CHARACTERS in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, &c

CHARACTERS in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, &c.

( ) parenthesis

[ ] crotchet

· hyphen

‘ apostrophe

‘ emphasis or accent

˘ breve

.. dialysis

^ caret and circumflex

SS. T. D. doctor in divinity

V. D. M. minister of the word of God

LL. D. doctor of laws

J. V. D. doctor of civil and canon law

“ quotation

For the other characters used in grammar, see COMMA, COLON, SEMICOLON, &c.

Numeral CHARACTERS used to express numbers, are either letters or figures. The Arabic character, called also the common one, because it is used almost throughout Europe in all sorts of calculations, consists of these ten digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.

The Roman numeral character consists of seven majuscule letters of the Roman alphabet, viz. I, V, X, L, C, D, M. The I denotes one, V five, X ten, L fifty, C a hundred, D five hundred, and M a thousand.

The I repeated twice makes two, II; thrice, three, III; four is expressed thus IV, as I before V or X takes an unit from the number expressed by these letters. To express six, an I is added to a V, VI; for seven, two, VII; and for eight, three, VIII; nine is expressed by an I before X, thus IX.

The same remark may be made of the X before L or C, except that the diminution is by tens; thus, XL denotes forty, XC ninety, and LX sixty. The C before D or M diminishes each by a hundred.

The number five hundred is sometimes expressed by an I before a C inverted, thus, IO; and instead of M, which signifies a thousand, an I is sometimes used between two C's, the one direct, and the other inverted, thus CIÖ. The addition of C and Ö before or after, raises CIÖ by tens, thus, CCIOÖ expresses ten thousand, CCCCIOÖ, a hundred thousand.

The Romans also expressed any number of thousands by a line drawn over any numeral less than a thousand; thus, $\backslash overline\{V\}$ denotes five thousand, $\backslash overline\{LX\}$ sixty

thousand; so likewise $\backslash overline\{M\}$ is one million, $\backslash overline\{MM\}$ is two millions, &c.

Some modern writers have admitted variations in this method of notation; thus we find IIX expressing eight, ICIX eighty-nine, $\backslash Delta$ or $\backslash nabla$ denoting 100, and $\backslash infty$ or $\backslash aleph$ standing for CIÖ; whence $\backslash nabla$ ten thousand, $\backslash Psi$ $\backslash Psi$ twenty thousand.

The Greeks had three ways of expressing numbers: first, every letter, according to its place in the alphabet, denoted a number, from $\backslash alpha$, one, to $\backslash omega$, twenty-four. 2. The alphabet was divided into eight units, $\backslash alpha$ one, $\backslash beta$ two, $\backslash gamma$ three, &c. into eight tens, $\backslash iota$ ten, $\backslash kappa$ twenty, $\backslash lambda$ thirty, &c. and eight hundreds, $\backslash epsilon$ one hundred, $\backslash sigma$ two hundred, $\backslash tau$ three hundred, &c. 3. I stood for one, $\backslash Pi$ five, $\backslash Delta$ ten, $H$ a hundred, $X$ a thousand, $M$ ten thousand; and when the letter $\backslash Pi$ enclosed any of these, except I, it shewed the enclosed letter to be five times its value; as $\backslash Pi\backslash alpha$ fifty, $\backslash Pi\backslash iota$ five hundred, $\backslash Pi\backslash kappa$ five thousand, $\backslash Pi\backslash lambda$ fifty thousand.