Using the isopsephos calculators, it's easy to get the isopsepos
value for a Greek word, but going in the opposite direction, from
a numerical value to a Greek word with this value, can be
difficult. For example, we know ZEUS = 612, but what other Greek
words have this value? To simplify these investigations I
have compiled this Reverse Isopsephia Database, which includes all
116,852 words of LSJ with their isospephos values, sorted by
value. It is available as xlsx,
ods, and tsv files (3MB or less), so you
can download it and do searches or other investigations. (For fun,
look to see what word has the largest isopsephos value and what it
means.) To save time consulting a dictionary, I've also prepared a
version of reverse database but including the definitions from
LSJ. This is not very nicely formatted, so you will still want to
consult Perseus or a dictionary. It is available as
a 16MB xlsx file.
As comprehensive as it is, it still has limitations. First, there
is duplication, due to differences in accents or breathing, which
is ignored in isopsephia, to differences in meaning, etc. Second,
the isopsephos values are computed only for the headwords (e.g.
the masculine singular forms of adjectives), and so you will have
to make numerical corrections to find other forms (see my
suggestions below).
The most direct use of the database is to find words that are
isopsephic to a given word or phrase. For example, we know Ζεύς
(Zeus) = 612, and so we can look in the database to find other
words with this value. There are 63 of them, so (using our Greek
dictionary or Perseus if necessary) we look for meaningful
connections. However, since words whose values differ by 1 are
considered isopsephic, we should also consider words with the
values 611 and 613, and there are 197 words with values 611 to
613. Investigating them, we find for example that τριάς (three) =
611, which is thus isopsephic to Zeus.
To take another example, the phrase τὸ ὄν (The One) = 490.
Searching for words with this value, we find θίασος (Bacchhic
revel) and μάγευμα (piece of magic art). We also consider words
with the values 489 and 491 and find πάτηρ (father) and ἔντοθεν
(from within) = 489 and Σαβάζιος (Sabazios) and ὁλόκαλος (entirely
beautiful) = 491. These isopsephic connections provide much to
contemplate!
Since the database includes only single words, we have more work
to do if we want to investigate multiword phrases. In isopsephic
investigations of god names, for example, in addition to the value
of a god name G, we are also interested in the phrases ὁ θεὸς G
(the god G) or ἡ θεὰ G (the goddess G), as appropriate. These
phrases are isopsephic to G+354 and G+23 respectively. So if we
are investigating a word with value W and are interested in
isopsephic deities, in addition to looking for god names
isopsephic to W, we should look for god names isopsephic to W–354
and goddess names isopsephic to W–23. And of course by colel we
also look at names that differ by one from these values.
Continuing the previous example (τὸ ὄν = 490), we investigate
490–354 = 136 and 490–23 = 467 as well as values differing by 1,
and so we discover Δημήτηρ (Demeter) = 468. Therefore ἡ θεὰ
Δημήτηρ (the goddess Demeter) = 491, which is isopsephic with The
One, and the other words isopsephic to it.