TheLatin numerals are the words used to denote numbers within theLatin language. They are essentially based on theirProto-Indo-European ancestors, and the Latincardinal numbers are largely sustained in theRomance languages. InAntiquity and during theMiddle Ages they were usually represented byRoman numerals in writing.

Latin numeral roots are used frequently in modern English, particularly in thenames of large numbers.

The Latin language had several sets of number words used for various purposes. Some of those sets are shown in the tables below.

The cardinal numerals are the ordinary numbers used for counting ordinary nouns ('one', 'two', 'three' and so on):

The conjunctionet between numerals can be omitted:vīgintī ūnus, centum ūnus.Et is not used when there are more than two words in a compound numeral:centum trīgintā quattuor. The word order in the numerals from 21 to 99 may be inverted:ūnus et vīgintī. Numbers ending in 8 or 9 are usually named in subtractive manner:duodētrīgintā, ūndēquadrāgintā. Numbers may either precede or follow their noun (seeLatin word order).

Most numbers are invariable and do not change their endings:

• regnāvit Ancus annōsquattuor et vīgintī (Livy)^[1]

'Ancus reigned for 24 years'

However, the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 200, 300, etc. change their endings for gender and grammatical case.Ūnus 'one' declines like a pronoun and has genitiveūnīus (orūnius) and dativeūnī:

The first three numbers have masculine, feminine and neuter forms fully declined as follows (click on GL or Wh to change the table to the American order as found in Gildersleeve and Lodge, or Wheelock):

• omnēsūnius aestimēmus assis (Catullus)

'let us value them (at the value) of a singleas!'

• duo extribus fīliīs (Curtius)

'two of his three sons'

• dīvidunt tōtam rem induās partīs (Cicero)

'they divide the whole thing into two parts'

Mīlle '1000' is indeclinable in the singular but variable in the plural:

• dā mī bāsiamīlle, deinde centum (Catullus)

'give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred'

• mīllia aliquantō plūra quam trecenta (Augustus)

'slightly more than 300,000'

When it is plural, the noun it refers to is put in the genitive case:

• cum sexmīlibus equitum (Curtius)

'accompanied by six thousand(s) (of) cavalrymen'

Mīlle passūs '1000 paces' (pluralmīlia passuum) is the Latin for a mile:

• quīcumque tē angariāveritmīlle passūs, vade cum illō et alia duo (Vulgate Bible)

'whoever compels you to walk a mile, go with him another two'

When the number is plural, the genitivepassuum is sometimes omitted:

• non longius ab oppidō Xmīlibus (Caesar)

'not further than 10 miles from the town'

Larger numbers such as 2000, 3000, etc. could be expressed using either cardinal numbers (e.g.duo mīlia, tria mīlia etc.) or distributive numbers (e.g.bīna mīlia, terna mīlia etc.):

• Gracchus domō cum proficīscēbātur, numquam minusterna aut quaterna mīlia hominum sequēbantur (Sallust)

'when Gracchus used to leave home, never less than three or four thousand men used to follow him'

Ordinal numerals all decline like normal first- and second-declension adjectives. When declining two-word ordinals (thirteenth onwards), both words decline to match in gender, number and case.

• prīmus 'first'
• secundus 'second'
• tertius 'third'
• vīcēsimus/vīcēnsimus 'twentieth'

Note:secundus only means 'second' in the sense of 'following'. The adjectivealter, altera, alterum meaning 'other [of two]' was more frequently used in many instances where English would use 'second'.

Ordinal numbers, not cardinal numbers, are commonly used to represent dates, because they are in the format of 'in the tenth year of Caesar', etc. which also carried over into theanno Domini system and Christian dating, e.g.annō post Chrīstum nātum centēsimō for AD 100.

