Abjad numerals
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| Arabic alphabet | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ا ب ت ث ج ح | |||||
| خ د ذ ر ز س | |||||
| ش ص ض ط ظ ع | |||||
| غ ف ق ك ل | |||||
| م ن ه و ي | |||||
| History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration |
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The Abjad numerals are a decimal numeral system in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been used in the Arabic-speaking world since before the 8th century Arabic numerals. In modern Arabic, the word ʾabjadiyyah means "alphabet" in general.
In the Abjad system, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, ʾalif, is used to represent 1; the second letter, bāʾ, is used to represent 2, etc. Individual letters also represent 10's and 100's: yāʾ for 10, kāf for 20, qāf for 100, etc.
The word "abjad" (أبجد ʾabjad) itself derives from the first four letters in the Phoenician alphabet, Aramaic alphabet, Hebrew Alphabet, etc. These older alphabets contained only 22 letters, stopping at taw, numerically equivalent to 400. The Arabic Abjad system continues at this point with letters not found in other alphabets: ṯāʾ = 500, etc.
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[edit] Abjad order
The Abjad order of the Arabic alphabet has two slightly different variants. The Abjad order is not a simple historical continuation of the earlier north Semitic alphabetic order, since it has a position corresponding to the Aramaic letter sameḵ/semkat ס, yet no letter of the Arabic alphabet historically derives from that letter. Loss of sameḵ was compensated for by the split of šin ש into two independent Arabic letters, ش (šīn) and ﺱ (sīn) which moved up to take the place of sameḵ.
The most common Abjad sequence, read from right to left, is:
- أ ب ج د ه و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن س ع ف ص ق ر ش ت ث خ ذ ض ظ غ
- ʾ b j d h w z ḥ ṭ y k l m n s ʿ f ṣ q r š t ṯ ḫ ḏ ḍ ẓ ġ
This is commonly vocalized as follows:
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- ʾabjad hawwaz ḥuṭṭī kalaman saʿfaṣ qarašat ṯaḫaḏ ḍaẓaġ.
Another vocalization is:
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- ʾabujadin hawazin ḥuṭiya kalman saʿfaṣ qurišat ṯaḫuḏ ḍaẓuġ
Another Abjad sequence (probably older, now mainly confined to the Maghreb), is:[1]
- أ ب ج د ه و ز ح ط ي ك ل م ن ص ع ف ض ق ر س ت ث خ ذ ظ غ ش
- ʾ b j d h w z ḥ ṭ y k l m n ṣ ʿ f ḍ q r s t ṯ ḫ ḏ ẓ ġ š
which can be vocalized as:
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- ʾabujadin hawazin ḥuṭiya kalman ṣaʿfaḍ qurisat ṯaḫuḏ ẓaġuš
Modern dictionaries and other reference books do not use the Abjad order to sort alphabetically; instead, the newer hijāʾī (هجائي) order (with letters partially grouped together by similarity of shape) is used:
- أ ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر زس ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي
- ʾ b t ṯ j ḥ ḫ d ḏ r z s š ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ ʿ ġ f q k l m n h w y
Another kind of ʾalfabaʾī order used to be widely used in the Maghreb until recently when it was replaced by the Mashreki order:[1]
- أ ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز ط ظ ك ل م ن ص ض ع غ ف ق س ش ه و ي
- ’ b t ṯ j ḥ ḫ d ḏ r z ṭ ẓ k l m n ṣ ḍ ‘ ġ f q s š h w y
[edit] Uses of the Abjad system
Before the introduction of the Arabic numerals, the Abjad numbers were used for all mathematical purposes. In modern Arabic, they are primarily used for numbering outlines, items in lists, and points of information. In English, points of information are sometimes referred to as "A", "B", and "C" (or perhaps use Roman numerals: I, II, III, IV), and in Arabic, they are "أ", then "ب", then "ج", not the first three letters of the modern hijāʾī order.
The Abjad numbers are also used to assign numerical values to Arabic words for purposes of numerology. The common Islamic phrase بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم bism illāh ir-raḥmān ir-raḥīm ("in the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate" – see Basmala) has a numeric value of 786 (from a letter-by-letter cumulative value of 2+60+40+1+30+30+5+1+30+200+8+40+50+1+30+200+8+10+40), and the word "Allah" الله by itself has the value 66 (1+30+30+5).
[edit] Letter values
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A few of the numerical values are different in the alternative Abjad order.
[edit] Similar systems
The Abjad numerals are equivalent to the earlier Hebrew numerals up to 400. The Hebrew numeral system is known as Gematria and is used in Kabbalistic texts and numerology. Like the Abjad order, it is used in modern times for numbering outlines and points of information, including the first six days of the week. The Greek numerals differ in a number of ways from the Abjad ones (for instance in the Greek alphabet there is no equivalent for ص, ṣād). The Greek language system of letters-as-numbers is called isopsephy. In modern times the old 27-letter alphabet of this system too continues to be used for numbering lists.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b (Arabic) Alyaseer.net ترتيب المداخل والبطاقات في القوائم والفهارس الموضوعية Ordering entries and cards in subject indexes Discussion thread (Accessed 2009-Oct-06)
[edit] External links
- Overview of the abjad numerological system
- Sufi numerology site
- Numerical Value of an Arabic Text as per "Abjad" Calculation - www.alavibohra.org
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