What does the number "4" signify?

Question

Who in the world gave thumbs-down to all these creative answers?? They're all great, thank you.

(Though I'm looking for folkloric or numerological meanings of "4").

Answer 1

in what??? it could signify ne thing and everything

Answer 2

Can't think of too many off the top of my head, but the first thought that came to mind is that when you take two lines and cross them you end up with four points - four directions, for example. A cross is one of the simplest mythological designs... cross two sticks, two fingers, two lines of chalk or pigment, etc. A man can be viewed as having four main extremities in association with this.

A square is a very stable polygon to build a foundation on, and stacks neatly... probably the most efficient way to store things, in squares and rectangles.

Ancient philosophers postulated that the world was built out of four elements (air, earth, fire, water). It seems like "four seasons" is a pretty common concept across many different cultures.

The New Testament has 4 main gospels, and each of the alleged authors is associated with a special animal. In fact, I believe Origen used the whole "four as a stable foundation" or "four directions" argument for only including four gospels in the New Testament.

I could even go out on a limb and say that four generations is the most that can co-exist at one time - great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, children. Well, at least in most cases I guess. Probably the case throughout most of human history up until the advent of modern medicine at least...

Four is the first number that has an integer greater than 1 as its square root. Four squared equals 2 to the power of 4 (16). It's the first number that has an integer greaten than 1 as a factor (4 has 1,2, and 4 as factors, if I remember my math correctly).

Add up all the digits preceeding four with four (4+3+2+1) and you get 10, which is the number of digits on our hands, feet, and happens to also be the basis of our counting system.

There's a few other mathematical properties of four that I'm sure you can discover for yourself, if you wish to.

So, yeah, 4 is a pretty cool number when you get into it. There's a lot of associations, patterns, and meanings you can get out of it... ripe fodder for mythology!


Saul

EDIT: 4*3*2*1=24, the number of hours in a day. A day can be thought of as morning, afternoon, evening, and night - 4 different times. You've always heard of 3 dimensions: height, width, depth... but how about the 4 dimension, time? You've got four fingers on each hand (not counting those opposable thumbs). There are four chambers in your heart, if I remember my biology correctly (ventricles? dang, that was a long time ago). A sun can be rising, directly overhead, setting, or below the horizon. The moon can be waxing, waning, full, and new. People have four parts to their lifespan - child, youth, adult, elder.

Heck, my Mesa Boogie tube amp has four 6L6 power tubes, 25 watts, each, making 100 watts total. I guess you'd be amazed where you find the number 4.... =)

Answer 3

As others have said, there are many symbolic systems out there.

To one group of number mystics of classical Greece,

1 represented "male"
2 represented "female"
3 represented "marriage" ( 1 + 2)
4 represented "home"

In addition to the home being "marriage plus an additional member" ( 3 + 1), the number four can be represented by four dots in a square, suggesting solidity.

Answer 4

Four is the force of four directions. North, East, South and West. The four corners of the Earth. The Maya had Bacabs for this sort of thing, and most cultures seem to have four Wind Gods. The Greeks even had Astraeus, a God in charge of the four Wind Gods. Gods with four heads are quite common, and there are four Buddhist Diamond Kings of Heaven. Celtic Love God Aonghus has four attendant lovebirds, who at some point transformed into the xxxx's used for kisses at the end of letters.

Answer 5

Well - the things you learn:

The number four for example illustrates the universality of something. Derived from the four compass directions being all points, all directions, or everywhere.

Our number 4 came from early counting using single strokes to signify amounts

I II III IIII - starts getting messy so IIII became X (four lines crossed) and lazy writing joins two of the points. From that you will see the number 4

Answer 6

It signifies that 4 is higher than 3 and lower than 5

Answer 7

The number between 3 and 5
Number needed to make whole a item cut into quarters
Corners in a square and rectangle


Is any of these doing it for you?

Answer 8

In Japanese and I believe Chinese, the number four has the same pronunciation as death. Shi.

Another possible meaning, the balance between two pairs.

Answer 9

I believe the number "4" represents the earth.

Answer 10

I would like to know. I was born at 4:44 and have always hoped for some great cosmic connection because of it.

Answer 11

Four is the 4th dimension = time which is illusion.

The are four cardinal points; four seasons; four winds; four directions (as in North, South, East, West); four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) in the western culture.