Myriad

The Aegean numerals of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations included a symbol composed of a circle with four dashes 𐄫 to denote tens of thousands.{{cite web|url=http://www.dma.ens.fr/culturemath/histoire%20des%20maths/htm/Verdan/Verdan.htm|title=Systèmes numéraux en Grèce ancienne: description et mise en perspective historique|author=Samuel Verdan|date=20 Mar 2007|access-date=2 Mar 2011|language=fr|archive-date=2 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202054101/http://www.dma.ens.fr/culturemath/histoire%20des%20maths/htm/Verdan/Verdan.htm|url-status=dead}}

In classical Greek numerals, myriad was written as a capital mu: Μ. To distinguish this numeral from letters, it was sometimes given an overbar: {{overline|M}}. Multiples were written above this sign. For example {{Greek numeral|45820000}} is 4,582×10,000 or 45,820,000.

The etymology of myriad is uncertain. It has been variously connected to PIE *meu- ("damp") in reference to the waves of the sea and to Greek myrmex ({{lang|grc|μύρμηξ}}, "ant") in reference to their swarms.Schwartzman, Steven. The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms Used in English, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SRw4PevE4zUC&pg=PA142 p. 142]. The Mathematical Assoc. of America, 1994.

In his Sand Reckoner, Archimedes used "myriad myriad" ({{overline|MM}}, one hundred million) as the basis for a numeration system of large powers of ten, which he used to count grains of sand.{{Cite book |last=Hirshfeld |first=Alan |title=Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes |date=8 September 2009 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn= |pages=57–60}}

Myriad may be used either as an adjective (there are myriad people outside) or as a noun (there is a myriad of people outside),Merriam-Webster Online. "[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myriad Myriad]". 2013. Accessed 1 November 2013. but there are small differences. The former might imply that it is a diverse group of people whereas the latter usually does not.

Despite its usually meaning (a large, unspecified quantity), myriad is sometimes used in English to mean ten thousand although usually restricted to translation from other languages like ancient Greek and Chinese where quantities are grouped by 10,000. Such use permits the translator to remain closer to the original text and avoid unwieldy mentions of "tens of thousands". For example, "the original number of the crews supplied by the several nations I find to have been twenty-four myriads"Herodotus. The History of Herodotus, VII.[https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh7180.htm 184]. Translation by G.C. Macaulay, 1890. Accessed 1 Nov 2013. and "What is the distance between one bridge and another? Twelve myriads of parasangs".Janowitz, Naomi. The Poetics of Ascent: Theories of Language in a Rabbinic Ascent Text, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QBmjU8WsP6IC&pg=PA118 p. 118]. SUNY Press (New York), 1989. Accessed 1 November 2013.

Most European languages include a variation of myriad with a similar meaning to the English word.

Additionally, the prefix myria- indicating multiplication times ten thousand (×10⁴), was part of the original metric system adopted by France in 1795.L'Histoire Du Mètre: "[http://histoire.du.metre.free.fr/fr/index.htm La Loi Du 18 Germinal An 3]". 2005. Accessed 1 November 2013. {{in lang|fr}} Although it was not retained after the 11th CGPM conference in 1960, myriameter is sometimes still encountered as a translation of the Scandinavian mile (Swedish & Norwegian: mil) of {{convert|10|km|sp=us|2}}, or in some classifications of wavelengths as the adjective myriametric. The myriagramme (10 kg) was a French approximation of the avoirdupois quartier of {{convert|25|lb|sp=us}} and the myriaton appears in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novel trilogy.

In modern Greek, the word "myriad" is rarely used to denote 10,000, but a million is ekatommyrio ({{lang|el|εκατομμύριο}}, lit. 'hundred myriad') and a thousand million is disekatommyrio ({{lang|el|δισεκατομμύριο}}, lit. 'twice hundred myriad').

{{see also|Chinese numerals|Japanese numerals|Korean numerals|Vietnamese numerals|Khmer numerals}}

