why do you read roman numerals as ordinal numbers if you're putting it after a name?

Question

I'm just curious as to why we read roman numerals as ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd....) if it's placed after a name.. Like John Doe II, We read it as John Doe the 2nd and not John Doe Two. Is there like a special rule for it? I can't find any answers online or maybe I just missed it. Thanks!

Answer 1

Roman Ordinal Numbers

Answer 2

King Henry VIII was the eighth king named Henry, so they called him Henry the Eighth. Seems pretty reasonable. Maybe "the eighth Henry" would have been more standard. Perhaps the word order dates back to the days of French influence. Or is the question why Roman numerals? Were they just considered classier in those days, like the way they always used Roman numerals on public clock faces?

Answer 3

There is no rule of grammar which dictates this practice. One may well imagine that originally pedants and precisians stuck stubbornly to Louis XIVth, but after a while more practical people dropped the th, and that this elision caught on and became the norm. It is just a conventional matter, nothing deeper than that.

Answer 4

Just a convention that has developed over time.



There's usually no explicit "why" in situations like these.

Answer 5

Ordinal numbers are ordered numbers. In English ordinals are numbers like "first", "second", "third". Here are the basic ordinal numbers in Latin with the Roman numeral corresponding to value. The ordinal numbers are declined like first and second declension adjectives. There are some oddities to note:



Variable presence of "n" before "s"

for "21st" in the feminine you might see una et vicesima or the contracted form unetvicesima.

For other compounds, there is variety. You may see the larger number before the smaller with no conjoining "et" or you might see the smaller before with larger separated by the conjunction "et". Thus, you may see either vicesimus quartus (no et) or quartus et vicesimus (with et). For 28th, the Latin ordinal number is based on the idea of taking 2 from 30 or duodetricensimus, just as the duo de '2 from' precedes 20th in the ordinal number for 18th: duodevicesimus.

I. primus (-a, -um)

II. secundus, alter

III. tertius

IV. quartus

V. quintus

VI. sextus

VII. septimus

VIII. octavus

IX. nonus

X. decimus

XI. undecimus

XII. duodecimus

XIII. tertius decimus or decimus et tertius

XIV. quartus decimus or decimus et quartus

XV. quintus decimus or decimus et quintus

XVI. sextus decimus or decimus et sextus

XVII. septimus decimus or decimus et septimus

XVIII. duodevice(n)simus, also octavus decimus

XIX. undevice(n)simus, also nonus decimus

XX. vice(n)simus

XXI. unus et vice(n)simus, also vicesimus primus

XXII. alter et vice(n)simus or vicesimus secundus

XXX. trice(n)simus or trigesimus

XL. quadrage(n)simus

L. quinquage(n)simus

LX. sexage(n)simus

LXX. septuage(n)simus

LXXX. octoge(n)simus

XC. nonage(n)simus

C. cente(n)simus

CC. ducente(n)simus

CCC. trecentensimus

CCCC. quadringentensimus

D. quingentensimus

DC. sescentensimus

DCC. septingentensimus

DCCC. octingentensimus

DCCCC. nongentensimus

M. millensimus

MM. bis millensimus