Allan Krill & Mike Naylor Numberwords The History and Future of Audio Numerals 4 Stages of Number-symbol Evolution • •• ••• •••• ••••• VI VII VIII IX X 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 4 Stages of Number-word Evolution duh duh-duh duh-duh duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh-duh duh sex septem octo novem decem eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen iTiJ TeacH iTiK a DoG- iTiF ThieF iTiP To Be iNiS NiCe Audio numerals, audio numbers & audionums. New numbers that will be laughed off, and eventually laughed with.
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Allan Krill & Mike Naylor
NumberwordsThe History and Future of Audio Numerals
4 Stages of Number-symbol Evolution
• •• ••• •••• •••••
VI VII VIII IX X
11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20
4 Stages of Number-word Evolutionduh duh-duh duh-duh
duhduh-duh duh-duh
duh-duh duh-duh
duh
sex septem octo novem decem
eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen
iTiJTeacH
iTiKa DoG-
iTiFThieF
iTiPTo Be
iNiSNiCe
Audio numerals, audio numbers & audionums.New numbers that will be laughed off, and eventually laughed with.
Number evolution from objects to symbols to sounds The number revolution that has gone unnoticedStruggling with the new label-numbersPlace-value number evolution from pebbles to symbols to wordsAbacus pebble-numbersNumbers as wordsAudio numerals and audio numbersLearning and testing yourself on the audio numeralsA suggestion for really big audio numbersAudionums for label-numbersPutting humor into math lessons with audionumsHearing the rhyme and rhythm of skip-counting multiplicationSummary of the new audio numerals, audio numbers, and audionums
Chronograms: year-nuMbers eXpresseD In CLeVer waysHow to create a simple chronogramHistory and art of Latin chronograms100 chronogram proverbsAn almanac for the year 1685Centum hexameterLatin verse in rhymeThe most prolific chronogram authorAnagrams and acrostic chronogramsChronograms as mnemonics??Chronograms with vowel-letter substitutes (AEIOU-cabalas)??Mnemonics as a new style of chronogram
Alphabets as number sequencesCabala-chronograms using the complete Roman alphabet (ABC-cabalas)Chronographic-cabalistic poemsGematria and isopsephy; numerology using the Hebrew and Greek alphabetsPythagorean numerology using the Roman alphabetKatapayadi; numerology using the Sanskrit alphabetThe step from numerology to mnemonics
The most concise mathematical notation in history (1634)Pierre Hérigoneʼs notation in Cursus mathematicusHérigone Arithmetica MemoraliaPierre Hérigone, audionym
Visionary attempts toward universal language and numbersFrancis Lodowyck (1652)Cave Beck universal language using an alphabet of number symbols (1657)George Dalgarnoʼs concise numbers as words (1661)John Wilkinsʼ number words based on Hérigone (1668)Leibnizʼ universal spoken numbers
Mental strorage places in the ancient art of memory
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The method of loci
Winkelmann and the Parnassus number code (1648)Parnassus number codeMnemonics for numbersDivine secrets of the alphabetTen other letter codes described by Stanislaus! Technique II: a 12-letter code! Technique III: familiar objects! Technique IV: names of people, objects, and actions! Technique V: finger positions! Technique VI: German chronograms! Technique VII: Greek alphabet! Technique VIII: Hebrew alphabet ! Technique IX: Roman-numeral chronograms! Technique X: ABC-cabala code, extended! Technique XI: tabula recta of TrithemiusOther curious details about Relatio novissimaThe mysterious Parnassus and the source of the codeBuno and the Parnassus code (1647, 1662)Winkelmannʼs bestselling CaesareologiaLeibnizʼs notes on the codeDöbelʼs Lexico Mnemonico (1707)
A century interim for the Parnassus number codeGreyʼs Memoria Technica (1730)! Expanded versions of Memoria Technica including Lowes mnemonics! A last gasp with Greyʼs codeGuyotʼs recreational math (1769)Comments on the art of memory in GermanyKästnerʼs number code (180x)
Feinaigle manipulates the Parnassus code!Feinaigleʼs secrets and his efforts to protect themFeinaigleʼs number codeDelehayeʼs stunt in France (1808)Müllerʼs exposé in Germany (1810)Aretinʼs misrepresentation in Systematische AnleitungAn anonymous discipleʼs accurate representationJohn Millardʼs monograph in EnglandLord Byronʼs inadvertent coining of the word finagleA few more of Feinaigleʼs tricks
Followers of Feinaigleʼs techniquesAbbot Giseyʼs adjustment of Fenaigleʼs letters (18xx)Coglanʼs adjustment for word balanceSamuel Samsʼ exploitation of Feinaigleʼs marketEliza Slaterʼs Sententiæ ChronologicæFrench shorthand and Aimé Parisʼs phonetic refinement of the number code (1825)
Table of number codes that preceded the code of Aimé ParisTable of number codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisTable of number codes in English since Aimé Paris
Mnemotechny in AmericaThe grandiloquent Fauvel-Gouraud (1844)Examples of how Gouraud mnemonized numbersGouraudʼs claim to the invention of the phonetic number code.Gouraudʼs ad libitum rulesToward the concept of audio numbersPliny Miles (1848)!! !A new method of countingLetters as page numbersLorenzo D. Johnson (1849)“Modern mnemotechny” (1886)Vowel sounds as an alternative phonetic number code
Reference lists of books concerning the history of audio numeralsLists of memory books promoting number codes in France, Italy, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England and AmericaList of books including a word data base for various numbers Phonetic French shorthand of the Aimé Paris methodReference list of sources used in this ebook
Playing with audionumsTest yourself on spelling words as numbers!Pseudonumerology: the game of making words to match long-digit numbers! Altered words in audionum phrases! Frequency of sounds and numbers! Matching difficult numbers! Examples of stories using linked audionum nouns! Silly linked-picture series! Using the table of 330 audionums! Using the table of 330 audionums extenderTypical telephone numbers as audionum phrasesVarious audionum phrases for a typical multi-digit number: 0123456789Dealing with the number pi!
Appendix tables of handy audionumsTable of 330 audionumsTable of 330 audionums (extender)Table of 330 Norwegian audionumsTable of 330 German audionumsTable of 330 Dutch audionumsTable of French audionums
60 000 audionums, 0 to 5-digits in length
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Number Evolution! In the year 1202, Leonardo of Pisa, better known as “Fibonacci,” wrote a book that would help transform European culture. Liber Abaci, or “The book of calculating,” brought to the European world the Eastern method of writing numbers. Using just ten digits, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and a system whereby the position of the digit in the number determined its value, Hindu-Arabic numerals were the greatest advance in numerals the world had ever seen. They were a huge improvement over the Roman numeral system used throughout Europe at the time. Fibonacci presented the numerals in his book along with many examples of how they could be used to simplify mathematics, commerce, and accounting. A revolution was at hand, and the European world should have been rejoicing. But not everyone was pleased.
! The new numerals were criticized. They were ridiculed. They were rejected. In some parts of Europe, they were even made illegal to use. It would take about 300 years before these new numbers would take hold.
! You might wonder why people would be so reluctant to adopt Hindu-Arabic numerals when they were superior in most every way. The answer must be that people were content with the system they already had. We need not look very far in order to appreciate how loyal we are to inherited systems. Consider the metric system of measurement: it is now nearly 300 years old itself and despite the fact that it is far better than other measurement systems, it has not been adopted in all parts of the world. Revolutions in the world of numbers can take centuries, but we can confidently predict that metric system will eventually become universal..
! Numbers have evolved and they will continue to evolve. The change from Roman numerals to Hindu-Arabic numerals is only one of many examples of cultures that have adopted new numbers. The fascinating evolution of number systems has been presented in number-history books, and will not be repeated here. But put very briefly, we can say that the most primitive societies had only three names for numbers: one, two, and many. As cultures advanced and life became more complex, people needed more names for numbers and more efficient ways to write and use them. Ancient Egyptians drew pictures to represent groups of 1s, 10s, and 100s. Ancient Greeks used letters of the alphabet. And Romans used a system that went through several changes and is still taught in school today.
! When evolution goes quickly we can call it revolution. And quick is a relative term. In geology, 10,000 years is rather quick. In the evolution of numbers, anything less than 300 years might be considered quick. Now we can tell about a recent number revolution that we feel has taken place quite quickly.
The number revolution that has gone unnoticedThe way that people use numbers has changed dramatically in only the past century, but the change has scarcely been acknowledged. We want to call your attention to it.! For thousands of years, numbers were used for three things: for counting, for measuring, and for calculating. We call numbers used for these purposes size-numbers. The size-number 4251 reflects a value that is larger than 3251. That is obvious.
! Recently, totally new kinds of numbers have appeared. We call them label-numbers. They have nothing to do with size. When 4251 is a label-number, it is not larger than 3251; it is just different. On a list of product codes, for example, 4251 might come after 3251, but it is not a thousand more. Label-numbers are arranged on a numerical list in the same way that names are arranged on an alphabetical list. The purpose of label-numbers is to keep track of things, such as objects, information, and people. They are really names, not numbers.
! A telephone number is a typical label-number. Other examples are license numbers, account numbers, PIN-codes and access numbers, social-security or personal ID-numbers, and bar-code numbers for commercial products.
! Both size-numbers and label-numbers are extremely powerful. They are keys to societyʼs current technological success. And they are fundamentally different. We think that label-numbers should be better appreciated.
! We are interested in history, and the history of label-numbers is very short. They began modestly, evolving from size-numbers. The first label-numbers were probably year numbers, dates such as 1849 and 1850. These numbers help count the years, but they also help label historical events. They were counting numbers that served a second purpose. Other early label-numbers were street-address numbers, introduced to count and label buildings on a city street. Serial numbers were introduced to count and label manufactured items. These were all size-numbers and label-numbers.
! Call-numbers were invented to catalogue books in the library. These numbers were no longer for counting, they were only for labeling. Next there came license-plate numbers for quickly identifying fast-moving motorcars, and 5-digit numbers for precisely identifying different telephones. These were all label-numbers, not size-numbers. Label-numbers had begun to find their place in technological society.
! Label-numbers had a modest beginning, sneaking into our culture as counting numbers. But they are not modest any more. They contain increasingly many digits, and just about everything gets labeled by a number. Most people deal more often with label-numbers than with size-numbers in their daily lives.
! Label-numbers fit perfectly on lists, because they can have a fixed number of characters. They can be easily organized and found again. For these reasons, they are preferred in many cases, especially by machines. But label-numbers are not usually preferred by people. No one enjoys being identified by their ID-number or cell-phone number. The expression “feel like just a number” has even entered our culture to express this distaste for the widespread usage of numbers as labels.
Struggling with the new label-numbersLabel-numbers are difficult to remember. They are easy to confuse. People are constantly forgetting even 4-digit PINs. They have given up learning most telephone numbers, and feel helpless if they lose a mobile telephone and donʼt have the numbers of their friends. Most people remember numbers so poorly that to use a printed telephone number they must actually look at it while entering it on a phone; there are too many digits to remember even for a few seconds.
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! People cannot feel good about these label-numbers that they need to use but canʼt master. And we think they turn children off to math and science. After all, one of their first challenges in school is to memorize the multiplication table. Children assume that math involves remembering numbers. When they use telephone numbers many times and still cannot remember them, they get the feeling that they have no real talent for numbers. Math and science involve lots of numbers, so many children decide that these subjects are not for them. Label-numbers are both difficult and boring, and are giving size-numbers a bad reputation.
! We think that label-numbers should not be boring; they should be interesting and memorable, like names. Ideally, people should enjoy using label-numbers. Imagine having a telephone number that you could smile about, or laugh about when you tell it to others! Imagine having a phone number that was as easy to remember as a vanity telephone number. Vanity numbers have been specially created by American organizations to be easily remembered by customers. Here are some typical vanity numbers:. 1 800 BIG MACS 1 800 GO U-HAUL 1 800 U CAN SUE1 800 COLLECT 1 800 HILTONS 1 800 U FLY NOW1 800 DENTIST 1 800 HOLIDAY 1 800 U MAKE IT1 800 GO BEARS 1 800 I LOVE NY 1 800 U SEARCH1 800 GO GUARD 1 800 TAXICAB 1 800 U SHIP IT
! How practical these vanity numbers are! A business can instantly communicate its phone number to customers in a spoken or written advertisement. A customer can instantly memorize it, and use it later, without ever having to write it down. But vanity-numbers are not available for most peoplesʼ numbers. They are only possible for perfectly chosen number combinations. They cannot be used without a phone, and the code is not appropriate for remembering other numbers. They are an interesting concept, but very limited.
! What if all label-numbers could be like vanity telephone numbers, but even better? Better because they could be used without access to a phone. And better because the letters not only could be used for words, but for all size-number purposes, like counting, measuring and calculating.
! We are presenting such numbers here. We call the 10 new symbols audio numerals, and the number words are audio numbers and audionums. Memory experts, those unusual people who give memory perfomances or win memory competitions, have been using these techniques for the past few hundred years. In this book, you will learn them, and will be able to use them, if you like, to remember the label-numbers you want to master. In the future, children will learn them in school, and everyone will use them; audio numerals are the next step in number evolution after our familiar Hindu-Arabic numbers.
Place-value numbers, evolving from pebbles, to symbols, to wordsWe think that evolution toward audio numerals is inevitable, just as conversion to the metric system is inevitable. They are not inevitable simply because they allow people to enjoy and remember the new label-numbers. It is because they are the next step in the development of the decimal place-value number system. We cannot guess most of the ways they might
eventually be used. To show that they are the next step, we need to look briefly at the history of place-value numbers,, and the evolution that has not yet taken place.
! Hindu-Arabic numerals are powerful because of their place-value properties. There are only ten different symbols, each very simple. Yet together they can represent any number. In a multi-digit number, the value of each digit is determined by the symbol as well as by its position. The symbol 1 always looks more or less the same, but in the number 121, the two 1-symbols have vastly different values. Children quickly learn that in this number the symbol on the right represents one and the symbol on the left represents one hundred. Positional notation is fundamental to our work with numbers.
! Now, having insulted the Romans for their inferior number symbols, we can probably surprise you by showing that the Romans had place-value numbers as well! Without good numbers, Romans would never have been able to do their advanced calculations. Romans used math for building roads, bridges, aqueducts, and coliseums. They did advanced calculations for their commerce and for their taxes. They could not have done these things without place-value numbers.
! Our place-value number system did not begin with Hindu-Arabic symbols. In fact, it did not begin with symbols at all, but rather with objects. The ancient Romans used place-value pebbles. A pebble in Latin is called a calculus, and this is the origin of our word calculation. Using pebbles, the Romans could form ten different numerals to make long-digit numbers on a counting board or abacus.
! The abacus-numbers follow the same rules of positional notation as Hindu-Arabic numbers. The position on the right side of the abacus represents the ones, while the positions to the left successively represent tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. A pebble just over the horizontal bar has the value five, and each pebble just under the bar has the value one. It is as if the digits were being written, not with a pencil, but rather by the placing of pebbles.
A large number written on the Roman counting board. The 8-digit number written here is eighty-seven million, six hundred fifty-four thousand, three hundred twenty-one.
Abacus pebble-numbersRomans used these place-value numbers for all their calculations. They could add and subtract numbers on a single line, like the one shown above. A large Roman counting board might have three lines placed above each other (see Menninger, 1969). On these three lines they could multiply or divide two multi-digit numbers, just as we do with written numbers on paper.
! A calculation is shown below, with the Roman counting board on the left, and our Hindu-Arabic notation on the right. With the abacus, only three lines are needed for this calculation, because the partial products are summed at the same time as they are written on the bottom
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line. With the Hindu-Arabic notation, a separate line is needed for each partial product, and here a total of seven lines is necessary. Summing the four partial products requires one extra step. Otherwise, the steps are the same. You might want to draw a full size abacus page and try some calculations using real pebbles. It feels a little like playing with pieces on a board-game.
28247x 1246––––––
169482 1129880 564940028247000
–––––––––35195762
multiplicandmultiplier
first partial productsecond partial product
third partial productfourth partial product
final summed result
Comparison of multiplication on abacus (left) and paper (right)
! With a slotted pocket-abacus the pebbles can be slid quickly. The Romans could do their calculations faster than we can do them with a pencil on paper. A few Roman pocket-abacuses are still preserved today. One was found in excavations of the buried city Pompeii. A model of one is shown in the figure below.
Drawing of a pocket-sized Roman slotted abacus.
! The oriental abacus follows the same basic pattern as the Roman pocket-abacus. Historians assume that the idea came from the Romans, who may have gotten it from the
Greeks (see Menninger.) Several ancient cultures used place-value objects for their calculations.
! The Chinese abacus, called the suan pan, gives the option of putting one or two beads above the bar and four or five beads below the bar, instead of one above and four below. The Japanese abacus, called the soroban, is just the same as the Roman abacus, allowing only one way to write each of the ten abacus numerals.
! A soroban may have dozens of rods for numerals. On a long abacus with many rods, all three multi-digit numbers can be written on the same line. The previous calculation is shown on a soroban below. The partial products are summed on the right to give the final answer.
2 2 7 1 4 5 9 7 28 4 2 6 3 1 5 6
Figure 4. Multiplication on a Japanese soroban abacus
! The diamond-shaped beads on the Japanese sorobans are designed to fit fingertips, allowing very quick calculations.
Soroban abacuses
! The Romans were highly skilled at calculations. They were completely satisfied with their place-value pebbles. They never missed not having place-value symbols. Roman numerals
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donʼt follow the place-value system, but thatʼs ok, they used them only for writing and recording the results of their calculations.
Numbers as wordsObjects and symbols are two different types of tools for dealing with numbers. We can agree that place-value objects and place-value symbols are by far the most effective for number work. What about words? They are a third type of tool, and our current words do not have place-value properties. They are cumbersome, just like Roman numerals. Our number words are so inappropriate that we almost never use them in the written form. Think about it: when did you last write a multi-digit number using words such as two-six-eight-one-seven or twenty-six thousand eight hundred and seventeen?
! You might write such numbers in a contract or on a personal check, but you would do this just because they are cumbersome, and therefore difficult to falsify. Hindu-Arabic numerals are easily altered: a 0 is easily changed to a 9, and a 1 changed to a 4. For such reasons, Hindu-Arabic numerals were officially banned for bookkeeping and all business dealings in Italy in the early 1300s; the cumbersome Roman numerals were required.
! We avoid writing our number words, but we cannot avoid speaking them. We must speak with words, and not with objects or symbols . And we must think with words, also when working with numbers. We use words whenever we think about numbers. This claim might surprise you. Place-value numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0, are so elegant that most people assume that they mentally see the symbols when they think about numbers. If you now think about a telephone number that you know, maybe you can see a few of the digits as symbols, but you mainly hear the words for each digit.
! To test your brain, and find out if it handles numbers as images or as words, you can try a little experiment. Clap your hands as fast as you can and count the claps mentally: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15...” After you get to thirteen you begin to stumble on the words, even though you are saying them silently. It is not your tongue, but your brain that is stumbling. To keep track of the numbers, you have to clap more slowly as the words get longer. This demonstrates that you count by mentally saying the number words. You cannot count by mentally seeing the number symbols. If you could do that, you could count the claps much more quickly, at the speed of your mental vision. We have not yet met anyone who can count claps by seeing images of numbers.
! Since we must hear the number words in our heads when we use numbers, they should be as simple as possible and as similar to the symbols as possible. The words themselves should have place-value properties. There should be exactly ten concise sounds, and these should have significant positions in the number words. Those are the properties that our audio numerals have. But before we describe our number words in more detail, it is useful to look at the clumsy numbers that we have inherited and use so contentedly.
Standard numbersWhen we count from 1 to 100, the numbers seem perfectly natural:
one twenty-one forty-one sixty-one eighty-onetwo twenty-two forty-two sixty-two eighty-two
three twenty-three forty-three sixty-three eighty-threefour twenty-four forty-four sixty-four eighty-fourfive twenty-five forty-five sixty-five eighty-fivesix twenty-six forty-six sixty-six eighty-sixseven twenty-seven forty-seven sixty-seven eighty-seveneight twenty-eight forty-eight sixty-eight eighty-eightnine twenty-nine forty-nine sixty-nine eighty-nineten thirty fifty seventy ninetyeleven thirty-one fifty-one seventy-one ninety-onetwelve thirty-two fifty-two seventy-two ninety-twothirteen thirty-three fifty-three seventy-three ninety-threefourteen thirty-four fifty-four seventy-four ninety-fourfifteen thirty-five fifty-five seventy-five ninety-fivesixteen thirty-six fifty-six seventy-six ninety-sixseventeen thirty-seven fifty-seven seventy-seven ninety-seveneighteen thirty-eight fifty-eight seventy-eight ninety-eightnineteen thirty-nine fifty-nine seventy-nine ninety-ninetwenty forty sixty eighty one hundred ! We have used these number words since early childhood and we take them for granted. But look at them now with new eyes; they are long, clumsy, and inconsistent. The size of the word does not reflect the size of the number. Some of these two-digit numbers are a mix of ten or more distinctive sounds. They hinder us in our basic mental and verbal work with numbers. If we hear a long-digit number, we have to write it down. We do not really have bad memories, we just have number words that are not suitable for fixing in our minds.
! Latin words, used by the Romans, were as long as our standard English words. We will not worry about their Latin, but here we can look at their symbols, from 1-100:
I (1) XI XXI XXXI XLI LI LXI LXXI LXXXI XCIII (2) XII XXII XXXII XLII LII LXII LXXII LXXXII XCIIIII (3) XIII XXIII XXXIII XLIII LIII LXIII LXXIII LXXXIII XCIIIV XIV XXIV XXXIV XLIV LIV LXIV LXXIV LXXXIV XCIIIV XV XXV XXXV XLV LV LXV LXXV LXXXV XCIVVI XVI XXVI XXXVI XLVI LVI LXVI LXXVI LXXXVI XCVVII XVII XXVII XXXVII XLVII LVII LXVII LXXVII LXXXVII XCVIIVIII XVIII XXVIII XXXVIII XLVIII LVIII LXVIII LXXVIII LXXXVIII XCVIIIIX XIX XXIX XXXIX XLIX LIX LXIX LXXIX LXXXIX XCIXX XX XXX XL L LX LXX LXXX XC C
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! These symbols are much like our number words: long, clumsy and inconsistent. The size of the symbol does not reflect the size of the number. For example, the symbol for the number 50 has only one character (L) while the symbol for 38, which is actually a smaller number, has seven characters (XXXVIII.)
! We can scoff at the Romansʼ symbols, now that we have place-value Hindu-Arabic numerals. But the ancient Romans had no experience with place-value symbols, and they would never have accepted a claim that their numbers were poor. It is probably hard for us to accept that a future culture with place-value number words will scoff at our present number words.
! Another way to appreciate that our number words are long and clumsy, is to look at some other set of number words, a set that we were not born with. Anyone who has moved to a foreign country can verify that no matter how fluent one becomes in another language, number words never feel as natural as they do in one's native language. We (the authors) have emigrated from the USA to Norway, so Norwegian is now our second language.
! Norwegian number words happen to be more concise than the English words. In other languages, the words may be longer. One of Norwayʼs neighbors is Finland.
viisi kolmekymmentäyhdeksän seitsemänkymmentäkolmekuusi neljäkymmentä seitsemänkymmentäneljäseitsemän neljäkymmentäyksi seitsemänkymmentäviisikahdeksan neljäkymmentäkaksi seitsemänkymmentäkuusiyhdeksän neljäkymmentäkolme seitsemänkymmentäseitsemänkymmenen neljäkymmentäneljä seitsemänkymmentäkahdeksanyksitoista neljäkymmentäviisi seitsemänkymmentäyhdeksänkaksitoista neljäkymmentäkuusi kahdeksankymmentäkolmetoista neljäkymmentäseitsemän kahdeksankymmentäyksineljätoista neljäkymmentäkahdeksan kahdeksankymmentäkaksiviisitoista neljäkymmentäyhdeksän kahdeksankymmentäkolmekuusitoista viisikymmentä kahdeksankymmentäneljäseitsemäntoista viisikymmentäyksi kahdeksankymmentäviisikahdeksantoista viisikymmentäkaksi kahdeksankymmentäkuusiyhdeksäntoista viisikymmentäkolme kahdeksankymmentäseitsemänkaksikymmentä viisikymmentäneljä kahdeksankymmentäkahdeksankaksikymmentäyksi viisikymmentäviisi kahdeksankymmentäyhdeksänkaksikymmentäkaksi viisikymmentäkuusi yhdeksänkymmentäkaksikymmentäkolme viisikymmentäseitsemän yhdeksänkymmentäyksikaksikymmentäneljä viisikymmentäkahdeksan yhdeksänkymmentäkaksikaksikymmentäviisi viisikymmentäyhdeksän yhdeksänkymmentäkolmekaksikymmentäkuusi kuusikymmentä yhdeksänkymmentäneljäkaksikymmentäseitsemän kuusikymmentäyksi yhdeksänkymmentäviisikaksikymmentäkahdeksan kuusikymmentäkaksi yhdeksänkymmentäkuusikaksikymmentäyhdeksän kuusikymmentäkolme yhdeksänkymmentäseitsemänkolmekymmentä kuusikymmentäneljä yhdeksänkymmentäkahdeksan kolmekymmentäyksi kuusikymmentäviisi yhdeksänkymmentäyhdeksänkolmekymmentäkaksi kuusikymmentäkuusi satakolmekymmentäkolme kuusikymmentäseitsemänkolmekymmentäneljä kuusikymmentäkahdeksan ! You probably didnʼt try to read this list of numbers! It would be quite a struggle. But it would not be a difficult task for a Finn, and if you were to suggest that there is something “wrong” with the number names, the Finn would surely disagree and think that perhaps there was something wrong with you! The point is that any set of number words seems natural to someone who has used it from childhood; English seems natural to Americans, Norwegian to Norwegians, and Finnish to Finns.
! Here are more examples of numbers in other languages. Note that in most cases the word for 50 is shorter than the word for 38, just as the symbol for 50 is shorter than 38 when written
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as Roman numerals. None of these number words have place value; they are more akin to Roman numerals than to Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Examples of numbers in various languagesLanguage 1 (I) 9 (IX) 38 (XXXVIII) 50 (L) 73 (LXXIII) 100 (C ) English one nine thirty-eight fifty seventy-three hundred Arabic ahad tis'a thamâniyata wa-
thalâthûnkhamsûn thalâthata wa-
sab'ûnmi-a
Cantonese yat gau saam sap baat ng sap chat sap saam yat baak Croatian jedan devet trideset-osam pedeset sedamdeset-tri sto Danish en ni otteogtredive halvtreds treoghalvfjerds hundrede Dutch een negen achtendertig vijftig drieenzeventig honderd Esperanto uno naù tridek ok kvindek sepdek tri cent Finnish yksi yhdeks
änkolmekymmentäkah eksan
viisikymmentä
seitsemänkymmentäkolme
sata
French un neuf trente-huit cinquante soixante-treize cent Ganda emu mwend
aamakumi asatu mu munaana
amakumi ataano
nsanvu mu ssatu
kikumi
Georgian erti tskhra otsdatvramet'I ormotsdaati samotsdatsamet'i
asi
German eins neun achtunddreißig fünfzig dreiundsiebzig hundert Greek ena enea trianta okto peninta evdominta tria ekato Hindi ek nau ar tees pachaas tihattar sau Hungarian egy kilenc harmincnyolc ötven hetvenhárom száz Igbo otu asato iri ato. na asato. iri ise iri asaa na ato. nari Indonesian satu sembilntiga puluh
delapanlima puluh tujuh puluh tiga seratus
Italian uno nova trentotto cinquanta settantatré cento Japanese ichi kyû sanjûhachi gojû nanajûsan hyaku Javanese siji sanga telung puluh
wolusèket pitung puluh
telusatus
Kurmanji yek hest sî û hest pênci heftê û sisê sedLatin unus novem triginta octo quinquaginta septuaginta tres centum Mandarin yi jiu san shi ba wu shi qi shi san yi bai Nepali ek no ar´tish pach´ehash ti´hattar sau Norwegian en ni trettiåtte femti syttitre hundre Old English an nigon eahta ond dritig fiftig seofontig hund Portuguese um nove trina e oito cinqüenta setenta e três cem Romanian unu noua treizeci si opt cincizeci saptezeci si trei o suta Audio numbers
iT iP iMiF iLiS iKiM iTiSiS
Spanish uno nueve trienta y ocho cincuenta setenta y tres cien
Swedish ett nio trettioåtta femtio sjuttiotre hundra Tagalog isa siyam tatlumpu't walo limampu pitumpu't tatlo isang
daan Turkish bir dokuz otuz sekiz elli yetmis üç hüzTzotzil jun balune
bvaxak lajuneb xcha'-vinik
lajuneb y-ox-vinik
'ox lajuneb xchan-vinik
vo'-vinik
Vietnamese mô.t chín ba mu'ò'i tám nam mu'ò'i ba y mu'ò'i ba mô.t tram Wolof benna juróom
ñenentñetta fukka ak juróom ñetta
juróom fukka juróom ñaar fukka ak ñetta
teeméer
Zulu ukunye
isishiyagalolunye
amashumi amathathu nesishiyagalombili
amashumi amahlanu amashumi ayisikhombisa nantathu
ikhulu
! Current number words in all languages are relatively poor. No language has a set of number words that is significantly better. The numbers are not concise, nor do they employ the place-value system.
! Consider the English words more closely. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, zero are all single-digit numbers. But the words seven and zero have two syllables, one more than they really need. Subconsciously this seems wrong to us, and we often shorten the word seven to “sevn” and zero to “oh”. How do you say a number like 7045 – “sevn-oh-four-five”?
! Ten is a two-digit number. But the word ten is short, like the word one. The word for 10 should sound like a two-digit number. To be consistent with the words twenty and thirty we should really say something like “onety” or “tenty” instead of ten.
! Our words for large numbers drop the zero as a placeholder. This is just the same as Roman numerals, where there is no symbol for zero. When we say the number “seven-hundred-and-forty-four”, we pronounce a word for each of the three digits (744). But when we say “seven-hundred-and-forty,” or “seven-hundred-and-four,” we have simply dropped the zeros and pronounced only two of the three digits. When we say “seven-hundred” for 700, we have dropped two of the three digits.
! The numbers 740 and 704 are very different numbers, but they sound almost the same in our speech and in our heads. These numbers ought to be said: “seven-hundred-and-forty-zero” (740), and “seven-hundred-and-zeroty-four” (704). The number 700 ought to be “seven-hundred-and-zeroty-zero”.
! Without looking at more examples, we can see that our spoken numbers indeed lack place value. They have inconsistent lengths, and inconsistent sounds. But probably the worst problem with our spoken and mental numbers is that they burden our minds with verbal clutter.
19
A number word like seven-hundred-and-forty-five contains far too many syllables for a little three-digit number.
Audio Numerals and Audio NumbersNow, consider our new set of numbers. They are not yet used in any language, so they must seem foreign to everyone. But these numbers are better, because the consonants in the number words have place value. The ten symbols can represent all the ten digits; they can also represent all the strong consonant sounds in English and other languages. These new symbols and words could give us effective ways to put numbers into our heads, just as Hindu-Arabic numerals gave Europeans effective ways to put numbers on paper.
! The ten basic number symbols are shown here. The words for these symbols, and the consonant sounds that indicate them, are shown below each number:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 01iT
2iN
3iM
4iR
5iL
6iJ
7iK
8iF
9iP
0iS
tttthddd
nnnng
mmm
rrr
lll
jshg
chtch
kckcgq
fphv
pppbbb
ssszc
! We call these ten symbols audio numerals. The tiny i is part of the symbol. It helps beginners to get accustomed to the idea that the symbol is something different, and not a letter of the alphabet. The letter i also helps in pronouncing the symbol properly. It opens the mouth in a way that helps to enunciate the consonant sound clearly. Hearing the i also helps the listener to be alert and register the important consonant sound that follows.
! The ten audio numerals make numbers, that we call audio numbers.
Audio numbers 1-100 written as symbols1 (1) 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91
! These must seem like strange symbols, with those little iʼs. And they must seem like strange words, with the mix of lower case and upper case letters. At first, they donʼt appear to be any better than our traditional system. In fact, they probably appear worse because they are strange. But there is method to this madness. These identical symbols and words can reinforce each other in peopleʼs minds as they use numbers. If Finnish children can be raised to consider their number words natural, we suppose that future children could consider audio numbers natural as well. Although it is hard for us now to accept such different-looking things, we can appreciate that these symbols and words could theoretically be used in any way that our familiar symbols and words can be used.
! What makes these symbols better than our current system is the ease in which the symbols can read as sounds, sounds that can readily form words, ideas, and even sentences that help us to anchor the numbers in our mind. Instead of trying to remember a PIN code such as 2011, we can easily remember iNiSiTiT as “NeST haT” or “No STaTe” or NoiSy ToT, or any other word combination with that sequence of consonant sounds. Phone numbers quickly become a set of images that are recalled with no difficulty. Learning multiplication tables or remembering statistics can be a game with few errors in recall.
! This kind of system is not new. It has been used for hundreds of years by scholars and memory experts, and was advocated by the well-known scientist and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz. He recognized the value in representing numbers in a way that makes them easier to recall. In the next chapters we take a look at the fascinating history and playful methods of number-memorization techniques.
! It is not necessary for the entire world to adopt audio numerals before they can be useful. You can begin using them right away to recall numbers and facts. Learning this new system is not too difficult, and the benefits are immediate!
Learning and testing yourself on the audio numeralsAny new words are a challenge to learn. Therefore a list of memory aids is shown below to help in learning these ten new numbers in only a few minutes.
21
! The connections between the sounds and numbers are easy, because most of the letters we usually use for these sounds actually look something like the numbers. The letter t has one central stroke down, so the sound t is 1. The letter n has two strokes down, so the sound n is 2. The letter m has three strokes down, so the sound m is 3... If you carefully read the memory aids in the table below, and visualize these letters and numbers while you are reading it, you will soon be able to-spell any word as its number.
Memory aids to learn the phonetic number code
Audio numerals and thesounds that represent themAudio numerals and thesounds that represent them
Memory aids, to memorize the audio-numerals and sounds that represent them
1 (iT) the sound t, d, th t has 1 stroke down (note that d is a voiced t-sound)2 (iN) the sound n, ng n has 2 strokes down; N resembles a rotated 23 (iM) the sound m m has 3 strokes down; M resembles a rotated 34 (iR) the sound r r in the word "four"; R resembles a backward 45 (iL) the sound l L is Roman numeral 50; five fingers with the
thumb stretched out resemble the letter L6 (iJ) the sound j, ch, sh,
soft-g, tchscript j, with closed lower loop, resembles a backward 6
7 (iK) the sound k, hard c, q, hard-g
in the letter K are two hidden 7's
8 (iF) the sound f, v, ph script f, with two loops, resembles 8 9 (iP) the sound p, b p resembles a backward 9 0 (iS) the sound s, soft-c, z think of SOS as a zero between two s's; the word zero
begins with z! ! ! ! ! ! !
Note that voiced and unvoiced consonant sounds are the same numerals: z (voiced) = s (unvoiced),! !v (voiced) = f (unvoiced),d (voiced) = t (unvoiced), ! !b (voiced) = p (unvoiced)! !g (voiced) = k (unvoiced), !!! ! ! It is not the letters, but the sounds that are important:Double letters form a single sound and represent a single numeral: tt = iT = 1; nn = iN = 2; mm = iM = 3; etc. Silent letters are always ignored (knight = 21).Vowel sounds are always ignored.The letter x may sound like ks = 70, or it may sound like z = 0. The letters ng = 2 in most words, but in some words, the g has a different sound. Hang all = 25, angle = 275, angel = 265, hang glide = 2751, anguish = 276.
! You have now seen the ten audio-numerals, and the sounds that they represent, but you may have not learned them yet. People like to read something first, before they invest time in memorizing it. To memorize the audio-numerals, you should use the memory mids listed above. You must see these images of letters and numbers in your mind, one at a time. Mental images are the easiest things to keep in the memory.
Test yourself on number-spelling by writing the numbers from the phrases below. They each contain all ten digits. Cover up the shaded numbers, and then write the exact same numbers in the blank spaces. This way you can check that you know the sounds.
The new mayor will shake off a boss. ! ! !! Audio-numeralogic vibes! !
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
The numb relish coffee abuse.! ! ! ! ! ! ! He eyed an immoral Chekhov piece.
Jump on clever ideas!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Enchiladas keep me very high.
6 3 9 2 7 5 8 4 1 0 2 6 5 1 0 7 9 3 8 4
! If you had trouble any place here, go back to the memory aids and see where you went wrong. You may have had a problem with the g in finagler, the sh in show, the s in visual, the v in every. You will not have this sort of problem for long.
A suggestion for really big audio numbersMulti-digit audio numbers are written and pronounced in the same ways as single- and double-digit numbers. In the table below, compare the efficiency of multi-digit audio numbers with standard number words.!
23
Number as symbols
Number as words
Number as standard words
1 iT one12 iTiN twelve123 iTiNiM one hundred and twenty-three1234 iTiNiMiR one thousand two hundred and thirty-four12345 iTiNiMiRiL twelve thousand three hundred and forty- five123456 iTiNiMiRiLiJ one hundred and twenty-three thousand four
hundred and fifty six1234567 iTiNiMiRiLiJiK one million, two hundred and thirty four
thousand, five hundred and sixty seven
! Audio numbers of any size can be spoken easily and consistently. There are no special rules or irregularities. They just get longer, one value-place at a time.
! Of course, any very long number is difficult, in Hindu-Arabic digits or in audio numerals. In science, a large number like 1,234,567 might be simplified to 1.23 x 106 in what is called scientific notation. With very large audio numbers, we suggest a similar way of specifying their size.
! Consider the standard words for the number 1,234,567: one million two hundred and thirty-four thousand five hundred and sixty-seven. The word million is important here; it indicates the total size of this number, that it has seven digits. But the words thousand and hundred are just clutter. The corresponding audio number is iTiNiMiRiLiJiK. We have a way to emphasize that this too is a seven-digit number.
! To specify that iTiNiMiRiLiJiK is a seven-digit number (7 = iK) without using a cumbersome term like “million,” the prefix oK- can be added, making the number oK-iTiNiMiRiLiJiK. The vowel sound o preceding the number shows that the oK is a prefix to indicate the total size. An eight digit number would begin with the prefix oF- and a twelve-digit number would begin with oToN-.
! With such a prefix it would only be necessary to hear the beginning of the spoken word: “oK-iTiN . . .” to register that this is a number beginning as 1.2 million. If the listener is able to catch more of the word as it is spoken, he will know more significant places of the number. If he hears: “oK-iTiNiMiR . . .” he will understand that this is a seven-digit number beginning with iTiNiMiR, or 1.234 million. A prefix of this type can be added to any audio number when considered convenient. Prefixes can also be used to intentionally shorten or round-off large numbers. The word “oK-iTiN” is 1.2 million. The word “oK-iTiNiM” is 1.23 million.
