Did Vikings have numbers?
Category:
religion and spirituality
astrology
In the Vikings' runic inscriptions, we do find numbers written down, but it's very rare. Usually numbers are spelled out as whole words, although on rare occasion the first letter of the number-word is used to stand for the number (see below for the runic inscriptions with numbers).
Then, did Vikings use Roman numerals?
The notation is similar to the older Roman numerals for numbers 1 to 9 (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX). The numbers are commonly found in Modern Age and possibly Early Modern Age calendar sticks. It is unknown if they were in use in the Middle Ages, let alone in the Viking Age.
In respect to this, did Vikings have written language?
They had a written language, but they did not use it so much. They used Runes, a Germanic alphabet with its origin in what is now Southern Germany in the early years of the Common Era, 2000 years ago. Runes simply "moved" further North and were in use in Scandinavia even before the beginning of the Viking Age per se.
Roman numerals conversion table
Number | Roman numeral | Calculation |
---|---|---|
21 | XXI | 10+10+1 |
22 | XXII | 10+10+1+1 |
23 | XXIII | 10+10+1+1+1 |
24 | XXIV | 10+10-1+5 |