Descendant Alphabetic Systems
10 alphabetic numerations that copied the Greek structure
INTRODUCTION
The Greek alphabetic numeral system is the root of ALL alphabetic numerations in the world. At least 10 systems copied its structure, replacing Greek letters with their own. None developed independently.
IN DEPTH
Chrisomalis documents that every alphabetic numeral system in history descends from the Greek model. The structure of 27+ signs, decimal base, ciphered-additive — was copied wholesale.
Notable: some descendants added letters without phonetic value, solely to complete the enneads. Ulfilas' Gothic (~350 AD) includes 2 signs without phonetic value (90 and 900). Georgian and Armenian (4th cent.) use 36 = 4×9 signs — 2 initially without phonetic value, which later acquired one.
Roman numerals — common misconceptions: Roman numerals were NOT originally alphabetic — they were abstract symbols. The original sign for 1000 was not "M" but a symbol resembling an infinity sign. D (500) = right half of the 1000 symbol, V (5) = top half of X (10). Later the symbols "matched" letters: M→milia, C→centum. Critical: the Romans NEVER used Roman numerals for arithmetic operations — they used the abacus.
Genealogical tree:
Egyptian Demotic (8th c. BC) → Greek Alphabetic (6th c. BC) → 10 descendants
Egyptian Demotic → Brāhmī (3rd c. BC) → Indian positional + zero (6th-7th c.) → Arabic positional (8th-10th c.) → Western 0-9 (12th-15th c.)
That is: Egyptian demotic is the common ancestor of BOTH Greek isopsephy AND modern numbers 0-9.
In 5,500 years of history, only 6-7 numeral systems were invented independently. The remaining ~93 are borrowed or modified.
10 ALPHABETIC DESCENDANT SYSTEMS
| Hebrew | ~125 BC | 22 + 5 finals = 27 |
| Coptic | 3rd-2nd c. BC | 27+ (Greek + demotic) |
| Ethiopic | 4th c. AD | 26+ signs |
| Gothic | ~350 AD | 27 (2 without phonetic value) |
| Armenian | 406 AD | 36 = 4×9 |
| Georgian | 4th c. AD | 36 = 4×9 |
| Syriac | — | 22 basic + extensions |
| Arabic abjad | 7th-8th c. | 28 (abjad order) |
| Cyrillic | 9th c. | 27+ (based on Greek) |
| Latin alphabetic | Middle Ages | Rare usage |
CONCLUSION
Every alphabetic numeration in the world is a copy or adaptation of the Greek model. The enneadic structure (3×9 or 4×9) was reproduced even in languages that needed artificial symbols to complete it.
SOURCES
Chrisomalis (2010) ch. 5, 13 · Psychoyos (2005) — comparative alphabet table