Ethiopic Number Seventy

Select ፸ from the numeral layer of an Ethiopic keyboard.

Ethiopic keyboard layouts assign keys differently; the numeral may be on a shifted or numeric layer, so check the active layout.

It is a complete Ethiopic numeral, not a sequence assembled from 7 and 0.

Why does ፸ look like a marked letter?

The bars distinguish the numeral from syllable signs.

The origin of Ethiopic numerals is debated. A conventional account links them to Greek numerals made from letters, perhaps through Coptic, an Egyptian language and writing tradition. A 2023 study proposes another influence: forms of Ge’ez, the classical Ethiopian language, written without vowel marks, plus a punctuation stroke.

The Ethiopic script itself has South Arabian roots. That script lineage does not establish the numerals’ ancestry.

What can early inscriptions tell us?

They show the system in use, not this sign’s first appearance.

A late-third-century inscription on the Anza stela, a stone monument, uses Ethiopic numerals to record a quantity of loaves of bread.

A comparative history finds no 70 among the third- and fourth-century inscriptions it covers, leaving the first attestation of ፸ uncertain. Later examples appear in Ge’ez-language manuscripts, church calendars, and scripture references.