Ethiopic Number Eighty

It means eighty.

In the Ge’ez number system, tens and ones add in sequence: ፹፩ means 81.

Where did Ethiopic numerals begin?

Their early history is debated.

The Ethiopic script grew from South Arabian writing and first wrote Ge’ez, a Semitic language; it later served Amharic, Tigre and Oromo. Its numeral signs may reflect Greek forms, perhaps through Coptic.

Anza’s stela, dated to the late third century, was once treated as the earliest numeral inscription; its bread and beer quantities are spelled out. A 2023 study instead names HS1 as the oldest evidence of numeral symbols, proposing they grew from Ge’ez letters and punctuation. Later examples include regnal dates, medieval mathematics, nineteenth-century letters, and page, chapter and verse references in an 1852 Amharic New Testament.