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In
numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
, gematria (; or , plural or ) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word, or phrase by reading it as a
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
, or sometimes by using an alphanumeric
cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...
. The letters of the
alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...
s involved have standard numerical values, but a word can yield several values if a cipher is used. According to
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
(384–322 BCE),
isopsephy In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the ''I'' and the ''E''; , ) or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the Greek numerals, number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical brid ...
, based on the Milesian numbering of the Greek alphabet developed in the Greek city of
Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...
, was part of the Pythagorean tradition, which originated in the 6th century BCE. The first evidence of use of
Hebrew letters The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish ...
as numbers dates to 78 BCE; gematria is still used in
Jewish culture Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not simply a faith-based religion, but an orthopraxy and Ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, ...
. 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 The Abjad numerals, also called Hisab al-Jummal (, ), are a decimal alphabetic numeral system/alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been used in the Arab world, Arabic-speaking ...
and English gematria. The most common form of Hebrew gematria is used in the
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
and
Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
; or ''midrashot' ...
, and elaborately by many post-Talmudic commentators. It involves reading words and sentences as numbers and assigning numerical instead of phonetic values to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When read as numbers, they can be compared and contrasted with other words or phrases; cf. the Hebrew proverb (, , i.e. ). The gematric value of ('wine') is 70 (=10; =10; =50) and this is also the gematric value of ('secret', =60; =6; =4)‎. Gematria sums can involve single words or a string of lengthy calculations. A short example of Hebrew numerology that uses gematria is the word , which is composed of two letters that (using the assignments in the table shown below) add up to 18. This has made 18 a "
lucky number In number theory, a lucky number is a natural number in a set which is generated by a certain " sieve". This sieve is similar to the sieve of Eratosthenes that generates the primes, but it eliminates numbers based on their position in the rema ...
" among Jews. In early Jewish sources, the term can also refer to other forms of calculation or letter manipulation, for example
atbash Atbash (; also transliterated Atbaš) is a monoalphabetic substitution cipher originally used to encrypt the Hebrew alphabet. It can be modified for use with any known writing system with a standard collating order. Encryption The Atbash ciph ...
.