! This proposal marks a more significant structural change to the way we read and say numbers than simply replacing digits with sounds. It is not essential to place-value evolution, and may or may not ever be adopted.
Audionums for label-numbersThe most immediate use for audio numbers is to remember label-numbers such as PINs and telephone numbers. Audionums are another type of precise and place-value number word.
For the number 12, the audio number is iTiN and various audionums are: TaN, ThiN, TiN, TiNy, ToN, ToNe, TowN, TuNa, TwiN, and waiTiNg. Some others are DaN, DuNe, DowN, DiNe.
! Audionums are like pseudonyms for numbers. They are alternative names, carefully chosen to be more appropriate or appealing than regular names. Nevertheless, they are unambiguous and unmistakable; they provide an exact identification.
! When words are written in this distinctive mix of upper- and lower-case letters, they are not only words, but also numbers The large appendix at the back of this book is a list of 60 000 audionums. It is not a list of words, but a list of exact numbers. They can be combined to make audionums for larger, multi-digit numbers. With its distinctive combination of upper- and lower-case letters, the sentence: NuMBeRS May eVoLVe, BuT DoNʼT eXPeCT Me To cHaNGe is obviously an audionum. It can be instantly memorized and number-spelled with the eyes shut, to unerringly give the number 239403858911217097131626.
! It is a challenge to find a good audionum for a label-number such as a telephone number. It takes some effort and open eyes, and usually leads to rather silly but meaningful sentences. It can can be very fun and satisfying. We will give you lots of real examples and tips for doing this later in the book.
! Today we have universal number symbols, 1,2,3... understood in writing by everyone in the world. Audio numbers will be just as international, as will audionums. Instead of writing down numbers to communicate them to a foreigner, they will simply be spoken and understood, in any language. The history of these number techniques show that audionums work well in many languages. Audionums for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 in French, where many consonant sound are silent, are. “Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCe”, and “Dieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints”
Putting humor into math lessons with audionumsAudionums are handy for verbal and mental work. Some of them could even be used for written mathematics, since they have place-value properties. Consider this arithmetic problem, written three ways: with Hindu-Arabic numerals, with audio numbers, and with silly audionums:
! Children who are raised to feel at home with audio numbers might enjoy solving math problems that involve audionums. Is a ReeF the same as a TiNy TaN-colored TowN for TuNa?
When children know audio numbers, authors of childrenʼs math books can provide all sorts of fun arithmetic problems to solve. Children might enjoy such nonsense as they learn to work with numbers.
Question: Is it true that: TiMe + ToiL + aha + worRy = MoNey? Answer: It seems to be: 13 + 15 + 0 + 4 = 32.
25
Question: is it true that if you cross a CaR with a GiRaFfe you get a haiRy GoBLiN? Answer: Yes, itʼs possible: 47 x 648 = 47952But you might instead get a ! RuGBy aLieN or a ! RocKy BaLlooN!
Challenge: “Add apples, oranges and mustard, and see what you get.” The pupils now have the challenge of adding the numbers and making an audionum for the answer.
“Divide elephant by knife, and see what you get” ! iLiFiNiT!: iNiF! =
! Pupils who are interested in the math will not be offended by silly audionum exercises. Some pupils who are not so interested in the math may find that such silly words make the math more appealing.
Hearing the rhyme and rhythm of skip-counting multiplicationThe best way to learn the multiplication table is not by memorizing the numbers as a table, but by counting by twos, threes, fours, fives, etc. This is sometimes called skip counting. When skip counting with standard English words, there is so much word clutter that the beauty of the math gets lost in all the verbiage. Skip counting by audio numbers is so concise that the repetitions are obvious.
Skip counting to one hundred by twos with audio numbers is pure pleasure, like reading poetry. You hear that each set of five twos makes the next ten. Repetition of the sounds occurs for every ten. You can never hear this type of repetition when counting with standard. Read both these sets of numbers out loud and hear the simplicity and beauty of the audio numbers.
In skip counting by threes, the sond repetitions begin only after ten counts, at thirty. This pattern is much harder to hear, even with these concise numbers sounds.
By fours, you hear the rhythm of the repeating pattern of twenties. Five fours make a new twenty:iR, iF, iTiN, iTiJ, iNiS, ! ! ! ! = 4, 8, 12, 16, 20,iNiR, iNiF, iMiN, iMiJ, iRiS,!! ! = 24, 28, 32, 36, 40,iRiR, iRiF, iLiN, iLiJ, iJiS,! ! ! = 44, 48, 52, 56, 60,JiR, JiF, KiN, KiJ, FiS,! ! ! ! = 64, 68, 72, 76, 80,iFiR, iFiF, iPiN, iPiJ, iTiSiS.! ! = 84, 88, 92, 96, 100.
When counting to one hundred by fives, the numbers roll off the tongue in sets of two.Either as:iL–iTiS, iTiL–iNiS, iNiL–iMiS, iMiL–iRiS, iRiL–iLiS, iLiL–iJiS, iJiL–iKiS, iKiL–iFiS, iFiL–iPiS, iPiL–iTiSiS.
Or as the other combination of twos:iL, iTiS–iTiL, iNiS–iNiL, iMiS–iMiL, iRiS–iRiL, iLiS–iLiL, iJiS–iJiL, iKiS–iKiL, iFiS–iFiL, iPiS–iPiL, iTiSiS
In counting by sixes, the rhythm begins at thirty and is easily heard as audio numbers:!iJ, iTiN,!iTiF, iNiR, iMiS, ! ! ! ! ! = 6, 12, 18, 24, 30,iMiJ, iRiN,!iRiF, iLiR, iJiS, ! ! ! ! ! = 36, 42, 48, 54, 60,iJiJ, iKiN, iKiF, iFiR, iPiS,! ! ! ! ! = 66, 72, 78, 84, 90,iPiJ, iTiSiN, iTiSiF, iTiTiR, iTiNiS. ! ! = 96, 102, 108, 114, 120.
In skip counting by sevens, as with threes, the first repetition is after ten counts.
By eights, the repetition begins at forty.iF, iTiJ, iNiR, iMiN, iRiSiRiF, iLiJ, iJiR, iKiN, iFiS,iFiF, iPiN,
By tens, of course, everything is in rhyme, as in standard number words:iTiS, iNiS, iMiS, iRiS, iLiS, iJiS, iKiS, iFiS, iPiS, iTiSiS.
With audio numbers, the multiples are clearly expressed in the sound of the words.There is a mathematical poetry in just saying the numbers in sequence.
Summary of the new audio numerals, audio numbers, and audionumsWe can all agree that place-value number symbols work well on paper. We have tried to show that consonant sounds as place-value number words might sit well in the mind. But probably we cannot imagine all the ways that place-value numerals will be used, just like Fibonacci could never have imagined all the ways that we use place-value symbols today. The important point is that place-value numbers are best, and they have evolved from object to symbols, and will surely evolve to words. Just as we today have universal place-value number symbols, future cultures will use universal place-value sounds.
! In the past, there has been no real connection between the world of Numbers and the world of Language. Now these two worlds can be merged, and who knows what power that will release? To represent this marriage symbolically, we can write ABC=123. Will it be as powerful as the marriage of energy and mass, symbolized by the equation E=MC2?
! Various ways of representing place-value numbers are summarized in the following table.
27
Abacus numerals Objects with positional or place-value properties
Hindu-Arabic numerals Ten symbols with place value
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Audio numerals as symbols Ten symbols with place value
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Audio numerals as words iT iN iM iR iL iJ iK iF iP iS Number sounds Consonant sounds as they occur in normal words
t, dth, ttdd
nnn
-ng
m mm
r rr
l ll
j, shg, chtch
k, ckc, gq
f ph v
p, bppbb
s, z c ss
Audio Numbers Concise number words where words = symbols
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN
iT iTiN iTiNiM iTiNiMiRiTiNiMiRiL iTiNiMiRiLiJ
oK-iTiN Audionums Pseudonyms for numbers, familiar in various languages. English and French examples for 1234567890.
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeSThe New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS
Tu NʼaiMe Ras Les Gens Qui Font PièCeDieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints
A history of techniques for converting numbers to words
When Europe finally embraced place-value symbols, the idea was not new. Place-value objects had been around for millennia and the Hindu-Arabic symbols had been around for centuries. It is easy to look backwards through time and see the events and ideas that shape our current systems.
! The idea of audio numerals may surely look like a radical new idea, but the core ideas of this system took shape hundreds of years ago. In the following chapters we visit these systems, and try to imagine how useful or entertaining they were, when they were in fashion
! One of the obvious advantages of audio numbers is their potential for making boring label-numbers into something fun. This section shows historical ways of making numbers into interesting words. It also shows the complete historical development of the number code for audio numbers. Its 360-year history has never before been properly researched, and we report here some surprising new discoveries.
29
Chronogramsyear-nuMbers eXpresseD In CLeVer ways (= MDCLXVI)
Most people today know nothing chronograms. Number culture has evolved away from them, and they have not been of interest for the past few hundred years. Our goal here is to explain what they are, and why they were considered fun and interesting. We will delve into a long-gone number culture.
Chronograms were a number-word game previously enjoyed by academics in central Europe. First we need to define them. A chronogram is a date (chrono) hidden in some written message (gram). The messages were written in Latin, the international academic language, and the dates were given by the letters that also formed Roman numerals. A chronogram was a challenge to write and entertaining to read. It was an impressive way of commemorating an important date.
The symbols for Roman numerals are seven standard letters of the alphabet. Romannumerals
1000 500 100 50 10 5 1Romannumerals M D C L X V IAny words that include these symbols can represent numbers. In chronograms, the letter u is generally taken as V; w is V V; and j is I. All of these Roman numeral-letters count; none of them may be ignored. The numeral-letters are written in upper-case print, so that none are overlooked when the chronogram is read. This mix of upper-case and lower-case letters within words was the visual clue that a sentence was a chronogram, serving both to give a message and a date. Sometimes the numeral-letters were shown in a larger font, or in red print. It was important that they were clearly and easily noticed.
Most chronograms were created for the title pages or colophons of books, to indicate the year of publication. They were also used on medallions and statues. They were painted or carved on the facades of buildings. A Latin chronogram on a building made a grand public statement, not only about the date of the building, but about the intelligence and personality of its owner. Chronograms are still visible on many old buildings in Germany. Although few people today can read the Latin message, the Roman numeral dates are still easy to identify and interpret.
In 1882, when chronograms were at risk of being forgotten, a British literary researcher named James Hilton made a heroic effort to record them. He collected chronograms wherever they might be found, but mainly from books in libraries and antiquarian bookstores. All together, he came across 38,411 chronograms and printed 14,712 of them in 3 large volumes in the years 1882, 1885, and 1895.
Nearly all the chronograms that Hilton documented were written in Latin, and many of them were in hexameter and pentameter verse. The meanings of the chronograms and the word play were lost on most of his readers, so he translated most of them (in his first book, anyway) into English. He found a few chronograms that were originally written in English, and we reprint these here, to introduce the chronogram style. Except for the first example (1568), the date indicated by each chronogram is, in fact, the date that it was first published.
An English chronogram concerning Philip the Second, King of Spain. His son Charles was executed in 1568, for plotting the king's death.
Before the tIMe, the oVer hasty sonne! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! Seeks forth hoVV near the fatherʼs LIfe Is Done !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1568)
The Roman letters are IMVVVLIID. When rearranged, these are MDLVVVIII or 1568.
(v.1, p.9)A chronogram written on the death of Queen Elizabeth, in 1603. This chronogram is unusual, in that only the first letter of each word is counted, and they occur in correct Roman numeral order, MDCIII:! My Day Closed Is In Immortality ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1603)
(v.1, p.21)Two chronograms celebrating the marriage of the son of King James I of England, in 1623.Words were sometimes misspelled to give the correct dates. Note the intentional misspelling of the word unhappie.! JaMes by the graCe of GoD,
Is a kIng noVV neVer VnhappIe!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1623)! ShIne honors heros, Make thy brIDe thy sphere!
For VVe In her eXpeCt a happy yeare!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1623)
(v.1, p.2)An epitath for Judge Doderige! LearnIng aDIeU for DoDerIge Is gone
To fIXe hIs earthIe to the heaVenLIe throne! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1628)
(v.1, p.10) From the title page of a book of sermons, published November 27, 1644:! GoD Is oVr refVge, oVr strength
HeLp In troVbLes, VerIe abVnDant VVe finDe!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1644)
(v.2, p.26) On Charles I, king of England, who was beheaded on January 30, 1649:! CharLes the trVe pICtVre of ChrIst CrVCIfIDe
Great BrIttans VIrtVoVs kIng noVV gLorIfIDe! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1649)! These Numerall Letters, All together be! Just sixteene hundred, forty, and thrice three." (v.1, p.9)An epitath in a book published in 1652, for a schoolmaster who died December 31, 1651:! His life he with the yeere did end,! A loving husband, master, friend.! The Last nIght of DeCeMber! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1651)! He resteD froM aLL hIs Labor. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1651)
(v.3, p.15)From a plaque on a rebuilt church, in Salisbury, England: ! "The Lord did marvellously preserve a great congregation of his people from the fall of the ! tower in this place upon the sabbath day, being June 26, 1653"
(v.1, p.2)An epitath for two sisters, born in 1654 and 1657, who died in 1665:! Here Learn to DIe betIMes Least happILIe ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1654)! Ere yee begIn to LIVe ye CoMe to Dye. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1657)
(v.2, p.9) Epitath for a woman who died at age 25:! An eLegIe on that peerLess VIrgIn SVsanna PerVVICh,
Paragon of aLL VertVe, the fLoVrIshIng gLory of her seXe, VVho LateLy DeCeaseD.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1661)
(v.3, p.15)An epitath for Hester Potticary who died at age 24:! ! PVre VesseLs of MerCy enIoy happIness VVIth GoD! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1673)
VertVe In her Is not VVItherIng! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=24)
(v.3, p.10) From a booklet entitled: A Satirical Poem on the Jesuitish Plot in 1678 for the Assassination of the King... published in London, 1679. First there appear 5 Latin chronograms, not shown here, each giving the date 1678. These are translated into 4 English chronograms: ! ! By treaCherIe or VILe plots tʼ soVV thʼ ChrIstIan seeD,
Is not In thʼ CathoLICk bVt thʼ popIsh CreeD! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1678)
! ! That thʼ kIng, LaVV, peopLe, In oVr BrItIsh VVorLD,Bʼ Into theIr rVIne, or ConfVsIon hVrLD,Is thʼ popIsh VVIsh, VVhose BrVtIsh faIth aLLoVVsSVCh IrreLIgIoVs eXtasIes In VoVVs.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1678)
! ! Let thʼ pope VVIth ʻs IesVIts; RoMe VVIth heLL ConspIre,In aLL the VILLanIes theIr fVrIoVs IreSVggests; thʼ proteCtor of oVr BrItIsh fateSaVes thʼ pVre reLIgIon In spIght of theIr hate.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1678)
! ! VVhere JesVItIsMʼs In poVVer; VVho Dare say,OVr LIfeʼs oVr oVVn, that LIVe not In theIr VVay.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1678)
(v.3, p.11) Written by one of a group of prisoners in 1679, predicting that their innocence would be shown in the year 1686:! ! YoVr sorroVV shaL be MaDe Very IoyfVLL Vnto yoV! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1686)
(v.1, p.10)Written for a lyric competition in 1735:! ! As peopLe LIVe & Dye, In CoMe & go
Xest gIVes these joy, & sInks those Into VVoe!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1735)
Another entry in the same competition:ThVs sIngeth yoVr ChrIstopher a ChrIstMas CaroLL
In hopes of yoVr aCtIons that then yoVʼLL beVVare aLL.!! ! ! ! ! (=1735)
Very few chronograms were written after about 1800, but Hilton found a few, including some in English.
(v1, p8)For a church in Brighton England, restored in 1881:
For Many a Long year rVInateOVr Cross VVas set Vp fresh of LateLook here & yoV Can see the Date! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1881)
(v2, p1) Written by someone who bought Hilton's book Chronograms (1882, Elliot Stock publisher):! ! ThIs booke of ChronograMs VVIth sharpest LearnIng fraVght
ThIs bVrIeD year of ELLIot StoCk I boVght!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1882)
Written by another, who borrowed the same book:! ! Thank yoV, Mr. GooDen, for the Loan of thIs reaLLy CLeVer book
Written by a reviewer of Hiltonʼs book:FareVVeLL HILton, May yoV fLoVrIsh eXCeeDIngLy ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1883)
(v3, p11) Humorous correspondence on the election of someone (probably Hilton himself) as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 1881:! ! NoVV yoV May sIgn VVIth F.S.A.! ! VVhen eʼre that Is yoVr VVILL;
BVt Dont forget oVr fees to pay,I knoVV yoVʼLL get the bILL! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1881)
Reply:! ! The fees IʼLL pay, LIke an F.S.A
VVILLIng the proper to Do,The honorʼs great! – for a Lofty stateI aM thankfVLL qVITe to yoV.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1881)
(v1, p11)A comment on the unusually wet spring and summer of 1879:
ThIs year VVe haVe a LIVIng reCoLLeCtIon of MVD!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1879)
(v2, p585) For a summer house built in 1883:! ! At fIVe oʼCLoCk aLong VVIth Me
Rest here a VVhILe anD take yoVr tea.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1883)Reply:! ! A thoVsanD thanks! Most VVILLIngLy
IʼLL take a CVp or tVVo of tea. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1883) For a bench outside the same house, the following year:! ! VVhen Dog Days brIng theIr VsVaL heat,
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A pLeasant CooL retreat, YoVʼLL fInD Vpon thIs seat.!! ! ! ! (=1884)
(v3, p467) For another summer house, built in 1888:! ! VVhen, past the frosts of VVInter Days,
The bIrDs poVr forth theIr IoyoVs Lays,VVhen fLora brIngs her offerIng.VVhen bees begIn theIr task to pLy,BaskIng In phoebVsʼ sLantIng rays
! ! Throʼ sVnny hoVrs of earLy sprIng, Here enVIoVs Boreasʼ bLasts Defy.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1888)
(v3, p468) To a friend who married a Miss Grace:
In fear of GoD LIVe here on earth, VVIth graCe thy VVIfeSo that throVgh graCe ye both May haVe eternaL LIfe! ! ! ! ! ! !(=1889)
(v3, p472) For a dog, blind in old age, and finally put to sleep. Written by the Reverend J.E.V:! ! CarLo Dear DoggIe LoVIng, faIthfVL, anD trVe
She Lost her sIght, bVt not her LoVe for J.E.V.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1885)
(v1, p11) For another dog, put to sleep by drowning:
In thIs year, CoCoCanIne fLoss, Met a VVatery enD, ah! GrIeVoVs eVent. HeIgho!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1880)
Most chronograms were written for either the title pages or as colophons of Latin books. One of Hiltonʼs colleagues made chronograms for the title page of his first book:! ! The qVaInt bVt not aLtogether VnsChoLarLy ConCeIts! ! WhICh thIs LIttLe book ContaIneth
DespIse not o CoVrteoVs reaDer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1882)
On the following page, he gave another English chronogram for this date:! ! An eXCeLLent neVV book of ChronograMs
GathereD together & noVV set forth by I. HILton, F.S.A.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1882)
And on the final page, this conclusion:! ! CoVrteoVs reaDer, I fInIsh VVIth thIs ChronograM.
Be the year It InVoLVes happy for Vs both. FareVVeLL.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1882)
Hilton's second volume began with this chronogram:! ! Another qVIte neVV book of rIght eXCeLLent ChronograMs
Hilton's second volume was intended to be his last, and was entitled Chronograms continued and concluded. But ten years later he produced yet a third book. It began with this remark:! ! Another buDget neeDs another CLearanCe,
Ask VVhether thIs the Very Last VVILL be,I Can bVt ansVVer “He VVho LIVes VVILL see.”! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1895)
Hiltonʼs third volume did remain his very last.
How to create a simple chronogramNow you are surely eager to write your own chronogram. There must be many ways to go about this, but we show you how we have done it (we are not in the habit of writing them.) First we write a sentence with the meaning we want. “It Is fVn to Create ChronograMs.” This sentence contains the Roman numerals I I V C C M, or the date 1207. The next step is to change some words to try to get the desired date, 2011: “It Is fVn to Make theM” gives the year 2007. “Itʼs Very fVn to Make theM.” This is not a very elegant chronogram, but it might convince you than just about anyone can do it.
Here are a few chronograms we made for the university where we work. The first date is 1910, the founding of the Norwegian Technical Institute, and the second is when the institute became part of the new Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1996:
Although we are proud of these efforts, they cannot compare with the beautiful examples of earlier times. Many of the Latin chronograms are clever epigrams, and most were written in hexameter and pentameter verse.
History and art of Latin chronogramsChronograms are important to us, because they inspired the invention of audionums, way back in 1648. The culture of chronograms also convinces us that audio numerals and audionums will be fun in the future number culture. For these reasons, we deeply looked into the history of chronograms. We try here to show some of our favorite examples, even though they are in Latin, which is not our favorite language.
! James Hiltonʼs books document the culture and history of chronograms. He found Hebrew chronograms that were written in 1208 and 1280. His earliest chronograms in Arabic were from 1380, 1383 and 1385. (footnote Hilton v.1, p.547). Finally, chronograms in Latin with Roman numerals began to appear in the middle of the 1400s. This timing coincides with the invention of the printing press.! Chronograms involve careful wording and spelling; they cannot be appreciated unless they are written. The most common purpose of a chronogram was to give the publication date of a book. For many books, no date was printed other than as a chronogram appearing on or near the title page.
! Chronograms were most popular in central and eastern Europe. They were also known in France, Britain and Scandinavia, but probably unknown in Italy and Spain. Our analysis of the first thousand chronograms presented by Hilton shows the peak date to be the year 1683 with a standard deviation of about 70 years. Thus it could be said that the golden age of
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chronograms was from 1600-1750. This is the period of general baroque style. Chronograms were a form of literary expression that was perfectly suited to baroque culture in central Europe.
100 chronogram proverbsHilton found a book published in Leipzig in 1608 (Symbologia heroica hexaglottos by Henricus Kitsch) with an alphabetical list of chronogram proverbs, each giving the year 1607. These chronograms are mercifully short, and very clever. We reproduce them all here. We expect that you will be so intrigued by these, that you will now learn Latin, just to be able read them. But now we give the translation of the title page, and the first and last chronogram:
Centuria Symbolorum Chronologicorum serotinorum, Epoches Christianæ M.DC.VII cujus tessera (A hundred symbolical chronograms, each one belatedly marking the year 1607)
An almanac for 1685An almanac, Calendarium Tyrnaviense, was published in Hungary for 1685 with a chronogram for every day of the year. The chronograms for each month followed a certain theme. Hilton reproduced them all. Here we show the month of September, for which the theme was health. These chronograms give insight to European culture at that time. Most of them are serious but a few are humorous, such as September 25: Mushrooms are safe, when well boiled and thrown away through the window.
SEPTEMBER habet dies XXXSENTENTIÆ MEDICÆ-CHRONOLOGICÆ1. Non est VIs MeDICI, qVIVIs reLeVetVr Vt ager.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)2. VItaM potest qVIsqVe toLLere, trIbVere non nIsI soLVs DeVs.!! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)3. NoVI MorbI noVa parIter antIDota, noVasqVe CVratIones postVLant.!! ! ! ! (=1685)4. SI qVIs VoLet DIV sanVs Manere, paVCas haVrIat sanItates;! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)5. InDe non paVCIs aLIena haVsta sanItates eXhaVserVnt sanItateM.!! ! ! ! (=1685)6. Vt pLVs bIbas, parVM bIbe, tVnC DIVtIVs bIbes.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)7. Vt LaC InfantIbVs , Ita VInVM DatVr senIbVs.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)8. QVI non est assVetVs obsonIIs, sI esVrIt, ManDVCet oLVs.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)9. ELIXa CItIVs DIgerVntVr, qVaM Igne tosta :! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)10. SeD Igne tosta VIros faCIVnt robVstIores, qVÀM eLIXa.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)11. QVI sVnt IstI ; qVIbVs non est satIs benÈ nIsI aLIIs sIt VaLDe MaLe?!! ! (=1685)12. MeDICI et JVrIsta, qVos non nIsI aLIena JVVant InfortVnIa.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)13. SIne MeDICo, qVI potest VIVere, feLIX et beatVs est.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)14. SoLI naMqVe beatI Ita DefaCtò VIVVnt absqVe pVrgatIone.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)15. VerbIs, herbIs, et LapIDIbVs VIs non LeVIs InsIta est, aIebat heLMontIVs.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)16. SapÈ CItÒ InfIrMantVr, qVI DIV benÈ VaLVerVnt.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)17. QVIa (VtI hIppoCrates aIt) Longa sanItas propInqVa agrItVDInIs prasagIVM est.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1685)
Now you can read the translations for these 30 chronograms. This is to show that a talented chronogram author could express any meaning to give a chronogram with the desired date. For a challenge, try taking one of these translations and rewriting it to give a chronogram with the date of 1685. To help you choose an easy one, we show the dates that the translations presently give.
1. A DoCtor Cannot CVre aLL the sICk.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1006)2. Anyone Can take LIfe, bVt onLy GoD Can gIVe LIfe.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 863)3. NeVV sICknesses reqVIre both neVV MeDICInes anD neVV treatMents.! ! ! ! ! (= 3239)4. He VVho VVoVLD stay heaLthy Long, shoVLD not VVear oVt hIs heaLth.!! ! ! ! (= 1296)5. The poor heaLth of soMe peopLe often affeCts others.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1200)6. If yoV VVant to DrInk MVCh, then DrInk LIttLe. That VVay yoV VVILL! ! DrInk Longer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2851)7. One gIVes MILk to ChILDren anD VVIne to aDVLts.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2774)8. He VVho Is not VseD to rICh fooD shoVLD eat VegetabLes VVhen hVngry.! ! (= 1742)9. BoILeD fooD Is More easILy DIgesteD than frIeD fooD.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4105)10. BVt frIeD fooD Creates poVVerfVL Men More reaDILy than boILeD fooD.! ! (= 4773)11. VVho Is It that Is not Content VnLess others are stILL VVorse off?! ! ! ! ! (= 279)12. DoCtors anD LaVVyers benefIt froM the MIsfortVnes of others.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3167)13. VVIthoVt a DoCtor, he VVho sVrVIVes Is LVCky anD bLesseD.! ! ! ! ! (= 1848)14. OnLy saInts LIVe sVCh that they neVer neeD a soapIng.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 718)15. There Is no InsIgnIfICant poVVer In VVorDs, herbs, anD roCks, says ! ! HeLMontIVs. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1782)16. They VVho haVe Long been heaLthy beCoMe soon sICk. !! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1316)17. Or, as HIppICrates says, gooD heaLth oVer a Long perIoD forboDes an! ! onCoMIng sICkness.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2909)18. He VVho eats too MVCh, DIgests poorLy anD Is forCeD to VoMIt.!! ! ! (= 3773)19. VVatCh yoVr DIet anD aVoID eXCesses; a rVLe of gooD heaLth.! ! ! ! (= 2337)20. MornIng anD eVenIng aIr Is ConsIDereD heaLthy.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2659)21. MoDerate traVeL that Does not fatIgVe the boDy reneVVs VIgoVr.!! ! ! (= 2582)22. ALL VIoLent anger Is DaMagIng anD shoVLD be aVoIDeD.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3719)23. Fat peopLe shoVLD aVoID Long DaytIMe naps.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2662)24. To eat In sMaLL anD LIght portIons Is gooD for the DIgestIon.! ! ! ! ! (= 2656)25. MVshrooMs are safe VVhen VVeLL boILeD anD throVVn aVVay throVgh
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! ! the VVInDoVV.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3722)26. PhysICaL sICkness Is often CaVseD by psyChoLogICaL sICkness.! ! ! (= 126027. SICknesses shoVLD be CVreD proMptLy, eVen If they are not serIoVs.!! (= 231828. It Is too Late to VIsIt a DoCtor VVhen Death has aLreaDy reaCheD the! ! sICk personʼs neCk.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2520)29. VVIne Is benefICIaL, bVt Dark beer CaVses farts.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 774)30. BathIng, VVIne, anD seX reDVCe yoVr strength, say the DoCtors. ! ! ! (= 1727)
Centum hexameterIt is obviously quite a challenge to write a chronogram giving the desired date. But many people enjoy word challenges. Chronograms were very often written in Latin hexameter verse, which greatly added to the pleasure of reading the chronograms. A choice example of one hundred hexamter chronograms is a four-paged pamphlet Memoria pacis, centum hexametris, celebrating the end of the Scanian War in 1679. This anonymous publication was dated only by the subtitle: Da, DeVs, Vt nostrIs hIs, paX, sIt CLara DIebVs (Dedicated to God, so that this, our peace be as clear as daylight.) ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Title page and date in chronogram, and first page of Centum Hexametris (1679) ! It must have been fun to write chronograms on the theme of peace, because the Latin word Pax contains an X. This was a rather rare letter in Latin, just as it is in English. This X helps make the chronograms more interesting.
Latin verse in rhymeLatin poetry was typically written in metered verse, which can only be appreciated by those fluent in Latin. However, the German poet Johann Rempen (footnote: professor of philosophy and theology at the Univesity of Helmstadt) wrote chonograms in rhyme. Below are the first three verses of three different poems to show his style (footnote: from Rempenʼs Deliciæ Parnassi, 1725, taken here from Hilton v.3). Even without understanding the Latin, reading these verses aloud reveals this poetry.
Lutherus Immortalis, a bitter satire against Martin Luther (first 3 of 24 verses):VIVIt, et nVLLIs spatIIs senesCIt,Fata LVther VsnIgra non tIMesCIt,IVbILet paLLas, resonansqVe CLIo
Papa VentosIs satVrat ChIMarIs;FabVLIs nVLLa ratIone VerIs:ChrIstVs est; CVIVs qVIa Verba Cerno! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Catera sperno! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1709)
Epiphonema in beatum mortem D. Lutheri, in praise of Martin Luther (first 3 of 14 verses):Astra LVtherVs VoLVCer sVbIVIt,AC throno fVLtVs rVtILante VIVIt,Tartaro, papa, phLegetonte fraCto,
The most prolific chronogram authorPrague was a center of chronogram culture, and no single author is known to have published more chronograms than the auxiliary bishop of Prague, Johann Rudolph Sporck (1696-1759). In his youth, Sporck was an accomplished painter. In his later years, he produced three large books of chronograms.
! He had a curious sense of humor, as one might expect of a chronogram author. He called his first book Talpa Literaria, or The Literary Mole. It was a personal metaphor, because Sporch was becoming blind in his old age. His second book was Lentus Limax, or The Slow Snail, and his third was Cancer Chronographicaae or the Crab Chronograms. In Talpa Literaria he gave 580 chronograms for the year 1749, 1400 for 1750, 1000 for 1751 and finally 100 chronograms for 1752, the year it was published. He averaged about three chronograms per day. We wonder how long it took him to write them.
! The last three chronograms that he wrote for 1749 are shown in the facsimile below, together with his monogram. His books were anonymous, but clues such as this monogram show him to have been the author.
Figure 12. Three chronograms and Sporckʼs monogram from 1749
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
These three chronograms are typical for Sporck, and the messages here are especially interesting to us. They can be translated as follows:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven & eight are satisfactory for the present year.! ! (=1749)
The year thousand and seven hundred and five nines plus four is finished, through Godʼs grace! It was prosperous & we look forward to the next.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1749)
My request to the reader of the chronograms here exposed, if there are errors: Extirpate them! Correct them! Delete them!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1749)
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In the third of these, he asks us to look for errors and correct them. We find no actual errors, but we can disagree with the first one. He wrote that the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 were satisfactory for the year 1749, but the number 9 was not mentioned, which is necessary for that year. But what we find most interesting is that now, 262 years later, we are arguing that none of those Latin number words are satisfactory.
Anagrams and acrostic chronogramsIn 17th century Europe, both anagrams and chronograms were relatively common. Anagrams were created for special words, just as chronograms were made for special dates.
! Some fabulous acrostic chronograms and anagrams, arranged as acrostics, are found in the reference book Militia Immaculatæ Conceptionis, published in Brussels in 1663. The origin of this book is a curious matter. Within the Roman Catholic Church, there had been much discussion as to whether the Virgin Mary was born without original sin. In the year 1662 Pope Alexander VII established the Immaculate Conception as church dogma. This book documented the writings of about 5000 different authors on this topic. Most of these works were simple Latin prose, but several were in the form of verse and epigrams, and a few as chronograms, anagrams, or acrostics.
! Johannes Baptista Agnensis Cyrnæus created anagrams and chronograms specifically for this book. His anagrams were made of the 31 letters in the angelic salutation to the Virgin Mary: AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA, DOMINUS TECUM. (Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.) This sentence is itself useless as a chronogram, as it would give the year 3668. So for each anagram that he made, he selected a few key words and used these in a chronogram that gave the year 1662.
! One of his acrostics is shown below, with 31 anagrams and 31 chronograms. But Johannes Baptista made five of these, for a total of 155 of each. They were all arranged as acrostics.
Figure 13. Acrostics formed from anagrams and chronograms for 1662
Johannes Baptistaʼs favorite chronogram seems to have been:Tota pVra est DeIpara, MaCVLa non est Inea!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1662)(Totally pure is Godʼs mother, living without a stain.)
! We can suspect that it was his favorite, because he printed it as the table shown in Figure 14, calling it a chrongraphicum. It is a very profitable way to write a prayer, because it can be read in zillions of ways. Any path stepping down from the top left corner to the bottom right corner reads the same. Even if a mortal does not have time to say so many prayers, maybe God counts the all and gives the author credit for the attempt.
! At the top of the page Baptista wrote how many ways there would be to read this chronogram. Translated to English: A thousand times ten hundred thousand, a hundred thousand ten thousands, six thousand six hundred and eighty thousands, three thousand one hundred and six. Written as digits this would be 1,166,803,106. Curiously, when we calculate the number of ways it could be read, we get the number 1,166,803,110. We are not sure why our calculations differ by four.
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Figure 14. Tabula recta of a chronogram prayer for 1662. To be read in any combination of steps from the top left to the lower right corners.
! A Belgian poet, Jacobus Pochetius, wrote 50 chronograms, 100 anagrams, and 100 Latin verses for this same book. They were based on this same salutation, and about half of his anagrams are identical to ones by Johannes Baptista. But none of the chronograms are similar. They could not be similar, because his chronograms give the date 1663 for the publication of the book, instead of the date 1662 for the Popeʼs declaration.
! How difficult is it to write anagrams? If you have never done so, try making a pure anagram out of the letters of your name, without the aid of a computer program. (You will find internet pages that make anagrams for you. They have not been forgotten, as chronograms have been.) Making anagrams is much more difficult than making chronograms, but word-challenges appeal to many people, and have always done so.
Chronograms as mnemonicsChronograms were suitable for commemorating important dates, but not for memorizing them. There is too much text in a typical chronogram to memorize. In the thousands of chronograms
that we have now seen, we know of only three that were suitable for remembering historical dates.
! Memory books give suggestions as how to memorize dates. In Relatio novissima, a memory book from 1648, Johann-Just Winkelmann mentioned an example, for the founding date of the academy in Giessen Germany:NoVa aCaDeMIa GIessena Anno 1607, ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1607)
! Two other old memory books, by Aretin (1810) and Paris (1825) mention another mnemonic chronogram. The Latin word LILICIDIUM means slaughter of the lily, and gives the date 1709. On September 11 of that year, the Duke of Marlborough defeated the French at the battle of Tasniers in Flanders. A medal was struck with the word LILICIDIVM, as well as an illustration of a lily plant, symbolizing France, being cut down by a flash of lightning. An explanation was printed on the medal, that the French fled at Tasniers in the year named above, on 11th September. (see also Hilton v1, p.40).
! A mnemonic chronogram was also written in 1731 to remember a great famine in Germany (in Hilton v.2): Ut lateat nullum tempus famis, ecce CVCVLLVM. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1315)(So as not to forget the time of the famine, behold the word MONKʼS COWL.)A monkʼs cowl might be associated with a famine, to help remember this date.
! One final comment should be made to further appreciate the baroque culture of chronograms. As we look at a Latin chronogram today, it is double translation puzzle: Latin text must be translated to English and Roman numerals must be translated to Hindu-Arabic numerals. But in the height of their popularity, educated people could read both Latin and Roman numerals quite easily. For a short chronogram like NoVa aCaDeMIa GIessena, it was probably not necessary for them to rewrite these Roman numerals as the number MDCVII. They were almost as comfortable with their cumbersome Roman numerals as we are with our cumbersome number words today.
Chronograms with vowel-letter substitutes (AEIOU-cabalas)Another type of chronogram was also written in Latin, but did not use Roman numerals. The numbers were formed by the vowels in the Roman alphabet, where each vowel represented a single digit, a = 1, e = 2, i = 3, o = 4, u = 5:
1 2 3 4 5a e i o u
! Words containing two, three, or four vowels made numbers of two, three, or four digits. Thus, the vowels represent place value numbers within the words that contain them. Numbers from the various words were summed to make the chronogram date.
! We call these AEIOU-cabala chronograms. They must have been very rare, as Hilton found only eight such chronograms, in only three publications. All of these chronograms are shown here.
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! In a pamphlet containing several standard Roman-numeral chronograms for the year 1754, Hilton found this AEIOU-cabala chronogram. 1 · 1 2 · 4 3 2 ·3 · 32 5 · 4 3 · 531 · 4 · 2 · 1 35 · 53 · 5 2 · 4 ·4 3 · 3 3 ·5 · 25 · 4 2Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris quia non est alius, qui pugnet pro nobis, nisi tu Deus noster.
This was a prayer: Give us peace, O Lord, in our days, for there is none other who can fight for us, but Thou, our God. The vowels were not shown in bold print, as we have done here. But the appropriate number was written above each vowel, with a dot between words. The numbers must be summed to give the date. 1 + 12 + 432 + 3 + 325 + 43 + 531 + 4 + 2 + 135 + 53 + 52 + 4 + 43 + 33 + 5 + 25 = 1754.
! Another AEIOU-cabala chronogram was part of a birthday dedication to the infant Leopold, Arch-Duke of Austria. The chronogram title of this publication was “LeopoLDo DeDICo” (=1701), and it contained a great many verses, each being a Roman-numeral chronogram for the year 1701. It also included the six AEIOU-cabala chronograms shown below. A number was written over each of the vowels, as shown. For clarity, we have also made the vowels bold face print, added + signs between numbers, and given the complete date (=1701). ! 3! 1 + 2 2 2 + 1 312 + 1 12 + 2 4 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1701)! Vivat! Perennet Aviae Magnae Nepos!! (Live long the noble descendent)!
