Georgian numerals

Cardinal numbers

The Georgian cardinal numerals up to ten are primitives, as are the words for 20 and 100, and also "million", "billion", etc. (The word for 1000, though, is not a primitive.) Other cardinal numbers are formed from these primitives via a mixture of decimal (base-10) and vigesimal (base-20) structural principles.

The following chart shows the nominative forms of the primitive numbers. Except for ka (8) and ka (9), these words are all consonant-final stems and may lose the final i in certain situations.

Numbers from 11 to 19 are formed from 1 through 9, respectively, by prefixing ka (a shortened form of ka, 10) and adding ka . In some cases, the prefixed ka coalesces with the initial consonant of the root word to form a single consonant (t + s → ts; t + š → č; t + ts → ts), or induces metathesis in the root (t + rv → tvr).

Numbers between 20 and 99 use a vigesimal (base-20) system (comparable to 60–99 in French). 40, 60, and 80 are formed using 2, 3, and 4 (respectively), linked to the word for 20 by m (a vestigial multiplicative):

Any other number between 21 and 99 is formed using 20, 40, 60, or 80, dropping the final i, then adding da (= and) followed by the appropriate number from 1 to 19; e.g.:

The hundreds are formed by linking 2, 3, . . ., 10 directly to the word for 100 (without the multiplicative m used for 40, 60, and 80). 1000 is expressed as atasi (10 x 100), and multiples of 1000 are expressed using atasi — so, for example, 2000 is ori atasi (2 x 10 x 100).

The final i is dropped when a smaller number is added to a multiple of 100; e.g.:

Ordinal numerals

Numeric values of letters

The Georgian numeral system (ქართული ანბანის სათვალავი) is a system of representing numbers using letters of the Georgian alphabet. Numerical values in this system are obtained by simple addition of the component numerals, which are written greatest-to-least from left to right (e.g., ჩღჲთ = 1769, ჩყპზ = 1887, ციბ = 2012).

*Both letters ჳ and უ are equal to 400 in numerical value.

These letters have no numerical value.

Notes

References

References

1. Aronson (1990), p. 279. "From 30 to 99 Georgian numerals are based on the [[vigesimal]] system, i.e., a system to base 20, unlike our decimal system to base 10."
2. Hewitt (1995), p. 524. "The system from '11' to '19' is analysable as '10-UNIT-more'. From '20' to '99' the system is based on units of 20 (i.e. it is vigesimal, so that, for example, '55' is literally '2-times-20-and-(10-5-more)'."
3. Makharoblidze (2009), p. 27. "[The] Georgian system of numbers is based on the counting system of 20. The numbers more than 20 and less than 100 are compound and the first number is [20 multiplied by the preceding numeral ("1" is not shown)] and then [the] remaining number is added."
4. Comrie, Bernard. (1999). "Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide: Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 118". Morton de Gruyter.
5. (2011). "Georgian Style Guide". [[Microsoft Corporation]].
6. Makharoblidze (2009), p. 7
7. Makharoblidze (2009), pp. 28–29.
8. Boeder, Winfried. (2005). "The South Caucasian Languages". Lingua.
9. Hewitt (1995), pp. 51–54.