Etymology

Classical scholars agree that the Hebrew word ''gematria'' derives from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
γεωμετρία ''geōmetriā'', "
geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
", though some scholars believe it derives from γραμματεια ''grammateia'' "knowledge of
writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...
". It is likely that both Greek words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word. Some hold it to derive from the order of the
Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...
, gamma being the third letter of the Greek alphabet ("gamma tria"). The word has been extant in English since at least the 17th century from translations of works by
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico dei conti della Mirandola e della Concordia ( ; ; ; 24 February 146317 November 1494), known as Pico della Mirandola, was an Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher. He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, ...
. It is largely used in Jewish texts, notably those associated with the
Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
. Neither the concept nor the term appears in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...
. In this inscription, Sargon II states: "the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name." The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city of
Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...
, and is thus known as the Milesian system. Early examples include vase graffiti dating to the 6th century BCE. Aristotle wrote that the Pythgoraean tradition, founded in the 6th century BCE by
Pythagoras of Samos Pythagoras of Samos (;  BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...
, practiced
isopsephy In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the ''I'' and the ''E''; , ) or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the Greek numerals, number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical brid ...
, the Greek predecessor of gematria. Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophers
Anaximander Anaximander ( ; ''Anaximandros''; ) was a Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus,"Anaximander" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes Ltd, George Newnes, 1961, Vol. ...
, Anaximenes, and the historian Hecataeus, all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea from
Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...
. The Milesian system was in common use by the reign of
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
(336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequent
Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
. It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign of
Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...
(284–246 BCE). In early biblical texts, numbers were written out in full using Hebrew number words. The first evidence of the use of Hebrew letters as numerals appears during the late Hellenistic period, in 78 BCE. Scholars have identified gematria in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Hasmonean dynasty The Hasmonean dynasty (; ''Ḥašmōnāʾīm''; ) was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period (part of classical antiquity), from BC to 37 BC. Between and BC the dynasty rule ...
(c. 140 BCE to 37 BCE), though some scholars argue it was not fixed until the second century CE or even later.McDonald & Sanders, ''The Canon Debate'', 2002, p. 5, cited are Neusner's ''Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine'', pp. 128–145, and ''Midrash in Context: Exegesis in Formative Judaism'', pp. 1–22. The Hasmonean king of Judea,
Alexander Jannaeus Alexander Jannaeus ( , English: "Alexander Jannaios", usually Latinised to "Alexander Jannaeus"; ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judaea from 103 to 76 BCE. ...
(died 76 BCE) had coins inscribed in Aramaic with the
Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most of the 1st millennium BC. It was one of the first alphabets, attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions fo ...
, marking the 20th and 25th years of his reign using the letters K and KE ( and ). Some old Mishnaic texts may preserve very early usage of this number system, but no surviving written documents exist, and some scholars believe these texts were passed down orally and during the early stages before the
Bar Kochba rebellion The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded in establishing an indepe ...
were never written. Gematria is not known to be found in the Dead Sea scrolls, a vast body of texts from 100 BCE100 CE, or in any of the documents found from the Bar-Kochba revolt circa 150 CE. According to
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...
in his commentary on the '' Timaeus'' of
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
written in the 5th century, the author Theodorus Asaeus from a century earlier interpreted the word "soul" (ψυχή) based on gematria and an inspection of the graphical aspects of the letters that make up the word. According to Proclus, Theodorus learned these methods from the writings of
Numenius of Apamea Numenius of Apamea (, ''Noumēnios ho ex Apameias''; ) was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Rome, and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists. Philosophy Statements ...
and
Amelius Amelius (; ), whose family name was Gentilianus, was a Neoplatonist philosopher and writer of the second half of the 3rd century. Biography Amelius was a native of Apamea or Tuscany.Porphyry, ''Vit. Plotin.'' 7 Originally a student of the works of ...
. Proclus rejects these methods by appealing to the arguments against them put forth by the Neoplatonic philosopher
Iamblichus Iamblichus ( ; ; ; ) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who determined a direction later taken by Neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical co ...
. The first argument was that some letters have the same numerical value but opposite meaning. His second argument was that the form of letters changes over the years, and so their graphical qualities cannot hold any deeper meaning. Finally, he puts forth the third argument that when one uses all sorts of methods as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and even ratios, the infinite ways in which these can be combined allow virtually any number to be produced to suit any purpose. Some scholars propose that at least two cases of gematria appear in the New Testament. According to one theory, the reference to the miraculous "catch of 153 fish" in John 21:11 is an application of gematria derived from the name of the spring called 'EGLaIM in Ezekiel 47:10. The appearance of this gematria in John 21:11 has been connected to one of the
Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
, namely 4Q252, which also applies the same gematria of 153 derived from Ezekiel 47 to state that Noah arrived at Mount Ararat on the 153rd day after the beginning of the flood. Some historians see gematria behind the reference to the number of the name of the Beast in
Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
as 666, which corresponds to the numerical value of the Hebrew transliteration of the Greek name "Neron Kaisar", referring to the 1st century Roman emperor who persecuted the early Christians. Another possible influence on the use of 666 in Revelation goes back to reference to Solomon's intake of 666 talents of gold in 1 Kings 10:14. Gematria makes several appearances in various Christian and Jewish texts written in the first centuries of the common era. One appearance of gematria in the early Christian period is in the
Epistle of Barnabas The Epistle of Barnabas () is an early Christian Greek epistle written between AD 70 and AD 135. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus, where it appears at the end of the New Testament, following the Book of Revelati ...
9:6–7, which dates to sometime between 70 and 132 CE. There, the 318 servants of
Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
in
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
14:14 is used to indicate that Abraham looked forward to the coming of Jesus as the numerical value of some of the letters in the Greek name for Jesus and the 't' representing a symbol for the cross also equaled 318. Another example is a Christian interpolation in the
Sibylline Oracles The ''Sibylline Oracles'' (; sometimes called the pseudo-Sibylline Oracles) are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state. Fourteen b ...
, where the symbolic significance of the value of
888 888 commonly refers to: * 888 (number), an integer * 888 BC, a year of the 9th century BC * AD 888, a year of the Julian calendar 888 or triple eight may also refer to: Telecommunication * 888 is prefix/area code for toll-free telephone num ...
(equal to the numerical value of ''Iesous'', the Latinized rendering of the Greek version of Jesus' name) is asserted.This and several other examples of the appearance of gematria are given in D.S. Russell. "Countdown: Arithmetic and Anagram in Early Biblical Interpretation". Expository Times 1993. Irenaeus also heavily criticized the interpretation of letters by the Gnostic
Marcus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...
. Because of their association with Gnosticism and the criticisms of Irenaeus and
Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome ( , ; Romanized: , – ) was a Bishop of Rome and one of the most important second–third centuries Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communitie ...
and
Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...
, this form of interpretation never became popular in Christianity—though it does appear in at least some texts. Another two examples can be found in
3 Baruch 3 Baruch or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is a visionary, pseudepigraphic text written some time between the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the third century. Scholars disagree on whether it was written by a Jew or a Christian, or whether a ...
, a text that may have either been composed by a Jew or a Christian sometime between the 1st and 3rd centuries. In the first example, a snake is stated to consume a cubit of ocean every day, but is unable to ever finish consuming it, because the oceans are also refilled by 360 rivers. The number 360 is given because the numerical value of the Greek word for snake, ''δράκων'', when transliterated to Hebrew () is 360. In a second example, the number of giants stated to have died during the Deluge is 409,000. The Greek word for 'deluge', ''κατακλυσμός'', has a numerical value of 409 when transliterated in Hebrew characters, thus leading the author of 3 Baruch to use it for the number of perished giants. Gematria is often used in
Rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...
. One example is that the numerical value of "''The Satan"'' () in Hebrew is 364, and so it was said that the Satan had authority to prosecute Israel for 364 days before his reign ended on the
Day of Atonement Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...
, an idea which appears in Yoma 20a and Peskita 7a. Yoma 20a states: "Rami bar Ḥama said: The numerological value of the letters that constitute the word HaSatan is three hundred and sixty four: Heh has a value of five, sin has a value of three hundred, tet has a value of nine, and nun has a value of fifty. Three hundred and sixty-four days of the solar year, which is three hundred and sixty-five days long, Satan has license to prosecute." Genesis 14:14 states that Abraham took 318 of his servants to help him rescue some of his kinsmen, which was taken in Peskita 70b to be a reference to Eleazar, whose name has a numerical value of 318. The total value of the letters of the Islamic
Basmala The (; also known by its opening words ; , "In the name of God in Islam, God") is the titular name of the Islamic phrase “In the name of God in Islam, God, Rahman (name), the Most Gracious, Rahim, the Most Merciful” (, ). It is one of ...
, i.e. the phrase ''Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim'' ("In the name of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful"), according to the standard Abjadi system of
numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
, is
786 __NOTOC__ Year 786 ( DCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 786th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 786th year of the 1st millennium, the 86th year of the 8th century, and th ...
.Shah & Haleem (eds.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies'', Oxford University Press, 2020, pp581, 587–88 This number has therefore acquired a significance in
folk Islam Folk religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises, according to religious studies and folkloristics, various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. ...
and Near Eastern folk magic and also appears in many instances of pop-culture, such as its appearance in the 2006 song '786 All is War' by the band Fun-Da-Mental. A recommendation of reciting the basmala 786 times in sequence is recorded in Al-Buni. Sündermann (2006) reports that a contemporary " spiritual healer" from Syria recommends the recitation of the basmala 786 times over a cup of water, which is then to be ingested as medicine. The use of gematria is still pervasive in many parts of Asia and Africa.


