Meaning
A prime number can be divided only by itself and 1. The Primes cipher gives the letters the primes in order: A 2, B 3, C 5, D 7, E 11, and so on to Z, the 26th prime, 101. The values rise roughly as the ordinal does, about four times faster, with small irregular gaps where the primes thin out.
The cipher belongs with the triangular and square ciphers in the arithmetic set that Gematrinator listed in the 2010s. It has no older source, and the primes, much admired by mathematicians, have no part in the gematria of any of the three traditions.
How it is counted
GEMATRIA: G 17 + E 11 + M 41 + A 2 + T 71 + R 61 + I 23 + A 2 = 228; reduced to 12, then to 3. ALPHABET: A 2 + L 37 + P 53 + H 19 + A 2 + B 3 + E 11 + T 71 = 198; reduced to 18, then to 9.
Since A (2) is the only even value, a total is even exactly when the word has an even number of letters other than A. GEMATRIA has six such letters and an even total; ALPHABET has six too. Patterns like this come from the table, not the words.
What this page leaves out
As with the other arithmetic ciphers, the reverse form is not computed and no total is read. The cipher is behind "more ciphers" so that a number seen on another site can be checked here.
The arithmetic ciphers together
Four of the community ciphers are simple functions of a letter's place in the alphabet: Offset 36 adds a constant, Trigonal takes the triangular number, Squares the square, and Primes the prime of that rank. Each gives totals of a different size and therefore a different set of matches, which is how a calculator with many ciphers comes to find a match for almost any number a user is looking for. None of the four was used by the traditions whose alphabets were numerals.
Correspondences
Each item with how it stands: “sourced” is in the work cited, “our construction” is EsoTerrier’s own, and “disputed” means the sources disagree.
- Name on the popular sites
- "Primes" (Gematrinator) sourced
- Totals
- A total is even exactly when the word's number of letters other than A is even our construction
- Tradition
- None found sourced
How the schools read it
- Gematrinator
- Lists it, with a reverse form we do not compute.
- EsoTerrier
- Behind "more ciphers", labelled as a modern cipher.
Claims about it
-
This cipher goes back to antiquity or to a source older than the gematria websites.
falseWhat the record shows: It is a coinage of the online English-gematria community of the 2000s and 2010s; no older source was found.
-
A prime total marks a word as special.
falseWhat the record shows: Whether a total is prime depends on the arithmetic of the letters chosen; it carries no meaning in any tradition we know of.
-
Totals under this cipher show that news events are planned by their numbers.
falseWhat the record shows: A search with dozens of ciphers and millions of phrases always finds a match; fact-checkers have shown it. Nothing on this site reads events, dates or news by number.
