The Latin numerals are the words used to denote numbers within the Latin language. They are essentially based on their Proto-Indo-European ancestors, and the Latin cardinal numbers are largely sustained in the Romance languages. In Antiquity and during the Middle Ages they were usually represented by Roman numerals in writing.
Latin numeral roots are used frequently in modern English, particularly in the names of large numbers.
The Latin language had several sets of number words used for various purposes. Some of those sets are shown in the tables below.
The cardinal numerals are the ordinary numbers used for counting ordinary nouns ('one', 'two', 'three' and so on):
The conjunction between numerals can be omitted: . is not used when there are more than two words in a compound numeral: . The word order in the numerals from 21 to 99 may be inverted: . Numbers ending in 8 or 9 are usually named in subtractive manner: . Numbers may either precede or follow their noun (see Latin word order).
Most numbers are invariable and do not change their endings:
However, the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 200, 300, etc. change their endings for gender and grammatical case. 'one' declines like a pronoun and has genitive (or ) and dative :
The first three numbers have masculine, feminine and neuter forms fully declined as follows (click on GL or Wh to change the table to the American order as found in Gildersleeve and Lodge, or Wheelock):
'1000' is indeclinable in the singular but variable in the plural:
When it is plural, the noun it refers to is put in the genitive case:
'1000 paces' (plural ) is the Latin for a mile:
When the number is plural, the genitive is sometimes omitted:
Larger numbers such as 2000, 3000, etc. could be expressed using either cardinal numbers (e.g. etc.) or distributive numbers (e.g. etc.):
Ordinal numerals all decline like normal first- and second-declension adjectives. When declining two-word ordinals (thirteenth onwards), both words decline to match in gender, number and case.
Note: only means 'second' in the sense of 'following'. The adjective meaning 'other [of two]' was more frequently used in many instances where English would use 'second'.
Ordinal numbers, not cardinal numbers, are commonly used to represent dates, because they are in the format of 'in the tenth year of Caesar', etc. which also carried over into the anno Domini system and Christian dating, e.g. for AD 100.
Based on the ordinary ordinals is another series of adjectives: 'of the first rank', 'of the second class, of inferior quality', 'containing a third part', 'a quarter, fourth part', 'containing five parts', 'five-sixths', 'a one-sixth part of a , 'pint', and so on.
Certain nouns in Latin were plurÃÂlia tantum, i.e. nouns that were plural but which had a singular meaning, for example 'a letter', 'a camp', 'a set of chains', '(a set of) clothes', 'winter quarters', 'wedding', 'quadriga' etc. A special series of numeral adjectives was used for counting these, namely , , , , , , and so on. Thus Roman authors would write: 'one letter', 'three letters', 'five camps', etc.
Except for the numbers 1, 3, and 4 and their compounds, the numerals are identical with the distributive numerals (see below).
Another set of numeral adjectives, similar to the above but differing in the adjectives for 1, 3, and 4, were the distributive numerals: , , , , , , and so on. The meaning of these is 'one each', 'two each' (or 'in pairs') and so on, for example
The word is always plural in this sense in the classical period.
The distributive numerals are also used for multiplying:
In numbers 13 to 19, the order may be inverted, e.g. instead of .
Based on the distributive numerals are derived a series of adjectives ending in -ÃÂrius: 'unique', 'extraordinary', 'of one part', 'singular', 'of two parts', 'of three parts', 'of four parts', and so on.
Often these adjectives specify the size or weight of something. The usual meaning is 'of so many units', the units being feet, inches, men, pounds, coins, or years, according to context:
They can also be used for specifying age:
Some of these words have a specialised meaning. The sÃÂnÃÂrius was a kind of metre consisting of six iambic feet commonly used in spoken dialogue in Roman comedy. There were also metres called the and (see Metres of Roman comedy).
The dÃÂnÃÂrius was a silver coin originally worth ten assÃÂs (but later sixteen assÃÂs); but there was also a gold , mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Petronius, worth 25 silver . The silver is often mentioned in the New Testament, and was stated to be the day's pay in the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.
Adverbial numerals are (as the name states) indeclinable adverbs, but because all of the other numeral constructions are adjectives, they are listed here with them. Adverbial numerals give how many times a thing happened. 'once', 'twice', 'thrice, three times', 'four times', and so on.
The suffix -iÃÂns may also be spelled -iÃÂs: , , etc.
Multiplicative numerals are declinable adjectives. 'single', 'double', 'treble', 'fourfold', and so on.
These numerals decline as 3rd declension adjectives:
For completeness all the numbers have been given above. Not all of these numerals are attested in ancient books, however.
Based on this series of numerals there is a series of adverbs: 'simply, frankly', 'doubly, ambiguously', 'in three different ways' etc., as well as verbs such as 'to double', 'to triple', 'to make four times as much', and so on.
Proportional numerals are declinable adjectives. 'simple', 'twice as great', 'thrice as great', 'four times as great', and so on.
These are often used as nouns: 'the simple sum', 'double the amount of money' and so on.
