Abstract
The Middle English verse romance, Capystranus, contains 32 numerical expressions in fewer than 580 lines, some of which are spelled out, others are in Roman numerals, while the rest are in mixed orthographical/numerical forms. Values range between one and 100,000 and contain up to four individual lexemes requiring as many as six syllables to be expressed orally. Although it was initially suspected that such complex expression might be silently “skipped over”, the verse shows that the poem’s metrical regularity is dependent upon full vocal/acoustic realization of all numbers expressed in Roman notation. While this does not preclude silent reading, it does at least suggest the text was suitable for oral recitation. This paper shows how even complex Roman numerals were either suitable or suitably adapted for quick and easy interpretation. Propositions are provided concerning the choice of orthographical representation or Roman notation and its treatment. In this romance it seems that line length was less important than a number’s position in a line, as well as the ease with which a number could be “subitized” or mentally visualized and approximated, resulting in high frequency, low-value numbers usually being realized as lexical items to be written out, while high-value numbers conceived of more abstractly would be represented symbolically. The exceptions seem to be certain high frequency numbers of account (e.g., 20, 100, 1000), which could be provided orthographically or numerically despite difficulty subitizing them, while common low-value numbers in time expressions could be expressed numerically as they would appear on time pieces.
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Notes
Ropa here references Edwards on Morte Darthur (1996, p. 243).
Shepherd’s edition (based on London, BL, incunable C. 71. c. 26) provides 579 lines. The online edition provided by the University of Otago, however, convincingly purports 3 missing lines due to lacunae in the rhyme schemes (between Shepherd’s lines 81–82, lines 114–115, and lines 162–163), and also suggests 13 more missing lines due to conflation of two stanzas at Shepherd’s lines 354–355. Although line numbers cited here are drawn from Otago, which is preferred due to its relative accessibility, only the 579 lines listed by Shepherd actually appear in the extant incunabula.
Technically a logograph might give some indication of pronunciation, whereas ideographs are purely indicative of a concept. See footnote 6 (below) for more information.
Picard notes that this was largely due to the fact that the Arabic numerals facilitated the use of double-entry book-keeping, which city merchants in London had imported from Italy, and which was increasingly common in city counting houses (2017, pp. 50, 71).
Entry for 29 May in an e-book with no pagination.
Technically a logograph might give some indication of pronunciation, whereas ideographs are purely indicative of a concept. It would seem that values under 100 are (or, at least in the original Latin, were) ideographs whereas 100 and over were originally logographs (e.g., C = centum, M = mille, but i ≠ unum, v ≠ quinque, x ≠ decem, l ≠ quinquaginta). Whether or not the author or printer was aware of this, however, is debatable.
This contrasts with the “six and twenty” of 26,000 in line 353 (examined below), where the value would risk being misread as “twenty-six” if not spelled out.
It is also the only ideograph rather than a logograph to represent a number over 50 (500 = Latin quingenti), which perhaps accounts for its rarity.
Subitization is the ability to judge and report the number of items rapidly and accurately at a glance without the need to count them. The term was developed by Kaufman et al., who estimated that it occurs with almost complete confidence up to four items, relatively complete confidence up to six, adequately up to about eight, and as many as ten items could still be assessed within 2 and 4 s (1949, pp. 499–501).
While much the same argument could be made for “fourtene” (l. 382) and “forty” (l. 217), both of these values occur at the beginning of a line, so any speculative discussion of them would be essentially moot.
It must be added, however, that in three of the four examples here cited, the article occurs with a logographic realisation of the number.
The only other number under 10 or 20 to occur is “seven”, which is also written out, but at the end of a line: “That made this worlde and dayes seuen” (l. 239).
Such a structure would accord with Ford’s theory of the creation for formulae based on a prototype template (2002).
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Bruno Baracat of the psychology section of the INU Champollion’s Department of Human and Social Science for guiding me towards appropriate neuropsychological studies in numerosity, numeracy and Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Difference (difference threshold) for the completion of this article.
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Ford, J.C. Two or III Feet Apart: Oral Recitation, Roman Numerals, and Metrical Regularity in Capystranus. Neophilologus 102, 573–593 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-018-9567-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-018-9567-7