• diēseptimō pervēnit (Caesar)^[2]

'he arrived on the seventh day'

Based on the ordinary ordinals is another series of adjectives:prīmārius 'of the first rank',secundārius 'of the second class, of inferior quality',tertiārius 'containing a third part',quārtārius 'a quarter, fourth part',quīntārius 'containing five parts', 'five-sixths',sextārius 'a one-sixth part of acongius, 'pint', and so on.^[3]

• domī suae virprīmārius (Cicero)

'the leading man of his family'

• secundāriī pānis quīnās sēlībrās (Pliny the Elder)

'five half-pounds of second-class bread'

• tertiārum (stannum) (Pliny the Elder)

'lead alloy containing one-third white metal'

• quārtāriōs vīnī (Livy)

'quarter-pints of wine'

• quīntārius numerus (Vitruvius)

'five-sixths' (taking asextārius as the whole)

• oleīsextārius (Celsus)

'a pint of oil'

• octāvārium vectīgal (Justinian)

'an eighth-part tax'

Certain nouns in Latin wereplurālia tantum, i.e. nouns that were plural but which had a singular meaning, for examplelitterae 'a letter',castra 'a camp',catēnae 'a set of chains',vestīmenta '(a set of) clothes',hibernae 'winter quarters',nūptiae 'wedding',quadrīgae 'quadriga' etc. A special series of numeral adjectives was used for counting these, namelyūnī,bīnī,trīnī,quadrīnī,quīnī,sēnī, and so on. Thus Roman authors would write:ūnae litterae 'one letter',trīnae litterae 'three letters',quīna castra 'five camps', etc.

Except for the numbers 1, 3, and 4 and their compounds, theplurale tantum numerals are identical with the distributive numerals (see below).

• non dīcimus bīga ūna, quadrīgae duae, nūptiae trēs, sed prō eōūnae bīgae,bīnae quadrīgae,trīnae nūptiae (Varro)

'We don't sayuna biga (one two-horse chariot),duae quadrigae (two four-horse chariots),tres nuptiae (three weddings) but insteadunae bigae, binae quadrigae, trinae nuptiae'.

• Tullia mea vēnit ad mē ... litterāsque reddidittrīnās (Cicero)^[4]

'My daughter Tullia came to me ... and delivered (no fewer than) three letters'

• Octāviusquīnīs castrīs oppidum circumdedit (Caesar)^[5]

'Octavius surrounded the town with five camps'

Another set of numeral adjectives, similar to the above but differing in the adjectives for 1, 3, and 4, were the distributive numerals:singulī,bīnī,ternī,quaternī,quīnī,sēnī, and so on. The meaning of these is 'one each', 'two each' (or 'in pairs') and so on, for example

• ibī turrīs cumternīs tabulātīs ērigēbat (Julius Caesar)

'there he began erecting towers with three storeys each'

• bīnī senātōrēssingulīs cohortibus praepositī (Livy)

'a pair of senators was put in charge of each group of soldiers'.

• lēgātīternī in Āfricam ... et in Numidiam missī (Livy)^[6]

'three ambassadors were sent to Africa, and three to Numidia'

• insingulōs equitēs ... nummōsquīnōs vīcēnōs dedērunt (Livy)^[7]

'for each individual cavalryman they gave 25 coins'

The wordsingulī is always plural in this sense in the classical period.^[8]

The distributive numerals are also used for multiplying:^[9]

• terterna, quae sunt novem (Macrobius)

'three threes, which are nine'

In numbers 13 to 19, the order may be inverted, e.g.dēnī ternī instead ofternī dēnī.^[10]

Based on the distributive numerals are derived a series of adjectives ending in-ārius:singulārius 'unique', 'extraordinary', 'of one part', 'singular',bīnārius 'of two parts',ternārius 'of three parts',quaternārius 'of four parts', and so on.

