Syriac numerals

Recently, I found that some people working with Syriac had little idea of how numerals are written in the language, so I wrote a little PDF manual to describe what is only briefly touched upon in the standard grammars.

The manual covers the various forms of numerals used in Syriac: the alphabetic numerals and the various systems of marking higher alphabetic numerals, Eastern Arabic numerals and Aramaic sign–value numerals.

The PDF can be downloaded from http://www.garzo.co.uk/documents/syriac-numerals.pdf.

[scribd id=36688829 key=key-bt9cig4cmzkkry1dnd3 mode=list]

4 thoughts on “Syriac numerals

  1. Tom Hannam

    Hi Gareth

    I need to write the Syriac symbols for ’23, 7, 31 & 5′ for a feature film (think ‘Da Vinci Code’) that we are making in Cape Town. I would be immensely grateful if you could show me what they would look like,

    Best,

    Tom Hannam

    1. Hi Tom,

      As the article shows, those numbers are written kap-gamal, zai, lamad-alap and he. However, I take it you don’t read Syriac, so I’m not sure how much use Syriac numerals will be to you. Not many people read the language anyway, so I do not see why you would want to use it in a popular medium.

      Gareth.

      1. Tom Hannam

        Hi Gareth

        Well, you’re quite right, my Syriac IS rather sketchy! However, I have a scene in the movie where an archeologist discovers the numerals and is able to read them. I could just make up any old rubbish, but I hate doing that and would much rather add as much authenticity as possible, even though the script is risible.. My concern is that, if I try to put the characters together myself, a handful of experts such as yourself will scoff and guffaw!

        Best,
        Tom

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