gematria

noun

Etymology: From Aramaic [Term?], from Ancient Greek γεωμετρία (geōmetría, “geometry”). Doublet of geometry.

1. A cabalistic method of interpreting Hebrew words, based on numerical values of letters.

   “Suppose a secret force of Jesuits, receives each Day a summary of Observations made at Greenwich, and transcalculates it according to a system known to the Kabbalists of the Second Century as Gematria, whereby Messages may be extracted from lines of Text sacred and otherwise, a Knowledge preserv’d by various Custodians over the centuries, and since the Last, possess’d by Jesuit and Freemason alike.”

   “each letter in this alphabet also has its own numerical value, what was known among ancient Jewish students of the Torah as ‘gematria’.”