The names of large numbers among the ancient Slavs. Cyrillic number system. How to read years written in Slavic letters

Slavic numerals 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 ancient alphabets -

Titlo - special designation

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

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

The designation of numbers 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 ( eleven twelve etc., that is, the first is the letter denoting units, the second - tens). Each letter of the alphabet denoted the numbers from 1 to 9, from 10 to 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 began from one, and not from the usual zero for us.

Sometimes a mixed system of designating numbers was used on coins - from Cyrillic and. 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, using special symbols, wrote dates and necessary numbers in chronicles, documents, coins, and letters. Complex numbers up to 999 were denoted by several letters in a row under the common sign "titlo". 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 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 number greater than 10,000, special signs 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 (leodre).

A letter with the required digital value is placed in these circles.

Examples of using Slavic numerals

Such a 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 are highly valued among collectors.

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

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

The education of children also took place in churches. Therefore, the children learned spelling and counting from publications and annals using Church Slavonic letters and numbers. This training was not easy enough, 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.

Russian cursive, charter, half charter

Z Do you know that in 1700 the numbers on the territory of the Russian state were indicated by letters (cursive script of the 17th century)?

According to the omniscient Wikipedia, Arabic numerals were introduced in Russia after the first trip abroad of Peter I, when in 1698 he brought naval officers from London. One of the officers was Fergarson, who is believed to have introduced Arabic numerals to Russia. But in fact, they came to Russia long before Peter, in 1647 in Moscow, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a Russian military charter was printed, in which Arabic numerals were used. Books printed in Russian outside of Russia contained Arabic numerals from the beginning of the 16th century. At the same time, Slavic numbering was used in the text, and Arabic numbering was used for calculations.

The order of numbering corresponded to the order of letters in the Cyrillic alphabet. When designating numbers more than ten, the letters were arranged in accordance with the principle: "as we hear, so we write." For example: eleven (one in ten) will be designated as AI, while A=1, I=10. The number 22 was designated as KV, where K=20, B=2.

Here are some cardinal numbers:

In order to separate letters denoting numbers, a title (dash above the letters) was used.

Here is an example of deciphering a date from a coin:

The letters on the left with the title (P (rtsy) = 100, Ѯ (xi) = 60) indicate 160, this is 7160 from the creation of the world *.

To translate into modern chronology (from the Nativity of Christ), you need to subtract 5508/09. That is, we get 7160-5508 = 1652.

An interesting feature of ultraviolet light: it helps to distinguish ink that has faded over time. Some archive visitors use miniature ultraviolet lights, for example.

What symbols did the ancient Slavs use to represent numbers? In the counting system, our ancestors used the letters of the Cyrillic or Glagolitic alphabet, as was customary among the ancient Greeks and other peoples. Western culture used Roman numerals, but they were used by Catholics.

Russia was ideologically connected with Byzantium, therefore, it used alphabetic numbers to record dates and numbering. My brother began to study numerology and gematria, so he became interested in Old Slavonic numbers and their spelling. In the article I will tell you which letters of the alphabet were used to write numbers and how our ancestors wrote complex numbers - from a thousand and above.

Alphanumeric

To distinguish a number from its corresponding letter, a special icon was used - a title. This icon was drawn above the letters, it looked like a wavy line. If a letter was written without a title, it denoted a sound, and if a wavy line appeared on top, it was read as a number.

The method of using the title to designate numbers was passed on to the Slavs and Methodius, who created the Slavic alphabet based on the Greek one. Did the sharp and rounded edges of the titlo matter? This is just a question of calligraphy, which does not carry a semantic load. Both options are correct.

Table of correspondence of Slavic letters to numbers and numbers:

However, not all letters of the alphabet were used for numbering. For example, the letters "g" and "b" were not used for calculus. Ignoring individual sounds is associated with their absence in the Greek alphabet: for Cyril and Methodius, these sounds were unusual.

On a note! In the old days, numbering started from one, not from zero.

Single-digit numbers were written with one letter, two-digit numbers with two.

The following symbols were used to denote tens:

Hundreds were designated as follows:

If it was necessary to write down a complex number of three or more digits, several letters were used under a common title. If it was necessary to designate numbers exceeding the number 10000, other signs and designations were used:

• the letter Az in a circle meant 10,000 (darkness);
• the letter Az in a circle with dots denoted a legion - 100,000;
• the letter Az in a circle with commas denoted leodr (million).

Sometimes images of composite numbers had to be memorized, which caused a lot of problems for students of parochial schools.

The picture shows the writing of large numbers in the Slavic version:

There was another designation - a fence. It meant trillions.

Numbers were separated from letters by dots. Sometimes there were dots between the numbers themselves to separate one from the other (ts.i.f.r.a.).