Methods of Hebrew gematria


Standard encoding

In standard gematria (''mispar hechrechi''), each letter is given a numerical value between 1 and 400, as shown in the following table. In ''mispar gadol'', the five final letters are given their own values, ranging from 500 to 900. It is possible that this well-known cipher was used to conceal other more hidden ciphers in Jewish texts. For instance, a scribe may discuss a sum using the 'standard gematria' cipher, but may intend the sum to be checked with a different secret cipher. A mathematical formula for finding a letter's corresponding number in ''mispar gadol'' is: :f(x) = 10^ \times ((x-1 \mod 9) + 1), where ''x'' is the position of the letter in the language letters index (regular order of letters), and the
floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from wikt:hovel, simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the ex ...
and
modulo In computing and mathematics, the modulo operation returns the remainder or signed remainder of a division, after one number is divided by another, the latter being called the '' modulus'' of the operation. Given two positive numbers and , mo ...
functions are used.


Vowels

The value of the Hebrew vowels is not usually counted, but some lesser-known methods include the vowels as well. The most common vowel values are as follows (a less common alternative value, based on the
digit sum In mathematics, the digit sum of a natural number in a given radix, number base is the sum of all its numerical digit, digits. For example, the digit sum of the decimal number 9045 would be 9 + 0 + 4 + 5 = 18. Definition Let n be a natural number. ...
, is given in parentheses): Sometimes, the names of the vowels are spelled out and their gematria is calculated using standard methods.


Other methods

There are many different methods used to calculate the numerical value for the individual Hebrew/Aramaic words, phrases or whole sentences. Gematria is the 29th of 32 hermeneutical rules countenanced by the Rabbis of the Talmud for valid
aggadic Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...
interpretation of the Torah. More advanced methods are usually used for the most significant Biblical verses,
prayers File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
, names of God, etc. These methods include: * ''Mispar hechrachi'' (absolute value) is the standard method. It assigns the values 1–9, 10–90, 100–400 to the 22 Hebrew letters in order. Sometimes it is also called ''mispar ha-panim'' (face number), as opposed to the more complicated ''mispar ha-akhor'' (back number). * ''Mispar gadol'' (large value) counts the final forms (sofit) of the Hebrew letters as a continuation of the numerical sequence for the alphabet, with the final letters assigned values from 500 to 900. The name ''mispar gadol'' is sometimes used for a different method, ''Otiyot beMilui''. * The same name, ''mispar gadol'', is also used for another method, which spells the name of each letter and adds the standard values of the resulting string. For example, the letter ''aleph'' is spelled ''aleph lamed peh'', giving it a value of 1+30+80=111. * ''Mispar katan'' (small value) calculates the value of each letter, but truncates all of the zeros. It is also sometimes called ''mispar me'ugal''. * ''Mispar siduri'' (ordinal value) with each of the 22 letters given a value from 1 to 22. * ''Mispar bone'eh'' (building value, also ''revu'a'', square) is calculated by walking over each letter from the beginning to the end, adding the value of all previous letters and the value of the current letter to the running total. Therefore, the value of the word ''achad'' (one) is 1 + (1 + 8) + (1 + 8 + 4) = 23. * ''Mispar kidmi'' (preceding value) uses each letter as the sum of all the standard gematria letter values preceding it. Therefore, the value of ''aleph'' is 1, the value of ''bet'' is 1+2=3, the value of ''gimel'' is 1+2+3=6, etc. It is also known as ''mispar meshulash'' (triangular or tripled number). * ''Mispar p'rati'' calculates the value of each letter as the square of its standard gematria value. Therefore, the value of ''aleph'' is 1 × 1 = 1, the value of ''bet'' is 2 × 2 = 4, the value of ''gimel'' is 3 × 3 = 9, etc. It is also known as ''mispar ha-merubah ha-prati''. * ''Mispar ha-merubah ha-klali'' is the square of the standard absolute value of each word. * ''Mispar meshulash'' calculates the value of each letter as the cube of their standard value. The same term is more often used for ''mispar kidmi''. * ''Mispar ha-akhor'' – The value of each letter is its standard value multiplied by the position of the letter in a word or a phrase in either ascending or descending order. This method is particularly interesting, because the result is sensitive to the order of letters. It is also sometimes called ''mispar meshulash'' (triangular number). * ''Mispar mispari'' spells out the standard values of each letter by their Hebrew names ("achad" (one) is 1+8+4=13 etc.), and then adds up the standard values of the resulting string. * ''Otiyot be-milui'' ("filled letters", also known as ''mispar gadol'' or ''mispar shemi''), uses the value of each letter as equal to the value of its name. For example, the value of the letter ''aleph'' is (1 + 30 + 80) = 111, ''bet'' is (2 + 10 + 400) = 412, etc. Sometimes the same operation is applied two or more times recursively. In a variation known as ''otiyot pnimiyot'' (inner letters), the initial letter in the spelled-out name is omitted, thus the value of ''aleph'' becomes 30+80=110. * ''Mispar ne'elam'' (hidden number) spells out the name of each letter without the letter itself (e.g., "leph" for ''aleph'') and adds up the value of the resulting string. * ''Mispar katan mispari'' (integral reduced value) is used where the total numerical value of a word is reduced to a single digit. If the sum of the value exceeds 9, the integer values of the total are repeatedly added to produce a single-digit number. The same value will be arrived at regardless of whether it is the absolute values, the ordinal values, or the reduced values that are being counted by methods above. For example, the value of word ''emet'' (truth - אֶמֶת) is ''aleph'' + ''mem'' + ''tav'': 1 + 40 + 400 = 441 \rightarrow 1 + 4 + 4 = 9, ''Emet - Emet'' is (1 + 4 + 4) + (1 + 4 + 4) = 18 \rightarrow 1 + 8 = 9, ''emet - emet - emet'' is (1 + 4 + 4) + (1 + 4 + 4) + (1 + 4 + 4) = 27 \rightarrow 2 + 7 = 9, etc. * ''Mispar musafi'' adds the number of the letters in the word or phrase to their gematria. * ''Kolel'' is the number of words, which is often added to the gematria. In case of one word, the standard value is incremented by one.


