Editing Gematria (section)

==Use in non-Semitic languages==
===Greek===
{{main|Isopsephy}}
According to [[Aristotle]] (384–322 BCE), [[isopsephy]], an early Milesian system using the Greek alphabet, was part of the [[Pythagoreanism|Pythagorean tradition]], which originated in the 6th century BCE.<ref name=Acevedo/>

[[Plato]] (c. 427–347 BCE) offers a discussion in the ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', involving a view of words and names as referring (more or less accurately) to the "essential nature"<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 27, 2022 |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Cratylus, by Plato |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1616/1616-h/1616-h.htm |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> of a person or object and that this view may have influenced—and is central to—isopsephy.<ref>Marc Hirshman, ''Theology and exegesis in midrashic literature'', in Jon Whitman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7EjIm3pAfhQC&pg=PA113 Interpretation and allegory: antiquity to the modern period]. Brill, 2003. pp. 113–114.</ref><ref>John Michell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7nyuYu4TBAYC&pg=PA59 The Dimensions of Paradise: Sacred Geometry, Ancient Science, and the Heavenly Order on Earth], 2008. pp.59–65 ff.</ref>

A sample of graffiti at [[Pompeii]] (destroyed under volcanic ash in 79 CE) reads "I love the girl whose name is phi mu epsilon (545)".<ref>Adela Yarbro Collins, ''Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism'', Brill 2000, p116.</ref>

Other examples of use in Greek come primarily from the Christian literature. Davies and Allison state that, unlike [[rabbinic]] sources, isopsephy is always explicitly stated as being used.<ref>* {{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=William David |last2=Allison |first2=Dale C. |title=A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2004 |page=164}}{{missing ISBN}}</ref>

===Latin===
{{main|Numerology}} 
[[File:Agrippa cipher.jpg|thumb|alt=Shows a picture of a cipher with the English alphabet, missing the J, U, and W, but with 4 extra letters after the Z which appear as I, V, HI and HV.|The Agrippa Cipher, pg. 143 of ''De Occulta Philosophia'' 1533]]
[[File:Cabalistic-Gematria.png|thumb|right|alt=Shows the alphabet, missing the letters J and U, numbered from 1 to 24|Final page of Johann Henning's ''Cabbalologia'', 1683, showing a natural-order number alphabet]]

During the [[Renaissance]], systems of gematria were devised for the [[Classical Latin alphabet]]. There were a number of variations of these which were popular in Europe.<ref name=Tatlow>Tatlow, Ruth. ''Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet''. Cambridge University Press, 1991. pg. 130-133. {{ISBN|0-521-36191-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ramsey |first1=David |title=Bach and Numerology: "Dry Mathematical Stuff"? |journal=Literature and Aesthetics |date=1997 |volume=7 |pages=157–161 |url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/LA/article/view/5266/5972 |access-date=5 June 2023}}</ref>

In 1525, [[Christoph Rudolff]] included a Classical Latin gematria in his work ''Nimble and beautiful calculation via the artful rules of algebra [which] are so commonly called "coss"'':

 A=1  B=2  C=3  D=4  E=5  F=6  G=7  H=8  I=9  K=10  L=11  M=12<br />
 N=13 O=14 P=15 Q=16 R=17 S=18 T=19 U=20 W=21 X=22  Y=23  Z=24<ref name=Tatlow/>

At the beginning of the ''Apocalypisis in Apocalypsin'' (1532), the German monk [[Michael Stifel]] (also known as Steifel) describes the natural order and trigonal number alphabets, claiming to have invented the latter. He used the trigonal alphabet to interpret the prophecy in the Biblical Book of Revelation, and predicted the world would end at 8am on October 19, 1533. The official Lutheran reaction to Steifel's prophecy shows that this type of activity was not welcome. Belief in the power of numbers was unacceptable in reformed circles, and gematria was not part of the reformation agenda.<ref name=Tatlow/>{{rp|44, 60}}<ref name=Dudley>Dudley, Underwood. ''Numerology, Or, What Pythagoras Wrought''. Cambridge University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-88385-524-0}}</ref>