15 31 + 1 1 5 + 5 5! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1701)! Austria Palmarum Humus !! (The palm of the soil of Austria)!! ! !! 1 5 2 5 + 1 2 3 + 1 1 + 4 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1701)! Gratulemur Parenti Charam Prolem! !! (Congratulations to the parents of the precious offspring.)
! 2 + 1 4 1 5 + 5 + 2 1 2 + 3 +4 2 + 2 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1701)! Et adorabunt hunc regnantem in omnes gentes.!! (And adore this regent among all people.)
! 1 4 2 1 + 1 3 + 2 3 3 + 2 4 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1701)! Adolescat Magni Leonis Nepos!!!! (Grow up great lion descendent.)
! Hilton described a remarkable book of chronograms, written at the monastery of Graffschafften, and published in Cologne in 1765. Entitled Epigrammata Chronico-sacra, it contained 736-pages. It consisted of 12,884 lines, mostly in hexameter and pentameter Latin verse, giving 6,515 chronograms for various subjects and events between 1749 and 1764. It included this single AEIOU-cabala chronogram.
(v.3, p.169) 1 + 1 2 + 4 3 2+3 + 32 5 + 4 3 + 531 + 3 + 2 + 1 3 5! !Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris, quia non est alius,
53 + 5 2 + 4 + 4 3 + 3 3+5 + 25 + 4 2 + 1 2 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1757)qui pugnet pro nobis nisi tu Deus noster. Amen !
AEIOU-cabala chronograms are much more difficult to create than Roman numeral chronograms, and we have not tried to make one.
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Alphabets as number sequencesCabala-chronograms using the complete Roman alphabet (ABC-cabalas)A letter code that was sometimes used for chronograms followed the well known pattern of the Hebrew number-letter system (see Hebrew gematria, below.) The cabala-clavis or key employed all the letters of the Roman alphabet:. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400 500A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U,V X Y Z
Since each letter has a number value, a cabala chronogram is a much greater challenge to create, and to read or interpret. Hiltonʼs research uncovered several of these. Two cabala chronograms were made to congratulate Clemens Wenceslaus, Duke of Saxony, on his election as Archbishop of Trèves (Hilton v 3, p 248). CLEMENS SIT ARCHIEPISCOPUS TREVIRENSIS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1768)CLEMENS WENCESLAUS VIVAT AD ÆVA! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1768)
Here is how these letters sum to the date 1768:C L E M E N S S I T A R C H I E P I S C O P U S T R E V I R E N S I S
Hilton presented many of these cabala chronograms, published at the following dates and places: 1673-Prague, 1676-Prague, 1676-Germany/Prague, 1697-Germany, 1705-Austria, 1709-Utrecht, 1711-Prague, 1716-Prague, 1723-Prague, 1723-Denmark, 1723-Prague, 1725-Würzburg, 1726-Germany, 1731-Bavaria, and 1768-Germany.
Chronographic-cabalistic poems The most impressive chronograms are those that combine Roman-numerals and ABC-cabalas in one. These were very rare, because of the difficulty of creating them. An example is shown in the facsimile below.
Figure 6. Combined Roman-numeral and cabala chronograms from Astrea Judex, 1697.
Of the three chronograms here, only the one in the middle is a Carmen chronographico-cabalisticum, or a chronographic-cabalistic poem. It follows the strict rules of Latin hexameter and pentameter verse. The letters give the publication date 1697, at the same time with both Roman numerals and with the entire ABC-cabala code.
Such carefully constrained writing was appropriate for that book. It described the lives and works of famous Greeks and Romans in over 10,000 lines of Latin hexameter and pentameter verse. The six lines of verse shown here were the only chronograms.
Hilton found only eight other examples of this type of double chronogram, published in 1673 and 1712. These are so special that I transcribe them all here.
Casta parIs (pVrè en renItes sIne Laba) VIrago;!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1673 & 1673)PuLChra, ILLaa astrIs, VIsa VIrago, MICas.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1673 & 1673)
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Arte orbIs faeLIX, senIorVM Dege CaterVa!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1673 & 1673)TVM faVstè es foeLIX, arte nItesCe Dei!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1673 & 1673)
SIs raDIans! Atras reMoVe soL CaroLe nVbes!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1712 & 1712)VIs Vs et hIC spLenDor teMpora Læta feret.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1712 & 1712)
Gematria and isopsephy; numerology usng the Hebrew and Greek alphabetsThe technique of numbering letters in the cabala code was probably taken from the ancient system of using Hebrew letters as numbers. The first ten letters of the alphabet represent the values 1-10. (See the table below.) There is no symbol for zero, since no letter has the "zeroth" place in the alphabet. The next nine letters are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100. The last three letters represent 200, 300, and 400. A number like 345 is made by combining the symbols for 300, 40, and 5. A similar system was used with the ancient Greek alphabet.
These codes were sometimes used to make word phrases that match specific numbers, as in cabala chronograms. More often, though, the codes were used to make occult interpretations; to find the hidden numbers and hidden meanings in texts and names that had already been written. In Hebrew, this practice is known as gematria, and in Greek it is called isopsephy.
Although gematria and isosephy are probably a few thousand years old, examples of chronograms with the Hebrew and Greek alphabets are not much older than with the Roman alphabet. They first appeared in about the 13th century.
For those wanting to compare the numerical values of various words and to look for number relationships between words, Aleister Crowley and Allan Bennett compiled a list of many hundred Hebrew words, arranged in numerical order. It first appeared in The Equinox, Vol. 1, No. 8, and later as the book Sepher Sephiroth.
Pythagorean numerology, using the Roman alphabetThe occult practice of Pythagorean numerology involves a different procedure for turning words into numbers. The numerology code only involves numbers from 1 to 9, as shown below for the modern English alphabet.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9ajs
bkt
clu
dmv
enw
fox
gpy
hqz
ir
The code is used in various ways, the simplest of which is to convert the letters of a personal name to a single-digit number. The letters of the name a, l, l, a, n, k, r, i, l, l, have the values 1,
3, 3, 1, 5, 2, 9, 9, 3, 3. All these digits are then summed, giving 39. These two digits are then summed (3+9) giving 12, and summed again (1+2) giving 3. This is the destiny number, one of the core numbers, in numerology. Certain keywords are associated with each of the nine basic numbers. Keywords for 1 are: Beginning, Independence, Determined, Leader, Innovative. Michael Naylor = x etc....(Keywords for 2 are: Harmony, Cooperation, Balanced, Communication, Sensitivity. Keywords for 3 are: Creative, Abundance, Optimistic, Imagination, Gregarious.) With nine destiny numbers and five keywords for each number, there should be something of interest for just about everyone. And this is only a first lesson in numerology.
Words may be converted to numbers in numerology, but numbers are never converted to words. In fact, most numbers could not be converted to words, since the number 0 is not included in the code. No letters could have zero numerologic significance. The numerology code is not useful as a means of designating or remembering numbers.
Katapayadi; numerology using the Sanskrit alphabetFrom the Hindu culture came our ten “Hindu-Arabic” numerals, and Hindu numerology was the earliest decimal place-value letter code. Unlike pythagorean numerology, the Hindu system assigned letters to zero. This code could be used for converting numbers to words, not just words to numbers. The system is known as katapayadi. It is said to have been described in a publication by the mathematician Sankara Narayana in A.D.869, but the system was not invented by him.
In Katapayadi, only the consonant letters in the Sanskrit alphabet have number values. The first ten consonants (ka, kha, ga, gh, nga, cha, chha, ja, jha, jya) have values 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0, and the next ten (ta, tha, da, dha, nama, ta, tha, da, dha, na) have values 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. The next five (pa, pha, ba, bha, ma) have values 1,2,3,4,5, and the final nine (ya, ra, la, va, sha, ssa, sa, ga, ksha) have values 1,2,3,4.5,6,7,8,9.
Thus, the number 1 could be represented by any of the four letters: ka, ta, pa, ya, and these letters form the word katapayadi, providing the name of the code and the method. This code was commonly used among the Hindus to make mnemonics for numbers. (footnote: Ernest Wood, Mind and memory treaining 1936).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0Sanskrit katapayadi ka
tapaya
khathaphara
gadabala
ghadhabhava
nganamasha
chata
ssa
chhathasa
jada
ha
jhadha
ksh
jyana
! ! ! !
The step from numerology to mnemonicsIn Europe in the 1600s, gematria and isopsephy were familiar to many scholars, and pythagorean numerology was widely known. But these codes were not used for mnemonics. Thus it was a fundamentally new development when mnemonic number-letter codes were published in 1634 and 1648, as described in the next chapters.
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The most concise mathematical notation in historyIn mathematics we routinely use letters to represent unknown numbers, and we substitute symbols for words. A typical example of a mathematical equation is ax2 + bx = -c. In this equation, the letters a, b, c, and x represent unknown numbers. The number 2 represents the words times itself. The symbols +, =, and - represent the words plus, equals, and minus. The equation ax2 + bx = –c is a concise way of writing the words “The unknown number a times the unknown number x times itself, plus the unknown number b times the unknown number x equals the negative unknown number c.” Mathematics is clearly characterized by substitution of symbols for words.
Modern mathematical notation has developed through continual evolution over many centuries. In the history of mathematics, there was a great burst of notational development in the seventeenth century. Mathematicians were realizing the advantages of using symbols instead of words in their work. New mathematical notation was appreciated for being concise, precise, and multilingual, and the French mathematician Pierre Hérigone is well known for his contributions.
In his classic reference work on the history of mathematical notation, Cajori (1928) put it this way:
Among the seventeenth-century mathematicians active in thedevelopment of modern notations a prominent rôle was played by five men– Oughtred, Hérigone, Descartes, Leibniz, and Newton. The scientificstanding of these men varied greatly. Three of them–Descartes,Leibniz, and Newton–are generally proclaimed men of genius. The othertwo–Oughtred and Hérigone–were noted textbook writers.
Pierre Hérigoneʼs notation in Cursus mathematicus 1634Although not a Decartes, Leibniz or Newton, Pierre Hérigone was a great innovator. His textbook introduced many new notations of his own design. He was the first to use the symbol ⊥ for is perpendicular to, and < for the angle between. For the words are parallel to he used two horizontal lines (=), and for is equal to, he used the symbol 2|2. His symbol for is greater than was 3|2 and his symbol for is less than was 2|3. He used the exponent 2, but did not write it as a superscript, as in x2. In Hérigoneʼs notation, the quadratic equation ax2 + bx = –c would look like this: ax2 + bx 2|2 ~c.The goal of Hérigone to introduce more concise notation was even reflected in his title: Cursus Mathematicus / Cours mathematique, demonstre dʼune nouvelle, briefve, et claire methode. And in his preface he wrote that he had invented a new method of making demonstrations, brief and intelligible, without the use of any language. Figures 7 and 8 show two pages from his notation, and a typical math problem using these symbols.
Figure 7. Two pages of explanation of Hérigoneʼs new notation, with a few examples.
Figure 8. A typical math problem shown by Hérigone in his concise notation.
Hérigoneʼs number codeWell hidden in Herigonʼs five volume, 3000-page text is a little chapter entitled De Arithmetica Memoralia (v.2, ch.17, p136-142) In that chapter Herigone introduced yet another notation; a letter code for the ten numerals. His purpose here was also brevity. He reasoned that if numbers could be more concisely pronounced numbers, they would be easier to memorize.
In the history of mathematics, these were the first number words that were concise and had decimal place-value properties. This chapter was overlooked by mathematicians who otherwise used his book. All six pages are shown here in Figure 9.
Figure 9 De Arithmetica Memoralia (v.2, ch.17, p136-142)
Translation of Hérigoneʼs chapter Arithmetica memoriali
Because names are not as difficult to remember as numbers, especially if the numbers are large, and proper names make us of think of attributes: I have thought that it would not be a useless thing to make an alphabet by the means of which one could change any proposed numbers into names that are easily pronounced. This change could be useful to remember by heart large numbers of dates, and other thingsnr, !! | conson;! | ! vocal;! | ! vocal!!|1! ! |! ! p ! ! |! ! a! ! | ! ! ! !|2! ! |! ! b ! ! |! ! e! ! |! ! ! ! |!3! ! |! ! c! ! |! ! i! ! |! ! ! !|4! ! |! !d ! ! |! ! o! ! |! ! ! !|5! ! |! ! t! ! |! ! u! ! |! ! ! !|6! ! |! ! f! ! |! ! ar! ! |! ! ra!!|7! ! |! ! g! ! |! ! er! ! |! ! re!!|8! ! |! ! l! ! |! ! ir! ! |! ! ri! !|9! ! |! ! m!! |! ! or! ! |! ! ro!!|0! ! |! ! n! ! |! ! ur! ! |! ! ru!!|In this alphabet R is not a letter, but is used only as a note to distinguish the last five vowels from the five first vowels. The same number can be changed into many nouns, such as 1632 can be changed to parce, prace, afice.
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If the diameter of a sphere is one, the circumference of one of its great circles, and also the surface of the sphere would be 314159ʼʼʼʼʼ, the area of one of its great circles would be 7854ʼʼʼʼ and the volume of the sphere would be 5236ʼʼʼʼ. These three numbers would change into cadator, gluo, tecar, which are easier to retain than the proposed numbers.
Dates from the Chronology of Helwig, accomodated to the common date of Our Lord.Julian Period, ogai, 4713.Adam, imom, 3949.Judaic Era, igran, 3760.The Deluge, ebroc, 2293.The First Olympiad, regar, 776.Rome, rete, 752.Nabonassar, reder, 747.The years of the first six periods are of equal length, that is of 365¼ days, but the years of the epoch of Nabonassar are only 365 days, and consequently 1461 years of the epoch of Nabonassar are equal to 1460 years of the other epochs.
Application of memorial Arithmetic to Chronology
Abraham, enrun, 2000.Ifaac, amne, 1900.
The names of numbers that represent the period before our Lord begin with vowels, and those after our Lord with consonants.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is interesting to look at the construction of Hérigoneʼs code. He arranged the consonants alphabetically, except that p was assigned to the numeral 1, and t to 5. These two consonants replace the vowels a and e, which were numbered 1 and 5 in the code of numerology. By setting in the p and t here, the numerals 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 all matched the consonant letters that were already known from numerology. Since the vowel a is also used for 1, six of the nine numbers agreed with the letters in numerology. This made the code easier to learn.
The order of the five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, was well known, just as it is today. So in assigning vowels to numbers, Hérigone used the five vowels to represent the numerals 1,2,3,4,5, which could also be easily learned. He used these same vowels again, when adjacent to the letter r, for the numerals 6,7,8,9,0. R was used only as a marker for the second set of vowels. The remaining letters of the alphabet (h,j,k,q,s,u,v,w,x,y,z) were simply ignored.
From Hérigoneʼs examples, it is clear that r was well chosen as the marker consonant. R can be naturally placed adjacent to just about any other consonant to make a reasonable sounding word. Probably no other consonant would work as well.
When Cajori researched the history of mathematical notation, he could find nothing of interest about Hérigone, other than his famous textbook. The apparent paucity of biographical information is now easily explained; the name Pierre Hérigone was a pseudonym for Clément Cyriaque de Mangin (1580-1643). Hérigoneʼs inclination to use a pseudonym is consistent with his philosophy. He created notation to reduce and simplify mathematics, and he created a pseudonym to reduce reduce and simplify his name.
In fact, Clément Cyriaque de Mangin also had another pseudonym. He published books in 1613, 1615, 1618, 1619, 1620, 1621, 1626, 1627, 1629, and 1630, under the pseudonym D. Henrion and D.H.P.E.M., which stood for D. Henrion professeur en mathématiques. These publications show a wide range of interests. They include mathematical translations and discourses on the compass, calendar, geography, astronomy and cosmology.
It was only in his last major work that Cyriaque de Mangin used the name Pierre Hérigone. It is a curious name, as it seems related to the French words pentagone and hexagone, for which he invented the symbols 5< and 6<, as shown in Fig. 7. I wonder how many angles he imagined an herigone to have, or if he ever used the concise notation Heri<.
Visionary attempts toward a philosphical language
While some seventeenth century mathematicians saw the need for better and more international math notation, some literary scholars felt that the alphabet should be simplified, that spelling should be made more phonetic, and that words should be written more efficiently as shorthand. There were also several attempts to create an entirely new and better universal language. Since Roman times, Latin had been the international language of the church and the learned, but Latin was far too time consuming for common people or tradesmen to learn.
There was an interest in creating a new universal language that was not only quicker to learn but philosophically better than any existing language.
It was generally accepted that Adam and his decendents had benefited from some wonderful language that itself contained great knowledge and understanding. This language was lost as a result of the Tower of Babel, when inferior languages were inflicted upon the various peoples. Although no one imagined rediscovering the Adamic language or its equivalent, many people felt that a better philosophical language could be invented, and should be attempted. Egyptian heiroglyphics, with their real characters, could not be translated, but judging from the marvels of Egyptian civilization, this too might have been a better langauage.
The interest in creating a new language was expressed by Francis Bacon in 1605 and 1623 (footnote: Advancement of learning .) But the English bishop John Wilkins in 1641 wrote it even more clearly (Footnote: Mercury, or the secret and swift messenger, Chapter 13).
Concerning an universall Character, that may be legible to all nations and languages. The benefit, and possibility of this.
After the fall of Adam, there were two generall curses inflicted on Mankinde: the one upon their labours; the other upon their language.
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! Against the first of these, we do naturally endeavour to provide, by all those common Arts and Professions, about which the World is busied: seeking thereby to abate the sweat of their brows in the earning of their bread.! Against the other, the best help, that wee can yet boast of, is the Latine tongue, and the other learned languages, which by reason of their generalitie, do somewhat restore us from the first confusion. But now, if there were such an universall character, to expresse things and notions, as might be legible to all people and countries, so that men of severall Nations might with the same ease, both write and read it; this invention would be a farre greater advantage in this particular, and mightily conduce to the spreading and promoting of all Arts and Sciences: Because that great part of our time, which is now required to the Learning of words, might then be employed in the study of things. Nay, the confusion at Babel might this way have been remedied, if every one could have expressed his own meaning by the same kinde of Character. But then perhaps the art of Letters was not invented.! That such manner of writing is already used in some part of the World, the Kingdomes of the high Levant, may evidently appeare from divers credible Relations. Trigaultius affirms, that though those of China and Japan doe as much differ in their language, as the Hebrew and the Dutch, yet either of them can, by this help of a common character, as well undestand the books and letters of the others, as if they were only their own. ! And for some particulars, this generall kind of writing is already attained amongst us also.! 1 Many Nations doe agree in the characters of the common numbers, describing them, either the Roman way by letters; as I. II. V. X. C. D. .M. or else the Barbarian way by figures, as 1. 2. 3. 10 &c. So likewise for that which we call Philosophicall number, which is any such measure, whereby we judge the differences betwizt severall substances, whether in weight, or length, or capacity: Each of these are exprest in severall languages by the same character. Thus Э signifies a Scruple, З a Drachme, and so of the rest.
In addition to his Roman and Barbarian numerals, Wilkins gives more examples of universal symbols, such as astrological symbols, chemical-mineral symbols, and music notation. He then closes the chapter with the hope that someone will invent a new language :
! The perfecting of such an invention were the only way to unite the seventy two Languages of the first confusion: And therefore may very well deserve their endeavours, who have both abilities and leasure for such kinde of Enquiries.
Wilkins published these ideas in 1641. He himself was one of the people who had the ability and leasure for working on a new language, which he eventually published in 1668 (see below.)
Francis Lodowyck (1652)One of the goals of a new, constructed language should be to have better number words than existing languages. Early suggestions for a new language came from Francis Lodowyck (footnote: 1652, p.12) who dealt with the names of numbers as follows:!! "The nouns might be thus described in Language. Suppose nine single consonants
for the nine first numbers from one to nine inclusive; and nine Vowels for nine dignities, each increasing ten times the value of the other; the first Vowell to
consignifie only the single value of the nine Consonants, in which place the second Vowell comming to consignifie the Decimall dignity; the third, the Centenall; and so forth, this in conjunction you may express in few syllables, and without reiteration a very large number.
Lodowyck gave no examples or further explanation of this technique, and I am not certain how to understand his description. His system does not include a zero, so he was not thinking of a place-value number code. He may have meant five vowels, rather than nine, in which case the system might have been like that of Leibniz in 1678 (see description in a later section below.)
Cave Beck (1657) universal language using an alphabet of number symbolsCave Beck invented a language where the words were spelled with an alphabet of the ten Hindu-Arabic number symbols. Some Roman letters were also used, to indicate the grammar.
Here, in his own words, are some essential elements of this language:
The Grammer of this invention hath four parts, Orthography, Etymology, Syntaxis, Prosody. Orthography sheweth with what Character every word is to be written, they are ten, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0, with a letter or syllable set before, or behind each word for, distinction of parts of Speech, Cases, Numbers, Genders, Persons, Tenses, Compositions, Conjunctions, of which the second part of Grammer teacheth. . . . .
Prosody teacheth how to speak and pronounce this Character, for which purpose one Common Name must be given to each figure, and those are Ten Monosyllables borrowed from the English names of the figures, which are thus to be pronounced. 1-on, 2-too or to, 3-tre or re, 4-for or fo, 5-fi, 6-six, 7-sen, 8-at or a, 9-nin, 0-o.
Nouns are known by the Letters p,q,r,x, set before the Arithmetical figures. Instead of Cases, the Vowels, a,e,i,o,u are set after the Nouns and Participles, Consonants.The Feminines are known by the Letter F, added to the Syllabical Cases.
The vocabulary of Beckʼs language was determined from an alphabetical list of English words; the words numbered, beginning with the verb to abandon—1, and ending with the noun a zone—r3996. To understand his system, it helps to consider a typical part of his vocabulary list. It also helps to show the pronunciation, because without thinking of how these numbers should be pronounced, they seem only numerical and not linguistic:
Most nouns begin with the letter r, but words for male persons begin with p, whereas female persons begin with pf. So the word for pirate is p3114 and a female pirate, had there been one, would be pf3114.
A pismire is a synonym for ant, which occurs near the beginning of the alphabet and is listed as the word r199. The plural of ant and pismire would be r199s (reeonninins).
The vocabulary of this artificial language is not based on any natural language, but only on the order of words in Beckʼs English list. It would be a simple task to make a translation dictionary for another langauge, such as Beckish-French / French-Beckish, and Beck mentioned that this had already been done.
What is especially interesting in Beckʼs invention is the efficient pronunciation. Each of the ten number characters should be pronounced as a monosyllable. A five-character word should be pronounced as five symbols. His characters 7 and 0 were to be pronounced sen and o. It might have been better if 6 were pronounced sic instead of six, but even with this improvement, Beckish would not have caught on as a universal language.
No one seems to have used his language. Other schemes for using number symbols as an alphabet were subsequently employed by other language inventors, including the German Joachim Becker in 1661 and Leibniz in 1678 (see below.)
George Dalgarnoʼs concise numbers as words (1661)George Dalgarno and John Wilkins each strove to create a new universal language. They were in contact with each other during the year 1657, and maybe earlier. But they had disagreements, and published separately, Dalgarno in 1661, and Wilkins in 1668.
Dalgarnoʼs book Ars signorum (or the art of signs), was in Latin, with the exception of a page-long note to to the king that Dalgarno wrote in this constructed language. In Dalgarnoʼs system, words and various other concepts are organized into 20 distinct philosophical subject categories, each indicated by its own inital code letter. For example, Physical concretes are named with words beginning with the letter N. Artificial concretes begin with F. Sensible qualities begin with G. Each of the 20 groups is then subdivided by the second letter of the new words, and further subdivided by the third letter. As examples, animals are physical concretes, and begin with N. The whole-footed animals – elephant, horse, ass and mule are Nηka, Nηkη, Nηke and Nηko. The artificial or man-made concretes – cup, spoon and bedpan are frenpraf, frenneis, frenirem. The last 20 pages of his book are a translation dictionary, called the Lexicon Latino Philosophicum, in which about 1,500 Latin words are translated to the new language according to this system.
Dalgarno gives a code for writing numbers as words, as well as 10 number-word examples. In his system, all number words begin with the capital letter V. This is followed by letters indicating the digits.
Note that the letters η and υ are the Greek vowels eta, and upsilon. These would make strange-looking number words, but no examples are given. In fact, with Dalgarno's code, most numbers would be foreign-sounding combinations of consonants and vowels, similar to Hérigoneʼs number words. But Dalgarno dodged this awkard fact, by showing only 10 examples that are all meaningful words in either English or Latin.
Note that in the last two examples, the letters s and r have no number value. The number words could actually be Veti and Veee or Vefe. Dalgarno added the extra letters s and r to make the meaningful Latin words Vestis and Verrere. The letters c, j, q, r, s, v, w, x, and z are not included in his code, and could be added freely where they might make meaningful words.
John Wilkins number words (1668)After expressing the need for an international language in 1641, John Wilkins began develping ideas on how an ideal language should be designed. Finally, in 1668, well after Dalgarno and only three years before his death, Wilkins published An essay towards a real character and a philosophical language. This work was delayed a few years by the great fire of London in 1666. Even before this delay, its publication was long awaited in academic circles. Wilkins was well known and respected. He served as the first secretary of the Royal Society, and his universal language project had all the academic and financial support that could be hoped for.
The book that Wilkins produced was indeed monumental, size with over 600 pages. His scheme was similar to that of Dalgarno, but much more developed. Wilkins discussed the origin of the alphabet and the great increase in the number of languages since the Confusion of Babel. He understood through new reports from America that there were over a thousand different languages in current use by the inhabitants there.
Wilkins tried to organize all categories of things and ideas, and presented this system as few hundred pages of philosphoical tables. He also included a dictionary of about 20 000 additional words to show how they should be related to this organization. He proposed a simple natural grammar. In his language, words and grammar were indicated by a code of letters. The words could also be written more briefly as shorthand symbols, or real characters. For the purpose of example and comparison, he showed the Lordʼs Prayer in fifty languages, including the Philosophical Language. Both it and another long prayer were written and explained as letter symbols and again as shorthand symbols.
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In contrast to Dalgarno, Wilkins did not provide a ready translation of all words into his new langauge. A diligent reader who understood Wilkins sytem could write the 20,000 words in both letter form and shorthand form, but this was left undone, and is a major drawback to Wilkins presentation. Except for the examples of prayers and numbers, described below, the casual reader might ask: but where is the language?
Wilkins considered the various sounds of languages. A full-page illustration showed how the sounds are formed by the organs of speech.
(reproduce Figure page 378 here).
From such phonetic analysis, Wilkins grouped the consonant sounds as follows: B-P, V-F, D-T, Dh-Th, G-C, Gh-Ch, Z-S, Zh-Sh, L-hL, R-hR, M-hM, N-hN, Ng-hNg. This grouping helped to simplify the learning of the shorthand symbols. The number of groups could easily be reduced to ten, as was done by the French Aimé Paris in 1818, forming the basis of Audio Numbers.
Wilkinsʼ system for number words is of most interest here. It was described very concisely as follows. As we will see later, a copy of this system by Richard Grey in 1730 became widely known.!
1. The Words at length for the nine Digits, are to be made off from the Tables after the same manner as all other Species are; and as for the other Numbers above this, viz. Ten, Hundred, Thousand, Million, they may be expressed by adding the Letters L, R, M, N. after the last Vowel; according to these Examples:
! Pobαm!! ! ! Pobur! ! ! Pobul ! ! Pobu! One thousand ! ! Six hundred !Sixty ! ! ! Six
2. The Figures of Numbers, may be most conveniently expressed in Speech, in that way suggested by Herrigon (note in margin: Arithmet. Pract. cap.17.); namely, by assigning one Vowel or Dipthong, and one Consonant to each of the Digits, suppose after this manner,
I,α,b
2,a,d,
3,e,g,
4,i,p,
5,o,t,
6,u,c,
7,y,l,
8,iu,m,
9,yi,n,
0.yu.r.
According to which constitution, a word of so many Letters, may serve to express a number of so many places. Thus either of these words, αcuc, αucu, bucu, will signifie 1666; which is as much a better and briefer way for the expressing of these numbers in speech, as that other is for writing, betwixt Figures and Words at length.
The Grammatical Variations belonging to Number, whether Derivations or Inflexions, may for the nine Digits be framed according to common Analogy. For greater Numbers, it may be convenient to prefix the Difference denoting number in general; namely, Pob before the word for any Particular; as suppose αcuc be the word for the number, let it be made Pobαcuc/Pobαcul for the Cardinal Number 1666/1667 then Fobαcuc/Fobαcul will be the Ordinal, or Adjective Neuter, denoting the 1666th/1667th &c.
Wilkins began all his number words with Pob, just as Dalgarno began all his with V. The numerals followed, written as place-value letters, either vowels or consonants. Wilkins gave no further examples of numbers, so the readers do not really get an impression of them. And the impression given by Dalgarnoʼs was misleading, as his number system seemed to give meaningful words. To see how these systems actually look with typical numbers, we can compare them to Hérigoneʼs first seven historical numbers. To these three systems, we can add that of Richard Grey, which was to appear in 1730. A discussion of Greyʼs system is presented in a later chapter.
These four number systems were all similar, but only Wilkins acknowledged Herigone as the originator. The first three systems received little or no attention, being only an small detail in their respective publications.
The language scheme developed by Wilkins met mostly silence. Except for his number word system copied by Grey, his work was never used or developed further. The other languages met similar fates. No outside authors seem to have ever written in the languages of Beck, Dalgarno or Wilkins. One contemporary critic is known to have published two words in Dalgarnish, only to mock him. He wrote that anyone who wastes his time on such nonsense is nηkpim sυfa – the greatest ass. (footnote: p.64 Cram & Maat 2001) Wilkinsʼ book effectively put an end to the quest for a philosopical language in Britain. If Wilkins could not succeed at the task of creating a philosophical language, no one else need try.
One cannot help but admire the enthusiasm and perseverance (and even the naiveté!) of these universal language authors. They were striving for a language that could be as rich as Latin, but learned in a fraction of the time. Dalgarno claimed in his subtitle that his language could be mastered in two weeks. Wilkins thought that his tables organized and named most of the animals of the world. He estimated that there were about 200 species of beasts and about double as many species of birds. To leave no doubt as to his faith, he used a few pages to argue that pairs of all the animals could have fit into Noahʼs arc, including a yearʼs supply of food for the carnivores (1800 sheep) and enough hay for the others.
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Mental storage places in the ancient art of memory
The number-letter code of Audio Numbers originated in the seventeenth century, about the same time that Dalgarno and Wilkins were developing their letter codes for language. The original number-letter code was published independently by two young German scholars, Johannes Buno and Johann-Just Winkelmann. They had been students together at the University in Marburg, where chronograms were quite popular at the time, and where they shared particular interests in the ancient art of memory. The memory code was created as an offspring of chronograms and ancient memory techniques. We introduced chronograms in an earlier chapter. But we must now describe a few of the classic techniques from the art of memory before discussing the ingenious number code that Buno and Winkelmann presented.
People have natural memories that are suitable for many purposes. At the same time, we all need ways of storing information more securely. In our present century, we have ready-made storage locations and we put information into appropriate places. We write notes on paper, organize papers in file folders in a file cabinet, and store digital documents on a formatted hard disk. We might call these storage techniques artificial memory.
But the ancient Greeks and Romans did not have our modern storage places. Paper had not yet been invented, so they used other tools. They had wax tables on which they could write notes with a fine stylus. They also used mental storage places, or loci, that were amazingly powerful for the well educated people that learned how to create them and practiced using them. They referred to these mental storage techniques as artificial memory or the art of memory, and their techniques were known and used by well educated people up until the most recent few centuries.
The method of lociIn the method of loci, the memory is formatted with locations, almost like a hard disk, before any information is stored. To format memory with locations, one could walk through a familiar place, such as one's own house, observing different locations in a natural path or sequence. Imagine this is familiar route in your own house: 1. the front step, 2. the front door mat, 3. the front door itself, 4. the hallway, 5. the kitchen door, 6. the kitchen table, 7. the oven, 8. the sink, 9. the refrigerator, 10. the living room sofa. Now you have ten loci. The numbers are not important, but the sequence is important, and it is easy to remember, because it follows a natural path. One could continue the path throughout the different rooms, noting many more distinct loci, and keep track of this sequence quite easily.
Once this series of ten places is clear in your mind, it is ready to store images. Here is a list of ten things that Winkelmann asked his readers to remember: a barber, a comb, a torch, a gold coin, a lute, a maiden, a nun, a city hall, a shield, a dagger. First mentally put the barber on the front step. You must see him there, cutting hair. These images should be visual and silly, making them easy to remember. Next imagine his large comb in the middle of the door mat; it breaks as you step on it. A flaming torch is fastened on the door handle. I see a large gold coin rolls down the hallway and you must step out of the way. The door to the kitchen is a giant lute, you open it by pulling on the strings. A maiden has climbed up on the living room table and is tapdancing. The oven door opens and out comes a nun carrying fresh baked bread. City hall is in the sink, finally getting clean. The refrigerator door is a shield, protecting it from the black knight who is trying to steal your leftovers. A dagger has shredded the cushions on your living room sofa and bits of stuffing are strewn about the room.
Now these ten images are stored; each is strongly associated with its memory locus. When you want to recall them, simply mentally walk the same path, picking each up from its location.
This method is extremely powerful. It was taught to Roman orators by Cicero and others. They used it to remember each topic in correct order when delivering long speeches without notes. From this method of storing information in mental places, we have inherited the expression “in the first place....and in the second place....” If a person only had two important things to remember, he might use his two hands as memory loci. From this we have the expression “on the one hand ....and on the other hand...”
Two hands, or even ten memory loci will not get a memory expert very far. But with some effort, a person can use his house to provide a hundred different loci. This method of loci is also called the Roman-room method, or the memory-palace. The 16th century missionary Matteo Ricci apparently had many hundred thousand loci in his memory (footnote: Spence The memory palaces of Matteo Ricci). Competitors in international memory competitions still use this method with great success. Dominic OʼBrien, a world memory champion, calls it the journey method. He described how new loci are made by physically or mentally journeying through any familiar area (footnote: How to develop a perfect memory 1994).
The method of loci has been described time and again in memory lessons from the ancient Romans to the present day. But it lost favor in the early 1800s, when it was superseded by number codes, described below.
The pivotal book in the history of the art of memory, was Relatio novissima, by Winkelmann in 1648. It referred to the classic techniques, and presented the new one that was destined to take over. Winkelmann gave examples of how locations can be formed and used: parts of cities, castles, clothing, different animals, and more. The twelve signs of the zodiac could be remembered in correct order by mentally placing them on loci on the body, starting from the head and moving down to the feet. Alternatively, the two hands could give twelve loci: five fingers and the palm of one hand, and five fingers and the palm of the other.
Figure 15. The 12 signs of the zodiac associated with twelve loci of the human body. From Relatio novissima.
An alphabetical list of words could give 26 images to be used in the method of loci. Winkelmann suggested that such a list be made of occupations: A,B, and C could be Aurifaber
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(goldsmith), Balneator (bath attendant), Coriarius (leathersmith) In German he suggested Apotheker (apothecary), Bekker (baker), Comedien-spieler (comedian.) Another series could be workers tools: Amboß (anvil), Bohr (drill), Caarst (?).
A method of expanding the number of alphabet loci was invented by Conrad Celtes in 1492 (footnote Epitoma in utramque Ciceronis rhetoricam cum arte memorativa, discussed by Aretin 1810.) Not only is the first letter of each word important, but also the first vowel to follow it. The five vowels a, e, i, o, u, provide five loci for each letter.
Winkelmann showed his list of loci based on this method. He used the names of friends and persons well known in Germany to make a list of 120 loci. Note that he used the name of his friend Johannes Buno for place number 10. This seems to be the only example of these two authors having mentioned the other by name.
Figure 16. Alphabetical table of known persons for the method of loci.
Buno employed another version of this alphabet method, when he wrote a textbook of law in 1667. In Bunoʼs example, the entire alphabet was used five times, once for each of the vowels a, e, i, o, u. The two key letters were written as in red print as upper case letters, in the style of chronograms. The culture of chronograms clearly influenced both Buno and Winkelmann in their use of letter codes.
Figure 17. Alphabetical table of words for method of loci. (footnote Tabula exhibens vocabula p.32 with 100 key words, Buno 1672)
The 100 loci of Buno can be translated as follows:
1 a box or chest2 to put on a beard!3 Caesar! ! !4 David!5 disarm! ! ! ! !6 a fool!! ! ! !7 a jackdaw bird!8 a grappling hook!9 a statue or ghost10 door11 jewel or stone! !12 teacher or pilot!13 mother-of-pearl!!14 dress or decorate!15 bread! ! ! ! ! !16 four-horse charioteer 17 turnip ! ! ! !18 pile of salt!! !19 shopkeeper! ! !20 vagabond21 priest22 brief letter23 something certain
Buno used this alphabet code not only to remember this sequence of loci, but also the numbers associated with each set of letters.
But such alphabet codes were not new, they had already been known since Conrad Celtes in 1492. Winkelmann and Buno also described a new and much more powerful alphabet number code, described below.
Winkelmann and the Parnassus number codeThe letter code for memorizing numbers is also known from Winkelmannʼs Relatio novissima. It has been a rare book (footnote 1) and very seldom read, being a combination of Gothic-script German and Latin. It is also an enigmatic book, still holding many secrets. The title translates as News report from out of the Parnassus on the art of memory. (footnote 2)
The book was printed in the Parnassus as well. The Parnassus metaphor was chosen by Winkelmann because it was the mythical home of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Until now it has been thought that the code and the book came from Germany, created by Winkelmann or one of his German teachers. But a closer study shows that Winkelmannʼs Parnassus was in Denmark, and his Apollo, the ruler over the Parnassus, was King Christian IV (footnote 3). The Parnassus number code, as we will call it, and modified versions of it came to dominate the art of memory in the 1800s. The phonetic number code that resulted forms the basis of Audio numerals and Audio Numbers today.
(footnote 1 The complete book has been put online by the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/202-74-quod-4/start.htm) (footnote 2: The title was printed both in Latin and German: Relatio Novissima ex Parnasso de arte reminiscentiæ, das ist: Neue wahrhafte Zeitung aus dem Parnassus von der Gedechtniß-Kunst.
(footnote 3) The publisher is indicated as follows: Gedrukt In dem Parnassus von I.K.M. wohlbestelten Buchdrukkern. I.K.M stands for Ihr Königliche Majestet. This statement translates as: Printed in the Parnassus by His Royal Majestyʼs priviledged bookprinter.)
Parnassus number codeIn the Parnassus code, numbers are represented by consonants, allowing vowels to be used freely to make meaningful words. The ten key consonants of the code were taken in alphabetical order: B, C, F, G, L, M, N, R, S, D, except for the letter D which was out of place. They were grouped with other consonants having similar sounds, and each group was assigned to a number.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0B, P, W C, K, Q, Z F, V G L M N R S D, T
Winkelmann gave an illustration with ten images to help memorize the code. 1.Barbierer (Barber, B), 2.Kamm (Comb, K), 3.Fakkel (Torch, F), 4.Golt-Gülden (Gold coin, G), 5.Lautte (Lute, L), 6.Mägdlein (Maiden, M), 7.Nonne (Nun, N), 8.Rahthauß (City hall, R), 9.Schild(Shield, S), 0.Degen (Dagger, D).
