Roman numerals

The system of Roman numerals is a numeral system originating in ancient Rome, and was adapted from Etruscan numerals. The system used in antiquity was slightly modified in the Middle Ages to produce the system we use today.

Modern non-English speaking usage

The above uses are customary for English-speaking countries. Although many of them are also maintained in other countries, those countries have some additional uses for them which are unknown in English-speaking regions.

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The French and the Spanish use capital Roman numerals to denote centuries, e.g., 'XVIII' refers to the eighteenth century, so as to not confuse the first two digits of the century with the first two digits of most, if not all, of the years in the century. The Italians do not, instead referring to the digits in the years, for example, quattrocento is their name for the fifteenth century. Some scholars in English-speaking countries prefer the French method, among them Lyon Sprague de Camp.

Related Topics:
Eighteenth century - Quattrocento - Fifteenth century - Lyon Sprague de Camp

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In Germany, Poland, and Russia, Roman numerals were used in a method of recording the date. Just as an old clock recorded the hour by Roman numerals while minutes were measured in arabic numerals, in this system, the month was in Roman numerals while the day was in arabic numerals, for example 14-VI-1789 was June the fourteenth, 1789. It is by this method that dates are inscribed on the walls of the Kremlin, for example. This method has the advantage that days and months are not confused in rapid note-taking, and that any range of dates or months could be expressed in a mixture of Arabic and Roman numerals with no confusion, for instance, V-VIII is May to August, while 1-V-31-VIII is May first to August thirty-first.

Related Topics:
Arabic numerals - The Kremlin

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But as the French use capital Roman numerals to refer to the quarters of the year, for example, 'III' is the third quarter, and which has apparently become standard in some European standards organisation, (but which in American business is 'Q3'), the aforementioned method of recording the date has had to switch to minuscule Roman numerals, e.g., 4-viii-1961. (Later still, the ISO specified that dates should be given in all Arabic numerals, which can lead to confusion.)

Related Topics:
Quarters of the year - Third quarter - ISO

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