css3-lists: Coptic and Ionic Greek

The following describes the behavior of four proposed additional
list-style-types, all of which are algorithmic.

"coptic" or "lower-coptic" and "upper-coptic" correspond to the
 numbering system traditionally used by the Sahidic dialect of Coptic.

"upper-ionic-greek" and "lower-ionic-greek" (these names
are provisional) correspond to the classical Greek numbering system,
 which is said to be preferred over Roman numerals for list numbering
 in written Greek.

Lower-Coptic

This is a simple additive system defined for the numbers 1-999,999. The
digits are split into groups of three (if there are less than six
 digits, the less significant group is filled first). Within each
 group, appropriate digits are picked from the following list (at most
 one per column) and written in descending order by value (hundreds
 first). The characters in the more significant group are combined with
 U+03FF, the combining double overline. The characters in the less
 significant group are combined with U+0305, the combining overline.

Ones         Tens         Hundreds
1   U+03B1 | 10  U+03B9 | 100  U+03C1
2   U+03B2 | 20  U+03BA | 200  U+03C3
3   U+03B3 | 30  U+03BB | 300  U+03C4
4   U+03B4 | 40  U+03BC | 400  U+03C5
5   U+03B5 | 50  U+03BD | 500  U+03C6
6   U+03DB | 60  U+03BE | 600  U+03C7
7   U+03B6 | 70  U+03BF | 700  U+03C8
8   U+03B7 | 80  U+03C0 | 800  U+03C9
9   U+03B8 | 90  U+03E5 | 900  U+03E1

The suffix for the coptic numbering system is a dot U+002E.
Numbers outside the range of the coptic system are rendered using the
decimal rendering style.

Lower-Ionic-Greek

This system is identical to the "lower-coptic" system, but combines the
final letter in the less significant group with U+0374, the Greek
 numeral sign rather than the combining overline, and the final letter
 in the more significant group with U+0375, the greek lower numeral
 sign, rather than the combining double overline.

Upper-Coptic

This system is identical to the "lower-coptic" system but uses the
following codepoints instead.

Ones         Tens         Hundreds
1   U+0391 | 10  U+0399 | 100  U+03A1
2   U+0392 | 20  U+039A | 200  U+03A3
3   U+0393 | 30  U+039B | 300  U+03A4
4   U+0394 | 40  U+039C | 400  U+03A5
5   U+0395 | 50  U+039D | 500  U+03A6
6   U+03DA | 60  U+039E | 600  U+03A7
7   U+0396 | 70  U+039F | 700  U+03A8
8   U+0397 | 80  U+03A0 | 800  U+03A9
9   U+0398 | 90  U+03DF | 900  U+03E0

Upper-Ionic-Greek

This system is identical to the "lower-ionic-greek" system but uses
the codepoints of the "upper-coptic" system rather than the "coptic"
system.

Caveats:
It might be best to describe the Coptic systems as variations on the
 Ionic Greek systems, as is true historically.

I am not entirely certain of my description of the combining characters
 in the Ionic Greek systems and their position. Some sources suggest
 that numbers in the less significant group should use no combining
 symbol. I am also unsure as to whether it is correct to use the
 numbers 10-999 with the lower combining symbol (representing
 thousands). There appears to have been some use of code point U+039C
 as a combining modifier (!), signifying "myriad", but I have no more
 precise information.

The code points U+03DA and U+03DB (upper- and lower-case "stigma") are
orthographic successors of code points U+03DC and U+03DD (upper- and
lower-case "digamma"), and the latter may in fact be more correct to
 use in list numbering. Input on this point is particularly welcomed
 from modern users of this numbering system. I am also uncertain as to
 whether or not the dot is the most appropriate suffix character.

--
Chris Hoess

Received on Monday, 11 November 2002 18:44:04 UTC