Editing Etruscan numerals (section)

==Digits==

The Etruscan numerical system included the following digits with known values:<ref name="heem2009">Gilles Van Heems (2009)> "[https://www.cairn.info/revue-de-philologie-litterature-et-histoire-anciennes-2009-1-page-103.htm Nombre, chiffre, lettre : Formes et réformes. Des notations chiffrées de l'étrusque]" ("Between Numbers and Letters: About Etruscan Notations of Numeral Sequences"). ''Revue de philologie, de littérature et d'histoire anciennes'', volume LXXXIII (83), issue 1, pp. 103–130. {{issn|0035-1652}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|-
!Digit
| [[File:Etruscan Numeral 1.svg|15x15px]]
| [[File:Etruscan Numeral 5.svg|15x15px]]
| [[File:Etruscan Numeral 10.svg|15x15px]]
| [[File:Etruscan Numeral 50.svg|15x15px]]
| [[File:Etruscan Numeral 100.svg|15x15px]]
|-
![[Unicode]]
| 𐌠
| 𐌡
| 𐌢
| 𐌣
| 𐌟
|-
!Value
| style="width:2em;" | 1
| style="width:2em;" | 5
| style="width:2em;" | 10
| style="width:2em;" | 50
| style="width:2em;" | 100
|}

(With the proper Unicode font installed, the first two rows should look the same.)

Examples are known of larger numbers, but it is unknown which digit represents which numeral. Most numbers were written with "additive notation", namely by writing digits that added to the desired number, from higher to lower value. Thus the number '87', for example, would be written 50 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 1 + 1 = "𐌣𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠".<ref name=heem2009/> (Since the Etruscan script was usually written from right to left, the number would appear as "𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌣" in inscriptions. This caveat holds for all the following examples.)

However, mirroring the way those numbers were spoken in their language, the Etruscans would often write 17, 18, and 19 as "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢", "𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌢", and "𐌠𐌢𐌢" – that is, "three from twenty", "two from twenty", and "one from twenty", instead of "𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠", "𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠", and "𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠".<ref name=heem2009/> (The Romans occasionally did the same for 18 and 19, matching the way they said those numbers: ''duodeviginti'' and ''undeviginti''. This habit has been attributed to Etruscan influence in the Latin language.<ref name=bonf>Giuliano Bonfante (1985): "Etruscan Words in Latin". ''Word'', volume 36, issue 3, pp. 203–210. {{doi|10.1080/00437956.1985.11435872}}</ref>)

The same pattern was used for 27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, etc. In contrast, the Etruscans generally wrote "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" for 4 (alone and in 14, 24, 34, etc.), "𐌢𐌢𐌢𐌢" for 40, and "𐌡𐌠𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" for 7, 8, and 9 alone. (In that they were unlike the Romans, who would write 4 as "IV", 9 as "IX", 40 as "XL".)<ref name=heem2009/>

These digits were used throughout the Etruscan zone of influence, from the plains of northern [[Italy]] to the region of modern [[Naples]], south of [[Rome]].  However, it should be kept in mind that there is in fact very little surviving evidence of these numerals.<ref name=heem2009/>

The Etruscan digits for 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 ("𐌠", "𐌡", "𐌢", "𐌣", and "𐌟") have been assigned specific codes in the Unicode computer character set, as part of the [[Old Italic (Unicode block)|Old Italic block]].

===Origins===
The Etruscan digits may have been based on the Greek [[Attic numerals]].{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}  However, other hypotheses have been advanced.

==== Hand signals ====
An old hypothesis, advanced by Th. Mommsen in 1887 and echoed by A. Hooper, is that the digits for 1, 5, and 10 were iconic for hand [[gestures for counting]].

In that hypothesis, the early inhabitants of the region counted from 1 to 4 by extending the same number of long fingers (index to little); gestures that were represented in writing by "𐌠", "𐌠𐌠", "𐌠𐌠𐌠", "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠".  The count of 5 was signaled by extending those 4 fingers plus the thumb; and the written digit "𐌡" is then meant to depict that hand, with the thumb out to the side. The numbers 6 to 9 then would be signaled by one fully open hand and 1 to 4 long fingers extended in the other; which would be depicted as "𐌡𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠", "𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠".  Finally 10 would be signaled by two hands with all fingers and thumbs extended; which, in writing, would be represented by the upper and lower halves of the digit "𐌢".<ref>Alfred Hooper. ''The River Mathematics'' (New York, H. Holt, 1945).</ref><ref name=momm1887>Th. Mommsen (1887): "Zahl- und Bruchzeichen". ''Hermes'', volume 22, issue 4, pp. 596–614.</ref>

==== Tally marks ====
Another hypothesis, which seems to be more accepted today{{According to whom|date=April 2022}}, is that the Etrusco-Roman numerals actually derive from notches on [[tally stick]]s, which continued to be used by Italian and [[Dalmatia]]n shepherds into the 19th century.<ref name="Ifrah2000">{{
cite book
| first1 = Georges
| last1 = Ifrah
| title = The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer
| others = Translated by David Bellos, E. F. Harding, Sophie Wood, Ian Monk
| publisher = John Wiley & Sons
| year = 2000
}}</ref><ref name=heem2009/> Unfortunately, being made of perishable wood, no tally sticks would have survived from that period.<ref name=heem2009/>

In that system, each unit counted would be recorded as a notch cut across the stick. Every fifth notch was double cut, i.e. "𐌡"  and every tenth was cross cut, "𐌢"; much like European [[tally marks]] today. For example, a count of '28' would then look like 
:𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌢𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠

When transposing the final count to writing (or to another stick), it would have been unnecessary to copy each "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠Λ𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" before a "𐌢", or each "𐌠𐌠𐌠𐌠" before a Λ. So the count of '28' would be written down as simply  "𐌢𐌢𐌡𐌠𐌠𐌠".