Numbers in Greek sans flexions

Table of Contents

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• 1 Ordinal and cardinal numbers
• 2 Writing numbers with letters
• 3 Decimals
• 4 Fractions
• 4.1 Writing fractions with letters

Ordinal and cardinal numbers

The basic ordinal and numbers are:

Note: the forms in -αќις are old words indicating “x times”, e.g. τρις “three times; thrice”; πενдαќις “five times”. The full series of such numbers will not be explained here, as they are used only in very large cardinal numbers and in ordinals greater than two thousand.

(The GSF way to indicate “x times” is with the noun φορα: ενα φορα, διο φορα(ς), πενдε φορα(ς) “once, twice, five times”.)

Writing numbers with letters

Numbers can be written with Arabic digits as in English (e.g. “2007” for “two thousand and seven”), or they can be written with letters, similar to the system used in Hebrew and Ancient Greek.

The thirty-five letters of the basic alphabet (without the four additional letters ж ч џ ш) are used to represent the numbers from one to nine; ten to ninety; a hundred to nine hundred; and a thousand to eight thousand. The letter omega (ω)—not otherwise used in GSF—is used to represent the number nine thousand.

To show that a string of letters represents a number and not a word, it is followed by a high number sign (properly U+0374 GREEK NUMERAL SIGN: ʹ; often an apostrophe ' for convenience).

Larger numbers, up to ninety million (or nine thousand myriads), can be represented by preceding a letter with a low number sign (properly U+0375 GREEK LOWER NUMERAL SIGN: ͵; often a comma , for convenience).

(Note that numbers with several zeroes in the middle in Arabic notation can be ambiguous when written with letters; for example, ,σολα' could stand for any of 16'900'001, 16'000'091, or 10'000'691—but not 16'910'000, which would be ,σολα without a final high number sign.)

Using letters to represent numbers is unusual, roughly equivalent to using Roman numerals in English. Examples of their use include:

• writing the regnal number of a ruler (e.g. Εљισαβετ Β', Elizabeth ΙΙ; Βενεδικτο ΕЃ', Benedict XVI; read Εљισαβετ το δεφτερο and Βενεδικτο το δεκατο εκτο)—nearly always in capitals in this use
• writing the number of a century (e.g. το ζ' εονα or το Ζ' εονα, the XXth century; read το ικοστο εονα)—either capital or lowercase
• numbering the pages of a preface or other front matter of a book (α', б', β', ...)—usually lowercase

Decimals

Decimals use a decimal comma (pronounced κομα) in GSF; thousands may be set off by a point in writing.

Thus, 3.14159 (read τρια κομα ενα τεσερα ενα πενдε ενεα), 12.345 (δεκα διο сιљο τριακοσьο σαρανдα πενдε), and 98.765.432,1 (ενεњινдα οχτο εκατομιρьο εφτακοσьο εξινдα πενдε сιљο τετρακοσьο τριανдα διο κομα ενα).

Fractions

Apart from “half”, which is μισο, fractions are formed from a cardinal number for the numerator and an ordinal number for the denominator (as in English).

Hence: ενα μισο “½, 1/2, one half”, τρια μισο(ς) “3/2, three halves”, ενα τριτο “⅓, 1/3, one third”, τρια τεταρτο(ς) “¾, 3/4, three quarters”, πενдε ογδοο(ς) “⅝, 5/8, five eighths”, ενα δεκατο τριτο “1/13, one thirteenth”, τρια εκατοστο(ς) “3/100, three hundredths”, εβδομινдα πενдε сιљοστο(ς) “75/1000, seventy-five thousandths”.

(Since εκατοστο and сιљοστο are commonly-used short forms of εκατοστομετρο and сιљοστομετρο, respectively, the last two examples can also mean “three centimetres” and “seventy-five millimetres”, respectively.)

In cases where the numerator is more than one, the plural -ς is optional, as with other nouns.

For per cent, per mille, per myriad, and “(parts) per million”, one can either use the regular forms for “hundredth”, “thousandth”, “ten thousandth”, and “millionth”, respectively, or the historical forms τις εκατο, τις сιљιις, τις μιριις, τις εκατομιριις, respectively. Examples: ογδονдα τις εκατο; διο κομα ενα τις сιљιις; εξι τις μιριις; τριανдα τις εκατομιριις “eighty per cent (80%); two point one per mille (2.1‰); six per myriad (6‱); thirty parts per million (30 ppm)”. (These are fossilised forms of the Ancient Greek dative case.)

Writing fractions with letters

It is also possible to write fractions with letters, though this is significantly rarer than writing whole numbers in letters.

Unit fractions (where the numerator is one) are written by writing out the denominator in letters as above, but using two high number signs instead of one: б'' ½; с'' ¼; ε'' 1/10.

Fractions with a numerator other than one are written as sums of unit fractions: б''ѓ'' 2/3 (= 1/2 + 1/6); б''γ''εс'' 5/7 (= 1/2 + 1/7 + 1/14).

The example fractions from the previous section would be written б'' (½); α'б'' (3/2); β'' (1/3); б''с'' (¾); б''д'' (⅝); εβ'' (1/13); ι''љ'' (3/100); ζ''θ'' (75/1000 = 3/40).

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