In East Asia, the traditional numeral systems of China, Korea, and Japan are all decimal-based but grouped into ten thousands rather than thousands. The character for myriad is {{lang|zh|{{linktext|萬}}}} in traditional script and {{lang|zh|{{linktext|万}}}} in simplified form in both mainland China and Japanese; its pronunciation varies between languages (Mandarin: wàn, Hakka: wan⁵, Minnan: bān, Cantonese: maan⁶, Japanese and Korean: man, Vietnamese: vạn, Thai: หมื่น muen and Khmer: ម៉ឺន meun).{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Because of this grouping into fours, higher orders of numbers are provided by the powers of 10,000 rather than 1,000: In China, 10,000² was {{lang|zh|{{linktext|萬萬}}}} in ancient texts but is now called {{lang|zh|{{linktext|億}}}} and sometimes written as 1,0000,0000; 10,000³ is 1,0000,0000,0000 or {{lang|zh|{{linktext|兆}}}}; 10,000⁴ is 1,0000,0000,0000,0000 or {{lang|zh|{{linktext|京}}}}; and so on. Conversely, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean generally do not have native words for powers of one thousand: what is called "one million" in English is "100{{lang|zh|萬}}" (100 myriad) in the Sinosphere, and "one billion" in English is "{{lang|zh|十億}}" (ten myllion) or "{{lang|zh|十萬萬}}" (ten myriad myriad) in the Sinosphere. Unusually, Vietnam employs its former translation of {{lang|zh|兆}}, một triệu, to mean 1,000,000 rather than the Chinese figure. Similarly, the Chinese government has adapted the word {{lang|zh|兆}} to mean the scientific prefix mega-, but transliterations are used instead for giga-, tera-, and other larger prefixes. This has caused confusion in areas closely related to China such as Hong Kong and Macau, where {{lang|zh|兆}} is still largely used to mean 10,000³.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

{{lang|zh|萬}} and {{lang|zh|万}} are also frequently employed colloquially in expressions, clichés, and chengyu (idioms) in the senses of "vast", "numerous", "numberless", and "infinite". A skeleton key is a {{lang|zh|{{linktext|万|能|钥|匙}}}} ("myriad-use key"),Nciku.com. "[http://www.nciku.com/search/all/examples/%E4%B8%87%E8%83%BD%E9%92%A5%E5%8C%99 万能钥匙]". Accessed 1 November 2013. the emperor was the "lord of myriad chariots" ({{lang|zh|萬乘之主}}),Wai Keung Chan, Timothy. Considering the End: Mortality in Early Medieval Chinese Poetic Representation, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iQgyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 23]. Brill, 2012. Accessed 1 November 2013. the Great Wall is called {{lang|zh|{{linktext|万|里|长|城}}}} ("Myriad-mile Long Wall"), Zhu Xi's statement {{lang|zh|{{linktext|月|映|万|川}}}} ("the moon reflects in myriad rivers") had the sense of supporting greater empiricism in Chinese philosophy,Chen Derong. Metaphorical Metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Xt0iFhh0pAgC&pg=PA29 p. 29]. Lexington Books (Lanham, MD), 2011. Accessed 1 November 2013. and Ha Qiongwen's popular 1959 propaganda poster {{lang|zh|{{linktext|毛|主席|万岁}}}}, meaning "Long live Chairman Mao", literally reads as "[May] Chairman Mao [live to be] 10,000 years old".Yeh Wen-hsin & al. Visualizing China, 1845–1965: Moving and Still Images in Historical Narratives, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iSEyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA416 pp. 416 ff.] Brill, 2012. Accessed 1 November 2013. Its literary use may thus mean something huge and plentiful.{{Cite book |last=Zhu |first=Tao |title=Red Legacies in China: Cultural Afterlives of the Communist Revolution |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=978-0-674-73718-1 |editor-last=Li |editor-first=Jie |series=Harvard Contemporary China Series |volume= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |chapter=Building Big With No Regret: From Beijing's "Ten Great Buildings" in the 1950s to China's Megaprojects Today |doi= |jstor= |editor-last2=Zhang |editor-first2=Enhua}}{{Rp|page=60}}

A similar term is the Old Turkic word tümän,

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language – [http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/T0256150.html toman] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071209014112/http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/T0256150.html |date= 2007-12-09 }} whose variant forms remain in use for "ten thousand" among modern Mongolian, Turkish.Vietze, Wörterbuch Mongolisch – Deutsch, VEB 1988[https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/the_silk_road_and_the_korean_language.pdf The Silk Road And The Korean Language] According to Sir Gerard Clauson (1891–1974), it was likely borrowed from Tokharian tmān, which may have been borrowed in turn from Old Chinese tman 萬 > wan.{{cite book|last=Clauson|first=Gerard|year=1972|title=An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish|publisher=Oxford, Clarendon Press|page=507|isbn=0198641125}}

In Hebrew the word רבבה (pronounced "revava") means 10,000, and is the highest number represented in Hebrew. Its sources go back to biblical times.Genesis 24 60 Its usage became very rare after the 19th century. The term 60 ריבוא ("60 ribo"), which literally stands for 600,000 is used several times in the bible to denote "a very large undefinitive number".{{cn|date=November 2023}}

{{wikt-inline|myriad}}

• {{Annotated link|-yllion}}
• {{Annotated link|Indian numbering system}}
• {{Annotated link|Long and short scale}}
• {{Annotated link|Names of large numbers}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Integers

Category:Units of amount

Category:10000 (number)

Category:Quantity