WHAT IT IS

Count how many letters the word has. This is not a standalone method of interpretation — it is a complementary observation combined with isopsephy and other techniques.

HISTORY & SOURCES

Letter counting is the first technique described by Barry (ch. 13) in the Ten Techniques of Greek Kabbalah. It concerns observations such as: the phrase "Let no one unversed in geometry enter" (inscription of Plato's Academy) has 24 letters — equal to the Greek alphabet, a symbol of totality. Similarly, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ has 6 letters — and 6 is a perfect number (1+2+3=6). The technique has no general interpretive rule: significance depends on the specific number and the tradition.

According to Chrisomalis (2010), the earliest examples of alphabetic numeration date to around 575 BC — 2,600 years of continuous use to this day (Holy Scripture, legal texts, ecclesiastical editions). The 3×9 structure (units 1–9, tens 10–90, hundreds 100–900) was adopted wholesale by 10+ alphabetic systems (Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Cyrillic etc.), making the Greek model the root of all alphabetic numeration in the world.

NUMBERS WITH SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE

24	= alphabet — symbol of totality/pleroma
6	= perfect number (1+2+3=6) — e.g. ΙΗΣΟΥΣ
7	= number of planets — rare for words
3, 12	= Triad, Dodecad — only in special phrases

HOW IT WORKS

Phrase: "Μηδείς ἀγεωμέτρητος εἰσίτω"
Count: Μ-Η-Δ-Ε-Ι-Σ-Α-Γ-Ε-Ω-Μ-Ε-Τ-Ρ-Η-Τ-Ο-Σ-Ε-Ι-Σ-Ι-Τ-Ω = 24 letters
24 = the Greek alphabet — the phrase "contains" the entire world of language

CONCLUSION

Two words with the same number of letters AND the same lexarithmos were considered especially related. Letter counting alone carries interpretive weight only when the number is connected to a known symbol.