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Roman numerals in numerology. The ill omen of number 17. - Roman Numerals: Charts, History and Numerology

Roman numerals in numerology. The ill omen of number 17.

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One of the most curious uses for Roman numerals consists in rearranging the letters within a numeral in order to produce a recognizable word in Latin or some other language. I don't think that many actual numerals can be read as words without such rearrangement, but with some creativity interesting cases can be found. Such is VIXI, generated from XVII (17)

Claude Gagnière says in Au bonheur des mots:

    The Italians fear the 17's, because 17 is written XVII in Roman numerals, which is the anagram of VIXI, which means "I lived", i.e. "I am dead". In Italy, buildings do not have a 17th floor, hotels do not have a room 17, and Alitalia planes do not have a seat 17 [neither do Air Inter planes and British Airways Concordes]. When Renault marketed its R17 and wanted to export it to Italy, it had to be renamed "Renault 177". Napoleon Bonaparte, who was more Italian than French in his education, refused to give the signal for his coup on "vendredi 17 brumaire" and postponed it until the following day.

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