Where used

Writing numbers in letters can be found in ancient documents, on coins. For example, the numbers are clearly visible on the coins of the era of Peter the Great, they were minted until 1723. Now these coins are rare and are in private collections and museums.

Church Slavonic figures:

The scribes of the tsarist era had to have not only knowledge of the alphabet, but also know by heart all the complex numbers from the letters and the rules for writing them. Writing the dates in letters was especially difficult. For ordinary people, knowledge of this level was inaccessible.

It is noteworthy that this numbering is still used within the framework of the Church Slavonic language in seven Orthodox churches. There is no zero and negative numbers in this system. Our ancestors believed that zero symbolizes the primitive chaos, when the earth had not yet been created. Therefore, it was not considered reasonable and rational to use this number.

On a note! For the arithmetic operations of addition and subtraction, special abacus counting boards were used. They resembled the wooden abacus used by cashiers and accountants in the 20th century.

The digital use of letters opens up wide horizons for gematria and numerology, which is what the Jewish scholars of Kabbalists did. The digital equivalent of the word was considered from the mystical side and already had a sacred meaning and significance.

However, after the reforms of Peter the Great, the alphabetic numerals were replaced by Arabic numerals, which we still use to this day. This more convenient spelling is used all over the world.

Images of Old Slavonic letters

Each letter of the Old Slavonic language carried the meaning of some image. This is reminiscent of the Far Eastern way of thinking, only in the Slavic and Greek versions the recording of images was much simpler and expressed with a single icon or wand instead of a complex system of hieroglyphs.

Images of letters and numbers:

• 1 - az - one, one;
• 2 - lead;
• 3 - verbs;
• 4 - good;
• 5 - yes;
• 6 - zelo;
• 7 - earth;
• 8 - the axis of the world;
• 9 - fit.

One is the number of the god Svarog. It is the starting point from which the world originated. Until now, we use the word "bung" in everyday life in the sense of doing something. For information, the Scandinavian peoples call the supreme creator god the name Odin (emphasis on "o").

The number 2 denoted the other world of Navi: 1 + 1 = 2. This number expressed contact with the world of ancestors, from where people drew knowledge.

The number 3 expressed the idea of ​​development, as well as the mediation of man between the worlds of Reveal and Rule. The three atoms that make up the water molecule express the idea of ​​life on earth.

The number 4 expresses the idea of ​​the earth, the foundations of the foundations, balance. These are the 4 sides of the world.

The number 5 expresses the idea of ​​a person, his dimensions: 5 fingers and toes, 5 limbs, 5 sense organs.

The number 6 is the idea of ​​health, a symbol of the crystal lattice of water. Water cleanses and heals.

The number 7 is a planetary idea. There are 7 planets in the solar system, 7 musical sounds, 7 colors of the rainbow, 7 days of the week. This is a sacred number associated with the cosmic idea.

The number 8 symbolizes infinity, the universe, the axis of the world. It is a symbol of prosperity, abundance and prosperity.

The number 9 is associated with death, as it symbolizes a transitional state: 9 = 1 + 8 (Svarog and infinity). It is believed that on the ninth day after death, the soul leaves the body.

Before special characters were invented to denote numbers, most peoples used the letters of their alphabets for this purpose. The ancient Slavs are no exception.
They had a separate letter for each number (from 1 to 9), each ten (from 10 to 90) and each hundred (from 100 to 900). Numerals were written and pronounced from left to right, with the exception of numbers from 11 to 19 (for example, 17 - seven-twenty).
In order for the reader to understand that there are numbers in front of him, a special sign was used - a title. It was depicted as a wavy line and placed above the letter. Example:

Such a sign is called "az under the title" and means one.
It is worth noting that not all letters of the alphabet could be used as numbers. For example, "B" and "F" did not turn into numbers, because they were not in the ancient Greek alphabet, which was the basis of the digital system. In addition, letters that are not in our modern alphabet - “xi” and “psi” acted as numbers. For a modern person, it may also seem unusual that there was no zero familiar to everyone in the counting series.

If it was required to write a number greater than 1000, a special sign of a thousand was written in front of it in the form of a slash, crossed out in two places. An example of writing the numbers 2000 and 200,000:

To get even larger values, other methods were used:

Az in the circle is darkness, or 10,000.
Az in a dotted circle is a legion, or 100,000.
Az in a circle of commas is leodor, or 1,000,000.

Dates on Peter's coins

On the gold Peter's coins, the dates in the Slavic count appeared in 1701 and were affixed until 1707 inclusive.
On silver - from 1699 to 1722.
On copper - from 1700 to 1721.
Even after the introduction of Arabic numerals by Peter I, the dates under the title were still minted on the coins for a long time. Sometimes engravers mixed Arabic and Slavic numerals in the date. For example, on the coins of 1721 you can find the following date options: 17KA and 17K1.

