Gematria in the context of "Isopsephy"

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⭐ Core Definition: Gematria

In numerology, gematria (/ɡəˈmtriə/; Hebrew: גמטריא or גימטריה, gimatriyyā, plural גמטראות or גימטריות, gimatriyyot, borrowed via Aramaic from Koine Greek: γραμμάτια) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word, or phrase by reading it as a number, or sometimes by using an alphanumeric cipher. The letters of the alphabets involved have standard numerical values, but a word can yield several values if a cipher is used.

According to Aristotle (384–322 BCE), isopsephy, based on the Greek numerals developed in the city of Miletus in Anatolia, was part of the Pythagoreanism, which originated in the 6th century BCE. The first evidence of use of Hebrew letters as numbers dates to 78 BCE; gematria is still used in Jewish culture. Similar systems have been used in other languages and cultures, derived from or inspired by either Greek isopsephy or Hebrew gematria, and include Arabic abjad numerals and English gematria.

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👉 Gematria in the context of Isopsephy

In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the I and the E; from Greek ἴσος (ísos) 'equal' and ψῆφος (psêphos) 'count', lit.'pebble') or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical bridge to other words evaluating the equal number, which satisfies isos or "equal" in the term. Ancient Greeks used counting boards for numerical calculation and accounting, with a counter generically called psephos ('pebble'), analogous to the Latin word calculus, from which the English calculate is derived.

Isopsephy is related to gematria: the same practice using the Hebrew alphabet. It is also related to the ancient number systems of many other peoples (for the Arabic alphabet version, see Abjad numerals). A gematria of Latin script languages was also popular in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and its legacy remains an influence in code-breaking and numerology.

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Gematria in the context of Omega

Omega (US: /ˈmɡə, -ˈmɛɡə, -ˈmɡə/ , UK: /ˈmɪɡə/; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The name of the letter was originally (ō̂ [ɔ̂ː]), but it was later changed to ὦ μέγα (ō̂ méga 'big o') in the Middle Ages to distinguish it from omicron ο, whose name means 'small o', as both letters had come to be pronounced [o]. In modern Greek, its name has fused into ωμέγα (oméga).

In phonetic terms, the Ancient Greek Ω represented a long open-mid back rounded vowel [ɔː], in contrast to omicron, which represented the close-mid back rounded vowel [o], and the digraph ου, which represented the long close back rounded vowel [uː]. In modern Greek, both omega and omicron represent the mid back rounded vowel [o̞]. The letter omega is transliterated into a Latin-script alphabet as ō or simply o.

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Gematria in the context of Samekh

Samekh or samech is the fifteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician sāmek 𐤎, Hebrew sāmeḵ ס‎, Aramaic samek 𐡎, and Syriac semkaṯ ܣ. Samekh is the only letter of the Semitic abjad that has no surviving descendant in the Arabic alphabet; however, it was present in the Nabataean alphabet, the Arabic alphabet's immediate predecessor, as the letter simkath 𐢖‎, which was related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪏‎‎‎ and South Arabian 𐩯. The numerical value of samekh is 60. The page has Arabic س and Ge'ez ሰ in the cognate letters, because they are similar in pronunciation.

Samekh represents a voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. In the Hebrew language, the samekh ס‎ has the same pronunciation as the left-dotted shin שׂ‎.

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Gematria in the context of Onomancy

Onomancy (or nomancy) is divination based on a subject's name. Onomancy gained popularity in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, but is said to have originated with the Pythagoreans in antiquity. Several methods of analyzing a name are possible, some of which are based on arithmancy or gematria.

An early example of onomancy is found in the Secretum Secretorum. The system given there involves adding up the numerical values of the letters in the names of two antagonists, dividing the total for each person by 9, and comparing the remainders with a table which predicts the victor.

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Gematria in the context of Ohr

Ohr (Hebrew: אור, romanizedʾor, lit.'Light', plural: אורות ʾoroṯ) is a central Kabbalistic term in Jewish mysticism. The analogy to physical light describes divine emanations. Shefa "flow" (שפע šep̄aʿ) and its derivative, hashpaʾa "influence" (השפעה hašpāʿā), are sometimes alternatively used in Kabbalah and medieval Jewish philosophy to mean divine influence, while the Kabbalists favour ʾor because its numerical value equals ר״ז, a homonym for רז rāz "mystery". ʾOr is one of the two main Kabbalistic metaphors for understanding God, along with the other metaphor of the human soul-body relationship for the sefirot.

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