Figure 18. Explanation of number letter code and illustrations to remember it.
It might seem odd to us that W and B were grouped together. But Winkelmann explained that these sounds were similar. They are not similar today, but we still use the nickname Bill for Will or William, a vestige of this earlier similarity. It was not explained why Z was put with the letters C, K and Q.
MnemonicsWinkelmann gave 19 examples of historical dates to be memorized using this code. The dates and the key mnemonic words were as follows.
These number words are not quite as concise as those of Hérigone, but they are meaningful German words, and therefore much easier to remember. They are far more concise than any Latin Roman numeral chronograms that could be made for these dates.
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Each of these 19 examples is the founding date of a German academy or college. Winkelmann set each of these key date-words into a silly mnemonic sentence, which could be related to the specific college. The mnemonic sentences were written in German in the first column, and the straight facts were in Latin in the second column.
Figure 19 List of mnemonic words and sentences for founding dates of German academies.
We assume that Winkelmann chose these academic examples because they gave a spread of various dates, from 1237 to 1607, and because he wanted to promote this memory technique for academic puroposes. For these same reasons, Krill made mnemonics of the 23 colleges of Cambridge University before learning of Winkelmann and his book (footnote reference Krillʼs numberword thesaurus 1997).
Winkelmann suggested seven ways that the code and technique might be used: 1 Theology, learning the numbered books of the bible; 2 Law; 3 Medicine; 4 Literature, recalling important page numbers of a book, 5 Business, to keep track of the prices of products; 6 Cryptology, with the numbers 0-9 instead of consonants to make text look like a strange mix of vowels and numbers (footnote: German memory authors promoted such a technique in the 1800s), 7
Chronology, dates of the leaders of the Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar onward (footnote: Winkelmann wrote this book, Caesareologia, ten years later, see below.)
Divine secrets of the alphabetTo prepare the reader for the method of using consonants to represent numbers, Winkelmann presented some curious ideas about the vowels. The 23 letters of the alphabet, with both vowels and consonants, contain one of Godʼs many secrets Winkelman claimed. A clue to this secret is in the name Jehova for God, which is also spelled IEHOUA. Winkelmann pointed out that the name of God thus contains all of the five vowels, which are the life and soul of words. The H in the middle of the word IEHOUA is the sound of breath itself. The three letters A E O. represent the Holy Trinity, whereas the I and U represent Angels and Man. The letter I has only one stroke, for the singular heavenly nature of the Angel, whereas the two strokes of U reflect Manʼs dual nature, with both life and soul.
Similarly, the letters I N M might be used to represent the Trinity. The letter I, with one stroke down, could be used to represent the first Person, namely God the Father. The letter N, with two strokes, could be used for the second Person, or God the Son. The letter M, with three strokes could be the third Person, or God the Holy Ghost. This idea of relating the numbers 1, 2, and 3 to letters with one, two and three strokes, was employed by Gregor von Feinaigle to rearrange the Parnassus number code 150 years later. Other letter codes described by Stanislaus After presenting the Parnassus number code, Winkelmann stated that other people have other number techniques. He briefly presented ten different systems of dealing with numbers. I am certain that if Winkelmann had been aware of Hérigoneʼs code and technique, he would have been pleased to include it. Unfortunately, Winkelmann never specified which earlier authors his techniques were taken from. Below are the other ten techniques that Winkelmann described. He numbered them II - XI.
Technique II: a 12-letter codeThe second technique used the following letter code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0E M C L N S I G B D F A
Larger numbers were formed by combining letters, either adjacent to each other, or with the letters O or U in between. Examples of such combinations are: 12 EM, 13 EC, 14 EL and so forth. The number 23 could be MoC or MuC, whereas 32 could be CoM. A few practical examples showed that in some cases, meaningful words could be made. For example, Seth, the son of Adam and Eve who lived to be 912 years old, is associated with the meaningful (?) word BEMo.
Technique III: familiar objectsThis technique involved objects that looked similar to the numbers to be remembered: 1-knife or sword, 2-fork with two prongs, or the curved neck of a stork, 3-triangle or tripod, 4-table or book, 5-hand, 6-star or snow crystal, 7-axe or sickle, 8-hourglass or eyeglasses, 9-horn or snake, 10-ring or egg with an object for one, 20-stork laying an egg, 100-half moon. Larger numbers were combinations of such objects. This is the oldest technique known for remembering numbers.
Technique IV: names of people, objects, and actions.
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This technique used words that sounded like the numbers, as spoken in Latin. There was a list of ten names that sounded like numbers: Johannes (1), Zeno (2), Tertullianus (3), Quadratus (4), Quintilianus (5), Sixtinus (6), Septimius (7), Otto (8), Novenarius (9), and Decius (10). Then there was a list of objects that sounded like numbers: Jaculo (1), Zelo (2), Tridente (3), Quadratum (4), Quinquefolium (5), Stellam (6), Securi (7), Ocularia (8), Novacula (9), Dextrâ (10). The last list was actions: Jaculatur (1), Zelat (2), Triturat (3), Quadrat (4), Quiritat (5), Sectatur (6), Secat (7), Osculatur (8), Nocet (9), Decerpit (10).
To make a three digit number, a person used an object to carry out an action. He gave three examples. For the number 30, the sentence to remember was Tertullianus, decerpit or the person Tertullianus (3) reaps (10). For the number 437, his mnemonic was Quadratur Tridente Secat . This would be the person Quatratus (4) used his three teeth (3) to cut (7). For the number 1648, his example was Decius & Sixtius Quadratum osculantur. This woud be the persons Decius (10) & Sixtius (6) used a square positioner (4) to exchange kisses (8). I have never seen this unique system described elsewhere.
Technique V: finger positions.This technique was used by memory artists, and involved special positions of the fingers and hands. It seems that Winkelmann did not understand this system fully, and his explanation is very difficult to follow.
Technique VI: German chronogramsThis technique is very curious. It was similar to chrongrams, but said to be for the German language instead of Latin. It used seven letters that were equivalent to Roman numerals.
Winkelmannʼs full explanation is as follows:
VI. Die Deutschen haben auch ihre besondere Ahrt daβ sie durch etzliche Buchstaben eine Zahl sie seye so groβ als sie wolle anzeigen: als nemlich A E I O U W Sx j v c m D l
Zuhm Eksempel: hErr lAS DEn lIEbEn frIEd UnS Ist dEn WIEdErfAhrEn. Dieser Spruch gibt auf besagte Weiβe die itzge Jahr-zahl MDCxlvjjj. (footnote: misprints corrected according to errata on Winkelmannʼs p.140)
These seven do not seem to appear elsewhere in the literature. Chronograms written in the German language are not common, but they always use the standard Roman numerals MDCLXVI. Examples of German chronograms are found in Hiltonʼs books and in historical monograph that Winkelmann published in 1671. (footnote to this 1671 publication.)
Technique VII: Greek alphabetThis technique describes two different Greek methods of writing chronograms. The style of Herod:
As examples of this common style, Winkelmann mentioned that the names of the Egyptian river Neilos, and the German river Menos, give the number of days in a year, namely 365.
Technique VIII: Hebrew alphabetThis technique was the Hebrew alphabet, of which he showed only enough letters to give a simple example:
Vau Jod Mem Resch Thau6 10 40 200 400
The example is the Hebrew word for the Roman Empire, R U M I I T, which gives the sum 666, as mentioned in Revelations of the Bible.
Technique IX: Roman-numeral chronogramsHere is the standard Latin method of chronograms. Winkelmannʼs full description is as follows:
IX. Derer Lateiner algemeiner Ahrt albier nicht zu vergessen welche an flat der Zahl diese Buchstaben gebrauchen.
I V X L C D M1 5 10 50 100 500 l000.
Zuhm Exempel: NoVa ACaDeMIa GIessena Anno 1607 Jura & Privilegia Cæsarea accipiebat. Die issige Jahr-zahl gibt diese Wort. DICIMUs paX, paX, paX, & non est paX In terra.
Thus Winkelmann gave two chronograms: NoVa ACaDeMIa GIessena Anno 1607, ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1607)DICIMUs paX, paX, paX, & non est paX In terra. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1648)
The first of these two chronograms was Winkelmannʼs 19th example in technique I. As for the second chronogram, it celebrates peace; the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648. This peace was also the theme of his curious German chronogram example in technique VI.
(Footnote: Winkelmann did not actually use the term chronogram for this technique. It was probably not a familiar term to him at that time. Winkelmann wrote a large monograph on the history of Oldenburg in 1671, which contained many chronograms, and Winkelmann referred to one of them as a kronikon, spelling it with Greek letters.)
Winkelmann printed two other chronograms in Relatio novissima. p. 133: SCeptra regat faVstVs MoDerante GerogIVs aXe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1626)p. 134: OCtobrIs VnDena DIes VbIfVLsIt Inorbe HenrICVs PrInCeps CœLICa regna petit ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (=1628)
Technique X: ABC-cabala code, extendedThis technique employed ABC-cabala key described earlier, with some extra letters and symbols added to extend the usual 24-letter alphabet. The extended alphabet made the number series 1-10, 20-100, 200-1000, 2000-10000, and 20000-80000.
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Technique XI: tabula recta of TrithemiusThis technique showed a table for letter transformations, a standard tool used by the “Trithemists”. Winkelmann explained that the first row of numbers and the first row of letters of this table could be used to convert numbers to letters.
Figure 20. Trithemistʼs table for relating numbers to letters.
He then gave some examples of how the first two rows might be used to represent numbers as letters and words. He wrote that the current year, 1648, could be represented by the letters A. F. D. H. or Q. D. H. Some Latin expressions for these letters might be: Artis Filia Dicitur Honor, or Amicus Fidelis Dignus Honore, or Quilibet Diligit Honorem. In keeping with the style of the Trithemists, Winkelmann used Latin for this code, not German words as with the Parnassus code of Technique I.
(footnote: Winkelmann was fond of these tabula recta. There were two others in this book, which he formed from chronograms, and yet another as a frontispiece in the next book Einfältiges Bedencken that he published in 1649.)
Other curious details about Relatio novissimaOn page 2 of the book, Winkelmann signed his name with his initials I.I.W. standing for Iohann Iustus Winkelmann. But on page 1 and elsewhere he used the pseudonym Stanisl: Mink von Weunßhein. On page 3 it was printed Weinsheun. His pseudonym may have been inspired by people he knew: an author in his home town was named Mink and a teacher was named Weinheimer (footnote Diehl 1906). In any case, Winkelmann was clearly fond of letter games; his pseudonym was an anagram of his name: Iohanes Iustvs Winkelmann = Stanisl Mink von Weunshein.
He may have used the name Stanislaus because the name Johann was so common. The bibliography in Militia Immaculatæ Conceptionis, mentioned earlier, shows just how common this name was. Of the 5000 authors listed, 700 of them were named Joannes, which is Latin for Johann. Only 5 authors were named Stanislaus. Winkelmann did not use the pseudonym for his second book, written in 1649. There his name was spelled in these various ways: Johan-Justum Wynkelmann von Giessen, Hans-Justus Wynkelmann, and Johan-Jost Wynckelmann.
The date on the title page of Relatio novissima was printed as MDCxvjjj. But in his technique XI he stated that the current year is 1648, so this date of 1618 is a simple misprint; a Roman numeral l is missing between the x and v.
The Parnassus and the source of the codeRelatio novissima tells an enigmatic story about the Parnassus code and the origin of the number code. Interpreting this text has been an enjoyable challenge – the meanings of many parts of this story have been either misunderstood or ignored, beginning even with its. Here are the highlights, recently deciphered by Krill.
The character “Stanislaus” writes this book in the first person. He happens to meet a dear friend “Memorat” whom he has not seen for a long time (p.17). There are several pages of conversation between these two characters. Memorat tells Stanislaus about the mountain Parnassus, the home of Apollo in Greek mythology. Parnassus is also the home of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, and mother of the nine muses (p.29).
In the metaphor of this book, Apollo is King Christian IV of Denmark. The Parnassus is his haven of the arts, peace, youth, and truth. Here also are found secrets of the art of memory (p.40). On the advice of Memorat, Stanislaus composes a letter to His Royal Majesty humbly requesting permission to study the art of memory in the Parnassus (p.41). He writes that his goal is to improve his own weak memory, but it is also to be a messenger to the world, publishing the secrets on the art of memory that are hidden in the Parnassus (p.61).
The king grants Stanislausʼ request, and commands Herr Puschthom, his wise and loyal servant, to guide Stanislaus in his study at the Parnassus (p.88). Stanislaus is enchanted by the rich cultural treasures of the Parnassus, and describes many of them quite vividly. He greatly appreciates the attention and help that Herr Puschthom give him.
Stanislaus lists some of the valuable works that he finds in the Parnassus (p.90-91):
Robertus Flud de FluctibusJoh. Henr. Alstedii EncyclopediaJoh. Trithemii Polygraphia & Steganographia. Gustavi Seleni Cryptographia Johannis Romberg de Kirspe congestorium artificiosæ memoriæ M. Matthiæ Leucomanni Cygnei Artificiola memoriæ institutuio. Jordanus Brunus Nolanus de monade, numero &c. imaginum, signorum, & idearum
compositione. Gazohylacium artis memoriæ Lambertti Schenkelii; ejuldem alia methodus. Hieronymus Marafiotus de arte Reminiscentiæ. Joh. Austriacus de Artificiosa Memoria. Joh. Spangenbergius de arte Reminiscentiæ. Guilhelmus Gratarolus de arte memoriæ. Conradus Celtes. Melchior Junius. Hieronymus Treutlerus. Bartholomaeus Keckermannus.Johan: Husanus de secretis ad Artem Memoriæ.Adam Bruxius Med. D. de arte Mem.& Simonides Redivivus.D. Thomas Aquinas.
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D. Antonius Ravennates.Sibaldus Smarigusus.Sennectus Gregorius Reish de confortatione memoriæ naturalis.Laurentius Frisius. Libellus artificiosæ memoriæ anno 1539. Lipsiæ impressus.Magirus de memoria.Stanislai Kieseri memorandi artificium.D. Thomas Watsonus. Libellus Alphabetorum & characterum, qui prodiit edeneibus &
sculpentibus.Joh. Theod. & Joh. Israele à Bry fratribus Francof. anno 1596.Thomæ Mutneri Chartildium Logicum & Institutionum.Brunus de venatione Logica.Logica memorativa cum figuris, Bruxellis 1509. Raphael Eglinus Iconius Tigurinus, qui editis duabus chartis commonstravit
compendiariam argumentandi viam.D. Petri Laurembergii Euphradia.Secreta Bretolini de Spagnulo. La Magazin de sciences de Cuirot impres à Paris. Julius Pacius à Beriga IC in artem Lullianam.Nicolaus Simonis ex WeidaPauli Roselli præclarus memoriæ thesaurus.Ars memoriæ localis edita lumptibus Johan Franken Hieremiæ Drexelii Aurifodina.
Mnemosyne Sacra kleine Gedächeniß Bibel M. Christiani Keimanni. Zehen-facher Biblischer- und Kirchen-historischer. Local- und Gedenk-Rink oder Gedenk-Circul M. Mart. Rinckarti.Introductionem Mnemonicam in corpus civile antehâc nunquam visam in fol.
This was indeed a fabulous collection on the art of memory. Stanislaus did not elaborate on the contents of these works, or give any hint as to whether the number code was taken from any specific title. I think that it is interesting that these titles include not only books on artificial memory, but also on cryptography. It may be that Herr Puschthom himself created the Parnassus number code from the merging of these two subjects.
Stanislaus ends Relatio novissima with this closing statement (p.139):
Was ich nuhn innerhalb vier Wocken von Herrn Puschthomen inn der Gedechtniss-kunst üblich unterzichtet bin worden / wird auss meinen VEREDIS oder Post-Pferden / Geliebts Gott / zu vernehmen seyn / wil also negstens den ordentlichen Anfang machen ahn dem VEREDO LINGUARUM oder Spraachen Post-Pferd / darinnen Anleitung gegeben wird / wie die Spraachen mit geringer Müh ohne Verdruss durch die Gedechtniss-kunst in kurzer Zeit könne gelernet und fort gepflantset werden / gezieret mit Kupferstükken: Wo selbst hin ich dissmahln den Kunstliebenden Leser wil gewiessen haben. Hiermit lebt wool.
(“What I have now been taught in four weeks by Herr Puschthom in the art of memory I now deliver as a VEREDIS or an equestrian messenger. God willing, I will soon earnestly begin serving as a VERDEDO LINGARUM or language messenger, giving instructions on how to learn languages with less effort and without annoyance through the art of memory. Language can be learned in a short time and quickly transferred, as if drawn on copper plates for printing: How to achieve this I want to show the art-loving reader. With this I wish you farewell.”)
(footnote: He is referring here to his second book, Einfältiges Bedencken, that he published the following year.)
On the title page of Relatio novissmia, it is written that the book was printed in the Parnassus. He studied under Herr Puschthom for 4 weeks, and then stayed on to get his book published. However, he did not stay long enough to wait for a copperplate illustration that he had hoped for (see below).
Stanislaus was indeed very talented and efficient, and his mission was a complete success. At the same time he was appreciative and humble; his letter to the king seemed quite sincere. In the introduction to the book, he commented that many people will notice that he knows little but writes a lot.
Who were Memorat and Puschthom and where was this Parnassus? “Memorat” was surely Johannes Buno, the other early author of the number code. We know from elsewhere (footnote: Diehl 1906 that Buno and Winkelmann had studied together in Marburg, and their teacher was the well known author and poet Johann Balthazar Schupp. They were in fact Schuppʼs only graduate students.)
When he finished his studies in Marburg, Buno went on to study in Sorø, Denmark (Kraul 1977). Sorø Academy had been established by King Christian IV in 1626 as a school for the sons of the Danish nobility. It had previously been an abbey from the 12th century, and was rich in art and culture. It was a center of learning and youth. In 1643 Sorø academy gained university status, with its own bookprinter, endowed by His Royal Majesty. This was the Parnassus that Memorat told Stanislaus to visit.
The title page states that the book was printed in the Parnassus, by IKM printer. Until now, it has not been known that IKM stands for Ihr Konglige Majestet. But the printerʼs mark on the last page shows that the Sorø academy was Stanislausʼ Parnassus. Henrik Kruse was the first printer at Sorø, from 1634-1651. When he died, the printer Peder Jensen Morsin took over. Morsin used a printers mark of a bird feeding its young, from blood dripping from its own breast. This same mark was used by Henrik Godø, the third Sorø printer in 1661 (footnote: Ebert 1988). Relatio novissima shows an earlier version of this same printers mark, on the last page.
!! ! ! ! Figure 21. Printerʼs marks from Sorø academy, in Relatio novissima 1648 (left) and from another publication in 1661 (right)
Relatio novissima has always been considered a German book with a number code invented in Germany. Winkelmannʼs metaphors obscured the fact that the code and book were from
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Denmark. Winkelmann gave several clues to this, but they have been overlooked. In two places, he addressed the German reader, in a way that seems to imply he was outside of Germany when actually writing. In the errata on the last page, Winkelmann addressed the Deutsch Gelahrter Leser or “learned German reader.” In a 4-page insert between pages 12 and 13, he began by writing Aufrichtiger Deutscher Leser or “Sincere German Reader.” This salutation was appropriate for a book that was written and printed in Denmark.
The name “Herr Puschthom” is written 15 times. It is written twice as “Herr Puschthomius,” and twice as “Herr Puschthomen.” It is clear that not only the books, but Puschthom himself was an important resource for Stanislaus in the Parnassus. It may have been Puschthom who taught the code, first to Memorat and then later to Stanislaus. “Puschthom” is a very odd name, never seen other than in Relatio novissima. From lists of names of students and teachers at Sorø academy (Søraner-Biografier 1584-1737 Torben Glahn 1978) there are no others with a similar name.
“Herr Puschthom” is surely a pseudonym, like Stanislaus, Memorat, and Parnassus. Herr Puschthom was probably Niels Aagaard, born in Viborg, Denmark in 1612. Records show that he was appointed Eloquentiæ Proffesor at Sorø from 1647, and this means that he was familiar with memory techniques. Since the time of Cicero, the art of memory had been a sub-discipline of rhetoric and public speaking. Records show that there was no official librarian at Sorø academy in 1647-1648 when Winkelmann must have visited, but in 1650 Aagaard was also made Bibliothecarius Constitueris and given a substantial increase in salary. (footnote: Udsigt over Sorø Academies Forfatning under Kongerne Chrisian den Fjerde og Frederich den Tredie 1623-1665 <1827>.)
We may never know if the code was invented by Herr Puschthom, or if it was found among the books and manuscripts in the Sorø collection. The Sorø academy was shut down in 1665, and some of the books were sold, and others were moved to the main university library in Copenhagen; that library and its contents were completely destroyed in the great Copenhagen fire of 1728.
Buno and the Parnassus codeAlthough Relatio novissima has usually been considered the source of the (Parnassus) number code, it was actually published a year earlier by Johannes Buno (footnote: Kraul 1977.) Strasser (2000) described Bunoʼs book in more detail, and some of the other mnemonic works of both Buno and Winkelmann.
Bunoʼs code was the same as Winkelmannʼs, including the unexplained placement of the letters Z and D. Buno used the code in the same way, but his examples were from bible history. Adam lived to be 930 years old; this number could be remembered by associating the German word SaFT with Adam. Other examples were the words SPeK = 912 for the years that Adamʼs son Seth lived, and then KuFaL = 235, STuL = 905, and SPaDe = 910. These silly words: saft (juice), spek (porkfat), kufal (cow-trap), stul (chair) and spade (spade) were associated with equally silly drawings to make them easier to remember. (footnote: these word examples taken from Strasser)
Winkelmann and Buno printed the mnemonic words with upper-case letters to emphasize the numeral-letters, in the same way that chronograms were written. It is interesting that they used the Parnassus code only with German words, never with Latin. Chronograms were almost always written in Latin.
Buno published his book in 1647 in Königsberg, a Baltic town. I have not seen Bunoʼs book, but he apparently gave no source of the code. However, when Buno later wrote another memory book using this code (footnote Historische Bilder 1672 as reported by Strasser) he mentioned that the code was taken from an old manuscript in the library. We can now assume that he meant the library at Sorø academy.
Winkelmannʼs best-selling CaesareologiaWinkelmann authored several reference works on history, geography and political science. His best-selling book Caesareologia was a chronology of the 123 rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. It was reprinted many times. He wrote it one year after the crowning of Emporer Leopold I in 1658. Winkelmann was still fond of chronograms. In the introduction he wrote a chronogram for Leopold: VIVat LeopoLDVs. IMperator. VerVs. AVgVstVs. ProbVs. IVstVs! (ie “Long live Leopold. Emperor. Fair. Venerable. Good. Just!” )
In 1659, eleven years after Relatio novissima, Winkelmann was still enthusiastic about the Parnassus code. Caesareologia was written as two volumes that were bound as one. The first volume was 120 pages of chronology, in Latin. The second volume, in German, was 96 pages of mnemonics text and illustrations for the chronology. He again highlighted Leopold and the year 1658. An illustration showed a painter (Mahler) making a portrait of a lion (Leo) with a pulpit (Polde) and an ox (Oss.) The figure caption reads: "Der Leo darinn ein Polde und ein Oss word von dem MahLeR gebildet." Here the words Leo-Polde-Oss give the name Leopoldus, and the word MahLeR gives the date (1)658 according to the Parnassus code. (Footnote, Figure 30 in Strasser, p.105.)
Leibnizʼ notes on the codeLeibniz must have come across the Parnassus code, probably from reading one of the later memory books by Winckelmann or Buno. (Footnote: Winkelmannʼs Cæesareologia (1659) and Bunoʼs Tabularum Mnemonicarum, Quibus Historia Universalis, (1664) both use the code and were widely read.) In an undated hand-written manuscript (Hannover, MS Phil VI.19, ff. 5r-v) Leibniz explained the code. This manuscript has been reprinted both by Aretin (1810) and Rossi (2000), where it was also translated from the Latin by Stephen Clucas:
A secret: From the methods used for memorizing numerical calculations, especially those which are used for chronology, and many other kinds of things, we can deduce an infinite number of other, more advanced methods, so that one can memorize things so they cannot be forgotten, without overburdening the intellect with the effort of remembering.
If you wish to memorize many numbers without overburdening the intellect or the memory, all the work should be done by using some kind of assistance. Many have attempted various things of this kind without much effect or success, until recently someone invented this method of excogiatation, which has been proven by many reasons and by experience.
There are twenty four letters in the alphabet: these are divided into vowels and consonants. These vowels are useful only for subsitution, whereas the consonants are of primary importance.
The consonants are: B C D F G K L M N P Q R S T, to which can be added W Z and V. We also have these numbers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0. Many numbers can be produced
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using these, so that 1 and 2 together produce the number 12. How this is done is clearly understood.
While it is true that nothing causes so much difficulty for the memory as dealing with things by means of numbers, nevertheless, those who are truly interested in knowing and understanding things by means of the memory will adhere to this method because using it is conducive to the memory and helps us to enhance it.
Reduce the consonants in this way, and treating them as if they were numbers, it will then be easy for you to extricate them:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0BPW
CKQ
FV
G L M N R SZ
D
Some authors have been unaware of Buno and Winkelmann and written that Leibniz himself was the author of this letter code. It is obviously the Parnassus code; also here the letter D is out of alphabetical order. But Leibniz put Z with S, which seems more reasonable than with C, K, and Q, as in Winkelmann and Bunoʼs version of the code. Z had probably been put with 2 in the original Parnassus code because of their similar shape.
Döbelʼs Lexico Mnemonico (1707) The Parnassus code was further employed by Johann Heinrich Döbel (1669-1716). Döbel published an extensive memory book, Collegium Mnemonicum in 1707. He had apparently learned the number code from a publication of Buno in 1662 (footnote Strasser.) Döbels book included a Lexico Mnemonico, a list of a thousand standard German words (or was it words for numbers to 1000?) organized according to the numbers they represent. These words could be used for making mnemonics for numbers. It was probably the first number-word dictionary. (Footnote: Aretin 1810 p 417 gives Döbelʼs code and many examples.)
A century interim for the Parnassus number codeFor a hundred years after the publication of Döbels mnemonics book in 1707, there seem to have come no new books that employed or improved the Parnassus code. In fact there were no significant memory books published in Germany during that time and the code was forgotten. A popular memory book in France by Buffier (1735) contained no code. But Wilkinsʼ technique of making concise words for numbers was re-introduced in England and the book promoting it became a huge publishing success.
In 1730, the British theologian Richard Grey (1693-1771) published Memoria Technica, or a New Method of Artificial Memory. Greyʼs book became widely known in England and America. It was printed 28 times betwen 1732 and 1880, even though the later editors had not bothered to update the tables with new chronogical events. This is an example that memory books, even with major shortcomings, have always been saleable.
Grey's book makes fascinating reading even today. Here is the main part of his introduction:
Memoria Technica: or, a NEW METHOD of Artificial Memory. SECT. I.The principal Part of this Method is briefly this; To remember any thing in History, Chronology, Geography, &c. A Word is formʼd, the beginning whereof being the first Syllable or Syllables of the Thing sought, does, by frequent Repetition, of course draw after it the latter Part, which is so contrivʼd as to give the Answer. Thus, in History, the Deluge happened in the Year before Christ two Thousand three Hundred forty eight; this is signified by the Word Deletok: Del standing for DELUGE, and etok for 2348. In Astronomy, the Diameter of the Sun (SOLis Diameter) is eight Hundred twenty two Thousand one Hundred and forty eight English Miles; this is signified by Soldi-ked-áfei, Soldi standing for the Diameter of the Sun, ked-áfei for 822,148; and so of the rest, as will be shewn more fully in the proper Place. How these Words come to signifie these Things, or contribute to the Remembering of them is now to be shewn.
The first Thing to be done is to learn exactly the following Series of Vowels and Consonants, which are to represent the numerical Figures, so as to be able, at Pleasure, to form a Technical Word, which shall stand for any Number, or to resolve a Word, already formʼd into the Number which it stands for.
a1b
e2
d
i3t
o4f
u5l
au6s
oi7p
ei8k
ou9n
y0z
Here a and b stand for 1, e and d for 2, i and t for 3, and so on.
These Letters are assignʼd Arbitrarily to the respective Figures, and may very easily be rememberʼd. The first five Vowels in order naturally represent 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Dipthong au, being composed of a 1 and u 5 stands for 6; oi for 7, being composed of o 4 and i 3; ou for 9, being composed of o 4 and u 5. The Dipthong ei will easily be rememberʼd for eight, being the Initials of the Word. In like Manner for the Consonants, where the Initials could conveniently be retainʼd, they are made use of to signifie the Number, as t for three, f for four, s for six, and n for nine. The rest were assignʼd without any particular Reason, unless that possibly p may be more easily remembered for 7 or Septem, k for 8 or οΚτϖ, d for 2 or duo, b for 1, as being the first Consonant, and l for 5, being the Roman Letter for 50, than any others that could have been put in their Places.
The Reasons given here, as trifling as they are, may contribute to make the Series more readily remembered...
Greyʼs assignments of letters to numbers were clearly stated, and seem reasonable. His book included about 50 tables of information with mnemonic words. Table I, in facsimile below, is typical.
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Figure 22. Mnemonic words and dates from Memoria technica.
He went on to explain the origin of the method. !
Amongst the Jews, indeed, of whose Alphabet the Vowels are no Part, it was a Practice, not only to abbreviate Sentences and Names of many Words, by putting together the Initial Letters of those Words, and making out of them an Artificial Word to express the whole, but also to make Use of Natural Words, to represent Numbers, when they could meet with such as happenʼd to answer the Number which they wanted to express. We have several Pieces of Ingenuity of this Kind in the Fontispieces of their Bibles, where they give us the Year of the Edition in some Word or Sentence of Scripture, the Letters of which according to their numerical Value make up the Date. † I have subjoin'd some of them for the Entertainment of the Learned Reader from Bishop Beverege's Arithmetice Chronolgica. And indeed I am not certain whether I owe not to Observations of this Kind the first Hint of this Method, which I have carried so far, and which doubtless, like all other Inventions, is still capable of further Improvements.
In a footnote Grey gave some Hebrew methods of using words for numbers. But notice the careful wording in Greyʼs explanation; he told only where the first Hint of the method may have come from, but he avoided mentioning where he got other, more important hints. It has always been assumed that Grey had been completely original, but it is fairly certain that Grey took Wilkinsʼ code and method, giving no acknowledgment to him or to Hérigone.
Grey's code is a slight improvement on Wilkinsʼ code. He removed the letter alpha (α) that Wilkins had used. And he found consonant letters that were easier to learn. But their codes are completely similar, and their unique method of using the codes is identical. In each of the mnemonic words, the numerical letters are preceded by a few reference letters. For Wilkins, these reference letters were either Pob to signify a cardinal number, or Fob to signify an ordinal number. For Grey, the reference letters could be such combinations as Cr for Creation and Del for Deluge.
Just as Wilkins had done, Grey suggested a separate code to indicate several zeros at the end of a large number. For Grey, the mnemonic words could end with the code letter g to signify hundreds, th for thousands, and m for millions. For Wilkins, the universal words could end with l for tens, r for hundreds, m for thousands, and n for millions. Grey simply improved Wilkins code and technique for the purpose of memorizing numbers. Neither Grey nor any other authors seem to have acknowledged that Greyʼs code was a follow up of Wilkins.
Expanded versions of Memoria Technica including Lowes mnemonicsSolomon Lowe used Greyʼs code to create additional mnemonics, especially for mathematics. Lowe's mnemonics were first published in 1737. They were appended to Greyʼs Memoria Technica, beginning in the 1805 printing, and through to the last printing in 1880.
When Gregor von Feinaigle (see below) began to achieve recognition in the field of mnemonics, a short history of mnemonics was added to Memoria Technica. This history included a quote by a respected witness, attesting to the effectiveness of Feinaigleʼs teaching in France:
“one of his pupils is able to repeat, in any order, without the least mistake, a table of fifty cities in all parts of the world, with the degrees of longitude and latitude in which they are situated; the same is the case with chronology: in the Annuaire I have inserted 240 dates from ancient and modern history, and M. de Feinaigleʼs scholars repeat them all – an astonishing aid in the study of geography and history!”
This quotation was meant to document the effectiveness of mnemonics. But it was misused as a promotion for Memoria technica, because no one could memorize this information using Greyʼs number code and technique. Feinaigle had devolped the tools and techniques that were designed for such memory performances, but these things were not to be found in the book of Grey.
In 1842 an anonymous “Graduate of Cambridge” published a small pamphlet with a revision of Greyʼs code. He removed the consonant z from Greyʼs table, replacing it with the consonants g and r. Of this he writes that the scheme
...may be easily remembered thus: -Ba-de-ti-fo-lu-sau-poi-kei-nou-gry1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0The only remarks which I shall make on this self-explanatory scheme are that: The consonants 1,2,3,4,5 are the consonants in “be doubtful.”The consonants 6,7,8,9,0 are the consonants in “speaking.”
Thus he effectively made ten concise new number words, each with a consonant sound and a vowel sound. He did not discuss or develop these number words.
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A last gasp with Greyʼs code(mention also John Henry Todd, 1827)E.A Fitz Simon served as the editor of one of the last editions of Greyʼs book Memoria technica in 1882. He then wrote his own book, in which he adjusted Greyʼs code. He used oo= 8, which is consistent with the other vowels, since o+o = 4+4 = 8. Grey had inconsistently used ei =8, because the word eight begins with ei. But e+i actually should be 2+3, and not equal to 8. But the year 1882 was too late to be publishing or improving Greyʼs number code, which had been obsolete for 70 years.
Guyotʼs recreational mathIn 1769, the Frenchman Guyot published Nouvelles Recreations Physiques et Mathematiques, a 4-volume set of mathematic puzzles, scientific cusiosities, card tricks and magic acts. It must have been very popular, as it appeared in several editions and was translated into other languages.
Guyotʼs code was formed of the keyword Archemino (v3, p 52).A R C H E M I N O1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Guyot described some memory-magic tricks that one could perform, having memorized the code and using words such as these. Curiously, his key word Archemino had only nine letters and not ten. The decimal positional value system can only be used if there are ten symbols, including the zero. Was the use of the symbol zero still so awkward even in 1769? (Guyot v3, p 82-85)Guyot discussed another technique, which he called Mémoire artificielle. Here the code was formed of letters and the ampersand symbol.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z &
His example word for demonstrating this code was the Latin phrase: Pallida mors æquo pede pulsatP A L L I D A M O R S Æ Q U O P E D E P U L S A T
It is not clear how he intended for this technique to be used.
Comments on the art of memory in GermanyNo important mnemonics works were written written in Germany from the publication of Döbelʼs book until 1804. But in that year, several interesting German publications appeared by Baron von Aretin and his followers Duchet, Kästner, and Klüber. These four works seem to indicate that the Parnassus number code had been forgotten.
Johann Christoph Freyherrn von Aretin was a renowned historian, mnemonist, and bibliophile. He was engaged by the Court Library of Munich to collect books from monasteries that were being shut down throughout Bavaria. He acquired several hundred thousand volumes for the Munich library, making it among the world's best. Unfortunately, that great library was fire-bombed by Allied Forces on March 9, 1943, and about a quarter of the books held there were destroyed. (footnote: Garrett 1997)
Aretin published an article on mnemonics in 1804, but it offers little insight into his teaching. Aretinʼs pupils were not allowed to reveal his mnemonic techniques. A few of his pupils did publish books, however. Duchet authored a pamphlet, but it mentioned nothing of a number code. Christian Kästner produced a more important book on memory techniques. It gave a history of mnemonics from ancient times, but no mention of more recent developments, such as the work of Buno, Winkelmann, Döbel, Leibniz or Grey. It seems that the Parnassus code had been forgotten, even in Germany.
Kästnerʼs number codeChristian Kästner, as well as Aretin, preferred to remember numbers as images: 1 could be represented by candle or a spear, 2 a snake or swan with a curved neck, 3 a triangle or clover leaf, 4 a book or table, 5 a foot or hand… But Kästner also mentioned, almost as an afterthought at the end of his book, that numbers can remembered by converting them to words. He gave two number codes.(facsimile of these p 137.)Figure 23. Two number codes described by Kästner.
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Kästnerʼs first code was the ABC-cabala code: a=1, b=2, c=3, d=4, e=5, f=6, g=7, h=8, i=9, k=10, l=20, m=30, n=40, o=50, p=60, q=70, r=80,s=90, t=100, u=200, v=300, w=400, z=500. Words are equivalent to the sum of the numbers indicated by their letters: Tod= 100+50+4=154, Zug=707. But Kästner suggested that the code could be used for remembering numbers.
Kästnerʼs second code is a 10-symbol letter code, which alternates consonants and vowels: a=1, b=2, e=3, d=4, i=5, g=6, o=7, l=8, u=9, s=0. Letters other than these 10 have no number value, and can be used freely. Here Tod=74, Zug=96. Examples of a few other words besides Tod and Zug were given, to explain them properly.
In a footnote to his discussion of theoretical aspects of mnemonics, Kästner presented the number code of Guyot. Kästner used nearly the same code, in nearly the same way. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Kästnerʼs example of this technique was the following German sentence: “Nichts / halb / zu / thun / ist / edler / Geister / Art” -- 13.9.3.8.19.18 / 8.1.11.2 / 25.20 / 19.8.20.13 / 9.18.19 / 5.4.11.5.17 / 7.5.9.18.19.5.17 / 1.17.19. He further explained that in this method, the word “Art” would be the number 11,719. Tod=19,144; Zug=25,207.
These codes were only mentioned by Kästner, and not used by him in any mnemonics. I suspect that neither he nor his teacher Aretin were familiar with the Parnassus code in 1804. It seems that the techniques of substituting letters for numbers were quite alien to these authors at that time. Gregor von Feinaigle (see below) began promoting his new code in that year, and it seems that he had not gotten any clues from contemporary mnemonists in designing his code.
Gregor von Feinaigle was a monk at the Salem abbey in Bavaria. It had a wonderful library with about 30,000 volumes. Feinaigle surely had access to some of the books by Winkelmann, Buno or Döbel explaining the Parnassus code. In 1802-3, Napoleon was gaining power and there was political and social upheaval throughout France and Germany. The Bavarian monasteries were being shut down, as already mentioned, and Aretin was out confiscating books. When the Salem monastery was closed in 1803, Feinaigle began traveling and teaching mnemonics.