Designation of dates by letters on old Russian coins.

Old Slavonic number system

In the Middle Ages, on the lands where the Slavs lived, they used the Cyrillic alphabet, a system for writing numbers based on this alphabet was widespread. Indian numerals appeared in 1611. By that time, Slavic numbering was used, consisting of 27 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. Above the letters, denoting the numbers put a mark - titlo. At the beginning of the XVIII century. as a result of the reform introduced by Peter I, Indian numerals and the Indian number system replaced Slavic numbering from use, although in the Russian Orthodox Church (in books) it is used to this day. Cyrillic numerals are derived from Greek. In form, these are ordinary letters of the alphabet with special marks indicating their numerical reading. The Greek and Old Slavonic ways of writing numbers had much in common, but there were also differences. The handwritten work of the Novgorod monk Kirik, written by him in 1136, is still considered the first Russian monument of mathematical content. In this work, Kirik showed himself to be a very skillful counter and a great number lover. The main tasks that are considered by Kirik are of chronological order: the calculation of time, the flow between any events. When calculating, Kirik used the numbering system, which was called the small list and was expressed by the following names:

10000 - darkness

100000 - legion

In addition to a small list, in Ancient Russia there was also a large list, which made it possible to operate with very large numbers. In the system of a large list of basic bit units, they had the same names as in a small one, but the ratio between these units was different, namely:

a thousand thousand - darkness,

darkness to darkness is a legion,

legion of legions - leodrus,

leodr leodriv - raven,

10 ravens - a log.

About the last of these numbers, that is, about the log, it was said: "And more than this is understandable to the human mind." Units, tens and hundreds were represented by Slavic letters with a ~ sign above them, called "titlo", to distinguish numbers from letters. Darkness, legion and leodre were represented by the same letters, but to distinguish them from units, tens, hundreds and thousandths were circled. With numerous fractions of one hour, Kirik introduced his system of fractional units, and he called the fifth part the second hour, the twenty-fifth - three hours, the one hundred and twenty-fifth - four hours, etc. He had the smallest fraction of seven hours, and he believed that there can no longer be smaller fractions of hours: “This does not happen anymore, there are not born from the seventh fractional, which will be 987500 in days.” When making calculations, Kirik did the operations of addition and multiplication, and distribution, in all likelihood, he carried out shlyakhompidbora, considering successively multiples for a given dividend and divisor. Kirik made the main chronological calculations from the date, which was taken in Ancient Russia as the date of the creation of the world. Calculating in this way the moment of writing his work, Kirik (with an error of 24 months) states that 79,728 months have passed since the creation of the world, or 200 unknown and 90 unknown and 1 unknown and 652 hours. Kirik determines his age by the same kind of calculation, and we learn that he was born in 1110. Operating with fractional hours, Kirik in essence dealt with a geometric progression with a denominator of 5. In the work of Kirik, a place is also given to the issue of calculating paschals, which is so important for churchmen and being one of the most difficult arithmetic questions, the ministers of the church had to solve. If Kirik does not give general methods of such calculations, in any case he shows his ability to do them. Kirik's handwritten work is the only mathematical document that has come down to us since those distant times. However, this does not mean at all that other mathematical works did not exist in Russia at that time. It must be assumed that many manuscripts have been lost to us due to the fact that they were lost during the troubled years of princely civil strife, perished in fires, and always accompanied the raids of neighboring peoples on Russia.

Let's write down the numbers 23 and 444 in the Slavic number system.

We see that the entry turned out to be no longer than our decimal. This is because alphabetic systems used at least 27 "digits". But these systems were only convenient for writing numbers up to 1000. True, the Slavs, like the Greeks, knew how to write numbers and more than 1000. For this, new designations were added to the alphabetical system. So, for example, the numbers 1000, 2000, 3000 ... were written in the same “numbers” as 1, 2, 3 ..., only a special sign was placed in front of the “number” from the bottom left. The number 10000 was denoted by the same letter as 1, only without a title, it was circled. This number was called "darkness". Hence the expression "darkness of the people."

Thus, to designate "themes" (plural of the word darkness), the first 9 "digits" were circled.

10 topics, or 100,000, was the highest order unit. They called it Legion. 10 legions made up the "leord". The largest of the quantities that have their own designation was called the "deck", it was equal to 1050. It was believed that "more than this should be understood by the human mind." This way of writing numbers, as in the alphabetical system, can be considered as the beginnings of a positional system, since in it the same symbols were used to designate units of different digits, to which only special characters were added to determine the value of the digit. Alphabetical number systems were not very suitable for operating with large numbers. In the course of the development of human society, these systems gave way to positional systems.