==== ==== The numeral < Old Latin oinos âÂÂoneâÂÂ, with its cognates Old Irish óen âÂÂoneâÂÂ, Gothic ains âÂÂoneâÂÂ, Ancient Greek ÿἴý÷ oÃÂnàâÂÂace on diceâÂÂ, and the first part of Old Church Slavonic inorogà  âÂÂUnicornâÂÂ, harks back to Proto-Indo-European *Hoiï-no-s. The genitive forms and the dative form match the pronominal declension (cf. , etc.), the remaining forms (including a rare gen. f. ) conform with those of first and second declension adjectives. Nominative and accusative forms persist within the Romance languages as numeral and also in its secondarily acquired role as indefinite article, e. g. Old French and Occitan uns, une, un, Italian un, una, Spanish un, una, Portuguese um, uma, Romanian un, o.
==== ==== The masculine nominative/accusative forms < Old Latin âÂÂtwoâ is a cognate to Old Welsh dou âÂÂtwoâÂÂ, Greek ôÃÂàdÃ½à  âÂÂtwoâÂÂ, Sanskrit à ¤¦à ¥Âà ¤µà ¤¾ duvàâÂÂtwoâÂÂ, Old Church Slavonic dà Âva âÂÂtwoâÂÂ, that imply Proto-Indo-European *duuïo-h<sub>1</sub>, a Lindeman variant of monosyllabic *duïo-h<sub>1</sub>, living on in Sanskrit à ¤¦à ¥Âà ¤µà ¤¾ dvàâÂÂtwoâÂÂ, and slightly altered in Gothic twai âÂÂtwoâÂÂ, German zwei âÂÂtwoâ etc.; the feminine dà Âae points to an ancestral form *duuïah<sub>2</sub>-ih<sub>1</sub>. Both forms bear a dual ending, which otherwise in Latin is preserved only in âÂÂbothâÂÂ, and possibly in octà  âÂÂeightâÂÂ. The accusative forms m., f., the genitive , classical m./n., f., and the dative/ablative m./n., f., are original Latin formations replicating nominal declension patterns; at times, stands in for other case forms, especially when combined with invariant numerals, e. g. âÂÂtwenty-twoâÂÂ, âÂÂtwenty-eightâÂÂ.
Most Romance languages sustain an invariant form developed from the masculine accusative duà Âs > Spanish, Catalan, Occitan dos, French deux, Romansh duos, dus; Italian due seems to preserve the feminine nominative (or may have evolved from the feminine accusative ). Portuguese inflects masculine and feminine ; Romanian has and , respectively.
==== ==== The masculine and feminine nominative form âÂÂthreeâ and its cognates Gothic þreis âÂÂthreeâÂÂ, Greek ÃÂÃÂÃ栨Âàtreîs âÂÂthreeâÂÂ, Sanskrit à ¤¤à ¥Âà ¤°à ¤¯à ¤ trayaḥ âÂÂthreeâ are based on Proto-Indo-European *treiï-es; the original accusative form , matching Umbrian trif, Gothic þrins, Old Irish trÃÂ, Greek ÃÂÃÂïýàtrÃÂns < Proto-Indo-European *tri-ns, was being superseded from preclassical Latin onward. The neuter corresponds to Umbrian triia and Greek ÃÂÃÂïñ trÃÂa. The genitive is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European *triiï-om, unlike e. g. Greek ÃÂÃÂùῶý triôn with long -à Ân < -o-om, taken from the second declension; the dative/ablative form , as well as Umbrian tris < *trifos, sustains Proto-Indo-European *tri-bðos. The Romance languages only preserve one invariant form reflecting Latin > Spanish, Catalan, Occitan tres, Portuguese três, French trois, Romansh trais, treis, Romanian trei.
==== ==== The invariant numeral âÂÂfourâ does not fully correspond to any of its cognates in other languages, as Oscan petora âÂÂfourâÂÂ, Greek ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂñÃÂõàtéssares âÂÂfourâÂÂ, Old Irish cethair âÂÂfourâÂÂ, Gothic fidwôr âÂÂfourâÂÂ, Lithuanian keturì âÂÂfourâÂÂ, Old Church Slavonic ÃÂetyre âÂÂfourâ point to a Proto-Indo-European base *k÷etuïor-, that should appear as *quetuor in Latin; the actual -a- has been explained as epenthetic vowel emerging from a zero-grade *k÷tuïor-. The geminate -tt- might have been established to compensate the fluctuating quality of succeeding -u- between non-syllabic glide and full vowel apparent since Old Latin; in the postclassical form quattor this sound is dropped altogether, and in most Romance languages the second syllable is subject to syncope, which then is compensated by an additional vowel at the very end of the word, as in Spanish cuatro, Portuguese quatro, Italian quattro, French, Occitan, Catalan quatre, Romanian patru.
==== ==== The cardinal number âÂÂfiveâÂÂ, with its cognates Old Irish coÃÂc âÂÂfiveâÂÂ, Greek ÃÂÃÂýÃÂõ pénte âÂÂfiveâÂÂ, Sanskrit à ¤ªà ¤Âà ¥Âà ¤ pañca âÂÂfiveâÂÂ, leads back to Proto-Indo-European pénk÷e; the long -ë-, confirmed by preserved -i- in most Romance descendants, must have been transferred from the ordinal âÂÂfifthâÂÂ, where the original short vowel had been regularly lengthened preceding a cluster with a vanishing fricative: < *quià Âxtos < *k÷uià Âk÷tos < *k÷eà Âk÷-to-s. The assimilation of antevocalic *p- to -k÷- of the following syllable is a common feature of the Italic languages as well as the Celtic languages.