Related transformations

Within the wider topic of gematria are included the various alphabet transformations, where one letter is substituted by another based on a logical scheme: * ''
Atbash Atbash (; also transliterated Atbaš) is a monoalphabetic substitution cipher originally used to encrypt the Hebrew alphabet. It can be modified for use with any known writing system with a standard collating order. Encryption The Atbash ciph ...
'' exchanges each letter in a word or a phrase by ''opposite'' letters. Opposite letters are determined by substituting the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (''aleph'') with the last letter (''tav''), the second letter (''bet'') with the next to last (''shin''), etc. The result can be interpreted as a secret message or calculated by the standard gematria methods. A few instances of ''atbash'' are found already in the Hebrew
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. For example, see
Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...
25:26, and 51:41, with
Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...
and
Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...
, in which the name ששך ("Sheshek") is thought to represent בבל (
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
). * ''Albam'' – the alphabet is divided in half, eleven letters in each section. The first letter of the first series is exchanged for the first letter of the second series, the second letter of the first series for the second letter of the second series, and so forth. * ''Achbi'' divides the alphabet into two equal groups of 11 letters. Within each group, the first letter is replaced by the last, the second by the 10th, etc. * ''Ayak bakar'' replaces each letter by another one that has a 10-times-greater value. The final letters usually signify the numbers from 500 to 900. Thousands is reduced to ones (1,000 becomes 1, 2,000 becomes 2, etc.) * ''Ofanim'' replaces each letter by the last letter of its name (e.g. ''peh'' for ''aleph''). * ''Akhas beta'' divides the alphabet into three groups of 7, 7 and 8 letters. Each letter is replaced cyclically by the corresponding letter of the next group. The letter Tav remains the same. * ''Avgad'' replaces each letter by the next one. ''Tav'' becomes ''aleph''. The opposite operation is also used. Most of the above-mentioned methods and ciphers are listed by Rabbi Moshe Cordevero. Some authors provide lists of as many as 231 various replacement ciphers, related to the 231 mystical Gates of the ''
Sefer Yetzirah ''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is a work of Jewish mysticism. Early commentaries, such as the ''Kuzari'', treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory, as opposed t ...
''.Elazar Rokeach, ''Sefer ha-Shem'' Dozens of other far more advanced methods are used in Kabbalistic literature, without any particular names. In Ms. Oxford 1,822, one article lists 75 different forms of gematria. Some known methods are
recursive Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...
in nature and are reminiscent of
graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
or make a lot of use of
combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
. Rabbi Elazar Rokeach (born c. 1176 – died 1238) often used multiplication, instead of addition, for the above-mentioned methods. For example, spelling out the letters of a word and then multiplying the squares of each letter value in the resulting string produces very large numbers, in orders of trillions. The spelling process can be applied recursively, until a certain pattern (e.g., all the letters of the word "
Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
") is found; the gematria of the resulting string is then calculated. The same author also used the sums of all possible unique letter combinations, which add up to the value of a given letter. For example, the letter Hei, which has the standard value of 5, can be produced by combining 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 2 + 1 + 1 + 1, 3 + 1 + 1, 4+1, 2 + 2 + 1, or 2+3, which adds up to 30. Sometimes combinations of repeating letters are not allowed (e.g., 2+3 is valid, but 3 + 1 + 1 is not). The original letter itself can also be viewed as a valid combination. Variant spellings of some letters can be used to produce sets of different numbers, which can be added up or analyzed separately. Many various complex
formal system A formal system is an abstract structure and formalization of an axiomatic system used for deducing, using rules of inference, theorems from axioms. In 1921, David Hilbert proposed to use formal systems as the foundation of knowledge in ma ...
s and recursive algorithms, based on graph-like structural analysis of the letter names and their relations to each other,
modular arithmetic In mathematics, modular arithmetic is a system of arithmetic operations for integers, other than the usual ones from elementary arithmetic, where numbers "wrap around" when reaching a certain value, called the modulus. The modern approach to mo ...
, pattern search and other highly advanced techniques, are found in the "Sefer ha-Malchut" by Rabbi David ha-Levi of the Draa Valley, a Spanish-Moroccan Kabbalist of the 15th–16th century.Sefer ha-Malchut, "Sifrei Chaim", Jerusalem, 2008 Rabbi David ha-Levi's methods also consider the numerical values and other properties of the vowels. Kabbalistic
astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
uses some specific methods to determine the astrological influences on a particular person. According to one method, the gematria of the person's name is added to the gematria of his or her mother's name; the result is then divided by 7 and 12. The remainders signify a particular planet and Zodiac sign.