Feinaigle lectured in Karlsruhe and Strasbourg in 1804, in Nancy in 1805, in Besançon in 1806, and in Paris in 1806 and 1807. He did not demonstrate his own powers of memory in these lectures, but trained students for a few days and then in his lecture, they were given the opportunity to demonstrate their newly learned memory skills. Feinaigleʼs methods were a well kept secret, and the results were too good to be believed. Some journalists depicted him as a quack or deceptor. To eliminate the possibility of fraud, the mayor of Besançon personally chose pupils to study under Feinaigle in that city. After three days of lessons, their demonstrations were no less impressive than the others.
Feinaigle met real success in England, beginning with a lecture at the Royal Institute in London on June 22, 1811, followed by lectures in Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Afterwards he taught classes, and finally settled in Dublin in 1813, where he headed a school that was founded to employ his methods.
Feinaigleʼs secrets and his efforts to protect themFeinagle used both the Roman room method and Parnassus code. He improved them both, to make them very quick to teach to pupils. For the Roman room method, he used two imaginary rooms that were prefabricated; the floors and walls were already subdivided, giving 100 loci. Each locus had an image that resembled the number that it represented. For the floor and first wall the images were as follows (footnote: Figures from Millard 1813. Similar figures are also found in Delehaye 1808 see below): Floor: !
1. Tower of Babel (the tower resembles the numeral 1)2. Swan (curved form of swan and neck resembles the numeral 2)3. Mountain, or Parnassus. (bumpy outling of mountain resembles numeral 3)4. Looking-glass (four sides of the frame suggest the number 4)5 Throne (shape of the throne resembles the numeral 5)6. Horn of Plenty. (shape of the horn resembles the numeral 6)7 Glass-blower (the man and the tube resemble the numeral 7)8 Midas (arm and cloak resemble the numeral 8)9 Flower, or Narcissus. (shape of stem and flower resemble the numeral 9)
First wall:10. Goliath, or Mars. (man resembles 1 and shield resembles 0)11.Pillars of Hercules. (two pillars resemble the two numerals 11)12. David with the Lion (man resembles 1, and shape of lion resembles 2)13. Castle, or Nelsonʼs monument (monument resembles 1 and hill resembles 3)14. Diogenes, or Watchman (man resembles 1 and square lamp suggests 4)15. Æsculapius, or Serpent16. Ceres, or Gleaner17. Archimedes, or Carpenter
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18. Apollo19. Robinson Crusoe
Figure 24. Subdivision of the first room into 50 loci
Figure 25. Heiroglyphics to be remembered in the first room
Feinaigle never published his work, nor wanted it published by others, as that would limit the market for his memory courses. The Zufall mnemonics collection at the library of Yale University includes a curious booklet in French, signed by Feinaigle on March 2, 1807. It is a 10-page table of 1000 interesting words and phrases. They are neither numbered nor organized in any obvious way. There is no explanation as to how the words were to be used, but there is a printed warning, following by Feinaigleʼs signature. Below is a translation of the title and the warning:
Mnemonics, or art of helping and fixing the memory in any kind of studies and sciences, According to a new method, of which the reality and facility is noted by many certificates held by the instructor Grég.de Feinaigle
WarningAs this booklet is to be used only by the people who attend my lessons, it is not necessary to detail here the great advantages that they will withdraw from the art that forms the subject matter; advantages that will be self evident from the first moment that this study is applied.. To maintain my property rights as to the teaching of my art, it is natural and necessary that I attach the following conditions, to which each Pupil who follows my courses is bound, even after only one lesson.First, each Pupil, without exception, is bound not to communicate this art with anyone for the period of two years, without my formal and written permission, which one should not assume in any way, and to carefully keep all the objects relating to the art carefully guarded; so that I would be able to document damages and receive compensation through a court of law.Second, one will only speak with caution about the principles of the method I teach, even with those who have been initiated in the method by me, and who consequently will be able to present a specimen of this booklet, displaying their signature and mine.For my part, which is confirmed by experience and by the authentic certificates that I hold, I promise that obtaining the advantages of my art will require neither great aptitude nor support; and that what until now appeared impossible with the best memory, becomes, by my method, easy and certain, even by people who believe themselves the least gifted of this faculty. One is admitted to the course only after having paid the required fees.Prof. de Feinaigle Paris 2 Mars 1807
Nevertheless, Feinaigleʼs methods and code were published without his consent, in French (1808), German (1810,1811) and English (1812, 1813).
Feinaigleʼs number codeGrey had taken Wilkins number code and made it easier to learn, by matching numbers to appropriate letters: 1=b beginning, 2=d duo; 3=t three; 4=f four; 6=s six, 9=n nine. Feinaigle did the same thing with the Parnassus code, matching numbers to letters that they physically resembled.
The earliest known printing of Feinaigleʼs number code is in the book, Traité complet de mnémonique published in 1808. The book was anonymous, signed only as ***. It has been incorrectly attributed to Jules Didier, but the actual author was M. Delahaye, an attorney in Tours. The curious story of its authorship was told by the French mnemonist Aimé Paris. (footnote: in his 1834 book p.750.) It seems that Delahaye was taking Feinaigleʼs course in 1808, and was reprimanded by Feinaigle for not paying attention in class. Annoyed by this, Delahaye retorted that not only had he paid attention, but that he could write an entire book on Feinaigleʼs system. Delahaye set to work, and within a month had finished the 240-page volume, leather-bound and well illustrated by detailed woodcuts. The work was anonymous, it never mentioned the name of the author or editor, or the name Feinaigle.
Here is a translation of the code, with italics as in the original French text:
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“The consonants of the alphabet are the numerals of the mnemonist. The vowels a, e, i, o, u are reserved to form the words with the consonants or numbers, but the vowels have no numerical value in the mnemonic.
Figure 26 The first publication showing Feinaigleʼs code. 1808
Number system of the MnémonistNumbers. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Correspondingletters.
T.TH.
N. M. R.RH.
L. D. C.K.G.Q.
CH.
V.B.H.
P.PH.F.
S.Z.X.
EXPLANATION.1. converts to t, the letter right after the i
(Delahaye is apparently referring to the letter i in the French word unité, or unit. I suspect that Feinaigle also mentioned that t had one leg, but Delahaye was probably not paying attention in class...)
(i is kept in reserve, as you know, to form the words.) 2. to n, which has two legs. 3. to m, which has three legs. 4. its form has some analogy with r. 5. changes into l, as it is something like a curled l. 6. is d turned around7. resembles gallows; suppose that an animal is hung there by the collar, the throat or the tail, 7. could be represented by the letters c, g, q, and by extension, k.
(In French, collar is col, throat is gorge and tail is queue)8. is v, b and h closed up
(Delahaye is probably referring to the capital B, or a closed-up capital H, resembling 8)
9. is the p reversed; (q is used for 7, thus 9 is p. 0. or zero, last or first of the figures, is represented by s, z, or x, the hissing consonants, which in many cases have a similar pronunciation. Notice that the letter h, which replaces the figure 8, never counts unless it is preceded by the letters t, p, r, c, and thus th will be t or 1, ph or f as it is pronounced, will be p or 9.; rh will be r, that is to say, 4; and ch or k, will be c or 7.
We can assume that this is an accurate report of Feinaigleʼs code in France. It seems that V was put with B for the same reason that Winkelmann put W with B; these had a similar sound. P was put with PH, and since these made an F-sound, the F was included here. So Feinaigle had phonetics in mind when he devised this code, but the letters and their appearance were more important for the grouping than the sounds.
Feinaigle returned to Germany, but also there his methods were exposed in a large monograph Systematische Anleitung zur Theorie und Praxis der Mnemonik, by none other than Freyherrn von Aretin. Through this work, Aretin established his own reputation as the authority on mnemonics in Germany. I consider Aretin to have been a bit of a finagler however. In 1804 he and his pupils knew very little about number codes. But now in 1810 Aretin appeared to be the expert in them, although his codes were misunderstood versions of Feinaigleʼs code, and Aretin did not really approve of such codes or try to use them himself.
There are many misprints and errors throughout Aretinʼs book, and his presentation of Feinaigleʼs code cannot be correct:
“Methode um Zahlen zu behalten.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0,t n m r l d g b
ephw
sf q
x = gs, z = ds, tz = ts, sch = ch = sha e i o u
Die Vokalen zählen, wo sie vorkommen,1. 2. 3. 4. 5.”
Feinaigle certainly did not use the letter e for 8. Other details, about the letter combinations and the five vowels, must also be wrong. Aretin did not try to explain how Feinaigle used this code.
Such errors apparently went unnoticed, and Aretinʼs book was highly acclaimed. Especially the 560-page history on the art of memory made it a valuable reference for rare medieval works. Aretin gave good descriptions of Relatio novsissima and later works by Winkelmann, Buno and Döbel. But Aretin was not aware of Hérigone, so this French contribution continued to be overlooked by later historians. The same is true with Bunoʼs earliest publication of the Parnassus code in 1647.
Aretin was critical of Winkelmannʼs code for several reasons. In general, pictures are easier to remember than words, so Aretin considered it inadvisable to turn numbers into words. Concerning the code itself, Aretin pointed out the inconsistency that Winkelmannʼs consonant groups appeared in alphabetical order, except that the letter D was used for 0 rather than for 3.
Although Aretin clearly knew that Winkelmannʼs code had been used for making meaningful words out of numbers, he carelessly forgot this at one place (Book 2, p. 8), stating that only meaningless words could be made using the codes of Winkelmann, Grey, and others.
Aretin published two codes that seemed to be his own design. The first was very similar to Winckelmannʼs. In fact it is more phonetic than Winckelmannʼs, because g and k were together.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9b, p d, t f, v g, k l m n r s
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The letter code that Aretin recommended was similar to Feinaigleʼs but also lacked a zero. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
l, t n, v m, w d, h s b r, j, z f, p g, q
This code was more rigidly visual than Feinaigle's code. Every letter of each group resembled its corresponding number. Both l and t have 1 stroke down, both n and v have 2 strokes, and both m and w have 3 strokes. An inverted h resembles the symbol 4 and d resembles hʼs mirror image. S is a smoothly curved 5, and b is a straightened 6. Each of the letters r, j, and z has an angle like 7. Handwritten letters f and p can resemble 8, and g and q both resemble 9.
Both of these codes lacked a letter for zero. As Leibniz had done in 1678, Aretin employed vowels to indicate the decimal value of each number. The vowel a was used for the 1s, e for the 10s, i for the 100s, o for the 1000s and u for the 10,000s. Only the first consonant and its following vowel were relevant. Aretin gave a few German examples. The initial consonant and its following vowel indicated the numbers. An example in English is: “the Man had a Golden Ring” giving the number 9703 (where Ma=3, Go=9000, Ri=700.) The words could occur in any order in the mnemonic phrase. (facsimilies of these two codes p.17, 38.)
Figure 27. Two number codes recommended by Aretin. Aretin took this idea from Leibniz 1678, combining the technique of Leibniz with the code of Feinaigle.
Leibniz' universal spoken numbersGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was also interested in the construction of a universal language and admired the efforts of Dalgarno and Wilkins (Rossi 2000). He too saw potential advantages in
transforming numerical symbols into letters so that numbers could be spoken universally (Rossi, p.183). He may have wanted to use numbers as an alphabet for words, as Beck had been the first to do.
In 1678 Leibniz proposed a code where the number values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 were indicated by the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n. There was no zero in this code. The decimal value of each of Leibniz's consonants was given by the succeeding vowel. The letters a, e, i, o, u indicated powers of 1, 10, 100, 1000, and 10000, and dipthongs could be used for still larger numbers. Written out in full, the consonants with their vowels correspond to these numbers:
ba 1 ca 2 da 3 fa 4 ga 5 ha 6 la 7 ma 8 na 9be 10 ce 20 de 30 fe 40 ge 50 he 60 le 70 me 80 ne 90 bi 100 ci 200 di 300 fi 400 gi 500 hi 600 li 700 mi 800 ni 900bo 1000 co 2000 do 3000 fo 4000 go 5000 ho 6000 lo 7000 mo 8000 no 9000bu 10000 cu 20000 du 30000 fu 40000 gu 50000 hu 60000 lu 70000 mu 80000 nu 90000
The number 81374 could be written and pronounced Mubodilefa, where mu is 80000, bo is 1000, di is 300, le is 70 and fa is 4. Here the syllables were given in order of decreasing number value, but any order could be chosen. This same number 81374 could be written and pronounced Bodifalemu, or Dibomufale. There are a lot of possibilies here, and it is not clear if Leibniz considered that to be an advantage. Apparently Leibniz envisioned that a word in a philosophical language could be spelled 81374 and pronounced in one of these ways. Perhaps Liebniz had a premonition of the label-numbers that we use today. Label-numbers could be considered to be words in a philosophical language. The philosophy here is based on the sorting and memory capabilities of a computer.
Aretinʼs book seemed to fully document both the ancient history of mnemonics and the state of the art in Germany in 1810. But it did so in a way that left none of the number codes in a usable form. This book was more appropriate for historians than for students of the art of memory. One such historian was W.C. Müller, a teacher in Bremen. He was impressed by Aretin and not by Feinaigle, and wrote a book specifically to expose and discredit him. Its title could be translated as "Exposé of Secrets of Mnemonics, especially the memory training of the Herr Prof. von Feinaigle."
Müller gives Feinaigleʼs code as follows:1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0t n m r l d g
ck
hbvw
pphfpf
sxz
Müller mentions, in a postscript, that Feinaigle received a mental and physical refutation (eine geistige und körperliche Widerlegung) in Hamburg in 1810, and then decided to leave "stupid Germany." Feinaigle emigrated, or perhaps fled, to England.
The following year, an author in Germany made an effort to redeem Feinaigle. He published a detailed account of Feinaigleʼs teachings, with the favorable title: Mnemonik, oder praktische
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Gedächtnisskunst zum selbstunterrischt, nach den Vorlesungen des Herrn von Feinaigle (Mnemonics, or the practical art of memory for self-study, according to the lectures of Herr von Feinaigle.) The author was anonymous, even though the secrecy-contract he had probably signed was no longer a real threat.
From this description we can see how Feinaigle explained the code in German. Für 1 nehmen wir also t, das auch nur einen Hauptstrich hat, für 2 n, wo das 2 schon ein n beinahe ausdrücht, für 3 m, welches etwa ein liegender 3 ist, für 4, einer schwer aufzulösenden Zahl, ein deutsches etwas versogenes r, für 5, einer gleichfalls schwierigen Zahl, nehmen wir l, für 6 nehmen wir d welches nur ein hermgedrehter 6er ist. Bis hierher haben wir jeder Zahl nur einen nigen Consonanten sind, die in allen Wörtern am häusigsten vorkommen. Für 7 wählen wir g; es ist dieses die Zahl, die einem Schnappgalgen am ähnlichsten ist und darin kommen zwei g vor, und g sehen wir als einen Gurgelbuchstaben an, dem in dieser hinsich k, q und C in vielen Namen als Carl, Christ u.s.w. seher verwandt sind und dem wir sie daher zugesellen. Für 8 nehmen wir H wo auch zwei Löcher wie bei 8 Statt finden und aus gleicher Aehnlichkeit setzen wir noch b und v und letzterem das ihm verwandte w hinzu. Für 9 setzen wir an p ein gewissermaassen nur verkehrtes 9, das wie bei 9 seinen Anhang oder Schwanz nach unten hat, wie gleichfalls f, und diesen gesellen wir ph, das im Deitschen oft nur wie f gebraucht wird und das diesem verwandte pf bei. Für 0 gebrauchen wir z und die ihm verwandte Zischlaute s und x. Unser Alphabet für die Zahlen is also folgendes:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0t n m g H p zt n m r l d k b f s
q v ph xc w pf
It is clear that Feinaigle originally devised his code for German and not for French, because the groupings of the letters and his mnemonic images make more sense here. The numbers 7 looks like a gallows, and gallows begins with g in German (Galgen) but not in French (potence). The grouping of letters p and f is natural in German, because of the occurrence of the combination pf in German words.
Millardʼs monograph in EnglandAfter Feinaigle had been lecturing in England for only a year, a detailed account of his methods was also published there. It was written by John Millard, who had just authored an encyclopedia, which included a several-page explanation of Greyʼs Memoria Technica. Millard had attended a 15-lecture course by Feinaigle in London, and then without Feinaigle's help or permission, wrote an anonymous book in 1812: The new art of memory, founded upon the principles taught by M. Gregor von Feinaigle. The first part of this volume gave a thorough presentation of Feinaigleʼs new methods. The second part reviewed the history and publications of the art of memory.
(cite reference in footnote: Millard 1813) Feinaigleʼs code is explained in great detail by Millard:
“t, like the figure 1, is a perpendicular, or down stroke, and differs only from it in the addition of the small horizontal line drawn across the upper part of it: t is more like the figure 1 than any other consonant, if perhaps we except the letter l. An additional reason for assigning the letter t to 1 is, that it occurs in the word unit.
“n, is the appropriate letter to represent 2; there are two down strokes in it.“m, furnishes us with three down strokes; it will then give the idea of 3; if we place a
three thus m, it will afford a tolerable outline of the letter m.“r, is to represent 4: r when written, resembles somewhat a 4. The letter r also occurs
in the word four; in the German fohr; in the Dutch vier; in the Latin quatuor; in the French quatre; in the Spanish and Portuguese quatro; in the Italian quattro; in the Greek τεσσαοεξ; in the Russ chetyíre; and in a variety of other languages.! “The English L was borrowed from the Romans; they had it from the Greeks, and they again from the Hebrews, whose lamed is much like our L, excepting that the angle is somewhat more acute. L was used as a numeral letter for fifty, and may therefore be assigned to the figure 5.
“d, is to represent 6; since d, in writing, is the reversed form of this figure.“c, k, g, q. The figure 7, with a slight curvature, may be made to resemble a crooked
stick, and as we shall remember this stick the better, if something be hung upon it, a cage shall be suspended there. In the word cage we obtain the consonants c and g; k also is added to the number, for c is more frequently pronounced hard (ka) than it is soft (se); q, being a guttural and a crooked letter, shall go along with the cage and the stick. For the figure 7 there are then c, k, g, and q.! “b, h, v, w. In the figure 8, there are two noughts, or two round things; these may be converted into beehives, and if one be placed upon the other, there will be a tolerably accurate idea of the figure 8. In the word beehive are obtained b, h, v; and w may be added, for it is compounded of vv.! “p, f. The figure 9 is not unlike a pipe, and as a pipe is seldom used without a puff of smoke issuing from it, we have the p and f in these two words; they are inseparably connected, and cannot easily be forgotten.! “s,x,z. The 0 being a round body, it may be compared to a wheel or grinder in a mill; this wheel, when in swift motion gives out a hissing sound, and the hissing consonants s, x, z, are attached to the cipher. x is formed from two half circles; and z is the first letter of the word zero.! “These letters and the figures which they are intended to represent, should be impressed strongly upon the memory, as the letters must be converted into words by the introduction of vowels. ! “The consonants are alone resorted to, for they compose, like the skeleton of the human body, the principle parts; the vowels are but the ligaments. ”
Since Feinaigle first designed his code in German, the words beehive for 8 and puff for 9 were certainly not part of his original plan. But just as he could manipulate numbers to suit words, he could manipulate his code to suit various languages. Beehive and puff were typical examples of Feinaigleʼs style.
To show how Feinaigle used words to represent numbers, here are eleven simple examples: his mnemonics for the coronation dates of the first 11 kings of England. A mnemonic word is associated with each king. The dates all start with the year 1000, so only the last two or three digits of the number are represented by the word.
99
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0T N M R L D C, G, K, Q B, H, V, W F, P S, X, Z
Figure 28. Mnemonic words of Feinaigle to remember the kings of England.
Note that the words are written just as in chronograms, with upper- and lower-case letters. Note also in these examples that the spelling, not the pronunciation, determines the numbers; double letters S and F make double numbers 0 and 9.
This book was anonymous, but it was no secret that the author was John Millard. Some considered Feinaigle to the be true author, with Millard the coauthor or editor. But Feinaigle had no part in the writing of the book. Feinaigle was better at keeping his secrets than his pupils were, and for this reason we know nothing of the background for Feinaigleʼs own education in mnemonics. Millard included a valuable review of ancient books on the art of memory, but they are books that could be found in Britain, and not the books that Feinaigle would have had access to in Salem. There is no mention of the German authors Winckelmann, Buno, Leibniz, or Döbel in Millardʼs book.
Lord Byron's inadvertent coining of the word finagle! ! ! !Although Feinaigle is now largely forgotten, his name and his number code have been immortalized, although in a way that he would not have approved. Feinaigle was the leading British mnemonist of his time, and there have always been critics who consider mnemonics to be a form of deception or trickery. Feinaigle was therefore considered to be a professional trickster. Some review articles in the contemporary press offered praise, others scorn.
A humerous poke at Feinaigle was taken by Lord Byron in his epic poem Don Juan, written in 1819. In the description of Don Juanʼs mother, Donna Inez, Byron used the phrase “Feinagleʼs art” as synonymous with memory trickery.
“His mother was a learned lady, famed For every branch of every science known In every Christian language ever named, With virtues equall'd by her wit alone, She made the cleverest people quite ashamed, And even the good with inward envy groan, Finding themselves so very much exceeded In their own way by all the things that she did.
Her memory was a mine: she knew by heartAll Calderon and greater part of Lope,So that if any actor miss'd his partShe could have served him for the prompter's copy;For her Feinagle's were an useless art,And he himself obliged to shut up shop- heCould never make a memory so fine asThat which adorn'd the brain of Donna Inez.”
(footnote: That Byron misspelled Feinaigleʼs name was surely an error. But that Byron mispronounced the name Lope to rhyme with copy, and Inez to rhyme with fine-as, were intentional humerous mistakes.)
Feinaigleʼs name, through this poem, is likely the origin of the English word finagle. Byron wrote that “Feinagleʼs (sic) were an useless art.” In the century after Feinaigleʼs death, with his name long forgotten and Don Juan still being recited, it was natural to think of the word Feinagleʼs (finagles) as some sort of trickery. Entymological sources are unclear as to the origin of the word finagle.
Another of Feinaigleʼs tricksDelehaye showed that in 1808, Feinaigle had a list of 110 number words for memorizing numbers such as dates. These were not intended as a list of loci.
Mors qui peuvent aider à retenir les chiffres, par conséquent les dates chronogloques, les opérations commerciales, etc.
Followers of Feinaigleʼs techniqueAbbot Giseyʼs adjustment of Feinaigleʼs lettersFeinaigle had grouped some similar-sounding letters (c-k and z-s) but he did not match others (f-v, t-d, and p-b.) This peculiarity caught the attention of a French monk living in Italy. Abbot Gisey learned the code from a M. Jean Didier, who must have been quite a finagler himself. Didier taught a mnemonics course in Torino, and was claiming to be the author of Delahayeʼs anonymous book Traité complet de mnémonique (Plebani 1899). In 1811, Gisey published his own anonymous mnemonics book, Nouveau traité de mnémonique. It gave a revised code, where he put the letter p with b, and the letter f with v, just as Buno and Winkelmann had originally done.
Alphabet of the mnemonist, by Gisey. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0t n m r l d c, ch, g, q p, b f, ph, v s, x, z
Coglanʼs adjustment for word balanceThomas Coglan learned mnemonics from a series of lectures by Feinaigle. Soon thereafter, he began traveling throughout England giving his own mnemonics lectures. In 1813 he published his own book and promoted it though his lectures.
Although Coglan took Feinaigleʼs code and methods for memorizing it, he gave no credit to Feinaigle. Instead he wrote that he had improved Greyʼs code by removing the vowels, which were the defect of Dr. Greyʼs system. Coglan had in fact improved Feinaigleʼs code, and his improvements were interesting. Coglan balanced Feinaigleʼs code, giving two letters to each of the numbers. These additional letters made it easier to find words for many numbers, especially the number 3. Coglan used ten key words to teach the code:
Figure 29. Code assigning two consonants to each number, for balance of words.
Coglan explained how his code is an improvement (p.31-32): “This tabular arrangement of the figures and consonants is not an arbitrary one; nor are the consonants solely selected (as a writer lately observed about Mr. Feinaigleʼs scheme) because a resemblance can be traced between them and the figures in form; their seletion is the result of some experience of the powers of each, intended to be disposed in such a manner, that no junction of any two consonants (representing figures) should produce a greater number of correct words in the language, than any other two consonants, in all their various combinations; that 34, for example, should not have more words to represent it than 56, and thus with all the rest. But, although this has been the professed object of the author, yet, he is sorry to observe, he has not completely effected it, for some of the combinations are more prolific than others; but he thinks he as succeeded as well as the nature of the letters will admit, and the English language allow. He has attempted various other classifications, but none of them were so successful as the present.
Coglan followed Grey in letting certain letters indicate large numbers. Since no numbers start with zero, Coglan let any word beginning with S or X indicate an extra two zeros at the end of the number. Words beginning with Th stand for thousands, and add three zeros. Words beginning with Y stand for millions. His examples for these were the words SPICES, EXACT and YOUNKER for the numbers 1970, 171 and 1,000,274.
Coglanʼs Mnemonical Dictionary was the first number dictionary in the English language. It contained about 2500 words, for the numbers from 1 to 99. One learns much about a number code from compiling such a word list. Perhaps Coglan tried compiling a list for Feinaigleʼs letter code, and then realized that there were relatively few word possiblities with some numbers, an experience that would have inspired Coglan to revise the code. In doing so, he created the most balanced and simple of all the letter codes. Only the phonetic code, invented later by Aimé Paris, is better, not for balance of numbers, but for simplicity and efficiency of sound.
Coglanʼs brief mention of the history of mnemonics is interesting. He wrote that he had “neither the folly, nor the vanity” to claim credit for inventing mnemonics. Here he was suggesting that Feinaigle had this folly and vanity. He noted that it was Aretin who had revived the interest in mnemonics in Germany, and implied that Feinaigle had been Aretinʼs pupil. He credited Greyʼs Memoria Technica with being the first successful system of using letters for numbers, and was clearly not aware of the codes of Hérigone, Winkelmann, Wilkins, Leibniz or Döbel.
Coglan created many mnemonics using his number code. But he was no poet, and his mnemonics were not especially appealing. Better mnemonics could be made using his code, This was shown by a Mr. Watkis of Liverpool, who made mnemonic rhymes for the dates of the 55 sovereigns of England. A few mnemonics that work for both Coglan and Feinaigleʼs code were given in an early chapter of this book. Others mnemonics that work with Coglanʼs number code, but not with Feinaigleʼs, are shown below.
When William the Norman to England did rove,He was fierce as the vulture, not mild as the d o v e.!! ! !(= 1066)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 6 6The arrow of Tyrrel just vengeance did wreakOn William, named Rufus, vain, selfish, and w e a k.!! ! (= 1087)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 8 7Though Henry the First of deep lore show'd no loss,
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His desires were as wild as the waves when they t o s s.! !(= 1100)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1 0 0Though Stephen gain'd sway by his courage and wile,Distrust of his nobles forbade him to s m i l e.! ! ! ! ! !(= 1135)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1 3! 5Though Henry the Second at priests was a railer,They awed him as much as the whip awes the s a i l o r.! !(= 1154)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1 5 4Ere Richard, the Lion heart's valour could sleep,He wished all the Pagans from Asia to s w e e p.! ! ! ! !(= 1189)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1 8 9John thought the leagued barons too surly by half,And bitter the cup which they forced him to q u a f f.! ! !(= 1199)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1! 9 9The weakness of Henry the Third was requitedBy seeing his subjects against him u n i t e d.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1216)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 2 1 6 !The conscience of Edward the First would not flinchTo grasp at an ell if you gave him an i n c h.! ! ! ! ! !(= 1272)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !2 7 2
Coglan wrote no rhymes, but showed many ways to use the number words. He created two rooms each with 50 loci images, just as Feinaigle had done. But he took this method a step further, because his images were numbered according to the letter code, not according to the images resembling shapes of numbers.
He also had a chapter on multiplication, where he showed a multiplication table as numbers and mnemonic words.
Fig. 30.Photo of foldout, 4th wall p. 123.
A large fold-out page showed how the multiplication table might be memorized as number images.
Even more noteworthy, he showed that letter symbols could be used in the place of number symbols when doing arithmetic. He made no comments regarding this idea of using letters instead of numbers, and it was not mentioned by any subsequent authors.
(Coglan showed that letter symbols could serve as figures in arithmetic) Figure 31. Demonsration that letter symbols can be used for numbers in arithmetic.
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Samuel Samsʼ exploitation of Feinaigleʼs marketFeinaigle settled in Dublin in 1813 and lived there until his death in 1819. In 1814, in the same city, Samuel Sams published a New System of Mnemonics. Sams had previously published a book on a multilingual system of stenography.
Samsʼ number code followed the order of letters in the alphabet, making it very difficult to learn and use, compared to the codes of Feinaigle and Coglan.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0b, c d f, g h, j, k, s l m, n p, q r t, v x, z
The full title of Samsʼ book includes the claim: The multiplication table is so made out that it may be learned by a child in two hours. Here is Samsʼ table to be memorized.
Figure 32. Multiplication table of Sams, using words and numbers
A child might memorize this multiplication table quickly, but the information could not be used in this form.
Sams did not mention Feinaigle by name. But in the very first paragraph of his book, he wrote on the origin of mnemonics: “I shall merely observe, that it is a folly in any man of the present day to arrogate to himself (as has been done) its origin.” He then mentioned that previous mnemonic systems are too complicated, and made claims as to the simplicity of his own system. One such claim was the possibility to learn the multiplication table in two hours.
Finally, on the last page of the book, Sams printed the text of a letter of support, with “the signatures of 14 Gentleman, the original of which may be seen at the Printers.” This letter reads as follows:
“Dear Sir,We cannot permit you to leave town, without thus jointly expressing to you the very great satisfaction we have had, in attending your Course of Lectures on the art of assisting the Memory. We are well aware of the great and almost general prejudice you have to encounter, in consequence of the absurd pretensions and perplexed Systems of some who have preceded you in teaching Mnemonics: yet the simplicity and admirable invention displayed in your System, fully convince us that, to be approved and received, it requires only to be known; and engage us to hope that, by perseverance in its dissemination, you will ere long surmont every obstacle.Wishing you all prosperity, we are,Dear Sir,Yourʼs most truly, &c.”
Mnemonics as a new style of chronogramChronograms never caught on in languages other than Latin. As the use of Roman numerals and Latin gradually declined, the practice of creating chronograms was abandoned.By the beginning of the 1800s, chronograms were fully out of fashion. Important dates were no longer celebrated by putting them into words.
In the 1800s memorization of facts and figures was considered valuable, much more so than today. Important dates were memorized in schools, and educators devised ways of putting dates into words, in order to memorize them. These new expressions were not called chronograms, but mnemonics. The technique for making a mnemonic required a letter code where numbers could be substituted for certain letters. The code and technique originated with the memory specialist Gregor von Feinaigle, and a swipe at his artificial memory techniques led to the English word finagle. Several slightly different number-letter codes were used in Germany, France and England in the early 1800s. The two most widespread codes were similar to each other, and both included the following number-letter equivalents:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0t n m r l d c / k /g w p s / x
A code of this type can be used in various ways. Below are examples of mnemonics that were published by John Smith in 1832. The mnemonics were written by a Mr. Watkis of Liverpool, to help students memorize the coronation dates of kings of England. The date to be remembered is formed in the last word. In the first example, the date to be remembered is 1307. The
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mnemonic word is mask, where the letters m...s...k give the numbers 307 according to the code. Read these verses aloud, and imagine a classroom of children memorizing the historical dates is this way.
! Thy foes, Second Edward, accomplish'd their task,! And sent thee to Berkeley, their murder to m a s k.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1307)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3 0 7! The French, before Edward the Third often shrunk,! For ne'er did he fear monarch, warrior, or m o n k.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1327)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3 3 7! Weak Richard the Second, though valiant his stock! Was treated, whene'er he appeared, with a m o c k. ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1377)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3 7 7 ! Says Harry the Fifth, "Though my enemies hate me,! I'll prove that at too light a value they r a t e m e. ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1413)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4 1 3! Sixth Henry resign'd his son's claim to the throne,! When forced to accept of a portion, o r n o n e.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1422)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4 2 2! For no man did Henry the Eighth care a wisp,! And so fat he became that he scarcely could l i s p.!! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1509)!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 5 0 9! The Papists thought Edward the Sixth an empiric,! When the tunes he admired were psalmodic, not l y r i c. !! ! ! ! (= 1547)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 5 4 7! Queen Mary fill'd Protestant bosoms with gloom,! And Smithfield too oft did her bonfires i l l u m e.!! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1553)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 55 3
Note that the numeral letters here were written a bold-print, but not as upper case letters. The culture of chronograms was forgotten, and the style of mixing upper-case and lower-case letters in number words was not followed.
Another style of mnemonic puts the number-code letters as the initial letters of a series of four words. This method was used by Eliza Slater. She called these mnemonics chronological sentences, which has the same meaning as chrono-grams. The first book with about 260 of her mnemonics appeared in 1819. Updated versions with many hundred more chronological sentences were sporadically published for the next eighty years.
! The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent the Third! The Inquisition is Now Settled at Rome! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1204)
! Magna Charta, the great bulwark of English liberty, signed by John! The Noblest Tree of Liberty! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1215)
! Henry the Third, king of England! The Name of a Timid Defender of England!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1216)
! Gengiskahn and the Tartars overrun the empire of the Saracens! They Now Name Gengiskahn! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1227)
! Establishment of the Swiss Republics! They Make Swiss Cantons! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1307)
! Edward the Second, king of England! They Make a Second King Edward! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1307)!! The Italian poet Dante died! Then Men Talked of Dante! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1316)
! Edward the Third, king of England! A Third Edward Must Now Govern!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1327)
! Gunpowder invented by Swartz, a Monk of Cologne! This is a Most Ruinous invention, Swartz! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1340)
Eliza Slaterʼs Sententiæ Chronologicæ In 1819, Eliza Slater published Sententiæ Chronologicæ in England, using the number code of Feinaigle. She learned the code from one of Feinaigle's first courses in London, and then created a few hundred mnemonics for the teaching of historic dates to children.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0t n m r l d g
ck
hbvw
pphfpf
sxz
! Here are a few examples to show her style, which is quite different from the others. She used the inital letters of four words to define the date. Her key letters were always shown in upper case, and not italics as the other letters.
The Creation of the World. !! ! ! ! ! !! ! Read of Adam, Sinful yet Soon Repenting !! ! (RSSR= 4004 B.C.) The Universal Deluge ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Not a Man Remained Behind ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (NMRB= 2348 B.C)The Building of the Tower of Babel, the Confusion of Languages
! ! ! ! ! ! ! Now No Man's Meaning is understood! ! ! ! (NNMM= 2233 B.C.)The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. ! ! The Brimstone and Fire of Gomorrah ! ! ! ! (TBFG= 1897 B.C.)The Romans finnaly withdraw from Britain. ! ! Romans Now Depart!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (RND= 426 A.D)Mary queen of England ! ! Then Lived Lawless Mary! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (TLLM= 1553 A.D.)
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Elizabeth, queen of England ! ! All That Live Love Her. !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (TLLH= 1558 A.D.)Handel dies. ! ! The immortal Composer's Life is Fled. ! ! ! ! (TCLF= 1759 A.D.)George the Third, King of England. ! ! A Third George Directs our State.! ! ! ! ! ! (TGDS= 1760 A.D.)
This very small book was a very big printing success, with a new edition appearing every few years. The last update of Sententiæ Chronologicæ was printed in 1902, with sentences for over 700 dates. They were organized in sections: Chronology before Christ, after Christ, Science and Literature, History of France, Artists, Musicians, Medical Profession, and History of the East Indies. The complete list of dates was also summarized in a table without the mnemonic sentences. Readers who were not interested in memorizing and using number codes would still have use of the handy tables in Slaterʼs chronology books.
Other notable books, using the code of Feinaigle were published by the Rev. Knott in the 1840s And other authors presented other memory books, with codes similar to Sams (Jackson, Murden.)
Phonetic French shorthand and the perfected number codeIn the early 1800s, there were a great number of different shorthand techniques. They used different symbols and abbreviations, but they were all based on a simplified phonetic alphabet. It was through the influence of French shorthand that Feinaigleʼs number code became fully phonetic.
In 1813 Conen de Prépéan published Sténographie exacte which instantly became the leading stenography manual in France. His method was an improvement of Bertin (1796), which was a French version of Taylor (1786). Prépéanʼs spelling was very simple, ignoring the many silent letters in French. The main symbols were four different orientations of straight lines and four orientations of half circles.
In introducing the technique, Prépéan began with a helpful lesson in phonetics. He pointed out that the names of some of the letters of the alphabet are inconsistent and that they should be changed. F should not be named eff, but rather fe. M should be me, not em, N should be ne, not en, og S should be se, not ess. These new letter names, Fe, Me, Ne, and Se help us to recognize that F sounds similar to V (fe and ve), and S sounds similar to Z (se and ze). Prépéan gave the similar-sounding letters similar symbols in his shorthand. The similar pairs were Pe-Be, Fe-Ve, Te-De, Se-Ze.
He discussed also sound groups, such as labiales (PB, FV), labio-nazals (M), dentales (TD, R, L), sifflantes (S,Z,X), palais (L, N, GNe), and chuintantes (J,CH). His stenography was French, but the phonetic rules were valid in German, Italian, and English as well.
He organized the various consonant sounds into10 groups: P,B – F,V – T,D – R – S,Z (X) – L – N,GN – Q,G – CH, J – M and gave a symbol to each. The letter X is sometimes related to the
sound for S, and sometimes can be considered a combination of the sound K, Q or G followed by S.
Figure 33. Prépéanʼs table of the ten groups of consonant sounds, 1815.
So Prépéan showed that consonants naturally fall into ten distinct phonetic groups. Winkelmann and Feinaigle had also put the consonants into ten groups for their memory code. Feinaigleʼs groups were not at all phonetical. They were based on a rather curious mix of the appearance of some letters and numbers, and the convenience of learning some key words. Prépéan set the stage for the phonetic version of the letter code.
The innovative Aimé ParisAimé Paris (1798-1866) was only a young boy when he learned Feinaigleʼs number code and method of loci. By the time he was a teenager, he had become a talented mnemonist. When he began studying toward a French law degree, he learned shorthand from the second edition of Prépéanʼs book. Aimé Paris could probably memorize facts as easily as anyone in France, and after he learned to write shorthand, he could write words about as fast as the words were spoken.
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Paris was an innovator, and enjoyed challenging conventions and developing new methods. Among other things, he did not agree with Prépéanʼs ten groups of consonant sounds. The sounds CH and J were phonetically related to S and should have a similar looking shorthand symbol. He published a paper explaining how the shorthand of Prépéan should be modified. In a special epilog to the 1817 edition of his book, Prépéan responded to Parisʼ suggestions by rejecting them. But this rejection only served to give Aimé Paris wide exposure for having made a significant contribution to the art of stenography.