Here we use numbers for various calculations. Some people know, and some people don’t really think about it - where did they come from, who invented them. Well, those that we now mainly use in everyday life - they came from the Arab world. They are called - Arabic numerals. There are also Roman numerals. Those are used little, well, there in the numbering of a chapter, or a paragraph of some kind.

And these are not the only options. After all, there are numberings such as Egyptian hieroglyphic, they are Phoenician, Syrian, Palmyrene, Greek. After all, each people-language has its own numbers. So the question arose: How did our Russian ancestors write down the numbers?

slavic numerals, digits of the old Russian account, in which each of the integers from 1 to 9, as well as tens and hundreds, were designated by letters of the Slavic alphabet with an inscribed sign above them - (title). Integers up to 999 were composed using adjacent Slavic numerals For example, = 324. Here = 300, = 20, = 4. Thousands were denoted by a prefix to a figure expressing the number of thousands of a certain sign.

There is also this article:

How to read years written in Slavic letters

Until the beginning of the 18th century, the year was indicated by Slavic letters. Numbers are written from left to right in descending order. The exception is numbers from 11 to 19, which are written as they are pronounced, i.e. first the smaller number, and then the designation of the number 10. For example, twelve - two twelve, i.e. two by ten, first 2 is written, then 10. In order for the numbers to differ from the text, a title sign (҃) was drawn above them. In order to determine the year, you need to add all the digits in the number.

To indicate thousands, a sign (&) was put in front of the letter.

In ancient times in Russia, numbers were denoted by letters. Very often, beginners are interested in these designations for dating coins. This article will help you deal with this problem.

Church Slavonic numbers.

Single numbers in ancient Slavic times were written using letters, over which the symbol "titlo" was placed.

• The number one was denoted by the letter "az" - a;
• number two - "lead" - in;
• number three - "verb" - g;
• number four - "good" - d;
• number five - "is" - the letter e in the other direction;
• number six - "green" - s;
• number seven - "earth" - s;
• figure eight - "like" - and;
• number nine - "fita" - similar to the letter d (having an oval shape, crossed out from below).

Decimal digits.

• The number ten - the letter "and" - i;
• number twenty - "kako" - k;
• figure thirty - "people" - l;
• figure forty - "think" - m;
• fifty - "our" - n;
• sixty - the letter "xi" - the letter z with horns at the top - Ѯ;
• seventy - "he" - about;
• eighty - "peace" - n;
• ninety - "worm" - h.

Hundredths.

• The number one hundred - "rtsy" - p;
• two hundred - "word" - with;
• three hundred - "firmly" - t;
• four hundred - "uk" - at;
• five hundred - "fert" - f;
• six hundred - "dick" - x;
• seven hundred - "psi" - trident - Ѱ. By the way, a fairly common symbol. For example, in the area of ​​the Tsimlyansk reservoir, people found a limestone with the symbol of a "trident". Volgodonsk local historian - lover of Chalykh believes that this is a symbol of the Khazars, denoting the runic letter - "x". But it can be assumed that the Khazars used Slavic alphabetic numbers, and this sign indicates the seven hundredth year of our era;
• eight hundred - "o" - ὼ;
• nine hundred - "tsy" - c. There was a recent history with this figure too. A man found an old church book, where the year was indicated by numbers, where the second character corresponded to the letter - c. When I said that it was only for only 1900, the person did not want to believe it, believing that the book was much older, since it had a letter designation of the date of issue.

Thousands.

Thousands had a corresponding sign in front of them - an oblique line crossed out twice. That is, the figure in front had an oblique crossed out line, and then the number was called letters. For example, 1000 corresponded to - the letter - "az" - a, and so on by the name of the unit numbers.

A million was indicated by two crossed-out lines in front of the letters. More than a million, that is, apparently, a billion - a letter in a circle.

Comparative table of the Glagolitic, Cyrillic and Greek alphabets

ABC

Church account

Addition 1. Composite digits are written in the order of naming the numbers: twelve = in, fifty six = n҃ѕ

Addendum 2. When forming numbers with a zero value, 0 in the digit is omitted: 104 = r҃d

Addendum 3. In composite numbers, the title sign is always placed above the second digit from the end: 104 \u003d ≠ в҃і, sl҃v, vrm҃e

Addendum 4. Translation of the chronology from the Creation of the world to the modern chronology (from the Nativity of Christ):

year from the Creation of the world — 5508 = ?

For example: 6506 — 5508 = 998

≠ sf҃s - 5508 = ≠ tsch҃i

Addendum 5.

Addendum 6

Superscripts

Sometimes in Slavic texts you can find the sign "quotes": ꙾ѻ҆nagri꙾ .”Quotes” is a footnote sign. At the bottom of the page is the interpretation of the incomprehensible word: ꙾wild ѻ҆slỳ꙾

Words under titles