Slavic numbers: a step into history

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

In ancient Russia, Slavic numbers were used for counting and recording. In this counting system, characters were used in sequential order of the alphabet. In many ways, it is similar to the Greek system for writing digital characters. Slavic numbers are the designation of numbers using the letters of the ancient alphabets - Cyrillic and Glagolitic.

Titlo - special designation

Many ancient peoples used letters from their alphabets to write numbers. The Slavs were no exception. They denoted Slavic numbers with Cyrillic letters.

In order to distinguish a letter from a number, a special icon was used - a title. All Slavic numerals had it above the letter. The symbol is written on top and is a wavy line. As an example, the image of the first three numbers in the Old Slavonic designation is given.

This sign is also used in other ancient counting systems. It only slightly changes its shape. Initially, this type of designation came from Cyril and Methodius, since they developed our alphabet based on the Greek one. The title was written with both more rounded edges and sharp ones. Both options were considered correct and were used everywhere.

Features of the designation of numbers

Designationdigits on the letter occurred from left to right. The exception was the numbers from "11" to "19". They were written from right to left. Historically, this has been preserved in the names of modern numerals (one-on-twenty, two-on-twenty, etc., that is, the first is the letter denoting units, the second - tens). Each letter of the alphabet represented numbers from 1 to 9, from 10 to 90, from 100 to 900.

Not all letters of the Slavic alphabet were used to designate numbers. So, "Zh" and "B" were not used for numbering. They simply did not exist in the Greek alphabet, which was adopted as a model). Also, the countdown started from one, and not from the usual zero for us.

Sometimes a mixed system of designation of numbers was used on coins - from Cyrillic and Arabic letters. Most often, only lowercase letters were used.

When Slavic symbols from the alphabet represent numbers, some of them change their configuration. For example, the letter "i" in this case is written without a dot with the sign "titlo" and means 10. The number 400 could be written in two ways, depending on the geographical location of the monastery. So, in the old Russian printed chronicles, the use of the letter "ika" is typical for this figure, and in the old Ukrainian - "izhitsa".

What are Slavic numerals?

Our ancestors used special symbols to write dates and necessary numbers in chronicles, documents, coins, letters. Complex numbers up to 999 were denoted by several letters in a row under a common sign" title". For example, 743 in writing was indicated by the following letters:

• Z (ground) - "7";
• D (good) - "4";
• G (verb) - "3".

All these letters were united under a common icon.

Slavic numerals, which denoted a number greater than 1000, were written with a special sign ҂. It was placed in front of the desired letter with a title. If it was necessary to write a numeral greater than 10,000, special characters were used:

• "Az" in a circle - 10,000 (darkness);
• "Az" in a circle of dots - 100,000 (legion);
• "Az" in a circle consisting of commas - 1,000,000 (leodr).

The letter with the required numerical value is placed in these circles.

Examples of using Slavic numerals

This designation could be found in documentation and on ancient coins. The first such figures can be seen on Peter's silver coins in 1699. With this designation, they were minted for 23 years. These coins are now considered rarities and highly valued among collectors.

On gold coins symbols were stuffed for 6 years, since 1701. Copper coins with Slavic numerals were in use from 1700 to 1721.

In ancient times, the church had a huge impact on politics and society as a whole. Church Slavonic figures were also used to record orders and annals. They were indicated on the letter according to the same principle.

Education of children also took place in churches. So the kids learnedspelling and counting precisely according to editions and annals using Church Slavonic letters and numbers. This training was quite difficult, since the designation of large numbers with several letters simply had to be memorized.

All sovereign decrees were also written using Slavic numerals. The scribes of that time were required not only to know by heart the entire alphabet of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, but also the designation of absolutely all the numbers and the rules for writing them. Ordinary residents of the state were often unlearned about this, because literacy was the privilege of very few.