In 1822, Paris was appointed professor of mnemotechny and stenography at the Athenee Royal de Paris (footnote: biography in Roullier-Leuba 1894). The name Aimé Paris is actually best known today for the French method of shorthand known as Sténographie Aimé Paris. In the mid 1900s, the Association sténographique Aimé Paris was offering courses throughout France, Switzerland and Belgium. The Méthode directe de sténographie Aimé Paris was published, with adaptions to Dutch, English, German, Spanish and Italian to make this the standart shorthand for the European Parliament (footnote: Vanleemputten & Lambotte 1969.)
Figure 34. The groups of consonant sounds and their symbols, with a mnemonic to learn them, Paris & Quayras 1862.
But now we must look at what Aimé Paris did with the number code of mnemonics. Paris discussed phonetic letter groups in much the same way that Prépéan had done, to show that spelling could be simplified. His arguments were convincing and somewhat more dramatic than Prépéanʼs, apparently reflecting his legal training. He demonstrated that there could be over 10 million ways to spell the word excellemment, to give the same French pronunciation. Here is how this is possible. There are five parts to this word, E-XC-ELL-EMM-ENT. There are 20 different ways to spell the first part, 50 ways for the second, 21 ways for the third, 10 ways for the fourth and 36 ways for the fifth. These combinations make 7,560,000 possible spellings. In addition, if C were repalced by Ç where possible, the total number of possible spellings is 10,497,600.
But Aimé Paris was looking for the most simple ways to represent numbers as words, and he needed exactly ten groups of consonant sounds. He formed a separate group out of the sounds CH and J. This is very curious. CH and J each had their own symbol in Prépéanʼs
stenography, which Paris rejected for pruposes of stenography. Then he gave these sounds each their own number in his new code for mnemotechny! Stenography should have nine groups of consonant sounds, but mnemotechny must have ten.
Figure 35. The nine phonetic groups of consonant sounds, made into ten. Paris 1825. CH-7 was a printing error; it was corrected in the errata on page 592 to GH-7.
Paris had grouped the consonants into a phonetic code for a special reason: he was to convert words to numbers by the way they were pronounced, not by the way they were spelled. This was the same simplifying principle as in stenography, and completely different from the technique of Feinaigle and all the others.
To show an example of this phonetic principle, the four different English words metal, mettle, medal and meddle would give four different numbers according to Feinaigleʼs technique: 315, 3115, 365, and 3665. According to the new technique of Aimé Paris, these four similar-sounding words give the same number: 315. For Paris, it was no longer necessary to think how words are spelled, but only how they sound.
Unlike Feinaigle, Aimé Paris used his own fabulous memory to demonstrate his techniques in dramatic performances. Francis Fauvel-Gouraud, who later introduced the phonetic code in America (1845, see below), described his first encounter with Aimé Paris as follows:
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“While reading one day in the morning journals, I saw with an agreeable surprise the notice of a “public lecture with mnemotechnic experiments, by Mr. Aimé Paris,” announced for three of the afternoon, in the great hall of the Commercial Exchange. The Professor promised to answer to 25,000 questions from history, geography, statistics, mathematics, astronomy, &c., &c., to prove the power and efficacy of the “new mnemotechnic method,” which he proposed to teach in that city. As the reader will have already imagined, I was not among the last to answer to this call. A long time before the appointed hour the great hall of the Exchange was thronged with many thousands of auditors awaiting the arrival of the Professor with the most lively impatience; for the renown of his mnemotechnic exploits had already every where proceded him. They had been led to expect wonders, yet however great were their hopes, they were destined to be surpassed. In fact, at the precise hour which had been announced, Aimé Paris mounted the platform which had been prepared for him, amid thunders of applause, which continued to welcome him for several minutes. A shower of little printed leaves containing thousands of questions upon various scientific and literary subjects which he had engaged to answer, was scatterd among the immense, compact, and impatient crowd which thronged about him; then, immediately that he had pronounced the last words of an appropriate discourse having memory and his system for its subject, at his invitation hundreds of questions, starting at once from all parts of this immense hall, thundered upon him like the rolling of a hundred drums.
“I will not attempt to descirbe the enthusiasm which presided over the immense audience during the whole course of these experiments, for the task would be above all descriptive power. Those only who have attended my public introductory lectures in this country, and who have read these lines, can form any idea of the scene which I abstain from describing here, for want of proper expressions.-- Suffice it to say, that out of the thousands of questions, of all kinds, which were addressed to the illustrious professor, during three whole hours occupied by the experiments of this memorable lecture, he did not commit the slightest error in his hurried answers, and that amid even the enthusiastic plaudits of his numerous auditors. A subscription list presented for their signatures for the formation of a class was immediately covered with hundreds of names, --among which mine did not fail to take its place, as the reader may well suppose…"
(footnote: It was apparently during such a demonstration that Paris met Adrien Berbreugger, with whom Paris first published the code in 1823. Berbreugger, was a teacher of French grammar to Spaniards living in France.)
The fully phonetic number codeParis used this brief set of images, to facilitate the learning of the code (translated from French.):
t ! 1 has only ONE leg; ! n 2 has TWO; ! m 3 has THREE; ! r 4 is nearly a 4 reversed ! ! 5 resembles L written as a capital letter; ! ! 6 resembles of form with the handwritten j. ! K 7 both have some analogy with the shape of a gallows. ! ! 8 the handwritten F resembes an 8. ! P 9 resemblance of form. ! ! 0 the S is composed of two half-zeros."
A simple phrase demonstrates the code: ToN aMi ReLaCHé Qui Vient Peu iCi, which gives 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0. Notice that the letters nt in the word vient have no number values. These letters are silent, and his was a code of sounds, or articulations, not a code of letters. This was a totally new concept in the history of number codes. It is expecially significant in the French language, where about one in three consonant letters are silent.
Aimé Paris wrote books with many creative examples of the use of the phonetic number code. He also used the method of loci extensively: with a map of important buildings in Paris to illustrate his journey method, he showed that the reader could make localities and sublocalities, to have hundreds or even thousands of loci.
To illustrate the way that French words are converted to numbers in his code, we show the number words in his fomula for memorizing the first 127 digits of the number pi. The technique allowed him to recite the numbers in sequence, or to recall any single digit in any position.
This is the same code as in Audio Numbers, so we would call his number words audionums. (For clarity in the citation below, I write them in the style of chronograms or audionums, with a mix of upper and lower case numbers. The words were not written this way by Aimé Paris.)
MonTRes, Tu Le Peux NicHer Là! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3. 14159265)Ma Loi Vaut Bien Quʼ on Pai Mieux. Non, Ma Foi.! ! ! ! ! ( = 3589793238)Rians JeuNes Gens, ReMuer Moins Vos MiNes.!! ! ! ! ! ( = 4626433832)Quʼun PoLisSon Ne Vous Fit ReTomBer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7950288419)Que Ton cHaPeau Moins PomPeux MʼéGaLe?! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7169399375)Ta SaLiVe Ne Sʼest Pas CorRomPue.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 1058209749)Rends, Rends, LaPin, Nos MoisSons; Quʼen Fais-Tu?! ! ! ! ( = 4459230781)Jʼai Ri; Ses cHants Nʼont FâcHé Nos SaVans.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 6406286208)Peut Bien FâcHer NNos VoiSins Maint ReFus.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 9986280348)Nuit LʼaMouReux NʼenTenDait Que Ses cHants.!! ! ! ! ! ( = 2534211706)Que Peu FiNaud, Tes RiVaux Sont FâcHés.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7982148086)La TéMoigNe VaiNeMent Sans cHanGer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 5132823066)aiR Qui Sait Bien Me FaiRe en-RaGer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 470938446)
There was little protection of intellectual property at this time. A competing memory book in 1834 by two brothers, Alexandre-Magno and José-Feliciano Castilho used all of these formulas, except the first line, which was original: MonTRes Des LamBeaux, NoncHaLant. No credit was given to Aimé Paris for the other twelve lives of formulas.
But in this same year, Paris published an enlarged version of his book, with new formulas:
Paris 1834Un ManDaRin Dont LʼhaBit Nʼest JoLi! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3. 14159265)Mon Lot Vaut Bien Gais Bons Mots; Non, Ma Foi!! ! ! ! ! ( = 3589793238)Rians JeuNes Gens, ReMuer Moins Vos MiNois.! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4626433832)Quʼun BaLanSier Ne Vous Voie RenDant Bien.! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7950288419)Que Dʼun cHaPeau Moins PimPant, Mon GaLant. !! ! ! ! ( = 7169399375)Ton SeuL enFant Ne Sʼest Pas CorRomPu!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 1058209749)Ronds RouLent Peu, Nos MaÇons ConFonDus!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4459230781)Je Ris, Ces Joies Ne FâcHent NoS enFans.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 6406286208)
115
Peut Bien FâcHer Nos VoiSins Maint ReFus.!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 9986280348)Nous LʼaiMeRons, NʼenTenDant Que Ses cHants.! ! ! ! ! ( = 2534211706)Que Peu FiNaud Tes RiVaux Sont FâcHes.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7982148086)Les DiMiNuent VaiNeMent, Sans cHanGer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 5132823066)Roi Qui Sous Peu Me FeRa RicHe asSez.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4709384460)Bah, Les Lois Sont Lois VaiNes. – Non, MauDit!!! ! ! ! ! ( = 9550582231)Qui nʼa La Main Le PaieRa Sans FauTe; oui!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7253594081)Nous VéRiFions, SiNon ....! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 284802)
Another mnemonics author, Gustav Basslé apparently liked most of these formulas. He gave them out as his own, in a memory book published in London in 1841. Nowhere in his book did he mention Paris or the Castilhos. But to protect against unauthorized copies of his own book, Basslé personally signed every book.
Basslé 1841 (words in italics taken from Aimé Paris.)MainTien Rai De et Le Pas NoncHaLant! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3. 14159265)Ma Loi Vaut Bien Quʼon Paie Mieux, Non, Ma Foi!! ! ! ! ! ( = 3589793238)Rians JeuNes Gens, ReMuer Moins Vos MiNois.! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4626433832)Quʼun PoLisSon Ne Vous Voie ReTomBer.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7950288419)Que Ton cHaPeau Moins PomPeux MʼéGaLe.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7169399375)Ton SeuL enFant Ne Sʼest Pas CorRomPu!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 1058209749)Ronds RouLent Peu, Nos MaÇons ConFonDus!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4459230781)Jʼen Ris, Ce Gens Nʼont FacHé NoS enFans.!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 6406286208)Peut Bien FâcHer Nos VoiSins Maint ReFus.!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 9986280348)Nous LʼaiMeRons, NʼenTenDant Que Ses cHants.! ! ! ! ! ( = 2534211706)Que Peu FiNaud; Tes RiVaux Sont FâcHés.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7982148086)Les DiMiNuent VaiNeMent, Sans cHanGer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 5132823066)Roi Quʼen SouPant Mon VerRe a RéJoui.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 470938446)
Although the Castilhos had plagarized Paris in their 1834 edition, the following year they created original formulas:
Castilho & Castilho 1835MeTtRe De La Paix, NoncHaLant.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3. 14159265)AMi, iL Vit Bien Quʼun Bon Mot Ne Me Vint.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3589793238)Riez, JeuNes Gens, RiMez-Moi, Fous MigNons.!! ! ! ! ! ( = 4626433832)Qui PLoie, Si on Ne Vous Fait Noi Du Pays.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7950288419)Que Ton cHaPeau, Moins PomPeux, Moins GaLant. !! ! ! ! ( = 7169399375)Toi, SeuL en Vie, Ne Sais Pas CouRBer.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 1058209749)Roi, Roi LamBin, Nos MoisSons? Que Fais-Tu?! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4459230781)CHiens! RuSés cHiens! Nous FicHer NoS efFets! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 6406286208)Peut Pas VoyaGer! Nos VoiSins Mʼont RaVi! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 9986280348)Non, LʼaMouReux Nʼa TenTé Que Son cHien.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 2534211706)Coi; BoufFon Nons, TRiomPHons Sans VenGer!! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7982148086)IL DiMiNue FiNeMent Ses JouJoux! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 5132823066)Roi ConSPué, Me FeRaient RicHe asSez! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4709384460)
A few years later, the French science author abbot Moigno created another version, which was printed by Chavauty in 1886.
MaintTer Rier Des LaPins NeGèLent!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3. 14159265)Ma Loi Veut Bien, ComBats Mieux, Ne Mé Fais! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 3589793238)Riants JeuNes Gens, ReMuez Moins Vos MiNes! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4626433832)Quʼun Bon La Cet Nous Fit VoiR á Dex Pas! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7950288419)Que Ton JaBot Moins Bom BéMʼé CouLe! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7169399375)Ton So Li Veau Ne Sʼest Pas CorRomPu! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 1058209749)Rends Rou Lant Bien Nos MiSes ConVoiTées! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 4459230781)CheR à Ses Gens, Ni FàCHeux, Ni Sans Foi!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 6406286208)Beau Bien Via Ger Nos Voi Sins Mónt RaVi! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 9986280348)Nous Lʼai Me Rons Ne Ten Dant Quʼà SaJoi ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 2534211706)ComBien VeNus DéRiVant Sans JaLons! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 7982148086)Làté MoigNe VaiNeMent Sans CHanGer! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 5132823066)AiR Qui Sait Bien Me FaiRe enRaGer! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ( = 470938446) A similar set of formulas in English was published in America by Gouraud in 1845. He too was accused of plagarism, for not having given proper credit to Aimé Paris for the code or for the techniques.
Paris also had a list of 100 loci based on the phonetic code. It was a matix of 10 rows and 10 columns, keyed to the phonetic code in an unsual way. This method was later imitated by Fauvel-Gouroud to make an English table of loci. Both of their tables are shown below.Figures 37 and 38 Tables of 100 loci, by Paris (above) and Gouraud (below)
Figure 37. Table of 100 numbered loci of Paris 1830.
117
Figure 38. Table of 100 numbered loci of Gouraud 1845.
Aimé Paris (1825) compiled a bibliography on artificial memory with a great number of works, including those of Feinaigle, Gisey, Aretin, (the anonymous Didier/Delehaye), Grey, Döbel, Buno (Bilderbibel 1680, not 1647) and Winkelmann (1648). Paris seems not to have have been aware of Hérigone. Although he was well informed of the history of mnemonics, Aimé Paris based his new phonetic code on Feinaigle and Prépéan, and not on any other works.
The Castilhos compiled a dictionary of common French words, arranged by number. The 1835 edition had a 212-page list, and a detail of page 23 is shown in Figure ccc. It shows the last words beginning with 0, and the first words for the number 1. In 1844 Gouraud wrote that Castilho copied the idea of this dictionary from him.
Number codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé ParisNumber codes that preceded the phonetic code of Aimé Paris1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Chronograms (X,L,C,D,M=10,50,100,500,1000)
IJ
VU
A.B.C.-cabala(k=10, l=20, m=30, etc.)
a b c d e f g h ij
A.E.I.O.U.-cabala. a e i o uHebrew gematria(k=20,l=30,m=40, etc.)
Chr. Kästner 1804 a b e d i g o l u sGregor von Feinaigle(French code 1808)
tth
n m rrh
l d c, kg, qch
vbh
pphf
szx
Gregor von Feinaigle(German, in Müller 1810)
t n m r l d g, ck
h, bv, w
p,phf, pf
s, xz
J.Chr. von Aretin 1810a,e,i,o,u = 100,101, 102, 103,104
b, p d, t f, v g, k l m n r s
J.Chr. von Aretin 1810a,e,i,o,u = 100,101, 102, 103,104
lata
nava
mawa
daha
sa ba raja za
fapa
gaqa
Abbe Gisey 1811 t n m r l d c,chg, q
pb
f, ph,v
s, xz
Gregor von Feinaigle(English code 1812)
T N M R L D C,KG,Q
B,HVW
PF
SX,Z
Thomas Coglan1813 (s/x endings=102; th,sh=103; y=106)
tq
nh
mg
rz
lj
dv
ck
bw
pf
sx
Samuel Sams 1814 (w=00; ch,sh=104; th=105; y=106)
bc
d fg
h, jk, s
l mn
pq
r tv
xz
George Jackson1817 (st=00)
bc
df
gh
j, ks
l mn
p, qz
r tv
wx
Joseph Murden, 1818 (w,x=10; st=102; th=103; sh=104; ch=105; y=106)
bc
df
gh
j, kz
l mn
pq
rs
tv
wx
Eliza Slater1819
T N M R L D C,GK,Q
B,HVW
FP
S,XZ
Thomas Hallworth1824 (th,ph,wh,ng = 0)
bc
df
g,hgh
kl
mn
pr
ssh
tch
v,wj
q,x,y,z
Aimé Paris (phonetic)1825 (1823)
td
ngn
m r lill
chj
kgh
fv
pb
sz
121
Mnemotechny in Europe
Number codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé ParisNumber codes in various languages, since Aimé Paris1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
French (phonetic)Aimé Paris (1829)Aimé Paris (1830)Aimé Paris (1834 / 1835)
Feodor Hörkens 1896 same code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as Kühnesame code as KühneMnemonikMiniatur-Bibliothek 2771914
td
nv
mw
rq
sschchc
bp
fpfph
hj
gkckc
lz
Paul Ernst Ebert 1920 same code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as Kothesame code as KotheHarry Lorayne 1957 (phonetic)
td
n m r l schch
g, kckj, q
fv
pb
s, zc, β
Wolfgang Zielke1967
td
nx
mw
rqu
ssch
bp
fv
h, jch
g, k, ck
z, ltz
Orwell-methoden 1990
td
n m r l jg
k, qc
fv
pb
s, z
Geisselhart & Zerbst 1997
same phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Loraynesame phonetic code as Lorayne
SpanishMata 1845, 1862
t,d n, ñ m r l, ll j, gu g, gü
q, k f, v p, b s, c. z, x
Atkinson & Beals (ca 1920?)
m f,v n,n p,p r,rr t,d l,ll c,k,q g, j s,z,x
Villaplana (ca 1940?) m f,v n,n p,p r,rr t,d l,ll c,k,q g, j s,z,xLorayne 1959 t,d n,ñ m c,k,q l,ll s,c f,j,g ch,g v,b,p r,rrKrell 1974 t n m c l s j,f,v ch,g p rPortugueseDoria 1850 t, d n, nh m r l, lh j,ch,x g, c, q f, v,
php, b s, z
Periera 1850 d, t n m r l j,g,ch q, c, g f, v p, b s, z, xCastilho 1851 t, d n, nh m r l, lh j, x q, g v, f p, b s, zSwedishClaëson 1848Busch 1853 t,d n,x m,w q,
qw,rs, skj b,p f, för
fwh, jhw
g,ck,ch
lz
Gustaf Lundgren 1948 t, d n, ng m r s, sj, tj, c
b,p f, v h, j, x
k, g l
Harry Lorayne 1957 t, d n m r l j, g k, c, g f, v p, b c, s, zNorwegianLorayne 1984
Castro 1858 t, d n, gn m r l, gl g, sc q,k,c,g f,v p,bTito Aurelj 1887 Code for consonants
t n m l s b r f g c
Tito Aurelj 1887Code for vowels(letter subsitution)
vowel following consonants b through m.
vowel following consonants b through m.
vowel following consonants b through m.
vowel following consonants b through m.
vowel following consonants b through m.
vowel following consonants n through z.
vowel following consonants n through z.
vowel following consonants n through z.
vowel following consonants n through z.
vowel following consonants n through z.
Tito Aurelj 1887Code for vowels(letter subsitution) a e i o u a e i o uFea 1898 t n m l s b r f g cPlebani 1899Basso 1916 t n m r l g c f p s,zHermes Inst. 1928 t n m l s b r f g cPozzi 1993 t n m r l g,d,q c f, p v, b z, s
English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris English language codes since Aimé Paris 11 22 3 4 5 6 77 88 99 0
George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)George Yule 1883 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)M.L. Holbrook 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Asa S. Boyd 1886 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Lewis Carroll1888Lewis Carroll1888
bc
dwdw
tj
fq
lv
sx
pm
hkhk
ng
zr
Rev. J. H. Bacon1989Rev. J. H. Bacon1989
tdth
n, ngcon...n, ngcon...
m..mpcom
rh
ly
bp
fvw
chsh
zh, j
chsh
zh, j
qkg
sz
John Sambrook 1896(sounds as one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ninezero)
John Sambrook 1896(sounds as one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ninezero)
onunomum
oou
ew
oou
ew
eeea-ed
orurer
ioioy
-g, -ck-x
-s, -v-f
-sh
(long) aatotit
(long) aatotit
inen imem-ing
ooeow
125
Kikujiro Wadamori1898Kikujiro Wadamori1898
b tt d f c s p gg n r
Edward Pick1899 (1862)Edward Pick1899 (1862)
t,thd,tt
nn m r s, zc
bp
f, vw
h, jg, chh, j
g, chq, kc, g
l
Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Eustace H. Miles 1901 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)W.H. Groves 1912 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William Berol 1913 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Welham Clarke 1916Welham Clarke 1916
William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)William E. Miller 1917 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Felix Berol 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)David M. Roth 1918 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1939 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bernard Zufall 1940 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Bruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sBruno Furst 1944 d o l a r c e n t sJames D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)James D. Weinland 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Harry Lorayne 1957 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Tony Buzan 1971 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Kenneth Higbee 1978 phonetic code, as passed down from Aimé Paris (1823)Dominic O'Brien 1994 Dominic O'Brien 1994
AA B C D E S G HH NN OO
Audio numeralsSound number wordsAudio numeralsSound number words
iTiTiTiT
iNiN
iMiM
iRiR
iLiL
iJiJ
iKiK
iFiFiFiF
iPiPiPiP
iSiSiSiS
Mnemotechny in AmericaThe grandiloquent GouraudThe phonetic number code was brought from France to the United States in December 1839 by Francois Fauvel-Gouraud. His books and lectures established the field of mnemontechny in America, and set the conventions that have been used until now.
Gouraud came to America as an agent representing the revolutionary new photographic technology known as the Daguerreotype. He was well traveled, well read, and an accomplished linquist and mnemonist. Although he spoke many languages, he claimed that he learned his first few words of the English language only on the trans-Atlantic journey to America. In any case, the Daguerreotype created a sensation in New York, and Gouraud published his lectures and demonstrations of it as a book. But the Daguerreotype method was soon developed further by others, leaving little more for Gouraud to do. He then turned to promoting mnemonics, or mnemotechny, as it was now being called.
Gouraud compiled a large list of English words, organized as numbers up to four-digits long, which he published in 1944. This was The Phreno-Mnemotechnic Dictionary, being a Philosophical Classifiation of all the Homophonic Words of the English Language. He used this reference work to create tables of mnemonics for a wide range of subjects, from history, geography, mathematics, and science. He took copyrights on each of these 90 pages of tables, which carried the title: First Fundamental Basis; consisting in a Philosophical Decomposition of all the human languages in general, and of the English language in particular, into articulations and sounds.
In 1842 Gouraud gave a private lecture to distinguished guests in Buffalo New York which was favorably reported in the newspapers. Then in 1844 he gave a series of six three-hour lectures in New York City, and then the same series in Philadelphia. These lectures were enormously successful. Despite some ridicule, aimed partly at the field of mnemonics, and partly at his personal style, the reviews in the press before and after each lecture created great interest. It was written that Gouraud drew larger audiences than any scientific lectures that had been held in America up to that time. Twenty thousand people attended his introductory lectures, and five thousand took his course, at the price of 5 dollars per ticket.
Gouraud had become a sensation, and a wealthy one. He published his lectures in a large book, where he had mnemonized such historical dates, populations, latitudes and longitudes of cities, specific gravities of materials, and facts about the planets of the solar system. His writing style is highly entertaining, and his memory, creativity and extent of knowledge were astonishing.
Examples of how Gouraud mnemonized numbersFirst we should look at a facsimile of a typical copy-righted page of Gouraud mnemonics. Note his creation of similar sounding words (homophonic analogies) for unfamiliar terms in order to make them memorable. Then he made a phrase (formula) to relate the homophonic word to the mnemonic words that gave the important numbers.
The mnemonic for cast gold is two-penny loaf, giving the number 19.258 g/cm3. He had mnemonized and could recall over 20,000 such multi-digit numbers for his lectures.
Facsimile of page LXIII or 278.Figure 40. Specific gravities mnemonized.
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Here is his poem for memorizing the first 154 digits of the number pi, which at that time was known as The Ratio: ! ! ! 1 My DeaRy DolLy, Be No cHilLy! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3.14159265)! ! ! ! 2 My LoVe I BeG ye, Be My NyMPH!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3589793238) ! ! ! 3 RicH hoNey cHaRMS and MoVeS a MaN. ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4626433832) ! ! ! 4 A CuPoLa SeeN off…with a FieRy ToP. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7950288419) ! ! ! 5 A CotTaGe BaMBoo, a PoeM, or a GLee.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7169399375) ! ! ! 6 A tasSel VaiN or SapPy GRaPe. !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1058209749) ! ! ! 7 A RaRe ALBiNo, MuSKy and FaT. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4459230781) ! ! ! 8 JeRSey, GeNeVa, GeNoa, or SeVa. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 6406286208) ! ! ! 9 A Boy or PeeVisH kNaVe SoMehow RouGH. ! ! ! ! ! (= 9986280348) ! ! ! 10 An uNhoLy MaRiNe eDiTiNg a SieGe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2534211706) ! ! ! 11 A CoPy FaiNT though RouGH and SaVaGe. !! ! ! ! (= 7982148086) ! ! ! 12 An oLD woMaN, a FiNe MisS, or a sHowy Jew.!! ! ! (= 5132823066) ! ! ! 13 A heRoiC SePoy May FiRe wheRe he cHooSes.! ! ! ! (= 4709384460) ! ! ! 14 An aBLe, whoLeSaLe, and heaVy uNaNiMiTy. ! ! ! ! (= 9550582231) ! ! ! 15 A hacKNey LaMe or LubBeRSʼ FeeT.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7253594081) ! ! ! 16 No VerRy heaVy SiN. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2848… )
Figure 41. The first 154 digits of pi mnemonized by Gouraud.
(Facsimile p 204 / XVI)
Each of the 16 lines begins with a multiple of 10. Line 2 begins with the 10th number, line 3 begins with the 20th and so on. Gouraud gave a mnemonic (not shown here) for starting each of the 16 lines. So to identify any specific position, such as the 146th number in the series, one would start with line 14, which begins with a consonant sound for the 140th number, and then move to the 146th consonant sound from there.
Gouraud obviously copied this technique for memorizing pi from the French book by Aimé Paris in 1830. The mnemonist Loisette (Marcus Dwight Larrowe) copied Gouraud's technique in about 1880, making other mnemonic lines for the same numbers (cited in F.Appleby c.1890):
MoTheR Day wilL Buy aNy sHawL. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3.14159265)My LoVe, PicK uP My New MufF. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3589793238)A RusSiaN JeeR May MoVe a woMaN. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4626433832)CaBLeS eNouGH FoR uToPia. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7950288419)
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GeT a cHeaP haM Pie By My CooLey. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7169399375)The SLaVe kNowS a BigGeR aPe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1058209749)I RaReLy hoP oN My SicK FooT. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4459230781)CHeeR a SaGe iN a FasHioN SaFe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 6406286208)A BaBy FisH Now ViewS My wharRF. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 9986280348)!!AnNualLy MaRy AnN DiD KisS a Jay. !! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2534211706)A CabBy FouND a RouGH SaVaGe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7982148086)A Low DuMb kNaVe kNew a MesSaGe sHowy. ! ! ! ! (= 5132823066)ARGuS uP My FiRe RusHeS. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 4709384460)A Bee wilL LoSe LiFe iN eNMiTy. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 9550582231)A CaNaL May welL apPeaR SwiFT. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 7253594081)NeVeR haVe a SceNe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 2848…)
These two different mnemonics for the number pi shows that there is no unique or best mnemonic for any numbers. The style and ability of the author is expressed in the final mnemonic.
Gouraud also created poems for other series of numbers, as had Aimé Paris. One such series was the Knightʼs Tour, the movement of the knight around the squares of the chessboard, landing on every square once and only once. The solution to this problem was found by the mathematician Euler, but Gouraud showed how to memorize it in English. Aimé Paris had done the same thing in French in 1830. The numbers in this mnemonic poem refer to the squares as follows:
Numbering of 64 squares ! Sequence of 64 moves of the knight.on the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboardon the chessboard 01, 11, 05, 15, 32, 47, (see poem below)
In Gouraudʼs mnemonic poem, each line gives the number of six consecutive postions. The lines in smaller print lead from one stanza to the next.
! ! ”The crooked steps of the Knight emblematically show that: ! SaD DeeDS wilL ouTLaw MaNy a RoGue. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 011105153247) ! ! A ROGUE is generally a living proof that very often: ! CHuRLy RicHeS LoSe a MelLow heaRT.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 645460503541) ! ! A MELLOW HEART can feel more than any other how it is that: ! UNJoyouS BoyS MeeT MuSiC NowheRe. !! ! ! ! ! ! (= 260903130724)
! ! NOWHERE can we get a better proof than at a court-house that: ! An aMiaBLe JudGe uNwaRiLy May SNeeZe. ! ! ! ! ! (= 395662453020) ! ! A SNEEZE is always as pleasing as it is true that: ! A MeeK NuN eNouGH May FiND hoMaGe. ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 372228382136) ! ! HOMAGE any white lady will receive from gallant beaux; but: ! WoulD eBoNy LaDieS wiSeR DeaRs haVe? ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 192510041408) ! ! HAVE a contrary opinion if you please,; for myself, I maintain that: ! No merRy SouL wilL sHow a DulL and Doughy LooK. ! ! (= 234055615157) ! ! LOOK our for your reputation; for too true it is, that: ! IRoNy or LiBeL May sHaMe a heRo FaMeD.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 425953634831) ! ! A HERO FAMED will recognize a warrior as soon as: ! A DutcH SaGe woulD kNow a SuNDay GaMeR. ! ! ! ! ! (= 160612021734) ! ! A GAMER cannot live without company, while on the other hand: ! A robBeR May LiVe aLoNe, RicH, though uNhapPy.! ! ! (= 494358524629) ! ! UNHAPPY would be the jeweler who could not: ! A RaRe and New CaMeo MoDiFy.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 44273318)
Figure 42. Movement of the knight to every square on a chess board.
Gouraud gave poetry to numbers, in a style that had never before been seen in English. His book on the art of memory is in a class all its own, permeated with his brilliance and unusual style. He greatly expanded his lecture presentations, and annotated them with the detailed responses of the audience and the press. His book also includes 162 tightly packed pages of
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data and mnemonics. The book makes fascinating reading today, but it did not sell well at the time. Pliny Miles (see below) noted that Gouraudʼs book was “too voluminous and costly, contained too much theory and too little practical applications of the Art. Some violations of good taste, in consequence of the authors brief acquaintance with the English Language, prejudiced many against the subject.”
Indeed, Gouraud offended many. He spent time and money defending his copyrights of the numeric code and the mnemonics he had made. He also had to defend himself against a libel suit for publicly insulting a critic in one of his lectures. Gouraud was in poor health when he gave his lectures, and it never improved. Both he and his wife died of pulmonary consumption in the summer of 1847, leaving two young children. He had been working on a phonetic stenographic alphabet to simplify the writing of the worldʼs languages. This large volume, Cosmic Phonography, was published after his death.
Gouraudʼs claim to the invention of the phonetic number code.Gouraud was an impressive storyteller, as already seen in his description of Aimé Paris (above). The most curious story was how he improved Feinaigleʼs code independently of Paris. Gouraud relates that during a three-year sailing voyage to exotic destinations throughout the world, he was accompanied by a tutor with a number of memory books. Gouraud became obsessed with mnemonizing facts and figures on this voyage, using Feinaigle's number code. He improved Feinaigleʼs code, putting the letters FV, and PB together, according to phoneitcs. It was this improved code that Gouraud said he used. Upon returning to France in 1822 he happened to attend a lecture by Aimé Paris (see his description of this lecture in the chapter on Aimé Paris, above.) When he took the course by Paris afterward, he found that Paris had improved Feinaigleʼs code in the same way.
It is an entertaining story, but it is clearly false. Gouraud published a 90-page booklet in 1844 that he gave to pupils taking his courses. He called the booklet the First Fundamental Basis. It shows that Gouraud could not have improved Feinaigleʼs code in 1822, because he was still totally unaware of Feinaigleʼs code in 1844. Gouraud learned the code of Aimé Paris before he had any idea that Feinaigle's code was similar to it. Gouraud incorrectly believed that Feinaigleʼs code was similar to the code of Grey. He thought that Grey had made improvements on Feinaigle's system. Gouraud also thought that neither Feinaigle nor Grey made meaningful words out of their numbers.
Below is the obscure table that Gouraud published in 1844 in his First Fundamental Basis. All 90 pages of this booklet were reprinted in Gouraud's 1845 book, with the exception of this table. It was deleted, leaving a conspicuous blank space (p. 148, and p. VIII of his First Fundamental Basis.)
Figure 43. Table published in 1844, but deleted from the 1845 phreno-mnemotechny book.
Gouraud misspelled the names of both Grey and Feinaigle in this deleted table, and Greyʼs number code is also slightly incorrect. It is clear that in 1844 when this table was published, Gouraud was still unfamiliar with Feinaigleʼs code.
This glaring error was withheld from his book in 1845, but there still remained a vestige of Gouraudʼs earlier misunderstanding. In his outline of the first lecture it is clear that he thought Grey and Feinaigle had similar codes. (footnote: p 142 and p.II of his First Fundamental Basis):
History of Mnemonics. Simonides. Herodotus on Memphis. Feinagle. Dr.Gray. Paris. Fauvel-Gouraud. Examination and practical application of Feinagleʼs System. Its impracticability demonstrated -- Tribute of homage, notwithsatnading, sovereignly due to his happy genius. Basis of his fame: in what consists. Dr. Grayʼs pretended improvements on Feinagle. Impracticability of his System likewise demonstrated. Anecdoe of the Irish weigher. Examination of Parisʼ system. Where He and I agree, and where we disagree.
Gouraud falsely claimed to have invented the code, in order to counter accusations that he had plagarized Aimé Paris. He needed to defend his American copyright of the code, and his honor. As part of this defense, he went so far as to publish a letter of support in the New York
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newspapers. It was signed by 16 men “known throughout the Union for their high social position, their unflinching integrity, and their varied knowledge.”
Gouraud was the first in America to publish a mnemonic dictionary, which appeared in 1844. Here also he made a claim to originality that probably was fabricated. He wrote:
A few words apon the origin of this Dictionary, will not, perhaps, be considered out of place.
My first conception of it dates as far back as twenty years ago -- about the time when I first began to think of the important discoveries and improvements I have since made in the system and the exposition of which will be found in the book entitled “Phreno-Mnemotechic Principles.” (sic) While I was preparing a manscript, in the French language, of a similar Dictionary to this, to test the practicability of my idea, a literary shark, of that species whose life can be sustained but at the expense of other existences, obtained clandestinely a view of one of my ages, and the result was that before I had half finished my task, an edition of a work identical with mine was announced for sale, with the signature of the plagiarist, in full, and a preface, exalting his production as being a genuine inspiration of his brain!
The literary shark referred to is presumably Castilho. Also in his posthumous book Cosmic Phonography, Gouraud exaggerated the originality of his own work. In that book he used shorthand symbols that were clearly similar to those of of Conan de Prépéan and Aimé Paris. But he made no mention of these two authors, whereas he described other shorthand systems that were not related.
Gouraud's ad libitum rulesMaybe because of his French background, Gouraud made two unfortunate choices when translating various n-sounds into numbers. He decided to drop the n-sound in two situations: in ”-ing” words, and in words ending in ”-tion” and ”-sion.” He explained that he did this to reduce the length of these words, making them more likely to be usable in four-digit dates. The words ”nation” and ”passion” were thus number-spelled as 26 and 96, rather than the full 262 and 962. But where these n-sounds were found within a word, and not at the end of the word, he translated the n as a 2. Thus, while "nation" became only 26, ”national” became 2625. "Passion" was only 96, while ”passionate” became 9621.
The ng-sound is the sound in the English language that is most difficult to fit to the phonetic code. Neither the n nor the g make distinctive sounds in most ng-words. Typical examples are the words wing and winging: do you hear distinctive n-sounds, g-sounds, or both? The n- and g-sounds are not distinctive. Gouraud ignored the slight n-sound (2) in these words, as if wing and winging were pronounced wig (7) and wigig (77). The problem here was that wing and wink had identical n-sounds, and the n-sound was ignored in wing (7) and number-spelled in wink (27). Major Beniowski, the leading mnemotechy teacher in England at this time, number-spelled both the n (2) and the g (7). Thus wing and winging had the same number values as wink (27) and winkink (2727). Beniowski was actually Polish, so when he pronounced the English word winging it probably sounded like winkink.
Lorenzo D. Johnson, an American who followed Gouraud with a mnemonics book of his own, chose an alternate solution. He ignored the slight g-sound, number-spelling wing and winging as if they were pronounced win (2) and wineen (22). Wink was number-spelled as if
pronounced wink (27) and winking as if pronounced winkeen (272). Johnsonʼs solution best fits the current pronunciation of English words.
Of course, where both the n and g are clearly pronounced, both are number-spelled. In words like angel, the g makes a clear J-sound; and in angle, the g makes a clear K-sound. These are number-spelled as angel = 265 and angle = 275. I recommend following Johnsonʼs guidelines here: “Rule 8. In sing, sang , sung, singer, long, the G has no value; but in hunger, longer, congress, the G is articulated, and has the value of G hard, as heard in go, egg.”
Toward the concept of Audio NumbersGouraud was perhaps closer to the concept of Audio Numbers than any other author. On p.134 of his book, he wrote this suggestion (his italics):
“You must accustom yourself, from the beginning, never to call a figure, hereafter, by its arithmetical name or an articulation by its alphabetical appellation. Instead of one 1, two 2, three 3, four 4, five 5, six 6, seven 7, eight 8, nine 9, and zero 0 . . . . you must always say—Se 0, Te 1, Ne 2, Me 3, Re 4, Le 5, CHe 6, Ke 7, Fe 8, and Pe 9, whenever you will speak of a figure; and instead of saying letter so and so, you will always say articulation so and so, of word or syllable so and so.”
Had Gouraud lived longer, he may well have suggested writing the 10 digits as new symbols. This was done a few years later by Pliny Miles, in a cryptic fashion that went totally unnoticed.
Pliny Miles! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !In May of 1844, just weeks after Gouraudʼs last lecture, Pliny Miles (1818-1865) began his own lectures in mnemotechny. This same year, he published a little paper Application of Prof. Fr's. Gouraud's phreno-mnemotechnic system, to the sentiments of flowers. He authored a substantial book, Phreno-Mnemotechny or Art of Memory, and a Mnemotechnic Dictionary in 1846 and enlarged it in 1848.
