Chapter V. The Numerals

§116. Sahidic writes the numerals in full, and only rarely uses the system founded on the Greek model, in which the letters of the alphabet have a numerical value. In Bohairic the Greek system is extensively used. To denote that letters had a numerical function a single stroke was written over them from 1®800 and a double stroke for the thousands. Note, in the following table, the odd symbol for 6 (see the MS) and the use of the barred  r  for 900.
§117. The Cardinal Numbers

§118. Composite Numerals. 11-99 were formed by placing the unit expressing the tens before the simple unit; e.g. mnt.4omte ‘13’. Note that 10 and 20 alone have a special form for constructing the composite numerals. The single units 1-8 appear in the last form shown in the table (§117); e.g. mnt.oue  (fem mnt.ouei) ‘11’, mnt.snoous  (fem mnt.snoouse) ‘12’, `out.sa43 ‘27’, `out.4mhn ‘28’, maab.th ‘35’, 6me.yis ‘49’. Note: With a3fte ‘4’ and ase ‘6’ following the analogy of mnt.a3te ‘14’, `out.a3te ‘24’, mnt.ase ‘16’, `out.ase ‘26’, everywhere t was inserted; e.g. maab.t.a3te ‘34’, 6me.t.ase ‘46’, 43e.t.ase ‘76’. Note: The t  of th ‘5’ coalesced with the final t  of both mnt- and `out-; thus mn.th  (for mnt.th) ‘15’ and `ou.th  (for `out.th) ‘25’.
§119. Occasionally the tens were combined with the units by means of the conjunction mn ‘With’; e.g. taiou  mn  oua ‘51’ (lit 50 with 1).
§120. The hundreds 300-900 and the thousands were formed: (1) with the Construct Form of the unit followed by 4e ‘100’ or 4o ‘1000’; e.g. 4mnt.4e ‘300’, 3tou.4o ‘4000’; (2) with the absolute form of the unit followed by n and 4e or  4o; e.g. 3toou  n.4e ‘400’, sa43  n.4o ‘7000’, 5ou  n.tba ‘50,000’ (lit. 5 ten thousands).
§121. Sometimes the method used to express the thousands is that of employing the tens followed by the hundreds; e.g. mht  n.4e ‘1000’ (lit. 10 hundreds), maab  n.4e ‘3000’ (lit. 30 hundreds). Note: 2is.tba ‘5000’ (lit. Half ten-thousand) (§127).
§122. The ciphers of a number can be written either: (1) without any connecting particle; e.g. e.3.me6  n.no2  n.tbt  e.u.eire  n.4e  taeiou  4omte ‘Being full of great fish, making one hundred fifty-three’ (Jn 21:11); or (2) with mn ‘With’; e.g. 6me.oue  n.4o  mn  3tou.4e ‘41,400’.
§123. Syntax of the Cardinal Numbers. The numerals precede the noun which they qualify and are linked to it by the particle n; e.g. 3toou  n.rwme ‘Four men’. The numeral agrees in gender with its noun which is in the singular; e.g. 4omte  n.ounou ‘Three hours’, t.mhte  m.parqenos ‘The ten virgins’. Note: There also occurs 4mt  6wb ‘Three things’ (the numeral being in the Construct Form); and the forms `p  soe ‘Sixth hour’ and `p  yite ‘Ninth hour’ (the noun precedes the numeral, and is in the Construct Form).
§124. The numeral ‘one’ is used in two ways: (1) in the full form, when it agrees in gender with its noun, to which it is linked by n; e.g. oua  n.ne3.4b-r  6m6al ‘One of his fellow-servants’, ouei  n.nei.entolh ‘One of these commandments’; or (2) in the toneless form ou- before the noun. As this latter form is used to express the Indefinite Article (§85), so that e.g. ou.rwme  might be translated either as ‘A man’ or as ‘One man’, the numeral is strengthened by the addition of the adjective  ouwt  ‘Only’ after the noun; e.g. ou.3w  n.ouwt ‘One hair’, ou.iwta  n.ouwt  h  ou.4wl6  n.ouwt ‘One iota or one dot’ (Mt 5:18).
§125. The numeral ‘Two’ generally follows its noun which is in the singular, and with which it agrees in gender; e.g. p4hre  snau ‘Two sons’, pson  snau ‘The two brothers’, ts6ime  snte ‘The two women’, t.snte ‘The two’. Note: The linking particle n  is not used. Sometimes the noun is shortened before the numeral; e.g. sep  snau ‘Two times’, rmpe  snte ‘Two years’.
§126. The Cardinals can be used distributively; e.g. oua  oua ‘One by one’, snau  snau ‘Two by two’. Note:  poua  poua ‘Each one’ and oua  n-.ouwt ‘Single one, each one’.
§127. Fractions. ‘Half’ is expressed either by pa4e; e.g. pa4e  n.te6in ‘Half the way’, tpa4e  n.ta.mnt.ero ‘The half of my kingdom’ (Mk 6:23); or by 2os, e.g. ou.ma6e  ou.2os ‘A cubit (and) a half’. Note: The construct form 2is-  is also used; e.g. 2is.tba ‘1/2 10,000’, 2is.kite ‘Drachma’ (lit. 1/2 kite). Also cf 2is.lauo ‘Half-sail’ (i.e. the Fore-sail). Fractions in which ‘One’ is the numerator, e.g. 1/3, 1/5, 1/12, etc., the construct form ra- ‘Part, fraction’ is placed before the numeral indicating the denominator; e.g. ra.4omnt ‘1/3’, ra.3toou ‘1/4’, ra.soou ‘1/6’. But note remht ‘1/10’, which has a plural re.mate  (§69). Note: ouwn ‘Part’ sometimes appears in forming a few fractions; e.g. ouwn  snau ‘1/2’, 4omnt  n.ouwn ‘1/3’.
§128. Multiplication is expressed quite simply by means of the numeral following the noun to which it refers, and the numeral itself followed by the noun kwb ‘Doubling’ linked to the numeral by n; e.g. 4omnt  n.kwb ‘Threefold’, a.u.taue  ou.karpos  ebol  n.4e  n.kwb ‘They produced fruit a hundredfold’ (Lk 8:8). Multiplication of one numeral by another is expressed by n  placed between the two numerals; e.g. sa43  n.43e  n.sop ‘Seventy times seven’ (lit. 7x70 times).
§129. The Ordinal Numbers
These are formed by placing the form me6- (lit. ‘That which completes’, the toneless form of mou6 ‘To fill’) before the Cardinal Numbers; e.g. me6.4omnt ‘Third’, me6.`ouwt ‘Twentieth’. Note: The word for ‘First’ 4orp  is generally used for both genders, though a fem 4orpe  is occasionally found. There is a construct form 4rp- which stands before its noun; e.g. p4r.p.tw4 ‘The first commandment’, but the absolute form may also be used with the linking n; e.g. p.4orp  n.tw4. Another word for ‘first’ is 6oueit, fem 6oueite, though in Sahidic this is mostly used as a substantive and rarely as an adjective.
§130. When used adjectivally the Ordinals stand either: (1) in front of their noun and linked by n; e.g. p.me6.sa43  n.sop ‘The seventh time’, p.me6.3toou  n.4wp   n.te.u4h ‘The fourth watch of the night’. Note: The old formation p.me6.rwme  snau  ‘The second man’ (lit. That which two men make complete) and t.me6.rompe  snte (or t.me6.rmpe snte) ‘The second year’, p.me6.sp  snau ‘The second time’; or (2) after their noun, linked by n, e.g., p.mou  m.me6.snau ‘The second death’.
§131. Notation of time
The year which commenced on 29^th August (30^th in a leap year) consisted of twelve months, each containing thirty days. Five extra days (six in a leap year) were added to complete the total of 365 (366). In Bohairic these days are called ‘The little month’ (pi.kou`i  nabot), but in Sahidic the Greek epagomenai is always used in describing them. rompe (rmpe-) is the usual word for year. Note: te.ke.rompe ‘Next year’,  t.n.rompe ‘Annually’,  rompe  n.brre ‘New year’,  rompe  n.ouwm ‘Alimony’ (lit. Year of food), rmp.4ire ‘Famine’ (lit. Year of little). Also note snou.3 ‘Last year’. sp-, sep-, is used in dating events only; e.g. t.sp.snte ‘The second year’.
§132. The Month:  ebot, pl ebate. The names of the months were:

§133. The Day: 6oou  is the usual word; e.g. mn.n.sa  soou  n.6oou ‘After six days’, 4a  pe.6oou ‘Until the day’, etc. It is widely used in a number of adverbial phrases; e.g. m.pe.6oou ‘By day’, n.ou.6oou ‘On a day, one day’. Note: p.oou  (for p.6oou) ‘Today’ in such phrases as m.p.oou ‘Today’, 4a.p.oou ‘Until today’, `in.p.oou ‘Since today’. Note: p.oou  n.6oou ‘This day’. Note: mhne (always in the form m.mhne) ‘Every day’. But when the day of a month or a festival is indicated, the form sou- (from shu ‘Time or season’) is used; e.g. n.sou  sa43  n.qoout ‘On the seventh day of Thowt’; note that the Cardinal Numeral is used. With the numeral ‘One’ contraction takes place; e.g. n.soua (for n.sou.oua) m.p.sabbaton ‘On the first day of the week’ (NB re Th 27), sou  apa  papnoute ‘The day (i.e. the festival) of Apa Papnoute’.
§134. Lesser divisions of time: nau ‘Hour, time’ (masc); cf the following compounds: nau  n.4wrp ‘Morning, early hour’, nau  m.meere ‘Midday’, nau  n.rou6e ‘Evening’; often in these compounds nou appears for nau. The following words are all feminine in gender: ounou (pl ounooue) ‘Hour’ (note 2is.ounou ‘Half-hour’), 6ote ‘Hour, moment’, `p- (`ep-) ‘Hour’ (mostly with following numeral); e.g. m.p.nau  n.`p.soe  mn  `p.yite ‘At the sixth hour and the ninth hour’ (Mt 20:5).
§135. Dating. The oldest documents were dated after the various occasions of the fixing of the tax assessment by the Roman authorities. From the time of Diocletian (297 AD), this tax assessment was made every 15 years. It is to be noted that it was customary to use the Greek numerals; e.g. n.t.rompe  ths  tetarths  indik(tionos), n.ti.rompe  oktohs  ind(ikti) o(nos).
§136. But from the time of the Arab Conquest of Egypt (640 AD), the year was usually dated from ‘The year of Diocletian’ or ‘The year of the Martyrs’ which commenced the 29^th of August 284 AD, a date which commemorated the most severe persecution of the Christian Church by the Roman authorities; e.g. etous  diokl[htianos] basileus  una  ‘In the year of King Diocletian 451’. Later it was also customary to use the Mohammedan method of reckoning the year from the Hegira (16^th July 622 AD); e.g. etous  diokl(htianos)  basileus  una   kai  etous  sarakoinon  rid  ‘In the year of King Diocletian 451 and in the year of the Saracens 114’.