Cardinal numerals

The numeral adjectives and corresponding adverbs are as follows:

N.—Above 10,000: δύο μῡριάδες 20,000, etc., μῡριάκις μῡ́ριοι, i.e. 10,000 x 10,000.

Indeclinables are substantives having one form for all cases: τὸ χρεών, τοῦ χρεών, etc. fatality, τὸ ἄλφα alpha, τὸ λέγειν to speak, most cardinal numbers (τὸ δέκα ten), several foreign words, as Ἰακώβ Jacob, Δαβίδ David.

The cardinals from 1 to 4 are declined as follows:

a. εἷς is for ἑν-ς (cp. 245). The stem ἑν was originally σεμ (Lat. semel, simplex, singuli), weak forms of which are ἅ-παξ, ἁ-πλοῦς, from σμ-π- (35 b). μία stands for σμ-ια.

b. οὐδὲ εἷς, μηδὲ εἷς not even one unite (with change in accent) to form the compounds οὐδείς, μηδείς no one. These words are declined like εἷς: thus, οὐδείς, οὐδεμία, οὐδέν, οὐδενός, οὐδεμιᾶς, οὐδενός, etc., and sometimes in the plural (no men, none or nobodies) οὐδένες, οὐδένων, οὐδέσι, οὐδένας. For emphasis the compounds may be divided, as οὐδὲ εἷς not ONE. A preposition or ἄν may separate the two parts, as οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ μιᾶς from not a single one, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἑνί ne uni quidem.

c. πρῶτος (primus) means the first among more than two, πρότερος (prior) the first of two.

d. δύο may be used with the gen. and dat. pl., as δύο μνηνῶν of two months. δὺοῖν occurs rarely with plurals: παισὶν . . . δυοῖν D. 39.32. δυεῖν for δυοῖν does not appear till about 300 B.C.

e. ἄμφω both, N. A. ἄμφω, G. D. ἀμφοῖν (Lat. ambo). But both is more commonly ἀμφότεροι, -αι, -α.

f. For τέτταρες, -ράκοντα, etc., early Attic prose and tragedy have τέσσαρες, etc.

g. The first numeral is inflected in τρεῖς καὶ δέκα 13, τέτταρες καὶ δέκα 14 τρεισκαίδεκα and Ionic τεσσερεσκαίδεκα (very rare in Attic) are indeclinable.

The cardinals from 5 to 199 are indeclinable; from 200 the cardinals, and all the ordinals from first on, are declined like ἀγαθός.

a. Compound numbers above 20 are expressed by placing the smaller number first (with καί) or the larger number first (with or without καί).

b. For 21st, 31st, etc., εἷς (for πρῶτος) καὶ εἰκοστός (τριᾱκοστός) is permissible, but otherwise the cardinal is rarely thus joined with the ordinal.

c. Compounds of 10, 20, etc., with 8 and 9 are usually expressed by subtraction with the participle of δέω lack, as 18, 19, δυοῖν (ἑνὸς) δέοντες εἴκοσι. So ναυσὶ μιᾶς δεούσαις τεττάρακοντα with 39 ships, δυοῖν δέοντα πεντήκοντα ἔτη 48 years; and with ordinals ἑνὸς δέον εἰκοστὸν ἔτος the 19th year. The same method may be employed in other numbers than 8's or 9's: ἑπτὰ ἀποδέοντες τριᾱκόσιοι, i.e. 293.

d. An ordinal followed by ἐπὶ δέκα denotes the day of the month from the 13th to the 19th, as πέμπτῃ ἐπὶ δέκα on the 15th.

The article may be used with cardinal numerals

a. When the numeral states the definite part of a whole (expressed or understood): ἀπῆσαν τῶν λόχων δώδεκα ὄντων οἱ τρεῖς of the companies, numbering twelve (in all), there were absent three X. H. 7.5.10, εἷς παρὰ τοὺς δέκα one man in (comparison with) ten X. O. 20.16, τῶν πέντε τᾱ̀ς δύο μοίπᾱς two fifths T. 1.10, δύο μέρη two thirds 3. 15. (The genitive is omitted when the denominator exceeds the numerator by one.)

b. When the numeral is approximate: ἔμειναν ἡμέρᾱς ἀμφὶ τᾱ̀ς τριᾱ́κοντα they remained about thirty days X. A. 4.8.22, γεγονότες τὰ πεντήκοντα ἔτη about fifty years of age X. C. 1.2.13.

c. When the number is used abstractly (without reference to any definite object): ὅπως μὴ ἐρεῖς ὅτι ἔστιν τὰ δώδεκα δὶς ἕξ beware of saying 12 is twice 6 P. R. 337b.

N. Ordinals usually omit the article and regularly do so in statements of time in the dative (1540): δευτέρῳ μηνὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐτείχιζον in the second month they fortified the city T. 8.64.