In the preface of his 1846 book, Miles thanked Gouraud for having introduced the code in America, and regretted that “circumstances over which the writer had no control, have created a difference of opinion between Prof. G. and himself…” Miles further wrote: “It is believed that the efforts of Prof. Gouraud to convince the public that he possessed a copy-right for every word in his publications, even to the Alphabet of the system, has deterred other writers from taking up the subject; and at the same time operated to prevent a fair and intelligent criticism in the Reviews….”
In the preface of his 1848 volume, Miles also acknowledged Gouraud, and expressed regret about his early death. However, these acknowledgements of Gouraud and the history of the code were simply deleted from the preface in the later printings of Milesʼ book.
Here I reproduce the first few pages from the 1848 version, American Mnemotechny, which still serves well today in explaining the current number code and how it has been used.
“Mnemotechny.“The first lesson to be learned, is the Alphabet. We have letters and words stand for figures. Each letter represents a figure, except A, E, I, O, U, W, H, and Y. Those letters never stand for figures. In the old Roman style of Notation, frequently used in numbering
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the chapters of books, the letter I. stand for 1, V. For 5, &c.: but we have T stand for 1, and L for 5, and use the V to represent 8. We have them represented in entire words, or in separate letters. The word tile represents 15, because the t stands for 1, and the l for 5, the vowels i and e being omitted. The vowels never stand for figures. The letter d represents figure 1, as well as the t, because it sound nearly like t. The letter n stands for 2. The word tin represents 12, because t stands for 1, and n for 2. The word din represents 12, also, as d represents 1 the same as t. The word more stands for 34, the letter m representing figure 3, and the r standing for 4. The word vile represents 85, the v standing for 8, and the l for 5. The word file stands for 85, also; the letter f representing 8, as well as the v. The student must now learn what each letter stand for, throughout the Alphabet, by carefully studying the next two pages. All the letters that represent figures, except the letter X, are printed in capitals at the top of page 12, with the figures directly under them, and the instructions below and on the following page. The student will now read this page over carefully, twice more, and then attend to the instructions on pages 12 and 13.
“THE ALPHABET IN NUMERICAL ORDER.Te. Ne. Me. Re. Le. Je. Ke Fe Pe CeDe “ “ “ “ Che Que Ve Be Se“ “ “ “ “ She Ghe (hard) “ “ Ze“ “ “ “ “ Zhe “ “ “ “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0“The letters that have similar sounds, represent the same figure. The vowel e is placed after each consonant to give uniformity of pronunciation. The letters are easily learned by the ANALOGIES EXISTING BETWEEN THE FORMS OF THELETTERS, AND THE FIGURES THEY REPRESENT.T formed with one upright mark, resembles figure ! ! ! !1N formed with two marks, stand for !! ! ! ! ! ! ! !2M formed with three marks, stands for !! ! ! ! ! ! !3R is the fourth letter of the word four! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 4L in Roman notation is 50 -- which with the cipher off, is!5J is a 6 reversed, and stands for! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !6k inverted, much resembles a 7, !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !7F in writing, very much resembles an ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !8P is a reversed ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !9C begins the word cipher, and stands for !! ! ! ! ! !0The above are the primitive letters. Of the others,D sounds nearly like t, and represents figure! ! ! ! ! !1Ch, or che, sounds nearly like je, and therefore represents! !6Sh, or she, also sounds nearly like je, and stands for! ! ! !6Zh, or z in azure, is much like je, and stands for ! ! ! ! !6G SOFT, as in genius, sounds like je, and stands for!! !6Q sounds like ke, and represents!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !7G HARD, or ghe, as in geese, much like ke, stands for ! !7V sounding very nearly like fe, stands for !! ! ! ! ! !8B sounds nearly like p, and represents!! ! ! ! ! ! !9S sounds like c in cipher, and stands for ! ! ! ! ! ! !0
Z sound nearly like s and c, and represents! ! ! ! ! ! !0“The student will observe, by a careful examination of page 12, what each letter represents. By an hourʼs study of that page, it will be well learned, so that when a letter is mentioned, the figure that it stands for, can be given readily. The letter X will now be explained. X represents 70. It stands for two figures, because it has two sounds, or articulations. X sounds like the two letters, k and s; the word tax being pronounced as if written t a k s. Now if x sounds like the two letters k and s, it must represent 70, for k stands for 7, and s for 0. When we change words to figures, or give the figures that words represent, we call it translation. A fluency of translation will be acquired by practice.”
A new method of countingPliny Miles did not recommend counting “Te, Ne, Me” instead of “one, two, three”, as Gouraud had done. Miles suggested counting with mnemonics directly, by saying “haT, hoNey, hoMe” instead of “one, two, three”:
! “The Nomenclature Table that follows, on page 133, is probably the most powerful aid to the memory, of any principle in Mnemotechny. Though, where all are important, and none can be fully appreciated without a knowledge of the others, it is difficult to tell which is the most useful or interesting. By the use of this Nomenclature Table, or new method of counting, as we call it, any person can perform most surprising feats of Memory. More names or figures can be committed to memory in one hour, by the aid of a Table like this, than by a dayʼs study in the ordinary way. … The Table must be learned up to 100, so fluently, that we can count as readily by saying Hat, Honey, Home, Harrow, &c., as we now can by One, Two, Three and Four. This Table is to be used as a method of counting. As each word articulates and translates according to the number it represents, we can, by a litle practice, get so that when a number is given, we can instantly speak the word. If 52 is spoken, by thinking of the articulations le, ne, we recall the word Lion, and the same of any word wanted. On the other hand, when a word is given, like Rock, we can instantly tell its number (47) by translation.
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Figure 44. Learn to count as Hat, Honey, Home, Harrow, Hill, instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Recommended by Miles.
Pliny Miles had an impressive memory, as well as impressive memory techniques. He had mnemonized and memorized a vast amount of facts and figures. Following his lectures, he would offer a choice of two books for sale. His American Mnemotechny included all the memory techniques and facts, together with his mnemonics. His other book, The statistical register, and book of general reference contained only the facts, and not the techniques or mnemonics.
This list of 100 words was a modern version of the ancient method of loci, where each location now exactly related to a number.
Letters as page numbers Miles lectured at colleges throughout America from 1844 to 1848, and then traveled to Great Britain, and lectured in England and Ireland in 1849 and 1850. He republished his book in London in 1850, where Major Beniowski had already introduced the code a few years earlier. The extensive Mnemotechnic Dictionary forms an appendix to both the American and British versions of his book. The 1850 edition is remarkable, because the top of each page of the mnemontechnic dictionary is paginated with letters. Pages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ... 62 are thus
labeled ...J, K, F, P, TS ... JN in inobtrusive print at the tops of the pages, and 6, 7, 8, 9 ...62 at the bottoms of the pages. He clearly realized that these 10 letters were suitable for number symbols. Three pages of his Mnemotechnic Dictionary of 1848 (J, K, F) were paginated in this way, but not the rest. He never pointed out this pagination, and it went totally unnoticed. These ten letters used for number symbols are used nowhere else, before or after Miles.
Figure 45. Page NM of Miles dictionary. No one has noticed that the letters NM meant page 23.
Pliny Miles was originally a law student in New York before he became a mnemonist. Following his mnemonic lecture series in America and Britain, he visited Iceland as a tourist and then published a description of his travels in that unusual country. He apparently died in 1865, at the age of about 47, without having made more contributions to the art of memory. Miles knew that one could use the phonetic sounds for counting, and for number symbols. Had either Pliny Miles or Francis Fauvel-Gouraud lived longer, one of them might have created Audio numerals.
Lorenzo D. JohnsonSoon after the publication by Gouraud, Lorenzo D. Johnson produced a concise book of mnemonics for use in schools. He made 16 short rules for using the memory code. As already mentioned , Rule 8 was a significant improvement over the usage by Gouraud and Miles: ! “Rule 8. In sing, sang , sung, singer, long, the G has no value; but in hunger, longer, ! congress, the G is articulated, and has the value of G hard, as heard in go, egg.”
Most of the rules of Johnson are similar to those of Gouroud and Miles, and some of the rules can better be ignored:! “Rule 14. The apostrophic S is not translated; thus, manʼs duty, 3211.” ! “Rule 16. Connecting words are not translated. Such are a, an, the, for, of, from, between, ! through, up, but, &c.”
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"Modern mnemotechny"Following Gouraud and Miles, Asa S. Boyd became the third American master of mnemonics using the phonetic code. He too created thousands of interesting mnemonics for numbers from all sorts of subjects. He learned the code at a young age, from a lecture by Pliny Miles.
Boyd published Modern Mnemotechny, or How to Achieve a Good Memory, in 1886. This book followed the lead of Milesʼ book, being even more clear, concise and inexpensive. It also included a handy Mnemotechnic Dictionary. It is interesting that the dictionary listed no numbers larger than 2021. At the time of this book, ID-numbers were not yet a memory problem, and most of the facts to be remembered contained only a few numbers. The most important numbers to be memorized were 4-digit historical dates, with numbers smaller than 1886, so Boydʼs list of numbers up to 2021 was sufficient.
Boyd was an accomplished poet, and published a volume of poetry. It is interesting that his mnemonics book is full of numbers, but his interest and talent was not with numbers but with well chosen words. He wrote two poems for his mnemotechny book, the first three stanzas of Boyd's long introductory poem are reproduced here:
“PERCEPTION, REASON, MEMORY,Form in the mind a Trinity; Each has its special work to do– Depending on the other two.
“PERCEPTION is the open doorThrough which the mind receives its store,Which REASON classifies, defines,And to its place each fact assigns.
“While MEMORY, with book and pen,Takes an account of where and when,And how, each treasure rich is stored– Nor is the least by her ignored."
Boyd's primary goal in this book was to show how to remember specific facts, such as names and numbers. Today, not only are many of these facts obsolete, but the task of remembering such facts is also out of fashion. To illustrate how the facts were memorized, and how irrelevant his examples are today, we present Boyd's table of the 20 largest cities in the United States. These were to be rememberd in order, by the first 20 number words in Pliny Miles' method of counting: Hat (1), Honey (2), Home (3), Harrow (4), Hill (5), Watch (6), Oak (7), Ivy (8), Abbey (9), Woods (10), Tide (11), Town (12), Tomb (13), Tear (14), Toll (15), Ditch (16), Wedding (17), Dove (18), Tub (19), Noose (20). The populations, in thousands, are given by the words just preceding them, such as Dancing for 1207.
"A Hat is worn in New York where there is a good deal of
A Harrow may be part of a Cheap-cargo, and is not used by a
(CHICAGO).Lass at Home. 503,000
A Hill in a Boss-town is sometimes mowed by a
(BOSTON).Machine. 362,000
A Watch of St. Louis, perhaps runs for hours, but not for
(ST. LOUIS).Miles. 350,000
Oak makes a good Ball-room-floor for
(BALTIMORE).Some Men. 332,000
Ivy in a Sunny-city, is similar to ivy in a
(CINCINNATI).Sunny Ledge. 256,000
An Abbey, Sanded and Frescoed, gives it the appearance of a
(SAN FRANCISCO).New Room. 243,000
The Woods, with New-autumn-leaves are not as white as
(NEW ORLEANS).Snow in a Dish. 216,000
The Tide does not Cleave-to-land but will quickly fill
(CLEVELAND).Ditches. 160,000
A Town with a Pit-burning is a place for
(PITTSBURG).Wood to Lodge. 156,000
A Tomb does not contain a Buffalo, but often has near it a
(BUFFALO).White Lily. 155,000
A Tear in a Washing-tub may be called a
(WASHINGTON).Tear in Oak. 147,000
A Toll-gate of New Oak, often admits a
(NEW ARK).Team on a Hill. 135,000
A Ditch could not Lose-a-ville, as easily as it could a
(LOUISVILLE).Dinner. 124,000
A Wedding may present a Jersey Suit, or a
(JERSEY CITY).White Net. 121,000
A Dove cannot, like a Deer, trot but would quickly fly from a
(DETROIT).Hot Dish. 116,000
A Tub may be used by a Mill-worker, to take
(MILWAUKEE).Odd Toll. 115,000
A Noose may Prevent-a-dunce, going to sea when he sees a
(PROVIDENCE).White Sail. 105,000"
The book Modern Mnemotechny includes about a hundred pages of tables similar to this, all designed to be memorized.
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Vowel sounds as an alternative phonetic number codeAimé Paris was the first to use sounds instead of letters in converting numbers to words. He understood that mental activity with numbers could work better with the sounds of words than with the spelling of words. His method used only the consonant sounds, while vowels sounds were used freely to make meaningful words.
Could a phonetic code be where made the vowel sounds indicate the numbers, and consonant sounds are used freely to make words? Apparently, this has never been done, probably because vowel sounds are not easily organized into ten distinctive groups.
John Sambrook came quite close to doing this in the late 1800s. He called his system phonographic. He based the sounds on the syllables of the numbers as spoken in English: the un-sound in one, the oo-sound in two, the ee-sound in three, the er-sound in four. He founded a school of memory in the city of Lincoln, England, where he taught memory techniques from about 1880 to at least 1896. He explained his system in a memory book with lots of mnemonic examples, and a glossary of several thousand example words organized by the numbers they represent.
Sambrook described his phonetic code on pages 10, 11 and 12 of his book (1896). The book is quite rare, and the method is unique, so the text of these three pages is given here in its entirety.
SAMBROOK'S PHONOGRAPHIC AND ASSIMILATIVE SYSTEM OF MEMORY
ASSIMILATING PRINCIPLES OR RULES BY WHICH THE COMBINATION OF LANGUAGE AND FIGURES IS EFFECTED.
! The principle embodied in the following Rules is that of representing figures by those syllables in our language which give a similar sound. This is the principle upon whihc the Mnemonical Key is composed. In the selection of all the key-words the following Rules have been observed: thus the key will always serve as a guide in the selection of longer words when required to represent larger numbers according to the Rules given below. ! It will be observed that five of the Rules are dependent upon the vowel sounds U (2), E (3), I (5), A (8), O (0); while the remaining five are purely dependent upon the consonants, being entirely governed by the consonantal sounds terminating the syllables.Figure 1, word One, is represented by any syllable in which M or N has a blunt sound as in the case when following the strong vowels A, O, U, as in Tom, Son, Can, Hum, Drum, Gun, Sun, Run, &c.Figure 9, word Nine, is represented by M or N having a sharp sound when following the weak vowels E, I, as in Limb, Rim, Pin, Pen, Hen, &c, but it must be borne in mind that these Rules respecting the consonants only apply when the vowel in the syllable has not its long open sound, but only when M or N is the principal and terminating sound according to the above examples.Figure 2, word Two, is represented by any syllable giving the vowel sound of long U or OO, or any similar sound, as in Tune, Fume, Plume, Look, Book, Nook, Shoe, Few, Pew, View, Knew, Drew, You, &c.
Figure 3, word Three, is represented by any syllable giving the vowel sound of long E, as in Tree, Me, See, Be, Flee, Flea, Free, Knee, Key, Glee, Plea, &c., or when rounded with D, as in commanded, mended, ended. Figure 4, word Four, represented by syllables sounding R as principal sound, as in Cur, Fur, For, Or, Err, Er, as in Commander, &c.Figure 5, word Five, is represented by any syllable giving the vowel sound of long I, or the dipthongal sound of OI or OY, as in Boy, Bouy, Soil, Oil, Kite, Light, Night, Right, Time, Lime, Rhyme, Chime, &c.Figure 6, word Six, is represented by syllables sounding X or K as the principal and terminating sound, as in Mix, Fix, Box, Fox, Brick, Rick, Dock, Lock, Rock, &c.: or by G ending a syllable and sounded hard, as in Egg, AgonyFigure 7, word Seven, is represented by syllables sounding S, V, or F, as principle or terminating sound, as in Dish, Fish, Lash, Cash, Deaf, Muff, Sieve, Live, Dove, Love, &c.Figure 8, word Eight, represented by any syllable fiving the vowel sound of long A, as in Ray, May, Say, Nay, Lay, Bay; or by any syllable ending with T, in which T is the principal sound, as in Bat, Sat, Pot, Hot, Kit, Hit, &c.Figure 0 is represented by any syllable giving the vowel sound of long O, as in Doe, Sow, Low, Mow, Mole, Sole, Soul, Coal, Roll, Pole, Home, Lone, Moan, &c.! As will be seen, these Rules only have respect to the sounds of words, not the spelling; as the letter I may be taken to represent 3 when it is sounded short, as in gratitude; so when I has a full sound in connection with N, as in Lin, Nine, it may be taken to represent 9 as it exactly sounds it; also, when O is sounded with R, as in Dore, Sore, More, Four, it may likewise be taken to represent 4; in like manner the borad sound of A as in Pa, Ma, may represent 4, thus the words Russia, Prussia, would indicate 74, like the word Usher.! When two consonants terminate a syllable, and both are sounded, the first consonant only must be taken to indicate the figre, as in And, Ant, Mong, Monk – all signifying one; as also in Mrt, Cart, Turn, Burn, Hard, Bard, Turk,Firk – all signifying four: manner the terminal ing must always be taken to represent 9.
DIRECTIONS FOR ACQUIRING THE RULES.
The Rules must not be learned by heart under any circumstances.
First read the Rules carefully, observing the fact, that as they refer to ten numerals, so they deal with ten different classes of sounds.
Then read again each Rule, articulating aloud the examples along with the sound of the numeral, thus – tom one, sun one, can one, fan one, as in the first Rule.
This must be done until the reader thoroughly comprehends the class of sounds referred to and can readily distinguish them whenever he hears them, and is able to select them himeslf from any miscellaneous paper or page of a book he may have at hand.The Mnemonical key printed on the adjoining page, with the Glossary of Words, will afford the Pupil ample scope for testing his knowledge of the sounds. In doing this care must be taken to pronounce every word aloud and every syllable distinct, making a pause between each syllable. (See Glossary of Words from 1 to 1000.)
When the different classes of sound corresponding to each numeral are perceived by the student, he must make himself familiar with them not by study but practice, seeking for numbers in every object around him when going about his duties. The names of persons,
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places, and everything coming before him must be instantly examined until he can readily detect number sin a word the moment it is mentioned. Thus these principles of sound will become unconsciously a part of himself and never be forgotten, besides endowing his mind with other invaluable qualities. (See chapter on "Sight and Sound.")
In using these principles to remember numbers, it will be seen that one syllable stands for one figure, two syllables for two figures, three syllables for three figures, thus – de 3, delude 32, delusion 321.
Syllables ending in p, b, l, d, and th are not included in the Rules, and can not be used except when sounded with a long vowel. Thus the sounds – top, tib, til, ted, and teth can not be used, because they bear no similarity to the sound of any figre, but when combined with long vowels they do, thus – type, tribe, tile, tied, tithe, all represent 5, and in like manner the syllables – tube, tool, tude, tooth all represent 2, because the primary sound in each syllable is the primary sound of the numeral represented.
Figure 46. Sambrooks phonetic system using vowel sound as numbers
! The primary purpose of the key is not to serve as a series of memory pegs upon which to hang ideas, but to suggest number words to the student when the Glossary is not at hand. When words are hurriedly required to represent numbers, and the key-words are unsuitable, their repeated articulation will soon suggest other words sounding like them and expressing the same numerals. It will be seen that this key is formed upon the same assimilative principles as the rules of sound forming the basis of the system, and though nomenclature tables form no essential part of the system, yet we here include one constructred upon these unique principles for the benefit of those students who prefer to use them for such special purposes as are indicated in the chapter on "Aids to Continuity."
Sambrook's mnemonics and his Glossary of Words show that his system is effective. His code gives a reasonable variety of words for numbers from 1-100. These words are pronounced to unambiguosly give the correct numbers. It is unfortunate that Sambrook used the sounds from the English number words (one, two, three, four...) in making his phonetic code. He chose these sounds to make the code easy to learn. But these are not the 10 most distinctive vowel sounds that he could have found and he was forced to use a mix of vowel and consonant sounds. There are very awkward sound combinations for some of his numbers: long e-sound and terminal -ed are each used for 3; terminal s, v, f are each used for 7; and long a-sound and terminal -t are each used for eight. His phonographic code is spoiled by these awkward matches with no phonetic basis.
Like many other authors, Sambrook directly misled his readers as to the originality of his code. He intentionally hid the fact that a phonetic code actually had been made and was in use by others. He showed only the letter code of Feinaigle, which is clearly not phonetic, and wrote: "This arrangement, with little variation, has remained in use by all modern mnemonists ever since its introduction..." The "little variation" he referred to was a fundamental change in the way numbers and words are related, and Sambrook surely understood that. Most mnemonics authors have been more inclined to promote their systems and products than to inform readers about competing or previous systems. Memory authors are more often performers and salesmen, not researchers or educators.
Chronologies and references
Chronologies of memory books featuring number codesFrance mnémotechnie Castilho, A.-M. and J.F. 1833 dictionary and treatise! ! ! ! ! ! !! Moigno, L'Abbé 1835! Chavauty, F. 1886 Revue de mnémotechnie Guyot-Daubès 1889 L'art d'aider la mémoire Viard, Marcel ca. 1920 L'art de penser et la mnémotechnie rationnellle Paul-C. Jagot 1936Italy systema mnemonico Fraticelli (1835) mnemotechnie! Capello di Sanfranco (1839) Silvin (1843)! Aurelj 1887 (vowel and consonant substitution codes)! Plebani 1893
Fea 1898Plebani 1899
! Fea 1900Ugo Basso 1916
England phrenotypics Crook?
Bassle (1841) a French publication for a British market Major Beniowski in London (1841) phrenotypics! Laws (1844)Spain mnemonico! Mata (1845)
Mata (1868)Atkinson y BealsVillaplana (ca.1940?)Lorayne (1959)Krell (1974)
Portugal! Pereira (1850) Castilho (1851) Sousa Doria! Germany versions of Feinaigles letter-substitution technique ! Mailath (1842) ! Otto / Reventlow (1843) (extensive number word dictionary) ! Kothe 1848 ! Kühne 1875 ! Hörkens 1879 ! Weber-Rumpe 1885 (number word dictionary) ! Ebert 1920 ! Wolfgang Zielke 1968Denmark / Sweden / Norway ! Claëson 1848 Sweden 32p ! Lundgren 1948, Lorayne
Chronology of various number codes in England and America! ! Brayshaw 1849! Bacon, James Henry 1861! Williams, B.Lyon 1866! MacLaren, Thomas 1869! Alex MacKay 1869! Crowther 1873! Fairchild 1874! Middleton 1877! William 1877! Appleby 1886! George Yule 1883 ! M.L. Holbrook 1886! Edward Pick 1888! Lewis Carroll 1888 ! Kikujiro Wadamori 1898 ! W.H. Groves 1912 ! William Berol 1913! W.G. Blauvelt (telephone code c.1917, no book)! Felix Berol 1918! David M. Roth 1918 ! J.I. Rodale 1937! Bruno Furst 1939! Bernard Zufall 1940 ! James D. Weinland 1957 ! Harry Lorayne 1957 / 1977 ! Tony Buzan 1971 ! Kenneth Higbee 1978 ! Dominic O'Brien 1993
Chronology of number lists giving choices of words ! Døbel 1707 German – Lexico mnemonico! Coglan 1813 English – Mnemonical dictionary! Murden 1818 – Mnemonic dictionary! Crook 1829 English – Dictionary of numerical words! Castilho 1832 French – Dictionnaire mnémotechnique! Reventlow 1844 German – Wörterbuch der Mnemotechnik! Fauvel-Gouraud 1844 English – Phreno-mnemotechnic dictionary! Johnson 1846 English – List of indicating words! Miles 1846 English – Phreno-mnemotechnic dictionary! Pereira 1850 Portuguese – Diccionario mnemotechnico! Appleby 1886 English – Vocabulary of words! Weber-Rumpe 1885 German – Mnemonisches Zahl-Wörterbuch! Boyd 1886 English – Mnemotechnic dictionary! Aurelj 1887 Italian – Vocabulario per lʼalphabeto di consonanti! Aurelj 1887 Italian – Vocabulario per lʼalphabeto di vocali! Yule 1890 English – Appendix
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! Sambrook 1896 English – Glossary of words! Crowley 1912 Hebrew – Sepher Sephiroth! Berol 1918 English – Mnemotechnical dictionary! Ebert 1923 German – Mnemonisches Zahl-Wörterbuch! Furst 1945 English – Number dictionary! Fischhof 1964 German – Zahlenwörterbuch! Raphael 1971 German! Krill 1997 English – Numberword thesaurus! Mayo 2002 English, French, German – 2Know
Chronology of French phonetic shorthand, Aimé Paris method! Bertin 1795! Prépéan 1813! Paris & Queyras 1862
Appleby, F. 1885 Phonetical memory Aretin, I. Chr. Freyherrn von. 1804 Dunkschrift über den wahren Begriff und Nutzen der
Mnemonik oder Erinnerungswissenschaft..Aretin, I. Chr. Freyherrn von. 1810 Systematishe Anleitung zur Theorie und Praxis der
Mnemonik, nebst den Grundlinien zur Geschichte und Kritik dieser Wissenschaft. Association sténographique Aimé Paris 1937 Nouveau traité complet de sténographie
Française Aimé Paris, 17 édition Atkinson y BealsAurelj, Tito 1887 Dellʼarte della memoria: filosofia, storia, precetti, vocabolari appendici Bacon, Francis 1605 The advancement of learningBacon, James Henry. 1861 The science of memory simplified and explained. .Bertin, Theodore-Pierre 1795 Systême universel et complèt de sténographie, ou maniere
abregée d'écrire applicable à tous les idiomes ... Inventé par Samuel Taylor ... et adapté à la langue françoise par Théodore Pierre Bertin
Basslé, Gustave Adolphe 1841 Système mnémonique ou art dʼaider la mémoire Basso, Ugo 1899 Lʼarte di dicordare Beck, Cave. 1657 The universal character, by which all the nations in the world may
understand one anothers conceptionsBegg, Elder William 1877 A centenial book, mnemonics, or a system of aids to memory Benoiwski. 1841 Major Beniowski's phrenotypics; or, a new method of studying and
committing to memory languages, sciences and arts. Beniowski, Bartlomiej. 1842A Handbook of Phrenotypics for teachers and students, Beniowski, Major. 1845The anti-absurd or phrenotypic English pronouncing and
orthographical dictionary Berol, Felix 1913 Mnemotechnical dictionary for the Berol System of memory training and
mental efficiency Berol, William. 1913The Berol system of memory training and mental efficiency.Bertin, Théodore Pierre 1796 Système universel et complet de sténographie Boyd, Asa S. 1886 Modern mnemotechny; or, how to acquire a good memorBrayshaw, T. 1849 Metrical mnemonics, applied to geography, astronomy, and chronology: in
which the most imortant facts are expressed by consonants used for numerals, and formed, by the aid of vowels, into significant words.
Braythwait, William 1638 Siren coelestis centum harmoniarum, duarum, trium, & quatuor vocum
Buno, Johannes. 1647 Tabularum mnemonicarum historiam universam cum profanam tum Ecclesiasticam Simulacris & heiroglyphicis figuris delineantium Clavis elaborata.
Buno, Johannes. 1664 Tabularum mnemonicarum, Quibus Historia Universalis, Cum Sacra Tum Profana, a condito Mundo Per Æras nobiliores & QuatorMonarchias ad nostram usque ætatem deducta Simulacris & Hieroglyphicis Figuris Delineata exhibetur, Clavis seu Illustris & accurata explicatio elaborata &....
Buno, Johannes. 1674Memoriæ corporis juris civilis, tam institutionum, quam Pandectarum, Codicic, Novellarum et Feudalium.
Buno, Johannes. 1680Bilderbibel Buno, Johannes (Bunonis Johannis) Universæ historiæ cum sacra tum profanæ idea 1686 Buzan Tony. 1971 Speed memory Buzan, Tony. 1984 Use your perfect memory.Buzan, Tony. 1995 Gebruik je geheugen
Byron, George Gordon. 1819 Don Juan,.Cajori, Florian 1928 A history of mathematical notations, 2 volumes. Carroll, Lewis. 1888 Memoria technica. (a notebook used by him) In. Collingwood, S.D. The
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Appendices / Tools for finding the best audionumsWhen I compiled my list of 60,000 words according to the numbers they represent, I thought that this was an original idea, that no one had ever done such a thing. But a few years later I began researching the code and its history at Yale Universityʼs Sterling Library. There have been many such lists (see chronologies and references).
List of 60 000 audionumsThis should not be thought of as a list of words. It is a list of numbers, written in the form of audionums. Words do not have a mix of upper-case and lower-case letters, whereas Audio Numbers and audionums are characterized by just such a mix. Experimental is a word. But EXPeRiMeNTaL is a number, the same number as iKiSiPiRiMiNiTiL and the same number as 70943215. The differences are obvious, and so are the similarities. These are three different ways of writing the very same number.
This list includes most of the single-word English audionums for numbers up to five digits long. For each number, the audionums are listed alphabetically:
• Blank audionums, for no digits!• Audionums for one-digit numbers ! (0 - 9)• Audionums for two-digit numbers!(00 - 99)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (000 - 999)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (0000 - 9999)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (00000 - 99999)
Audionums with alternative spellings (e.g. favorite/favourite, modernize/modernise, traveling/travelling) are listed only once, as they give the same digits. An apostrophe has been added to the plural s-ending of many nouns to remind you of the possibility of using the possessive forms of these nouns. Possessive forms may be spelled differently, but give the same digits.
There have been many word lists published in the past 300 years, but they were mostly designed for memorizing three- and four-digit numbers of historical dates. Surprisingly, none of them have served the two purposes that I consider of most importance in this list of 60 000 audionums:
Firstly, all common English words are included, which is necessary to document how evenly the phonetic code covers the ten digits. As already mentioned, the frequency of individual Audio numerals is as follows. (iS) – 16%! 2 (iN) – 11%!4 (iR) – 15%!6 (iJ) – 4%! 8 (iF) – 5%1 (iT) – 17%!3 (iM) – 5%! 5 (iL) – 9%! 7 (iK) – 9%! 9 (iP) – 8%Words ending in the sound iS are most common, while works ending in the sound iF are least common.
Secondly, the entire audionum matches the number in question, not only the first few digits of long words. This allows words to be combined to match multi-digit numbers.
How children and adults may play with audionums nowYou should now be able to mentally spell out the numbers from any words that you can
pronounce. Now number-spell the following sentences, to prove your new skill, and to practice a bit more. Each of these tongue twisters emphasizes a certain sound or number. They are a challenge to number-spell, but not as difficult as they are to say.
Zithers slither slowly south.
0 1 4 0 0 5 1 4 0 5 5 0 1
Sally sells seashells by the seashore.
0 5 0 5 0 0 6 5 0 9 1 0 6 4
"Under the mother otter," muttered the other otter.
The game of making words to match long-digit numbers The object of Pseudonumerology is to create the best audionum word phrase for a given number. Audionums can be created without aids by writing the long-digit number as Audio-numerals and then adding adding and removing sounds to make words. More special and uncommon audionums can be found with the list of 60,000 audionums in the appendix. !Most long-digit numbers do not correspond to any single word, so you must make an audionum phrase yourself. There are many ways to do this, but there is a simple procedure for making audionum phrases for numbers up to about twelve digits long. The procedure begins at the wrong end: by finding matches for the last digits of the number, that is the numbers on the right.
Procedure for making audionum phrases: Step 1. For the last 3 digits of the number, find an interesting noun. Step 2. For the first 3 digits of the number, find a suitable verb. Step 3. For the middle digits, find suitable adjectives using one- and two-digit audionums.
Consider a number with all ten digits: 8514097362. First write the number as Audio-numerals. 8514097362 = iF iL iT iR iS iP iK iM iJ iNTo use the formula, start with Step 1. For the last three digits 362, try to find an interesting noun. Look up the number 362 in the list of 60 000 audionums, where you find the nouns eMoTioN, MacHiNe, MoTioN, and MisSioN. Write each of these choices down.
Then for Step 2, try to find a suitable verb for the first three digits: 851. You find verbs such as eVaLuaTe, FaiLeD, FeLT, FLoaT, FueLeD, and VaLueD. Now you have several possibilities: FeLT eMoTioN, FueLeD a MacHiNe, eVaLuaTe a MoTioN, FaiLeD a MisSioN . . . Choose the one you prefer.
For Step 3, find suitable adjectives to modify your noun, using the middle four digits 4097. For 40 you find hoRSy, RaCy, RoSy, yeaRS, heRoS. For 97 the best choices are BagGy, BalKy, BiG, BugGy, ePiC, PicKy, PoKy.
Your final phrase might be FeLT a RoSy ePiC eMoTioN, FueLeD a RaCy BalKy MacHiNe, eVaLuaTe a yeaRʼS PoKy MoTioN, FaiLeD a heRoʼS BiG MisSioN.
Altered words in audionum phrases Adjectives combine easily to make audionum phrases. Many words may be altered to form audionum adjectives simply by adding a -y. Suggestions of this type are made by the addition of -y to many words in the audionum list. Altered words often lead to visual and memorable
175
images using fewer words: a TeLePHoNey FoReST may have telephones mounted on the trees, and an alLiGaToRy BeDRooM may have alligators hiding under the bed. Children especially enjoy using altered words and the creative images they involve.
Frequency of sounds and numbers Dictionaries list the words that are available in the language, but they do not indicate how
often the words are actually used. In this book, the word the occurs about 3000 times and the word any occurs about 100 times. Numbers also have different frequencies of use. Among the numbers we encounter daily, the numerals 0 and 1 occur more often than average. A study has shown that almost a third of the multi-digit numbers used daily begin with the numeral 1, and many numbers are rounded off to end with the numeral 0.
In the list of 60 000 audionums, which includes most of the common English words, the frequency of numbers (Audio-numerals) is as follows:0 (iS) – 16%! ! 2 (iN) – 11%!! 4 (iR) – 15%!! 6 (iJ) – 4%! ! ! 8 (iF) – 5%1 (iT) – 17%! ! 3 (iM) – 5%! ! 5 (iL) – 9%! ! 7 (iK) – 9%! ! 9 (iP) – 8%
Thus the numbers 1 and 0 are better represented than average. It is very helpful that the letter s most common at the end of English words, in the plural and possessive forms of nouns. These words make it easy to match rounded numbers that end in 0. The letter T is quite common at the beginning of words.
Matching difficult numbersThe numbers 3, 6, and 8 are less well represented, which means that these numbers are
more difficult to pseudonume than the others. Single audionums for 3, 6, and 8 may sometimes be added directly to audionum phrases. There are two sure-fire ways to add a audionum for 3. My can be added before many nouns (My TaBLe, My FiRePLaCe), and ʼM can be added after many verbs as an abbreviation of TheM or hiM (cHaSeʼM, CorReCTʼM). Such an ʼM has been added to many audionum verbs to fill out the list of two- and three-digit audionums in the list of 60 000 audionums.
There are no surefire ways for adding a audionum for 6, although huge before many nouns (huge teapot) makes a clear mental picture. In a pinch, a 6 may be added to nearly any adjective that ends in y (silly→sillyish or sillish, wacky→wackyish or wackish) and to some other words (cow→cowish, youth→youthish). Such suggestions, written as sillyish, wackyish, cow-ish, youth-ish, have been made to provide more choices among the lists of two- and three-digit audionums. (Warning: These are altered words, and are recommended for your personal use only. Such abuse of English words in public may be considered offensish!)
A Few can be used as a audionum for 8 before many plural nouns (a Few apPLeS), and ofF works as a audionums for 8 after many verbs (RuN ofF, TaKe ofF). But for audionuming 8, or any other single number, the list of 60 000 audionums provides many suitable choices and it is not necessary to make further suggestions here.
Examples of stories using linked audionum nouns Audionum phrases, like rhyme or verse, are carefully constructed with each syllable serving a purpose. This makes audionum phrases the most elegant form of Pseudonumerology, just as verse is the most elegant form of language. There are, of course, simpler forms of expression.
In our ordinary language, we can write prose instead of verse. In Pseudonumerology, we can make a story where only the nouns are audionums. Such stories are also suitable for children, who are not concerned with the carefully chosen adjectives used in audionum phrases, but focus on the nouns. Stories with audionum nouns are always longer than audionum phrases, but they can be remembered just as easily, especially if the stories involve visual or silly images.
! As an example, consider again the 10-digit number 8514097362 (he FeLT a yeaRʼS ePiC eMoTioN). To see how a story might be made for this number, start by breaking it into two-digit numbers – 85 14 09 73 62. Look up each of these in the list of 60 000 audionums. Write a short list of suitable nouns for each two-digit number:
Now make up a story that ties these words together, such as: A FooL took only his DiaRy, some SoaP, and some GuM when he traveled to CHiNa. All the important words here are audionums, and you would not confuse these with the other words in the story. These audionums are certainly easier and more fun to remember than the 10-digit number, but still you might get confused, because the story is so logical that it could be remembered in several ways. If you remember the story as: A FooL traveled to CHiNa, taking only his SoaP, GuM and DiaRy, you will have the right numbers but in the wrong order!
Silly linked-picture seriesMemory experts have shown that the best stories are those where silly images are linked together. We easily remember unusual or silly things, and we tend to forget things that are routine or logical. Not only are silly stories easier to remember, but they are easier to create than logical ones, because they do not have to make sense. We also remember best the things that we have seen, or seen in our imaginations, so the silly images should be highly visual. To make certain that we do not leave any audionums out, or get them in the wrong order, it is important that each audionum is linked to the next. As we make the story we add on each new audionum in the form of a picture.
Here is an example of a silly linked-picture story for 8514097362: A FooL was riding on a DeeR. The DeeR climbed into a crowded SuBway. The SuBway drove into a wiGwaM. Out of the wiGwaM appeared a GeNie. Each part of the story is a separate picture that clearly links one audionum to the next: FooL is linked to DeeR, DeeR to SuBway, SuBway to wiGwaM, wiGwaM to GeNie. The audionums have simply been added on as mental pictures, one at a time, to create the story. The audionums cannot be interchanged, and none can be left out. This series of silly pictures can easily be seen in the mind.
When making a silly linked-picture series, be sure that you see each picture clearly in your mind, not just think of it. Pictures involving action or exaggeration in size are often the best. Once you have seen it in your mind, ignore that picture and move on to the next one. Do not worry about keeping track of earlier pictures or checking that you remember the entire series.
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Visual images, clearly seen, fix themselves so firmly in your memory that you simply make each visual link and the series makes itself. You may number-spell all the numbers at the end of the series but should not bother checking them while making it. Even a week or two later you will be able to remember the audionums of the series.
