Gematria
<p><b>Gematria</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ɡəˈmeɪ.tri.ə/</a> originated as an Assyro-Babylonian-Greek system of alphanumeric <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code" title="Code">code</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher" title="Cipher">cipher</a> later adopted into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_culture" title="Jewish culture">Jewish culture</a> that assigns <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number" title="Number">numerical value</a> to a word/name/phrase in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature" title="Nature">Nature</a>, a person's age, the calendar year, or the like.</p>
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Similar systems, some of which were derived from or inspired by Hebrew gematria, have been used in other languages and cultures, i.e. Greek <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopsephy" title="Isopsephy">isopsephy</a> and Arabic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjad_numerals" title="Abjad numerals">abjad numerals</a>.
The best-known example of Hebrew gematria is the word <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chai_%28symbol%29" title="Chai (symbol)">Chai</a> ("alive"), which is composed of two letters that (using the assignments in the <i>Mispar gadol</i> table shown below) add up to 18. This has made 18 a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luck#Numerology" title="Luck">lucky number</a>" among Jews, and gifts in multiples of 18 are very popular.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup></p>
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Although the term is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Language" class="mw-redirect" title="Hebrew Language">Hebrew</a>, it is derived from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Language" class="mw-redirect" title="Greek Language">Greek</a> γεωμετρία <i>geōmetriā</i>, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry" title="Geometry">geometry</a>", which was used as a translation of gēmaṭriyā, though some scholars believe it to derive from Greek γραμματεια <i>grammateia</i> "knowledge of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing" title="Writing">writing</a>". It's possible that both Greek words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> (Some also hold it to derive from the order of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet" title="Greek alphabet">Greek alphabet</a>, gamma being the third letter of the Greek alphabet (gamma + tria).<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup>) The word has been extant in English since the 17th century from translations of works by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Pico_della_Mirandola" title="Giovanni Pico della Mirandola">Giovanni Pico della Mirandola</a>. Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts, notably in those associated with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah" title="Kabbalah">Kabbalah</a>.</p>