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<DIV>Hello, Ray, <BR><BR>You're right - that is pretty much nonsense in that
number. <BR><BR>But it reminded me of another number which is "printed" on the
outer wall of our local church here in downtown St. Wendel. Actually it is a
prayer from 17th Century: Oh trinity, in this evil times of hunger, war and
epidemics, please, see us crying and provide help (very "free" translated).
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But the writer made a riddle with the date. The original words are:
<BR><BR>ATRA PESTE FAME AVSTEROQVE FVRENTE GRADIVO<BR>ASPICE ANHELANTER TE ROGO
GRATA TRIAS<BR><BR>But it's not written that way. Well, all letters are captials
but some of the capitals are bigger than the others. Thus it looks that way
(well, I've now replaced all capitals by common letters and the bigger written
by capitals):<BR><BR>atra peste faMe aVsteroqVe fVrente graDIVo<BR>aspICe
anheLanter te rogo grata trIas<BR><BR>The idea is not arrage the letters to make
the date but to a d d all letters and create a sum which
will be the year. <BR><BR>The capital M in "faMe" = 1000<BR>plus the first V in
"aVsteroqVe" = 5<BR>plus the other V at the end of that word = 5<BR>sum until
now = 1.010<BR>plus V => 1015<BR>plus D = 500 => 1515<BR>plus I = 1 =>
1516<BR>plus V => 1521<BR>plus I => 1522<BR>plus C => 1622<BR>plus L =
50 => 1672<BR>plus I => 1673 AD<BR><BR>The clou is - there are rules for
creating such a thing:<BR>-> it has to have a meaning - some religious
kind<BR>-> it has to be written in some specific rythm<BR>and most important
-> you're not allowed to add another word which has another letter which
could be used as a number: </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>example: you may need another "me" (= "me") but cannot use it as "me"
contains "M" and M=1000.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I like that item very much - it's part of my guided tour through our town.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yours</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Roland Geiger, St. Wendel, Germany<BR><BR><BR>In einer eMail vom 27.10.2009
03:55:42 Westeuropäische Normalzeit schreibt raybeere@yahoo.com:<BR>First of
all, "CD" is 400, then "D" is 500 - but using them in this sequence is nonsense.
If you wanted to say 1900, you would use "MCM". Then, "XL" is 40 - but "CL" is
150 - which would _not_ follow 40. In other words, this entire number is
nonsense. I have no idea what the person who gave you the details _meant_, but
what they gave you is worthless. There isn't even a single, obvious error here.
There are several, which, together, render the whole thing totally meaningless.
(If this is, indeed, what the original reads, then the typesetter was either
drunk or hopelessly ignorant. Those are also possibilities - although printers
and typesetters _tended_ to be educated, there were exceptions, and even the
best compositors had bad
days.)<BR>
Ray Beere Johnson II</DIV>
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