Starting with a single digit, instead of the first pair of digits, the same number 8514097362 would be broken up in another way: 8! EVe, hiVe, hooF, iVy, UFO, View, waVe! 51!HolLywooD, LaDy, LaThe, LiD, LighT, walLeT 40!arRowS, heaRSe, hoRSe, RaCe, RiCe, RoSe, waRehouSe 97!BaG, BeaK, BiKe, BooK, BuG, PeaK, PiG 36! iMaGe, MatcH, MaGi, MesH, MidGe, MusH 2! heN, hoNey, kNee, Noah, wiNe, wiNg
A silly linked-picture series for these numbers could be: A waVe washes over a walLeT. (See this image. . . , now move on to the next one.)Out of the walLeT gallops a hoRSe. (See this image, now move on to the next.)The hoRSe is being ridden by a PiG. (See this image, now move on to the next.) The PiG is being burned by a lighted MatcH. (See this image, now move on to the next.) The lighted MatcH is pecked out by a heN. (See this image, now move on to the next.) !A silly linked-picture series can easily be related to the numbers by giving it an appropriate first image. If this were the telephone number of an office, you might simply begin the series by seeing a huge ocean wave engulfing the office… Silly linked-picture series are easier to create, easier to see, and easier to remember than sensible stories, and there is no limit to the pictures that can be added on. Using the table of 330 audionumsThe fastest way to learn a very long-digit number is to make a silly linked-picture series. With a little practice, images can be added almost as fast as the audionums can be found. The slow or difficult part is finding the audionums. To avoid the delays of turning pages through the list of 60 000 audionums to look for the best audionums, a table of 330 audionums is provided. Each audionum on the table has been carefully chosen to allow a clear visual image that is easily remembered and that is not easily confused with any other audionum images on the list.
Make a photocopy of the table of 330 audionums and keep it handy for when you want to quickly learn new numbers. Think of this photocopied page as a pocket-sized device for learning numbers, just as a calculator is a pocket-sized device for working with them.
You might wish to custom-design your table of audionums. Do this by first photocopying it and then using white correction fluid to remove any particular audionum on your photocopy. You may then write in a audionum that you prefer, and photocopy the table again.
Using the table of 330 modifying audionums The table of 330 modifying audionums is a list of the most versatile adjectives and verbs for combining with nouns. It is for quickly audionuming PINs and other numbers up to 4 digits long. For a three- or four-digit number, you can quickly find a noun for the last one or two digits, and an adjective or verb for the first one or two digits. You might want to photocopy these two tables on a single double-sided page, fold it and keep it handy.
Pseudonumerology is primarily a word puzzle. It is a challenge to make good audionums that match long-digit numbers. But Pseudonumerology is more than a game. It is also a memory device. Mnemonists and memory experts, such as the winners of intenational memory competitions, have demonstrated that the phonetic code is the most powerful technique ever used to remember numbers. I like to think of Pseudonumerology as a self-powered technological device, like a high-tech bicycle. While most people prefer to travel with a car or motorcycle, others find great satisfaction in pedaling. While most prefer to remember numbers using a pencil and paper, or a programmable pocket device, others find satisfaction in being able to "program" the numbers into their memory.
Typical telephone numbers as audionum phrasesBelow is a list of names and cell phone telephone numbers of all the students who took my geology course in 2002. I prepared this list as a test and a demonstration, mostly for myself, but also for my readers. I memorized their numbers in this way, to test the method using my average memory. I managed to memorize most of these numbers, and knew them the second half of the geology course. I was impressed with myself, and so were some, but not all, of my students. Now I have forgotten them. This is like taking a trip to an exotic place; been there, done that. How do you associate each silly phrase with each name? It seems that this would be difficult to people who have not tried it. But somehow it's fun and easy for people to make silly associations, like the phrase "The Big Apple" for New York City. A silly phrase like that just sticks. When I did forget a phrase after a while, it was quick to refresh it.
I am no longer testing my memory with trying to remember hundreds of numbers. I know that it is possible, but I am not interested in doing this now. But I still use audionums for numbers each time I use them. As I read the number on a telephone list, such as 90638128, I instantly convert it to simple audionums, before I use the number. That way I keep the number in my head for many minutes, and do not need to look at the written number twice.Four short audionums are easy to make and easy to remember. Test yourself: quickly read one of these numbers and see if you remember it. Quickly read one of the audionums and see if you remember it. Student ! ! ! Audionum phrase,! ! ! ! Telephone! ! Audionum for one-time use,name! ! ! ! created using word list ! ! ! number! ! ! created instantly with no toolsAlf Kjetil! ! BosS, sHow hiM a FaT kNiFe! (= 90638128)! BuS JaM, FaT kNiFeAnders!! ! BaBy MoaNeR yoDelLer! ! ! (= 99324154)! BaBy-MaN a ReD LiaRAnders A. !! aBysSaL hoMe ReCesSion! ! (= 90534062) ! BuS a LaMb, RoSe cHaiNAnders B. !! CoNiFeR BaThTuB ! ! ! ! ! (= 72849119) ! GuN FiRe BiTe a TuBAndreas I.!! RiDiNg a whiSKey TRucK !! (= 41207147) ! ReD NoSe, CaT-RocKAndreas N!! BaBy-CuP STicK-uP !! ! ! (= 99790179)! PaPa-CaP SweeT-CaPAndreas R!! PacKS a eMpTy PacKaGe ! ! (= 97031976)! BacKSwiM ToP CaGeAndreas Y !! PacKaGe a LaMb MupPeT ! ! (= 97653391)! PicK JelLo, MamMa PaiDAndrine!! ! BLow a PiNwheeL oRiGaMi ! (= 95925473)! BLue BunNy LaiR CoMeAnnette!! ! Buy Me a SwelLeR VioLiN ! ! (= 93054852)! BoMb a SaiL, ReF a LiNeAre Håvard! ! BeauTiFuL CaSCaDe ! ! ! ! (= 91857071)! BiTe FoiL, CusS a CaTArne!! ! ! PuzZLe a weBFooT BaBy !! ! (= 90598199)! BuS-LaB, FighT PaPaAsbjørn!! ! PLeaSe FisH a wReNcH ! ! ! (= 95086426) !Birgitte!! ! PicKLe a halF-FisH SeaL! ! ! (= 97588605) Bjørn! ! ! ! wiReD-up MohaiR PusHeR! ! (= 41934964) Bjørnar!! ! hipPie BeGinNiNg FiNalLy!! (= 99722825) Baard! ! ! BoX MoNoCuLaR!! ! ! ! (= 97032754) Camilla B !! PolLuTeD ofFiCe FoG! ! ! ! (= 95118087) Camilla G!! BLacK wooL, ToucH-ToucH! (= 95751616) Carl-Gøran ! PeaCocK CaVe, SPaiN!! ! ! (= 97778092) Cecilie !! ! RaCiNg a haiRy oRieNTeeR! ! (= 40244214) Christian ! ! RidDLe a CLeaN NuN! ! ! ! (= 41575222) Dag Ingmar! PacKaGe CaNaL MucK!! ! (= 97672537) Eirik! ! ! ! PLaiN MuD RaVioLi! ! ! ! (= 95231485)
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Elisabeth G! ! BooZe iS MaDe oF MasH! ! ! (= 90031836) Elisabeth R ! RevViNg uP a oZoNe LayeR!! (= 48290254) Elise, ! ! ! PicKLe ToMaTo MasH! ! ! (= 97513136) Erik N! ! ! BLacK GiGoLo DodGe! ! ! (= 95767516) Erik I! ! ! ! BlufF SLyLy BacK!! ! ! ! (= 95805597) Erling! ! ! a RiVetTeR wilL LaMe hiM !! (= 48145533) Espen! ! ! BooMiNg oiL FLaSK! ! ! ! (= 93258507) Frode! ! ! ! BucKLe hiM heRe, JaiLeR!! (= 97534654) Geir Frode! ! BeauTiFy a ViSuaL DeCoy ! ! (= 91886517) Grethe! ! ! a CaN oF RocKy SQuasH!! ! (= 72847076) Gro! ! ! ! a BeauTy-QueeN, sHalLow LieS(= 91726550) Gyrid! ! ! ! PLaNeT aPe PaNiC ! ! ! ! ! (= 95219927) Gøril!! ! ! PiMeNTo MoLDiNg! ! ! ! (= 93213512) Hanne L ! ! RooFiNg: NaiL, NaiL...ooF!! (= 48225258) Hanne S ! ! PasSiVe GiRafFe FuR! ! ! ! (= 90864884) Hans-Christian. ! a BaT MucKeD a BisHoP! ! (= 91371969) Henki! ! ! PLayBoy MaN yoDeLiNg! ! ! (= 95932152) Henriette! ! BLow ofF CooL MaGiC !! ! (= 95875367) Hilde!! ! ! Buy hiM a FidDLe, cHeaT hiM! (= 93815613) Håvard L! ! ReLeaSiNg a SuB-NeT!! ! ! (= 45020921) Håvard K! ! PacKaGe a LeasHeD cHeVy !! (= 97656168) Håvard R! ! BooSeyisH RaiNiNg VoyaGe!(= 90642286) Ida Camilla! ! BaNaNa oPiuM cHoo-cHooS ! (= 92293660) Ingard! ! ! PalMS ofF a FisH BaBy!! ! (= 93088699) Iver! ! ! ! PacKaGe BaCoN LoyalLy !! (= 97697255) James !! ! RaFT a BehiVe ToTalLy !! ! (= 48198115) Jane Helen! ! ReLiNe a Gooey FoaM SaiL! ! (= 45278305) Johanne! ! ! BeauTiFy ASiaTiC PuMa! ! ! (= 91861793) John Even!! BucKeT FunNy PiN-uP! ! ! (= 97182929) Johnny !! ! PLayiNg a FiFe MesSaGe!! ! (= 95288306) Jon Arne! ! PicKS a MaiL MesSaGe! ! ! (= 97035306) Jostein! ! ! BotToM LiP aMPHiBia! ! ! (= 91359389) Jørgen! ! ! PeaCocK TaiL-TuFT! ! ! ! (= 97715181) Kari! ! ! ! PasSiVe iN weLCoMiNg! ! ! (= 90825732) Katharina! ! BaCTeRia, SewaGe, cHew iT! (= 97140661) Kjersti! ! ! BooZe iS MaDe oF MasH! ! ! (= 90031836) Knut!! ! ! PLoP, hoP, PelL MelL! ! ! ! (= 95999535) Kristian K! ! PufFS iN a SwitcHBacK!! ! (= 98020697) Kristian S !! PayiNg FoR halF a cHeVy !! (= 92848868) Kristian V!! BLacK BeeT PicKLe!! ! ! (= 95791975) Kristine!! ! PLayBoy hoMe LiMPiNg! ! ! (= 95935392) Kristoffer A.! PeaCocK yoKe eMuLSiFy !! (= 97773508) Kristoffer B.! a BLiNK wilL huMoR hiM! ! (= 95275343) Lars! ! ! ! BoXeR JaMbS iT! ! ! ! ! (= 97046301) Leiv! ! ! ! PLopPiNg a GiRafFe ofF! ! ! (= 95926488) Lene Kristine!BoaSTS a huGe FizZiNg! ! ! (= 90106802) Linda! ! ! ! BoughT a huGe aRChaiC GeM! (= 91647763) Magnus! ! ! BeMoaNiNg a BaByBugGy ! ! (= 93229997) Marianne! ! RiCocHet MeNaCiNgLy !! ! (= 47632025) Marit Helene!ReaD-oNLy FiLe haVoC ! ! ! (= 41258587)
Marius F! ! PioNeeRʼS MyThoLoGy!! ! (= 92403156) Marius S! ! BeST ofFiCe eaSycHaiR! ! ! (= 90180064) Martin L! ! haiRLesS, MeGa BiZarRe!! ! (= 45037904) Martin R! ! ReTuRNS alL heLP! ! ! ! ! (= 41420559) Merethe! ! ! PolLuTeD a TowN BLacK! ! (= 95112957) Morten A! ! PiNS oN PiNuPS! ! ! ! ! ! (= 92029290) Morten J ! ! BotToM CaST oF a hooF! ! ! (= 91370188) Morten L! ! PioNeeR RusSia-TeacHeR! ! (= 92446164) Nicole! ! ! CoMFy whifF, CatcH a cHilL! (= 73887665) Olav !! ! ! BeFoRe a waCKy FoReigNeR! (= 98478424) Ole Jakob!! RolLiNg a KiNg RaCooN! ! ! (= 45272472) Ole Jørgen! ! BubBLe FoP-VaPoR!! ! ! (= 99589894) Per Kristian! PaPa “No MiShaP” MaFia! ! (= 99230938) Per Olav ! ! ! BumMeR, alL oVeRheaRD! ! (= 93458441) Randi! ! ! PosSesS a wooL PatcHwoRK! (= 90059647) Roger! ! ! opPoSeS hiM, MaGelLan! ! ! (= 90033652) Rune! ! ! ! BaBy GooSe SKetcHeR! ! ! (= 99700764) Rune! ! ! ! a BuM RaiDiNg TRasH!! ! (= 93412146) Ruth Synnøve! PicKeT PooR FaTiMa! ! ! ! (= 97194813) Shagufta! ! BoFuR, ReacH Me a CooKie!! (= 98446377) Stian! ! ! ! a PicKLe iN My CRaTe! ! ! (= 97523741) Sigurd! ! ! BRowN pTaRMiGaN!! ! ! (= 92414372) Sindre !! ! CoMFy PHoeBe iN a BaG!! (= 73889297) Siv Therese! a RiDeR MisSLeBacK! ! ! ! (= 41430597) Steffen! ! ! PLeaTeD husH-husH FoaM ! ! (= 95116683) Steinar! ! ! PLaN a RaRe MoRPH ! ! ! ! (= 95244348) Stian!! ! ! oPeN-aiR STocKaDeS! ! ! ! (= 92401710) Stig! ! ! ! BotTLe a yelLow yelLow SPooK! (= 91555097) Stine! ! ! ! BaBy CudDLe NaMeS! ! ! ! (= 99715230) Svein ! ! ! PiCasSo-isH aCaDeMieS! ! ! (= 97067130) Svein-Åge!! wobBLiNg whiSKey JuiCeR! ! (= 95207604) Sverre Johan! BuGLe-hugGiNg MiDwiFe!! (= 97572318) Terese! ! ! oPeNS a BooK eXaM! ! ! ! (= 92097703) Toni! ! ! ! ReDisHeSʼ MaRKuP!! ! ! (= 41603479) Tonje! ! ! ! GowN FoR a waLTZeR!! ! (= 72845104) Tore!! ! ! a PiNcH oF a PufFy SaP! ! ! (= 92689809) Tore!! ! ! PasS JaiL iN BusSeS ! ! ! ! (= 90652900) Trine!! ! ! RiCocHetiNg oN hiS kNiFe! ! (= 47622028) Trond Kristian PuNcH a woLF To JaM! ! ! (= 92658163) Trygve Andre!BaBy sHoeS Re-MoRF!! ! ! (= 99604348) Øystein Johannes BLabBiNg To hiS iCy Ma! (= 95921003) Øystein B!! BaBy SMoTheReRS!! ! ! (= 99031440) Øystein L! ! APolLoʼS MaGiC iN waR! ! ! (= 95036724)
A variety of audionums for a typical long-digit number: 0123456789 In the list above, only one audionum is given for each number. For any of these numbers, a better audionum could be found. The audionum listed is simply the first or best audionum that I happened to made.
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To demonstrate a variety of audionums for the same long-digit number, consider a typical multi-digit ID-number: 0123456789. The 89-ending makes this number a bit more difficult than average. There are very few words that end with the sounds f-p. These English audionums are listed in alphabetical order. Many more examples could be made for this or for any other ten-digit ID-number. This is vastly easier than writing chronograms or anagrams.
A pSeuDoNuMeRoLGiC PHoBe ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A pSeuDoNuMeRoLoGiC PHoBia !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A pSeuDoNuMeRoLoGiC ViBe. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A pSeuDoNyM: RaoL JacQues FaBia! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A SaTiN MuRaL; sHagGy halFway uP.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A SeeThiNg MayoR wilL cHoKe ofF a Boo.!! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A STuNg MaRe wilL sHaKe ofF a Bee.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)A SweaTiNg MaRe wilL JocKey ofF a Boy.!! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)EaSy To kNow Me. I RealLy cHucK ofF hyPe.! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)He SaiD aN imMoRaL JoKe-FiB!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)He SueD aN aMoRaL JocK-VIP. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)He uSeD NuMeRoLoGy, a GooF-uP.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)HigheST-NuMeRaL-JoKe oF Pi.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)I SaiD – No MoRe wilL I hiJacK a heaVy hipPo.! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)I SaT iN a MoRe helLisH CaVe abBey.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)I SighT No MoRe yelLowisH CouGH-uP.! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Is auToNoMy RealLy a JoKe Foʼ a yupPie?! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)IS iT oN My eaR?! I yelL “OucH, Go ofF, Bee”! !! ! ! (= 0123456789)IS iT iN My haiR?! A LeecH? YucK! If I wiPe? !! ! ! (= 0123456789)iS iT iN ʻiM eaR? heʻLl iJtch! hiK iF hiP!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)OuSTiNg a MoRalLy sHaKy V.P.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SaD No MoRe, he wilL JoKe ofF a Boo.!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SaTaN May ReLisH CofFee Pie (Fauvel-Gouraud, 1844)! ! (= 0123456789)SaTaN MerRiLy sHooK a FoP (Fauvel-Gouraud, 1845)! ! ! (= 0123456789)SaTaN imMoRalLy sHooK EVe uP!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Say iT iN My eaR, WiLey JacK. -OK, iF you Pay!! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Say iT No MoRe! IʼlL sHow you, I GiVe uP!! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SiDNey MeRLisH GaVe a Bow. (Loisette, 1896)!! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SitTiNg MerRiLy, sHe gaVe uP.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SooThiNg My RealLy itcHy CaVe aPe! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SwaN NuMb a RealLy huGe GuaVa Bee. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)SweeT hoNey May ReLisH a JocKey FoP (Gouraud 1850)!(= 0123456789)WaSTe No yumMy ReLisH, CofFee Boy!! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)We SaiD No MoRe. We alL husH a GiVeaway Buy.!! ! ! (= 0123456789)We uSeD No MeRe LoGiC. We haVe hoPe.! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)You SadDeN Me RoyalLy, you cHeeKy FoP!! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)
Some published examples of word phrases in other languagues.French: Cʼest ToN aMi ReLâcHé Qui Vient Peu. (Paris 1830)! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)French: SoT, Tu Nous Mens; Rends Les cHant Qui Fit Pan (Paris 1833)!(= 0123456789)French: Cʼest Tu No Me ReLiGieux Qui Vit Bien. (Castilho 1834) ! ! ! (= 0123456789)French: Si Tu Ne Me ReLâCHes, GafFe Bien (Laden 1841)! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)French: Sot, Tu Nous Mens, Rends Les cHants? Joyeux Que Fit Pan (Gouraud 1850) Italian: SaTaNa MoRì e alLogGiò Con FeBo (Sanfranco 1839)! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)
Italian: Se TieNi aMoRe aL GuioCo, Fai PazZia. (Silvin 1843)! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Latin: SaTaNe! MoRaLia otia CaVeBo (Gouraud 1844)! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Spanish: Se Tu, No Mas, Rey, Ley, Jaz Que Fué Paz. (Mata 1845)! ! ! (= 0123456789)Spanish: Si Tu No Me ReLiGes, Que FelPa! (Mata 1862)! ! ! ! ! ! (= 0123456789)Portuguese: Eu CiTo NuMa e ReiL e JunGo e FaBio (Sousa Doria 1850)! (= 0123456789)
AuDio NuMeRoLoGiC ViBeS !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1234567890)A waDiNg MaRe wilL JocKey ofF BoyS ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1234567890)He eyeD aN imMoRaL CHeKoV PieCe! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1234567890)The New MayoR wilL sHaKe ofF a BosS ! (Furst? 19xx?)! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1234567890)The NuMb ReLisH CofFee aBuSe!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 1234567890)French: Dieu Ne Me Rend La Joie Qu´à Vos Pieds Saints (Courdavault 1905)!(= 1234...) (Should probably write many more of these examples. since this such is a standard number sequence. It is easier to audionume than 1234567890..)
A long number sequence: 1000 digits of the number pi!! !For centuries, pi has been the classic long-digit number to memorize. Some people can just memorize numbers, but they cannot seem to explain how, or teach anyone else to do it. With audionums, anyone can do it. Memorizing pi is pretty useless – like climbing the outside wall of a tall building. Nobody would climb a building for the view, or the exercize, but "...because it's there." Someone might do it to see if he can, or to show that he can. He might do it to show that he has a good climbing technique. People would normally just use the elevator.
For a research demonstration in September, 1999, I memorized the first 1000 digits of pi, and my memory is nothing to brag about! I did it to demonstrate my table of 330 audionums, and to test it. It took about 20 hours all together – an hour or so each day for a few weeks – including finding and writing down the audionums and memorizing them as a series of visual images. For the first 500 digits of pi, I found audionums using the Norwegian version of the table of 330 audionums. When this pseudonumer was just about used up, I continued by using the English version, the table of 330 audionums, and then the list of 60 000 audionums.
I remembered this 1000-digit number for several weeks, but do not remember them now. But since I now have the list of audionums that I used, I could refresh my memory of the whole thing again in just a few hours. This is like climbing a building and leaving your rope and pitons along the way: it is much quicker to climb the second time! The only digits of pi that I always remember are the first 19, as given n the poem published by Francis Fauvel-Gouraud in 1845: My DeaRy DolLy, Be No cHilLy. My LoVe I BeG ye Be My NyMPH = 3 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8 9 7 9 3 2 3 8.
Memorizing this series taught me something about how the brain and memory work. The memory is like a strong magnet: pieces of iron stick easily (as pictures stick in the memory) but you will be continually frustrated if you try to stick pieces of aluminum to it (numbers do not stick in the memory). And if you want to be able to pull the pieces of iron off the magnet in a specific order, you need to tie strings from one piece of iron to the next, before you put the pieces on the magnet. Then you can pull off as long a string of iron pieces as you like!
The first 1000 numbers of pi, written as 50 digits in each row: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751
Below are linked audionums for the first 50 of these numbers. The audionums were found in the list of 60 000 audionums (Appendix). a MeTeoRiTe falls on aLBaNia ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 3.141 592)!in ALBaNia the people are eating JelLo ! ! ! ! ! (= 65)JelLo is sent in the MaiL !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 35)!MaiL is delivered to a VIP! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 89)! !a VIP is from CuBa! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 79)! !CuBa is surrounded by a sea of amMoNia! ! ! ! (= 32) ! !amMoNia is being secretly produced by the MaFia!(= 38)!the MaFia is meeting in a RusSiaN wasHRooM !! (= 462 643)in a RusSiaN wasHRooM, washing a MufF!! ! ! (= 38)a MufF is being worn by a MoNKey ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 327)an important MoNKey lives in a PaLaCe!! ! ! ! (= 950)!a PaLaCe is sliced in two by a giant kNiFe!! ! ! (= 28)! !a kNiFe is thrown into a FioRD! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 841)!in a FioRD is floating a large BucKeT!! ! ! ! ! (= 971)!in a BucKeT is sitting a G.I.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 6)!a G.I. is aiming a PuMP!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 939)a PuMP is made into a BoMB ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (= 93)a BoMb explodes a pile of CLoTh! ! ! ! (= 751)
These examples show how silly links are made. I have tested this method of memorizing numbers with groups of school children and groups of adults. Most people can learn the phonetic number code and memorize the first 50 digits of pi in about an hour. Try it.
If you want to test the limits of the system, and be surprised by your own ability, you can link the audionums below to memorize the number pi to 1000 digits. The record of pi memorization is something like 85,000 digits. Most people that memorize over a thousand digits of pi use a similar technique to the one shown here, combined with the loci-method described earlier.
So I can brag that I once knew a thousand digits of pi. Donʼt ask me if I know them now. Of course I donʼt. Maybe someone else can brag that they have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. I donʼt ask them then if they are there now. Been there, done that, they say. And richer for it.
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For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines. May be photocopied for personal use.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines. May be photocopied for personal use.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines. May be photocopied for personal use.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines. May be photocopied for personal use.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines. May be photocopied for personal use.
Combine one of these modifiers with a visual noun to make a 4-digit audionum. Combine one of these modifiers with a visual noun to make a 4-digit audionum. Combine one of these modifiers with a visual noun to make a 4-digit audionum. Combine one of these modifiers with a visual noun to make a 4-digit audionum. Combine one of these modifiers with a visual noun to make a 4-digit audionum.
Sound Numbers and 330 modifying Audionums
Sound Numbers and 330 modifying Audionums
Sound Numbers and 330 modifying Audionums
Sound Numbers and 330 modifying Audionums
Sound Numbers and 330 modifying Audionums
0 iS iCy wiSe Sew (a)
1 iT hotT weT hiT (a)
2 iN New iN (a) haNg (a)
3 iM yumMy My aiM (a)
4 iR haiRy Raw wiRe (a)
5 iL oiLy yelLow oiL (a)
6 iJ huGe cHewy wasH (a)
7 iK Gooey oaK huG (a)
8 iF heaVy halF (a) waVe (a)
9 iP hapPy Peewee Buy (a)
00 iSiS SauCy SwisS SeiZe (a)
01 iSiT SooTy SweeT SauTé (a)
02 iSiN SNowy SewiNg a SigN (a)
03 iSiM aweSoMe SeMi- ZooM (a)
04 iSiR SouR SoRe SeaR (a)
05 iSiL SLow SilLy SwalLow
06 iSiJ SaGe SwitcH (a) SwisH (a)
07 iSiK SicK SogGy SucK (a)
08 iSiF SaFe Sci-Fi hoSe ofF
09 iSiP Soapy SouPy SweeP (a
10 iTiS hiDeouS wooDSy TeaSe (a).
11 iTiT DeaD TooThy TatToo (a)
12 iTiN TiNy wooDeN whiTeN (a
13 iTiM TaMe DeMo- DooM (a)
14 iTiR DRy waTeRy aDoRe (a)
15 iTiL TalL iDeaL whitTLe
16 iTiJ DutcH atTacH (a) ToucH (a)
17 iTiK hi TeCh ThicK atTacK (a)
18 iTiF TouGH DeaF DivVy (a)
19 iTiP TubBy DeeP TaPe (a)
.
20 iNiS NoiSy NiCe NooSe (a)
.
21 iNiT haNDy NuDe huNT (a)
.
22 iNiN NeoN oNioNy uNknowN
.
23 iNiM eNeMy NuMb NaMe (a)
.
24 iNiR NarRow inNeR hoNoR (a)
.
25 iNiL uNhoLy only (a) nail (a)
.
26 iNiJ NudGe (a) eNJoy (a) wiNcH (a)
.
27 iNiK iNKy uNiQue NuKe (a)
.
28 iNiF eNouGH NaiVe kNiFe (a)
.
29 iNiP kNobBy uNhapPy NaB (a)
30 iMiS MesSy MosSy MisS (a)
31 iMiT MudDy MighTy MeeT (a)
32 iMiN MiNi- huMaN MeaN
33 iMiM MiaMi- MumMy- MamMa-
34 iMiR MerRy MohaiR hamMeR (a
35 iMiL hoMeLy MaLe MaiL (a)
36 iMiJ MusHy MacHo MasH (a)
37 iMiK MeGa- MeeK MaKe (a)
38 iMiF MaFia- MoVie MoVe (a)
39 iMiP wiMPy huMPy MaP (a)
40 iRiS RoSy RaCe (a) haRasS (a)
41 iRiT haRD ReD RiDe (a)
42 iRiN iRoN RayoN RuiN (a)
43 iRiM waRM woRMy RaM (a)
44 iRiR RaRe ReaR RewiRe (a)
45 iRiL RoyaL ReaL RolL (a)
46 iRiJ RicH IRisH RusH (a)
47 iRiK heRoic RooKie wRecK (a)
48 iRiF RouGH RooF (a) horRiFy (a)
49 iRiP RiPe RoPey wRaP (a)
50 iLiS LooSe LaZy LasSo (a).
51 iLiT oLD wiLD hoLD (a)
52 iLiN LoNg wooleN LoaN (a)
53 iLiM LiMe heLiuM LaMe (a)
54 iLiR LoweR LeeRy LuRe (a)
55 iLiL LoyaL LowLy LulL (a)
56 iLiJ WeLsH LeacH (a) LeasH (a)
57 iLiK LucKy LeaKy LicK (a)
58 iLiF LiVe oLiVe LoVe (a)
59 iTiP eLBow (a) walLoP a heLP (a)
.
60 iJiS JuiCy cHooSe a cHaSe (a)
.
61 iJiT sHodDy cHeaT (a) sHooT (a)
.
62 iJiN sHiNy ASiaN cHaiN (a)
.
63 iJiM JamMy cHumMy sHaMe (a)
.
64 iJiR aZuRe cHeeRy sHoweR (a)
.
65 iJiL JelLy JolLy JaiL (a)
.
66 iJiJ JewisH sHowisH JudGe (a)
.
67 iJiK sHagGy cHiC sHaKe (a)
.
67 iJiF sHowofFy cHieF sHaVe (a)
.
69 iJiP cHeaP cHubBy cHoP (a)
70 iKiS CoZy waXy KisS (a)
71 iKiT wicKeD CuTe CuT (a)
72 iKiN QueeN- GooNy GuN (a)
73 iKiM ComMie GumMy CoMb (a)
74 iKiR GRey GoRey CaRry (a)
75 iKiL CooL uGLy GLue (a)
76 iKiJ KitscHy GasH (a) CaGe (a)
77 iKiK QuicK KooKy Kick (a)
78 iKiF GooFy CofFee GiVe (a)
79 iKiP GooPy CowBoy- CoPy (a)
80 iFiS FuzZy FizZy FaCe (a)
81 iFiT FaT FeeD (a) FighT (a)
82 iFiN FiNe FunNy PHonne (a)
83 iFiM FoaMy FemMe FaMe
84 iFiR FurRy FieRy FRee (a)
85 iFiL eViL awful FeeL (a)
86 iFiJ FisHy FudGy FetcH (a)
87 iFiK FaKe VaGue FaKe (a)
88 iFiFheaVy heaV halF oF a ofF oF (a)
89 iFiP FaB VIP- FibBy
90 iPiS BosSy PoSe (a) PasS (a)
91 iPiT BaD BaThe (a) BiTe (a)
92 iPiN BoNey PuNy oPeN (a)
93 iPiM Buy Me (a BuM (a) BoMb (a)
94 iPiR PooR BorRow a BuRy (a)
95 iPiL PaLe BLow (a) PulL (a)
96 iPiJ BeiGe PusH (a) PatcH (a)
97 iPiK BiG BaKe (a) PoKe (a)
98 iPiF aBoVe (a PaVe (a) wiPe ofF a
99 iPiP BaBy- PooPy PoP (a)
173
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
Audionums for Sound numbers.
Audionums for Sound numbers.
Audionums for Sound numbers.
Audionums for Sound numbers.
Audionums for Sound numbers.
Sound Numbers and 330 Norwegian Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 Norwegian Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 Norwegian Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 Norwegian Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 Norwegian Audionums
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
Words by Heiko Liebel
Words by Heiko Liebel
Words by Heiko Liebel
Words by Heiko Liebel
Words by Heiko Liebel
Sound Numbers and 330 German Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 German Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 German Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 German Audionums Sound Numbers and 330 German Audionums
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
For pocket format• cut along double lines • fold along vertical dashed line• then fold along horizontal dashed lines.
Audionums by Abbe Courdavault, Aimé Paris
Audionums by Abbe Courdavault, Aimé Paris
Audionums by Abbe Courdavault, Aimé Paris
Audionums by Abbe Courdavault, Aimé Paris
Audionums by Abbe Courdavault, Aimé Paris
Sound Numbers and French Audionums Sound Numbers and French Audionums Sound Numbers and French Audionums Sound Numbers and French Audionums Sound Numbers and French Audionums
0 iS Son
1 iT Ton
2 iN Nom
3 iMMont
4 iRRond
5 iL Lion
6 iJJonc
7 iKGond
8 iFFond
9 iPBond
00 iSiS
01 iSiT 02 iSiN 03 iSiM 04 iSiR 05 iSiL
06 iSiJ
07 iSiK 08 iSiF 9 iSiP
10 iTiS TiSon TesSon
11 iTiTDinDonToTon
12 iTiNTigNonTeNon
13 iTiMDéMonTiMon
14 iTiRTRonc
15 iTiL TaLon
16 iTiJ DonJon
17 iTiKDaGon
18 iTiFTyPHon
19 iTiPTamPon
.
20 iNiS NaTion
.
21 iNiTNewToN
.
22 iNiNNiNon
.
23 iNiMGNoMonNos Monts
.
24 iNiR NéRon
.
25 iNiL Nez Long
.
26 iNiJNiCHéNaiGeon
.
27 iNiKNiGaudNos Gonds
.
28 iNiFNiPHonNos Fonds
.
29 iNiPNos Ponts
30 iMiS MaiSon MaÇon
31 iMiTMouTonMenTon
32 iMiNMigNonMoigNon
33 iMiMMaMaMoMon
34 iMiRMarRon
35 iMiL MeLon
36 iMiJManCHon
37 iMiKMâConMaCHaon
38 iMiFMéFionsMeut-Fond
39 iMiPMeauPouMeut-Pont
40 iRiS RaiSon RanÇon
41 iRiT ReDonRaTon
42 iRiNReNom
43 iRiMRaMonsRaMon
44 iRiR RuRauxRoi Rond
45 iRiL RolLond RolLon
46 iRiJ RéGion
47 iRiKORGon
48 iRiFoRPHéonRend-Fonds
49 iRiPhaRPon
50 iLiS LeÇon.
51 iLiTLaiTon
52 iLiNLiNon
53 iLiMLiMon
54 iLiRLarRon
55 iLiL Le Long Lien Long
56 iLiJLéGion
57 iLiKHéLiCon LaoCoon
58 iLiFalLuVion
59 iLiPLaPon
.
60 iJiS CHanSon
.
61 iJiT JeTonCHaTon
.
62 iJiNJuNonCHaiNon
.
63 iJiMCHauMont
.
64 iJiRJuRonCHarRon
.
65 iJiL JaLon
.
66 iJiJCHanGeonsGens-Joncs
.
67 iJiKCHoQuonsJoyeux Gonds
.
68 iJiFCHifFonsCHifFon
.
69 iJiPCHaPon
70 iKiS CasSons CaisSon
71 iKiTCoTon
72 iKiNCaNon
73 iKiMGoëMontCaMion
74 iKiRCaRonCRayon
75 iKiL CoLomb CoLon
76 iKiJCoCHerCoCHon
77 iKiKCoCon
78 iKiFCafFéGaVon
79 iKiPCouPon
80 iFiS FaÇon
81 iFiTPHaéTon
82 iFiNFaNionFaNon
83 iFiMFuMonsVieux Mont
84 iFiRFRont
85 iFiL FiLon
86 iFiJFanCHons
87 iFiKFauCon
88 iFiFVIVonsVains Fonds
89 iFiPFaux-BondVapPon
90 iPiS PiTion PinSon
91 iPiT PonTon
92 iPiNPigNonPenNon
93 iPiMPouMon
94 iPiR PerRon
95 iPiL PLomb PiLon
96 iPiJBouCHonPiGeon
97 iPiKBouGon
98 iPiFBoufFon
99 iPiPPomPon
177
List of 60 000 audionumsThis should not be thought of as a list of words. It is a list of numbers, written in the form of audionums. Words do not have a mix of upper-case and lower-case letters, whereas audio numbers and audionums are characterized by just such a mix. Experimental is a word. But EXPeRiMeNTaL is a number, the same number as iKiSiPiRiMiNiTiL and the same number as 70943215. The differences are obvious, and so are the similarities. These are three different ways of writing the very same number.
This list includes most of the single-word English audionums for numbers up to five digits long. For each number, the audionums are listed alphabetically:
• Blank audionums, for no digits!• Audionums for one-digit numbers ! (0 - 9)• Audionums for two-digit numbers ! (00 - 99)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (000 - 999)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (0000 - 9999)• Audionums for three-digit numbers! (00000 - 99999)
Audionums with alternative spellings (e.g. favorite/favourite, modernize/modernise, traveling/travelling) are listed only once, as they give the same digits. An apostrophe has been added to the plural s-ending of many nouns to remind you of the possibility of using the possessive forms of these nouns. Possessive forms may be spelled differently, but give the same digits.
There have been many word lists published in the past 300 years, but they were mostly designed for memorizing three- and four-digit numbers of historical dates. Surprisingly, none of them have served the two purposes that I consider of most importance in this list of 60 000 audionums:
Firstly, all common English words are included, which is necessary to document how evenly the phonetic code covers the ten digits. As already mentioned, the frequency of individual audio-numerals is as follows. (iS) – 16%! 2 (iN) – 11%!4 (iR) – 15%!6 (iJ) – 4%! 8 (iF) – 5%1 (iT) – 17%!3 (iM) – 5%! 5 (iL) – 9%! 7 (iK) – 9%! 9 (iP) – 8%Words ending in the sound iS are most common, while works ending in the sound iF are least common.
Secondly, the entire audionum matches the number in question, not only the first few digits of long words. This allows words to be combined to match multi-digit numbers.
877 iFiKiK877 halF CoCoa877 halF KeG877 halF KooKy877 halF QuacKy878 iFiKiF878 FaKe oFf878 halF CoFfee878 halF GooFy879 iFiKiP879 FoG uP879 halF CuP879 Via CuBa880 iFiFiS880 FauVe’S880 FauVeS880 Few hiVeS880 Few hooVeS880 Few waVeS880 Few wiVeS880 FieFS880 FieF’S880 FiFeS880 FiVe’S880 FiVeS880 ViVaCe881 iFiFiT881 FiFTh881 FiFTy881 heaVy FighT881 heaVy VeT881 iVy aPHiD881 Via ViDeo881 View ViDeo881 ViViD882 iFiFiN882 heaVy FiNn882 heaVy oVeN882 Via VieNna883 iFiFiM883 Fo-FuM883 heaVy FoaM883 whiFf a FuMe884 iFiFiR884 FaVoR884 FeVeR884 FiFeR884 hayFeVeR 885 iFiFiL885 a Few awFuL
885 halF oVaL886 iFiFiJ886 heaVy FetcH886 iFfy VoyaGe886 Via FiJi887 iFiFiK887 halF oFf-Key887 haVe a FiG887 heaVy FoG888 iFiFiF888 Fee-Fi-Fo888 halF-heaVy wiFe888 haVe halF oF a888 heaVy FiFe888 ViViFy 889 iFiFiP889 heaVy VIP889 huFfy VIP890 iFiPiS890 Fau PaS890 FiB’S890 FiBS890 FoB’S890 FoBS890 FoPS890 oFf BaSe890 PHoBia’S890 PHoBiaS890 PHoeBe’S890 PHoeBeS890 VeeP’S890 VeePS890 ViBe’S890 ViBeS890 VIP’S890 VIPS890 VP’S890 VPS891 iFiPiT891 FiBbeD891 oFfBeaT891 VaPiD892 iFiPiN892 FiBbiNg892 halFPeNny893 iFiPiM893 oFf oPiuM893 Via BoheMia894 iFiPiR894 FiBbeR