Editing Roman numerals (section)

====Other additive forms====
[[File:BadSalzdetfurthBadenburgerStr060529.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A [[clock face]] with the Roman numerals typical for clocks, in [[Bad Salzdetfurth]], Germany]]

While subtractive notation for 4, 40, and 400 ({{rn|IV}}, {{rn|XL}}, and {{rn|CD}}) has been the usual form since Roman times {{Citation needed|reason=From what I've seen it seems that the additive notation was by far the normal until somewhere around the 18th century, at least for 4.|date=January 2024}}, [[additive notation]] to represent these numbers ({{rn|IIII}}, {{rn|XXXX}}, and {{rn|CCCC}})<ref name="caes0050">{{Cite Wikisource |author=Gaius Iulius Caesar |title=Commentarii de bello Gallico, Book II, Section 4 |wslink=Commentarii de bello Gallico/Liber II |anchor=4 |wslanguage=la}} <br />Book II, Section 4: "{{lang|la|... XV milia Atrebates, Ambianos X milia, Morinos XXV milia, Menapios VII milia, Caletos X milia, Veliocasses et Viromanduos totidem, Atuatucos XVIIII milia; ...}}" <br />Book II, Section 8: "{{lang|la|... ab utroque latere eius collis transversam fossam obduxit circiter passuum CCCC et ad extremas fossas castella constituit...}}" <br />Book IV, Section 15: "{{lang|la|Nostri ad unum omnes incolumes, perpaucis vulneratis, ex tanti belli timore, cum hostium numerus capitum CCCCXXX milium fuisset, se in castra receperunt.}}" <br />Book VII, Section 4: "{{lang|la|...in hiberna remissis ipse se recipit die XXXX Bibracte.}}"</ref> very frequently continued to be used, including in compound numbers like 24 ({{rn|XXIIII}}),<ref name="rocc1612">{{Cite book |last=Rocca |first=Angelo |title=De campanis commentarius |date=1612 |publisher=Guillelmo Faciotti |location=Rome}} [[:File:Campana a XXIIII hominibus pulsata.jpg|Title of a Plate]]: "Campana a XXIIII hominibus pulsata" ("Bell to be sounded by 24 men").</ref><!--Can't find a good internet source for this text from Cicero: <ref name="otle1834">William Young Ottley (1834): ''Aratus astronomical poem (with Ten lines not heretofore known,) with Cicero's latin translation''. Royal Society of Antiquaries, London. 191 pages. Page 158: "De Concordia Solaris Cursus et Lunaris://Novem horis in luna pro quinque diebus in sole computatis, idem luna novem horis tantum itineris peragitur quantum sol in quinque diebus, et ideo unius signi horis iuxta lunarem velocitatem enumeratis, inveniuntur LIIII, quod sunt sexies VIIII. duobus enim ... et sic demum possunt XIIII horae lunares cum quinque diebus solaribus concordare.//Item de eadem ratione://Luna lucere dodrantis semuncias dicitur. duodecim unciae libram faciunt, XXIIII horae diem integrum; totidem enim sunt semunciae in libra plena. quas si diviseris in IV, quarta pars quadrantis nomen sortita est, reliquae III dodrantis; et ideo dixi dodrantis semuncias horarum, id est IIII punctos; "</ref>--> 74 ({{rn|LXXIIII}}),<ref name="borc1673">Gerard Ter Borch (1673): ''[[:File:Cornelis de Graeff (1650-1678).png|Portrait of Cornelis de Graef]]''. Date on painting: "Out. XXIIII Jaer. // M. DC. LXXIIII".</ref> and 490 ({{rn|CCCCLXXXX}}).<ref name=plin2015>{{Cite Wikisource |author=Gaius Plinius Secundus |title=Naturalis Historia, Book III |wslink=Naturalis Historia/Liber III |anchor=IV |wslanguage=la}} Book III: "{{lang|la|Saturni vocatur, Caesaream Mauretaniae urbem {{overline|CCLXXXXVII}} p[assum]. traiectus. reliqua in ora flumen Tader ... ortus in Cantabris haut procul oppido Iuliobrica, per {{overline|CCCCL}} p. fluens ...}}" <br />Book IV: "{{lang|la|Epiri, Achaiae, Atticae, Thessalia in porrectum longitudo CCCCLXXXX traditur, latitudo CCLXXXXVII.}}" <br />Book VI: "{{lang|la|tam vicinum Arsaniae fluere eum in regione Arrhene Claudius Caesar auctor est, ut, cum intumuere, confluant nec tamen misceantur leviorque Arsanias innatet MMMM ferme spatio, mox divisus in Euphraten mergatur.}}"</ref> The additive forms for 9, 90, and 900 ({{rn|VIIII}},<ref name=caes0050/> {{rn|LXXXX}},<ref name="benn1731">{{Cite book |last=Bennet |first=Thomas |title=Grammatica Hebræa, cum uberrima praxi in usum tironum ... Editio tertia |date=1731 |publisher=T. Astley |page=24}} Copy in the British Library; 149 pages. <br />Page 24: "{{lang|la|PRÆFIXA duo sunt}} ''viz.'' ''He'' {{lang|la|emphaticum vel relativum (de quo Cap VI Reg. LXXXX.) &}} ''Shin'' {{lang|la|cum}} ''Segal'' {{lang|la|sequente}} ''Dagesh'', {{lang|la|quod denotat pronomen relativum...}}"</ref> and {{rn|DCCCC}}<ref name="mira1486">{{Cite book |last=Della Mirandola |first=Pico |url=http://www.esotericarchives.com/pico/conclus.htm |title=Conclusiones sive Theses DCCCC |date=1486 |language=la |trans-title=Conclusions, or 900 Theses}}</ref>) have also been used, although less often.

