The Number or The Word?
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?
@Joshua said
"Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?"
I'm unclear whether they developed concurrently. Certainly the first use was as letters spelling words.
I don't think there's any mystery in how they became used as numerals. It didn't take the Jackson 5 to tell us that we think of ABC and 1-2-3 substantially the same.
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?
I guess more of what I mean is did the word for 123 etc(the literal spoken sound) predate the system of alphabet(alphabeta-lphabeta 1212 lol) or was knowledge of communication skills something that evolved seperately with numbers being a biproduct of communication.
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?
@Joshua said
"I guess more of what I mean is did the word for 123 etc(the literal spoken sound) predate the system of alphabet(alphabeta-lphabeta 1212 lol) or was knowledge of communication skills something that evolved seperately with numbers being a biproduct of communication."
Yes, spoken sounds always predate the invention of writing.
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?
Do you imagine the hebrews(or whatever civilization really) initially spoke "a" to mean 1?
I'm at a logical wall. I cannot decide whether it is language that created numbers via conversation with the universe/one's surrounding causing a system of tangible logic to form within the collective conscious. Or if the understanding of numbers is resonate of a divine wisdom that has guided/allowed/dictated all human understanding. If truly all numbers are infinite and there is no difference then numbers seem to be a fallacy of human perception.
Third possibility, I am in fact lost in thought and haphazardly digging holes.
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?
No no no. 1 just became a special use of "first letter." Not pronounced like that at all.
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Something I have pondered for awhile- were the Hebrew letters first used to depict numbers or words? Or, did the numbers evolve from the language or did language evolve from numbers?