Significance of 十三

[zhwj]

Is there any particular significance to the number 13, especially in family relationships?

In many TV shows and novels, there is a female relative who is #13 in seniority, a 十三娘 or 十三姨. There's also a 三十娘 in 大话西游 that may be mocking this tendency.

Is it just that it sounds good, or is there some other meaning behind it?

[xiaocai]

How about "十三点" or "十三不亲"?

I'm Just joking......Don't know why people would like to pick 13 here.

But nowadays in China it's rare to have such a big family that you can get more than 13 uncles and aunts. My Mom has 8 borthers and sisters which is considered "too many" already.

[ala]

十三点 is Shanghainese. It comes from fact that the Chinese day originally had only 12 hours, so the 13th hour was seen as "queer" or "hysterical". Another theory was that there was a dress made by a Shanghainese tailor in the 1920's that had a trademark involving 13 polka dots, and only "wild girls" wore them.

[ioannis]

Does 十三 mean 13 in Chinese?

Interesting.

I can see where the 3 comes from (three lines) but what about the cross?

Does it mean 1 or 10?

I would assume it means 4! (because of the 4 spikes).

I am not an expert in numerology but there is an apocryphal meaning why the cross could mean 10 (and not just 4). I will check it out.

[FSO]

The character 十 is usually considered to be an arbitrary symbol for the number ten.

As a mnemonic, one of my teachers suggested "two forearms crossed, making all ten fingers."

春节快乐！

Cheers,

Kurt

[ala]

I am not an expert in numerology but there is an apocryphal meaning why the cross could mean 10 (and not just 4). I will check it out.

十 signifies the four corners of the world and the center, in other words: "completeness."

A variant of the character 十 is the swastika 卐 "wan" (ten-thousand or eternal), which is the now written 万 (ten-thousand) in the modern form.

In Chinese numerology, 10 十 and 10^4 卐 (万) are very important base numbers. See below:

You have ten fingers and the Chinese counting system is Base-10, ending at 10, before preceding to addition of 10+1 (11), 10+2 (12), 10+3 (13), 2+10 (20), 2+10+1 (21) etc.

The Chinese counting system also goes by 万 ten-thousand (10^4 instead of 10^3, thousand).

In other words, 一万 (10000) = ten thousand (10,000); 十万 (10,0000) = hundred thousand (100,000); 百万 (100,0000) = million (1,000,000); 千万 (1000,0000) = ten million (10,000,000). Whereas the western system goes by 10^3, see the comma placement in the preceding example.

[ioannis]

The character 十 is usually considered to be an arbitrary symbol for the number ten.

十 signifies the four corners of the world and the center, in other words: "completeness."

Thanks for the information.

This reinforces some ideas of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek philosopher.

The sacred symbol of the pythagoreans was the famous "tetraktis".

In apocryphal circles today, people depict the tetraktis with the following symbol (pyramidal-like):

.

. .

. . .

. . . .

So, a pyramid with 4 layers.

Now, the sum of these numbers is 1+2+3+4 = 10

and according to the pythagoreans, 10 was a sacred number (I guess they would agree with the Chinese, that this number signifies completness).

BUT, what the people do not realize is the very name of the word "tetraktis".

The etymology of the word in Greek is TETRA = 4, AKTIS = ray

So, the sacred pythagorean symbol was indeed a shape with 4 rays, i.e. the cross!

So, the pythagoreans symbolized the number 10 with the cross (+), just like the Chinese!

It is also maintained in some closed circles here that the ancient mysts considered the cross as a sacred symbol because they foreknew its significance for the coming religion of Jesus.

This knowlegde I just revealed to you is not to be found anywhere. It is described only in one book in Greek by a modern scholar of Greek pre-socratic philosophy. I am planning to translated to English at some point in the future if anybody is interested.

[stephanhodges]

Would you please cite the title, author, and date of publication, and where the book is kept? (library, museum, etc...?)

[ioannis]

Would you please cite the title, author, and date of publication, and where the book is kept? (library, museum, etc...?)

Title: Η ΕΝΝΟΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΡΟΣΩΚΡΑΤΙΚΗ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ (The Concept of God in the Pre-Socratic Philosophy)

Author: ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΜΑΚΡΥΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ (Demetrios Makryiannis)

Publishing House: ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑΔΗΣ (Georgiades)

Publication date: 2001

ISBN: 960-316-109-8

This is a famous publishing house/bookstore in Athens, which specializes in ancient Greek texts.

Its address is

Georgiades Publishing House

Akademias 84

P.B. 36.81, 102 10 Athens - Greece

(tel. +30 210 3836231)

Alas, as I said, the book has not been translated yet.

[amego]

So, a pyramid with 4 layers.

Now, the sum of these numbers is 1+2+3+4 = 10

and according to the pythagoreans, 10 was a sacred number (I guess they would agree with the Chinese, that this number signifies completness).

BUT, what the people do not realize is the very name of the word "tetraktis".

The etymology of the word in Greek is TETRA = 4, AKTIS = ray

So, the sacred pythagorean symbol was indeed a shape with 4 rays, i.e. the cross!

So, the pythagoreans symbolized the number 10 with the cross (+), just like the Chinese!

Ooo Cool...I can only say "Great minds think alike."