Ever wondered why the digits are called One... two… three… and so on…..??

Question

The numbers we all use (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) are known as "arabic" numbers to distinguish them from the " Roman Numerals" (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, etc). Actually the arabs popularized these numbers but they were originally used by the early phonecian traders to count and keep track of their trading accounts.

Have you ever thought why ........ 1 means "one", and 2 means "two"? The roman numerals are easy to understand but what was the logic behind the phonecian numbers?


It's all about angles !
It's the number of angles. If one writes the numbers down (see below) on a piece of paper in their older forms, one quickly sees why. I have marked the angles with "o"s.

No 1 has one angle.
No 2 has two angles.
No 3 has three angles.
etc.

and "O" has no angles

for a clear picture...
http://coimbatore.siteburg.com/numbers.gif

well, i got this information from a mail! wonder you guys have comments to offer...!!

Answer 1

clever, but not entirely accurate. our numerals come from the brahmi numerals of india, not from the phoenician numerals which are completely different.

They were originally very different to what we use today. There is some idea that they might have been invented by combinations of different numbers of lines, which in cursive writing become different numbers of angles, but there is no evidence. It is only a theory.

See the links below for the phoenician numerals, and the history of arabic numerals.

Answer 2

what exactly is your question? the arabic symbols for the numbers or the phonetic (crimson) words?

0 has many angles by the way... so many that you cannot tell where they bend.

I study the Qabalah and I LOVE THEE NUMBERS...

Answer 3

Wow, Thank you I have been wondering that for year but could never find the answer.