Often these adjectives specify the size or weight of something. The usual meaning is 'of so many units', the units being feet, inches, men, pounds, coins, or years, according to context:

• scrobēsquaternāriī, hoc est quōquōversus pedum quattuor (Columella)

'four-foot ditches, that is, four foot long in every direction'

• quīnāria (fistula), dicta ā diametrō quīnque quadrantum (Frontinus)

'a five-digit pipe, named from its diameter of five digits'

• quīngēnāriae cohortēs (Curtius)

'five-hundred men battalions'

• quīngēnārius thōrāx (Pliny the Elder)

'a five-hundred pound suit of body armour'

• quīngēnāria poena (Gaius)

'a five-hundredas penalty' (anas was a bronze coin)

They can also be used for specifying age:

• exhērēdāta aboctōgēnāriō patre (Pliny the Younger)^[11]

'disinherited by her 80-year-old father'

Some of these words have a specialised meaning. Thesēnārius was a kind of metre consisting of six iambic feet commonly used in spoken dialogue in Roman comedy. There were also metres called theseptēnārius andoctōnārius (seeMetres of Roman comedy).

Thedēnārius was a silver coin originally worth tenassēs (but later sixteenassēs); but there was also a golddēnārius, mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Petronius, worth 25 silverdēnāriī. The silverdēnārius is often mentioned in the New Testament, and was stated to be the day's pay in the parable of theLabourers in the Vineyard.^[12]

Adverbial numerals are (as the name states) indeclinable adverbs, but because all of the other numeral constructions are adjectives, they are listed here with them. Adverbial numerals give how many times a thing happened.semel 'once',bis 'twice',ter 'thrice, three times',quater 'four times', and so on.

The suffix-iēns may also be spelled-iēs:quīnquiēs,sexiēs, etc.

• equidemdeciēs dīxī (Plautus)^[13]

'indeed I've said it ten times already'

Multiplicative numerals are declinable adjectives.simplex 'single',duplex 'double',triplex 'treble',quadruplex 'fourfold', and so on.

These numerals decline as 3rd declension adjectives:

• [Caesar]triplicem aciem instruxit (Caesar)

'(Caesar) arranged his soldiers in a triple line'

• tabellāsduplicēs tenentem (Suetonius)

'holding a pair of writing tablets consisting of two leaves'

For completeness all the numbers have been given above. Not all of these numerals are attested in ancient books, however.

Based on this series of numerals there is a series of adverbs:simpliciter 'simply, frankly',dupliciter 'doubly, ambiguously',tripliciter 'in three different ways' etc., as well as verbs such asduplicāre 'to double',triplicāre 'to triple',quadruplicāre 'to make four times as much', and so on.^[8]

Proportional numerals are declinable adjectives.simplus 'simple',duplus 'twice as great',triplus 'thrice as great',quadruplus 'four times as great', and so on.

These are often used as nouns:simplum 'the simple sum',duplum 'double the amount of money' and so on.^[8]

• duplam pecūniam in thēsaurōs repōnī (Livy)^[14]

'double the amount of money to be replaced in the treasuries'

Thenumeralūnus <Old Latinoinos ‘one’, with its cognatesOld Irishóen ‘one’,Gothicains ‘one’,Ancient Greek οἴνηoínē ‘ace on dice’, and the first part ofOld Church Slavonicinorogŭ ‘Unicorn’, harks back toProto-Indo-European *Hoi̯-no-s. The genitive formsūnīus, ūnĭus and the dative formūnī match thepronominal declension (cf.hujus,illius etc.), the remaining forms (including a rare gen. f.ūnae) conform with those offirst andsecond declension adjectives.^[15][16] Nominative and accusative forms persist within theRomance languages as numeral and also in its secondarily acquired role asindefinite article, e. g.Old French andOccitanuns, une, un,Italianun, una,Spanishun, una,Portugueseum, uma,Romanianun, o.^[17]