The two conventions could be mixed in the same document or inscription, even in the same numeral. For example, on the numbered gates to the [[Colosseum]], {{rn|IIII}} is systematically used instead of {{rn|IV}}, but subtractive notation is used for {{rn|XL}}; consequently, gate 44 is labelled {{rn|XLIIII}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 January 2011 |title=360:12 tables, 24 chairs, and plenty of chalk |url=https://threesixty360.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/roman-numerals-not-quite-so-simple/ |website=Roman Numerals...not quite so simple}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 November 2021 |title=Paul Lewis |url=http://www.web40571.clarahost.co.uk/roman/howtheywork.htm |website=Roman Numerals...How they work}}</ref>

Especially on tombstones and other funerary inscriptions, 5 and 50 have been occasionally written {{rn|IIIII}} and {{rn|XXXXX}} instead of {{rn|V}} and {{rn|L}}, and there are instances such as {{rn|IIIIII}} and {{rn|XXXXXX}} rather than {{rn|VI}} or {{rn|LX}}.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=numbers, Roman |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198661726 |date=1996 |editor-last=Hornblower |editor-first=Simon |edition=3rd |isbn=0-19-866172-X |last2=Spawforth |first2=Anthony J. S. |first1=Joyce Maire |last1=Reynolds |editor2-first=Anthony |editor2-last=Spawforth |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Benjamin Hall |title=The Revised Latin Primer |date=1923 |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co. |location=London}}</ref>

Modern [[clock face]]s that use Roman numerals still very often use {{rn|IIII}} for four o'clock but {{rn|IX}} for nine o'clock, a practice that goes back to very early clocks such as the [[Wells Cathedral clock]] of the late 14th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milham |first=W.I. |title=Time & Timekeepers |date=1947 |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |page=196}}</ref><ref name="pickover">{{Cite book |last=Pickover |first=Clifford A. |url={{google books|id = 52N0JJBspM0C|page = 282|plainurl = yes }} |title=Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-534800-2 |page=282 |author-link=Clifford A. Pickover}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Cecil |url=https://archive.org/details/moreofstraightdo00adam/page/154 |title=More of the straight dope |last2=Zotti |first2=Ed |date=1988 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-35145-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/moreofstraightdo00adam/page/154 154]}}</ref> However, this is far from universal: for example, the clock on the [[Palace of Westminster]] tower (commonly known as [[Big Ben]]) uses a subtractive {{rn|IV}} for 4 o'clock.<ref name="pickover" />{{efn|[[Isaac Asimov]] once mentioned an "interesting theory" that Romans avoided using {{rn|IV}} because it was the initial letters of {{lang|la|IVPITER}}, the Latin spelling of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], and might have seemed [[Piety|impious]].<ref name="asimov on numbers 12">{{Cite book |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |url=http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/asimov-on-numbers.pdf |title=Asimov on Numbers |date=1966 |publisher=Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc |page=12}}</ref> He did not say whose theory it was.}}

[[File:AdmiraltyArchLondonCloseup.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The year number on [[Admiralty Arch]], London. The year 1910 is rendered as {{rn|MDCCCCX}}, rather than the more usual {{rn|MCMX}}|alt=]]

Several monumental inscriptions created in the early 20th century use variant forms for "1900" (usually written {{rn|MCM}}). These vary from {{rn|MDCCCCX}} for 1910 as seen on [[Admiralty Arch]], London, to the more unusual, if not unique {{rn|MDCDIII}} for 1903, on the north entrance to the [[Saint Louis Art Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gallery: Museum's North Entrance (1910) |url=http://www.slam.org/century_of_free/gallery.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204081437/http://slam.org:80/century_of_free/gallery.php |archive-date=4 December 2010 |access-date=10 January 2014 |publisher=Saint Louis Art Museum |quote=The inscription over the North Entrance to the Museum reads: "Dedicated to Art and Free to All MDCDIII." These roman numerals translate to 1903, indicating that the engraving was part of the original building designed for the 1904 World's Fair.}}</ref>

[[File:Epitaph des Marcus Caelius.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|left|Epitaph of [[centurion]] Marcus Caelius, showing "{{rn|XIIX}}"]]