Transliterated Hebrew

Historically, hermetic and esoteric groups of the 19th and 20th centuries in the UK and in France used a transliterated Hebrew cipher with the Latin alphabet. In particular, the transliterated cipher was taught to members of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, ...
. In 1887, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, who was one of the order's founders, published the transliterated cipher in '' The Kabbalah Unveiled'' in the Mathers table. As a former member of the Golden Dawn,
Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
used the transliterated cipher extensively in his writings for his two magical orders the
A∴A∴ The A∴A∴ ( ) is a magical organization established in 1907 by Aleister Crowley, a Western esotericist. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of univ ...
and
Ordo Templi Orientis Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.; ) is an occult secret society and hermetic magical organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. The origins of O.T.O. can be traced back to the German-speaking occultists Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, ...
(O.T.O). Many other occult authors belonging to various esoteric groups have either mentioned the cipher or published it in their books, including Paul Foster Case of the
Builders of the Adytum The Builders of the Adytum (BOTA, also spelled B.O.T.A., BotA, or B.o.t.A.) is a school of the Western mystery tradition based in Los Angeles which is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt religious organization. It was founded by Paul Foster C ...
(B.O.T.A).


Use in non-Semitic languages


Greek

According to
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
(384–322 BCE),
isopsephy In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the ''I'' and the ''E''; , ) or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the Greek numerals, number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical brid ...
, an early Milesian system using the Greek alphabet, was part of the Pythagorean tradition, which originated in the 6th century BCE.
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
(c. 427–347 BCE) offers a discussion in the ''
Cratylus Cratylus ( ; , ''Kratylos'') was an ancient Athenian philosopher from the mid-late 5th century BC, known mostly through his portrayal in Plato's dialogue '' Cratylus''. He was a radical proponent of Heraclitean philosophy and influenced the you ...
'', involving a view of words and names as referring (more or less accurately) to the "essential nature" of a person or object and that this view may have influenced—and is central to—isopsephy. A sample of graffiti at
Pompeii Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
(destroyed under volcanic ash in 79 CE) reads "I love the girl whose name is phi mu epsilon (545)". Other examples of use in Greek come primarily from the Christian literature. Davies and Allison state that, unlike
rabbinic Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...
sources, isopsephy is always explicitly stated as being used.


