Gematria vs Isopsephy - What's the difference?
gematria | isopsephy | see also |
A Kabbalistic method of interpreting Hebrew words, based on numerical values of letters.
* 1997 , Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon :
* 2006 , Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day , Vintage 2007, p. 897:
The practice of adding up the numerical values of the letters in a word to form a single number.
As nouns the difference between gematria and isopsephy
is that gematria is a Kabbalistic method of interpreting Hebrew words, based on numerical values of letters while isopsephy is the practice of adding up the numerical values of the letters in a word to form a single number.gematria
English
(wikipedia gematria)Noun
- Suppose a secret force of Jesuits, receives each Day a summary of Observations made at Greenwich, and transcalculates it according to a system known to the Kabbalists of the Second Century as Gematria , whereby Messages may be extracted from lines of Text sacred and otherwise, a Knowledge preserv’d by various Custodians over the centuries, and since the Last, possess’d by Jesuit and Freemason alike.
- each letter in this alphabet also has its own numerical value , what was known among ancient Jewish students of the Torah as ‘gematria ’.
