Share:

Counting in Solresol

Language overview

Invented by the French Jean-François Sudre from 1827 on and published posthumously in 1866, Solresol is an artificial language based on the seven musical notes from C (do) to B (si). As it can be represented in many ways, such as by words, sounds, colors, digits, or notes drawn on a written stave or figured by four fingers, it has vocation for universality. Fell into disuse after some success at the beginning of the twentieth century, it is not really practised anymore.

Solresol numbers list 1 – redodo

2 – remimi

3 – refafa

4 – resolsol

5 – relala

6 – resisi

7 – mimido

8 – mimire

9 – mimifa

10 – mimisol

11 – mimila

12 – mimisi

13 – midodo

14 – mirere

15 – mifafa

16 – misolsol

17 – milala

18 – misisi

19 – fafado

20 – fafare

30 – fafami

40 – fafasol

50 – fafala

60 – fafasi

70 – fafasi mimisol

80 – fadodo

90 – fadodo mimisol

100 – farere

1,000 – famimi

one million – fasolsol

one billion – falala

one trillion – fasisi

Lexical outline

Solresol vocabulary is built a priori and groups the words by number of syllables or notes. One- and two-note combinations are particles and pronouns (si yes, do no, re and), three-note combinations are the most used words (doredo time, doremi day), and four-note combinations are dispatched within seven classes (or keys) after their initial note: the do key (C) belongs to the physical and moral man vocabulary; the re key (D) to the family, household and toiletries; the mi key (E) to man’s actions and faults; the fa key (F) to the countryside, travels, war and sea; the sol key (G) to arts and sciences; the la key (A) to industry and trade; the si key (B) to political and social relations. Five-note combinations give the animal, plant and mineral kingdom nomenclature. Numbers belong to ternary combinations as well as seasons, months and temperatures.

Solresol numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

The numeration proceeds by periods of six numbers, each number being a name made of three notes, never repeating the same note three times (an implicit rule of Solresol).

From one to six, words begin with re , the second note is discriminating and repeated once, with the exception of re : redodo [1], remimi [2], refafa [3], resolsol [4], relala [5], and resisi [6]. Zero is soldo , which means nothing .

, the second note is discriminating and repeated once, with the exception of : [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], and [6]. Zero is , which means . From seven to twelve, the two first notes are mimi , the third one being cyclical, mi not being represented: mimido [7], mimire [8], mimifa [9], mimisol [10], mimila [11], and mimisi [12].

, the third one being cyclical, not being represented: [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], and [12]. We then go to the next series, from thirteen to eighteen, which first note is mi and the second cycling from do to si (bypassing mi ) and repeated once: midodo [13], mirere [14], mifafa [15], misolsol [16], milala [17], and misisi [18].

and the second cycling from to (bypassing ) and repeated once: [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], and [18]. The next series goes from nineteen to sixty, its two first notes are fafa , the third one cycling from do through si (bypassing fa ): fafado [19], fafare [20], fafami [30], fafasol [40], fafala [50], and fafasi [60].

, the third one cycling from through (bypassing ): [19], [20], [30], [40], [50], and [60]. We then go to eighty, then to the powers of ten, beginning with fa followed by the cycle from do to si , repeated once (and bypassing fa ): fadodo [80], farere [100], famimi [1,000], fasolsol [million], falala [billion], fasisi [trillion].

followed by the cycle from to , repeated once (and bypassing ): [80], [100], [1,000], [million], [billion], [trillion]. By construct, Solresol belongs to the short scale numbering systems as each scale number multiple of one thousand has a name ( fasolsol [million], falala [billion], fasisi [trillion]).

[million], [billion], [trillion]). It could be interesting to think about the bigger scale names. Logical series for 1015, 1018 and 1021 would be either soldore (to copy), soldomi (to imitate) and soldofa (example), or soldodo (Sunday), solrere (past) and solmimi (present). As Solresol is based on a very restricted set of notes, neologisms quickly come into conflict with existing words if we want to keep their internal logic (here the fact that a number is made of three syllables).

Write a number in full in Solresol

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Solresol. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.





Books

Auxiliary languages

Babm, Bolak, Digisk Folkspraak, Esperanto, Folkspraak, Globasa, Glosa, Guosa, Idiom neutral, Ido, Intal, Interlingua, Interlingue, Interslavic, Kotava, Langue nouvelle, Latino sine flexione, Lingua Franca Nova, Lingwa de planeta, Mondial, Mondlango, Pandunia, Ro, Romanid, Slovio, Solresol, Sona, Spokil, Tutonish, Universalglot, Uropi, and Volapük.





Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.