Chapter 3: What number is

1. Number is multitude made up of units. For one is the seed of number but not number. _Nummus_ (coin) gave its name to _numerus_ (number), and from being frequently used originated the word.

_Unus_ derives its name from the Greek, for the Greeks call _unus_ ἕνα, likewise _duo_, _tria_, which they call δύο and τρία.

2. _Quattuor_ took its name from a square figure (_figura quadrata_). _Quinque_, however, received its name from one who gave the names to numbers not according to nature but according to whim. _Sex_ and _septem_ come from the Greek.

3. For in many names that are aspirated in Greek we use _s_ instead of the aspiration. We have _sex_ for ἑξ, _septem_ for ἕπτα, and also the word _serpillum_ (thyme) for _herpillum_. _Octo_ is borrowed without change; they have ἔννεα, we _novem_; they δέκα, we _decem_.

4. _Decem_ is so-called from a Greek etymology, because it ties together and unites the numbers below it. For to tie together and unite is called among them δεσμεύειν.[242]

[242] This derivation points to a soft _c_ in _decem_.