An analogue of the Greek system of isopsephy using the Latin alphabet appeared in 1583, in the works of the French poet [[Étienne Tabourot]]. This cipher and variations of it were published or referred to in the major work of Italian [[Pietro Bongo]] ''Numerorum Mysteria,'' and a 1651 work by [[Georg Philipp Harsdörffer]], and by [[Athanasius Kircher]] in 1665, and in a 1683 volume of ''Cabbalologia'' by Johann Henning, where it was simply referred to as the ''1683 alphabet''.  It was mentioned in the work of {{interlanguage link|Johann Christoph Männling|de}}  ''The European Helicon or Muse Mountain'', in 1704, and it was  also called the ''Alphabetum Cabbalisticum Vulgare'' in ''Die verliebte und galante Welt'' by [[Christian Friedrich Hunold]] in 1707. It was used by [[Leo Tolstoy]] in his 1865 work ''[[War and Peace]]'' to identify [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]] with the [[Number of the beast|number of the Beast]].<ref name=Tatlow/><ref name=Dudley/>

===English===
{{further|English Qaballa|Liber Trigrammaton|Numerology#English systems}}
English Qabalah refers to several different systems<ref name=Nema>{{cite book |author-link=Nema (occultist) |author=Nema |year=1995 |title=Maat Magick: A Guide to Self-Initiation |location=York Beach, Maine |publisher=Weiser |isbn=0-87728-827-5}}</ref>{{Rp|24–25}} of [[mysticism]] related to [[Hermetic Qabalah]] that interpret the letters of the [[English alphabet]] via an assigned set of numerological significances.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hulse |first=David Allen |title=The Western Mysteries: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Sacred Languages and Magickal Systems of the World |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |year=2000 |isbn=1-56718-429-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rabinovitch |first1=Shelley |last2=Lewis |first2=James |title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism |publisher=Citadel Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-8065-2407-3}}</ref>{{Rp|269}} The first system of English gematria was used by the poet [[John Skelton (poet)|John Skelton]] in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel".<ref>Walker, Julia. M. Medusa's Mirrors: ''Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and the metamorphosis of the female self'', pp. 33&ndash;42 University of Delaware Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-87413-625-3}}</ref>

[[File:Agrippa cipher.jpg|thumb|alt=Shows a picture of a cipher with the English alphabet, missing the J, U, and W, but with 4 extra letters after the Z which appear as I, V, HI and HV.|The Agrippa Cipher, pg. 143 of ''De Occulta Philosophia'' 1533]]

The [[Agrippa code]] was used with English and Latin. It was defined by [[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]] in 1532, in his work ''De Occulta Philosopha''. Agrippa based his system on the order of the [[Classical Latin alphabet]] using a ranked valuation as in [[isopsephy]], appending the four additional letters in use at the time after Z, including J (600) and U (700), which were still considered letter variants.<ref name=Tyson>{{cite book |last=Agrippa von Nettesheim |first=Heinrich Cornelius |editor-last=Tyson |editor-first=Donald |translator=James Freake |year=1993 |title=Three Books of Occult Philosophy |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |pages=Book II, Ch. 22 |isbn=978-0-87542-832-1}}</ref> Agrippa was the mentor of English magician [[John Dee]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Magic as Science and Religion: John Dee and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Paperback |year=2012 |first=Kambiz |last=Mostofizadeh |publisher=Mikazuki}}</ref> who makes reference to the [[Agrippa code]] in Theorem XVI of his 1564 book, ''[[Monas Hieroglyphica]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Hieroglyphic Monad |first=John |last=Dee |translator=J. W. Hamilton-Jones |publisher=Weiser Books |year=1975 |isbn=1-57863-203-X}}</ref>

Although Aleister Crowley, as a former Adept of the Golden Dawn, used a [[#Transliterated Hebrew|transliterated]] approach to gematria in his works, since Crowley's death a number of people have proposed numerical correspondences for English gematria in order to achieve a deeper understanding of Crowley's ''[[The Book of the Law]]'' (1904). One such system, the [[English Qaballa]], was created by English magician [[James Lees (English magician)|James Lees]] on November 26, 1976.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Cath |title=The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer |publisher=Hadean Press Limited |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-907881-68-8 |chapter=Preliminaries}}</ref> The founding of Lees' magical order in 1974 and his creation of EQ are chronicled in ''All This and a Book'' by Cath Thompson.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Cath |title=All This and a Book |year=2018 |publisher=Hadean Press Limited |isbn=978-1-907881-78-7}}</ref>