Etruscan numerals

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The Etruscan numerals were used by the ancient Etruscans. The system was adapted from the Greek Attic numerals and formed the inspiration for the later Roman numerals.

Etruscan	Decimal	Symbol *
θu	1
maχ	5
śar	10
muvalχ	50
?	100	or C

There is very little surviving evidence of these numerals. Examples are known of the symbols for larger numbers, but it is unknown which symbol represents which number.

Thanks to the numbers written out on the Tuscania dice, there is agreement about the fact that zal, ci, huθ and śa are the numbers up to 6 (besides 1 and 5). The assignment depended on the answer to the question whether the numbers on opposite faces on Etruscan dice add up to seven, like nowadays. Some dice found did not show this proposed pattern.

An interesting aspect of the Etruscan numeral system is that some numbers, as in the Roman system, are represented as partial subtractions. So "17" is not written *semφ-śar as users of the Hindu-Arabic numerals might reason. We instead find <ci-em zaθrum> — literally, "three away from twenty". The numbers 17, 18 and 19 are all written in this way.

The general consensus

The general agreement among Etruscologists nowadays is the following (except about which of huθ and śa were "four" or "six", which has always been under discussion, but see below the new results):

Etruscan	Decimal
θu	1
zal	2
ci	3
śa	4
maχ	5
huθ	6
semφ	7
*cezp	8
nurφ	9
śar	10
*θuśar	11
*zalśar	12
*ciśar	13
huθzar	14
*maχśar	15
*śaśar	16
ciem zaθrum	17
eslem zaθrum	18
θunem zaθrum	19
zaθrum	20
cealχ	30
*huθalχ	40
muvalχ	50
śealχ	60
semφalχ	70
cezpalχ	80
*nurφalχ	90

Recently (fall 2011), Artioli and colleagues presented evidence from 93 Etruscan dice "allowing the firm attribution of the numeral 6 to the graphical value huth and 4 to sa". Citation: Artioli, G., Nociti, V., Angelini, I., "Gambling with Etruscan Dice: a Tale of Numbers and Letters", Archaeometry, Vol. 53, Issue 5, October 2011, pages 1031–1043 (Abstract).

Recently (2006) S. A. Yatsemirsky (PDF) has presented evidence that zar = śar meant ‘12’ (cf. zal ‘2’ and zaθrum ‘20’) while halχ meant ‘10’. According to his interpretation the attested form huθzar was used for ‘sixteen’, not ‘fourteen’.

The words for 17, 18, and 19 may have influenced Latin duodeviginti (18) and undeviginti (19), literally "two-from-twenty" and "one-from-twenty" (with Etruscan -(n)em apparently meaning "from"). Both these forms of 18 and 19 have disappeared from modern Romance languages.

The numbers show no sign of Indo-European origin.

See also

• Etruscan civilization
• Etruscan language
• Old Italic alphabet
• Old Hungarian script

External links

• http://users.tpg.com.au/etr/etrusk/tex/grammar.html#num
• http://www.mysteriousetruscans.com/language.html