The masculine nominative/accusative formsdŭŏ < Old Latindŭō ‘two’ is a cognate toOld Welshdou ‘two’,^[16] Greek δύωdýō ‘two’,Sanskrit दुवाduvā ‘two’, Old Church Slavonicdŭva ‘two’, that imply Proto-Indo-European *duu̯o-h₁, aLindeman variant of monosyllabic *du̯o-h₁, living on in Sanskrit द्वाdvā ‘two’, and slightly altered in Gothictwai ‘two’,Germanzwei ‘two’ etc.; the femininedŭae points to an ancestral form *duu̯ah₂-ih₁. Both forms bear adual ending, which otherwise in Latin is preserved only inambō ‘both’, and possibly inoctō ‘eight’. The accusative formsdŭōs m.,dŭās f., the genitivedŭom,classicaldŭōrum m./n.,dŭārum f., and the dative/ablativedŭōbus m./n.,dŭābus f., are original Latin formations replicating nominal declension patterns; at times,duo stands in for other case forms, especially when combined with invariant numerals, e. g.duo et vīgintī ‘twenty-two’,duodētrīgintā ‘twenty-eight’.^[15][18]

Most Romance languages sustain an invariant form developed from the masculine accusativeduōs > Spanish,Catalan, Occitandos,Frenchdeux,Romanshduos,dus; Italiandue seems to preserve the feminine nominativeduae (or may have evolved from the feminine accusativeduas).^[17] Portuguese inflects masculinedois and feminineduas; Romanian hasdoi anddouă, respectively.

The masculine and feminine nominative formtrēs ‘three’ and its cognates Gothicþreis ‘three’, Greek τρεῖςtreîs ‘three’, Sanskrit त्रयःtrayaḥ ‘three’ are based on Proto-Indo-European *trei̯-es; the original accusative formtrīs, matchingUmbriantrif, Gothicþrins, Old Irishtrí,^[16] Greek τρίνςtríns < Proto-Indo-European *tri-ns, was being superseded from preclassical Latin onward. The neutertria corresponds to Umbriantriia and Greek τρίαtría. The genitivetrium is a direct descendant of Proto-Indo-European *trii̯-om, unlike e. g. Greek τριῶνtriôn with long-ōn <-o-om, taken from the second declension; the dative/ablative formtribus, as well as Umbriantris < *trifos, sustains Proto-Indo-European *tri-bʰos.^[15][18] The Romance languages only preserve one invariant form reflecting Latintrēs > Spanish, Catalan, Occitantres, Portuguesetrês, Frenchtrois, Romanshtrais,treis, Romaniantrei.^[17]

The invariant numeralquattuor ‘four’ does not fully correspond to any of its cognates in other languages, asOscanpetora ‘four’, Greek τέσσαρεςtéssares ‘four’, Old Irishcethair ‘four’, Gothicfidwôr ‘four’,Lithuanianketurì ‘four’, Old Church Slavonicčetyre ‘four’ point to a Proto-Indo-European base *kʷetu̯or-, that should appear as *quetuor in Latin; the actual-a- has been explained asepenthetic vowel emerging from azero-grade *kʷtu̯or-. Thegeminate-tt- might have been established to compensate the fluctuating quality of succeeding-u- betweennon-syllabic glide and full vowel apparent since Old Latin; in the postclassical formquattor this sound is dropped altogether, and in most Romance languages the second syllable is subject tosyncope, which then is compensated by an additional vowel at the very end of the word, as in Spanishcuatro, Portuguesequatro, Italianquattro, French, Occitan, Catalanquatre, Romanianpatru.^[15][18][17]

The cardinal numberquīnque ‘five’, with its cognates Old Irishcoíc ‘five’, Greek πέντεpénte ‘five’, Sanskrit पञ्चpañca ‘five’, leads back to Proto-Indo-Europeanpénkʷe; the long-ī-, confirmed by preserved-i- in most Romance descendants, must have been transferred from theordinalquīntus ‘fifth’, where the original short vowel had been regularly lengthened preceding acluster with a vanishing fricative:quīntus < *quiŋxtos < *kʷuiŋkʷtos < *kʷeŋkʷ-to-s. Theassimilation ofantevocalic *p- to-kʷ- of the following syllable is a common feature of theItalic languages as well as theCeltic languages.^[15][18]

• en.wiktionary.org Appendix:Latin cardinal numerals
• Latin numbers 1 - 100
• Latin numbers 1 - 1,000,000
• a Brief Guide to Latin Numerals

• Latin language
• Numerals

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