐌱· (lit. ·2· thousand ·200·20·2·) in Nehemiah 7:17 (wulfila.be inaccurately shows two dots between each letter). Purely by attestation, it’s only possible to write a number unseparated up to 999 (·𐍊𐍁𐌸·).

Ionian Numerals

From what’s attested, Gothic numerals seem to work just like Greek/Ionian numerals. Which leads me to the following table, the Gothic (from c. 350), Cyrillic (from c. 893) and Coptic (from 2nd century A.D.) numeral systems are pretty much based entirely on the Greek numeral system.

Value	Greek	Gothic	Cyrillic	Coptic
1	Α α	𐌰	А а	Ⲁ ⲁ
2	Β β	𐌱	В в	Ⲃ ⲃ
3	Γ γ	𐌲	Г г	Ⲅ ⲅ
4	Δ δ	𐌳	Д д	Ⲇ ⲇ
5	Ε ε	𐌴	Е є	Ⲉ ⲉ
6	Ϛ ϛ (ϹΤ ϲτ)	𐌵	Ѕ ѕ	Ⲋ ⲋ
7	Ζ ζ	𐌶	З з	Ⲍ ⲍ
8	Η η	𐌷	И и	Ⲏ ⲏ
9	Θ θ	𐌸	Ѳ ѳ	Ⲑ ⲑ
10	Ι ι	𐌹	І і	Ⲓ ⲓ
20	Κ κ	𐌺	К к	Ⲕ ⲕ
30	Λ λ	𐌻	Л л	Ⲗ ⲗ
40	Μ μ	𐌼	М м	Ⲙ ⲙ
50	Ν ν	𐌽	Н н	Ⲛ ⲛ
60	Ξ ξ	𐌾	Ѯ ѯ	Ⲝ ⲝ
70	Ο ο	𐌿	О о	Ⲟ ⲟ
80	Π π	𐍀	П п	Ⲡ ⲡ
90	Ϙ ϙ (Ϟ ϟ)	𐍁	Ҁ ҁ (Ч ч)	Ϥ ϥ
100	Ρ ρ	𐍂	Р р	Ⲣ ⲣ
200	Σ σ	𐍃	С с	Ⲥ ⲥ
300	Τ τ	𐍄	Т т	Ⲧ ⲧ
400	Υ υ	𐍅	Ꙋ ꙋ, Ѵ ѵ (У у)	Ⲩ ⲩ
500	Φ φ	𐍆	Ф ф	Ⲫ ⲫ
600	Χ χ	𐍇	Х х	Ⲭ ⲭ
700	Ψ ψ	𐍈	Ѱ ѱ	Ⲯ ⲯ
800	Ω ω	𐍉	Ѡ ѡ	Ⲱ ⲱ
900	Ͳ ͳ (Ϡ ϡ)	𐍊	Ц ц, Ѧ ѧ	Ⳁ ⳁ

Note: The Greek letter qoppa for 90 in Byzantine handwriting looked similar to the other systems’ letters with either an open top or open right side, and the Greek letter sampi for 900 also had an arrow shape at times like the Gothic letter.

Most of the letter shapes are the same as, variations of or derived from the Greek ones and the letter-value order is largely the same. The Greek and Gothic letters for 90 and 900 are without phonetic values, same as the early Cyrillic one for 90 which was just the Greek letter qoppa, and the same for the Coptic one for 900 while the one for 90 seems to have been assigned a phonetic value because it looked similar to a Demotic letter.

Further numeral systems based on the Greek one are Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Glagolitic and Ge’ez numerals, and with how many alphabets and numerical systems were based on the Greek one through the influence of Christianity and the Byzantine empire, probably many others now lost.

Going above 999

So what do the Greek, Coptic and Cyrillic systems do for numbers above 999? For one, they all have ways of marking thousands.

The Coptic system also used this sign⁴ to go up into the 900,000s (͵Ⳁ) and doubling the sign denoted a million (͵͵Ⲁ).⁵ Alternatively, the thousands and millions were also indicated with a single and double underline⁶ which I imagine derived from the Greek lower numeral sign just shifted underneath, or by doubling and tripling the numeral overline.⁷

The Cyrillic system also has a thousands sign (҂) which also precedes the letter, either subscript (_҂А) or the full height of the letter (҂А). I suspect it again just derives from the Greek symbol with two lines through it to make it clearer, but I’ve not read this anywhere. This sign was in some cases repeated two or three times to indicate multiples of a 1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000, respectively.⁸ Though Cyrillic now has another unique set of encircling notations for larger numbers, but specifically in the “Greater count”, the thousands sign can be used to go up into 900,000s (_҂Ц).

Conclusions

The Greeks were already using the lower numeral sign centuries before the Gothic alphabet was invented, the Copts were using the sign around the same time the Gothic alphabet was in use and the Slavs were using theirs centuries after Wulfila was around. A thousands marker has been a familiar thing for over two millennia so I’m sure learned Goths would have been familiar with the lower numeral sign, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a stretch for them to go up to 999,999 with it. Above that, the sign could be doubled like the Coptic and the early Cyrillic systems did, or perhaps with some other symbols like the later Cyrillic ones or new ones with a bit of invention, but it’s probably better to either write out the words like with the Nehemiah example above but with millions, billions, etc, or use Arabic numerals if the precision is important.

In summary, I think we can safely use the Greek lower numeral sign (or the easily accessible comma) to at least represent the current year nice and short ·͵𐌱𐌺𐌵·.

References

1. Stephen Chrisomalis, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, p. 139. ↩︎
2. Stephen Chrisomalis, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, p. 179. ↩︎
3. Stephen Chrisomalis, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, p. 180. ↩︎
4. Stephen Chrisomalis, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, p. 148. ↩︎
5. Lesson 12 – Coptic Numbers by Fr. Jacob Nadian ↩︎
6. The Numbers in the Coptic Language ↩︎
7. Coptic Number Translator Tutorial by Ambrose Boles ↩︎
8. Stephen Chrisomalis, Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, p. 181. ↩︎