Latin

During the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
, systems of gematria were devised for the
Classical Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from —additions su ...
. There were a number of variations of these which were popular in Europe.Tatlow, Ruth. ''Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet''. Cambridge University Press, 1991. pg. 130-133. In 1525,
Christoph Rudolff Christoph Rudolff (born 1499 in Jawor, Silesia, died 1545 in Vienna) was a German mathematician, the author of the first German textbook on algebra. From 1517 to 1521, Rudolff was a student of Henricus Grammateus (Schreyber from Erfurt) at the U ...
included a Classical Latin gematria in his work ''Nimble and beautiful calculation via the artful rules of algebra
hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...
are so commonly called "coss"'': A=1 B=2 C=3 D=4 E=5 F=6 G=7 H=8 I=9 K=10 L=11 M=12
N=13 O=14 P=15 Q=16 R=17 S=18 T=19 U=20 W=21 X=22 Y=23 Z=24 At the beginning of the ''Apocalypisis in Apocalypsin'' (1532), the German monk
Michael Stifel Michael Stifel or Styfel (1487 – April 19, 1567) was a German monk, Protestant reformer and mathematician. He was an Augustinians, Augustinian who became an early supporter of Martin Luther. He was later appointed professor of mathematics at Je ...
(also known as Steifel) describes the natural order and trigonal number alphabets, claiming to have invented the latter. He used the trigonal alphabet to interpret the prophecy in the Biblical Book of Revelation, and predicted the world would end at 8am on October 19, 1533. The official Lutheran reaction to Steifel's prophecy shows that this type of activity was not welcome. Belief in the power of numbers was unacceptable in reformed circles, and gematria was not part of the reformation agenda.Dudley, Underwood. ''Numerology, Or, What Pythagoras Wrought''. Cambridge University Press, 1997. An analogue of the Greek system of isopsephy using the Latin alphabet appeared in 1583, in the works of the French poet
Étienne Tabourot Étienne Tabourot (), seigneur des Accords, also called Tabourot des Accords or Seigneur des Accords (1549–1590) Simonin, Michel, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle.'' Article "Tabourot (Étienne)", pp.1105-1106, Pari ...
. This cipher and variations of it were published or referred to in the major work of Italian
Pietro Bongo Pietro Bongo (alternate spelling: Petrus Bungus) was a renaissance Italian writer. Life He came from a noble family. He was born and raised in Bergamo, Italy. He died on 24 September 1601. Career He studied the four mathematical arts of ...
''Numerorum Mysteria,'' and a 1651 work by
Georg Philipp Harsdörffer Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1 November 1607 – 17 September 1658) was a Jurist, Baroque-period German poet and translator. Life and career Georg Philipp Harsdörffer was born in Nuremberg on 1 November 1607 into a patrician family. He studied ...
, and by
Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jes ...
in 1665, and in a 1683 volume of ''Cabbalologia'' by Johann Henning, where it was simply referred to as the ''1683 alphabet''. It was mentioned in the work of ''The European Helicon or Muse Mountain'', in 1704, and it was also called the ''Alphabetum Cabbalisticum Vulgare'' in ''Die verliebte und galante Welt'' by
Christian Friedrich Hunold Christian Friedrich Hunold (born 29 September 1680 in Wandersleben near Gotha, died 16 August 1721 in Halle) was a German author who wrote under the pseudonym Menantes. Biography Hunold went to school in Arnstadt and continued in 1691 at ...
in 1707. It was used by
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
in his 1865 work ''
War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...
'' to identify
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
with the
number of the Beast The number of the beast (, ) is associated with the The Beast (Revelation), Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of ...
.


English

English Qabalah refers to several different systems of
mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
related to
Hermetic Qabalah Hermetic Qabalah () is a Western esoteric tradition involving mysticism and the occult. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for magical societies such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has inspired esoteric Christian organiz ...
that interpret the letters of the
English alphabet Modern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 Letter (alphabet), letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms. The word ''alphabet'' is a Compound (linguistics), compound of ''alpha'' and ''beta'', t ...
via an assigned set of numerological significances. The first system of English gematria was used by the poet John Skelton in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel". The
Agrippa code Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
was used with English and Latin. It was defined by
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (; ; 14 September 1486 – 18 February 1535) was a German Renaissance polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, knight, theologian, and occult writer. Agrippa's ''Three Books of Occult Philosophy'' pub ...
in 1532, in his work ''De Occulta Philosopha''. Agrippa based his system on the order of the
Classical Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from —additions su ...
using a ranked valuation as in
isopsephy In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the ''I'' and the ''E''; , ) or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the Greek numerals, number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical brid ...
, appending the four additional letters in use at the time after Z, including J (600) and U (700), which were still considered letter variants. Agrippa was the mentor of English magician
John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, ...
, who makes reference to the
Agrippa code Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
in Theorem XVI of his 1564 book, ''
Monas Hieroglyphica ''Monas Hieroglyphica'' (or ''The Hieroglyphic Monad'') is a book by John Dee, the Elizabethan magus and court astrologer of Elizabeth I of England, published in Antwerp in 1564. It is an exposition of the meaning of an esoteric symbol that he in ...
''. Although Aleister Crowley, as a former Adept of the Golden Dawn, used a
transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
approach to gematria in his works, since Crowley's death a number of people have proposed numerical correspondences for English gematria in order to achieve a deeper understanding of Crowley's ''
The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. The book is often referred to simply as ''Liber AL'', ''Liber Legis'' or just ''AL'', though technically the latter two refer only to ...
'' (1904). One such system, the
English Qaballa English Qaballa (EQ) is a Hermetic Qabalah, based on a system of arithmancy that interprets the letters of the English alphabet via an assigned set of values. It was created by James Lees in 1976, through his efforts to understand, interpret, and ...
, was created by English magician
James Lees James Lees (born 13 June 1924) was a British maritime expert and writer who was curator of the ship collection and Senior Conservation Officer at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Biography Born in 1924, James Lees served both in the Ro ...
on November 26, 1976. The founding of Lees' magical order in 1974 and his creation of EQ are chronicled in ''All This and a Book'' by Cath Thompson.


See also

* '' About the Mystery of the Letters'' *
Bible code The Bible code (, ), also known as the Torah code, is a purported set of encoded words within a Hebrew text of the Torah that, according to proponents, has predicted significant historical events. The statistical likelihood of the Bible code a ...
*
Chinese numerology Some numbers are believed by some to be auspicious or lucky (吉利, ) or inauspicious or unlucky (不吉, ) based on the Chinese word that the number sounds similar to. The numbers 6 and 8 are widely considered to be lucky, while 4 is conside ...
*
Chronogram A chronogram is a sentence or inscription in which specific letters, interpreted as numerals (such as Roman numerals), stand for a particular date when rearranged. The word, meaning "time writing", derives from the Greek words ''chronos'' ( ...
*
Goroawase In Japanese, numeric substitution is a common form of by which numbers are substituted for homophonous words and phrases. Numeric substitution may be done as wordplay, but it is more commonly used to produce abbreviations and mnemonic devices. R ...
*
Hurufism Hurufism ( ''ḥurūfiyyah'', Persian: حُروفیان ''horūfiyān'') was a Sufi movement based on the mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in Astrabad and spread to areas of western Iran ( Persia) and Anatolia in the late ...
*
Isopsephy In numerology, isopsephy (stressed on the ''I'' and the ''E''; , ) or isopsephism is the practice of adding up the Greek numerals, number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical brid ...
* 'Ilm al-huruf *
Katapayadi system ''Kaṭapayādi'' system (Devanagari: कटपयादि, also known as ''Paralppēru'', Malayalam: പരല്‍പ്പേര്) of numerical notation is an ancient Indian alphasyllabic numeral system to depict letters to numerals ...
*
Notarikon Notarikon () is a Talmudic method of interpreting Biblical words as acronyms. The same term may also be used for a Kabbalistic method of using the acronym of a Biblical verse as a name for God. Another variation uses the first ''and'' last lette ...
*
Numbers in Germanic paganism The numbers three, nine, and other multiples of three are significant numbers in Germanic paganism. Both numbers (and multiples thereof) appear throughout surviving attestations of ancient Germanic folklore, in both mythology and Germanic paganis ...
*
Numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
*
Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
*
Significance of numbers in Judaism Various numbers play a significant role in Jewish texts or practice. Some such numbers were used as mnemonics to help remember concepts, while other numbers were considered to have intrinsic significance or allusive meaning. The song Echad Mi ...
*
Temurah (Kabbalah) Temurah () is one of the three ancient methods used by Kabbalists to rearrange words and sentences in the Bible, in the belief that by this method they can derive the esoteric substratum and deeper spiritual meaning of the words (the others are ge ...
*
Theomatics Theomatics is a numerological study of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek text of the Christian Bible (see also Biblical numerology), based upon gematria and isopsephia, by which its proponents claim to show the direct intervention of God in the writing ...
*
Untranslatability Untranslatability is the property of text or speech for which no equivalent can be found when translated into another (given) language. A text that is considered to be untranslatable is considered a ''lacuna'', or lexical gap. The term arises w ...


References


Further reading

* *


Online tools


GematriaLab – A comprehensive online tool for exploring English, Hebrew, and Jewish gematria values
{{Authority control Hebrew alphabet Jewish mysticism Kabbalah Kabbalistic words and phrases Numerology