zero

Forms

zero m (plural zeri)^[1] Intermediate forms between the Latin and the modern word were zefiro, zefro and zevero, the last used by Jacopo da Firenze.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin zephirum, the Latin form Leonardo Fibonacci gave to Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “empty; zero”).^[2][3][5][1] The Arabic word was an adjective meaning “empty”, used for the absence of units;^[2][6][4][7] Arab scholars took this use over from Indian mathematicians, who had used the Sanskrit adjective for “empty” in the same way, so the Arabic sense is a calque.^[2][6][4][7] The Latin word was adapted in Italian as Old Italian zefiro, zefro and zevero before it was shortened to the modern form.^[2][3] Wiktionary puts a New Latin zerum between the Medieval Latin and the Italian forms.^[1]

The same Arabic word was borrowed a second time, in a form closer to the original, as cifra, which is thus a doublet of this word.^[2][3][1] DELI and Nocentini hold that French zéro and Spanish cero come from Italian.^[2][3] Meyer-Lübke argued the opposite, that the word started in Spain, since only Spanish regularly loses the /f/, and that French and Italian took it from there.^[8] Devoto also speaks of a crossing with Old Spanish zero.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the Regoluzze of the Florentine abacus master Paolo dell'Abbaco, written in 1374, as the cardinal number of an empty set and the sign that stands for it.^[10][3] DELI's earliest record is a line of Burchiello, who died in 1449.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The idea came with the Arabic numerals that Fibonacci's Liber Abaci made known in the West;^[3][11] DEI notes that the use of a small circle for zero goes back to Indian mathematics and reached Arabic science in the 8th century.^[3][11] Early writers explain the figure to readers who did not know it: Bernardino da Siena says that zero can do nothing without company, but placed after a one it makes ten, and Cosimo Bartoli (before 1572) that it “means nothing, but serves only to fill the places” (non significa cosa alcuna; ma serve solamente per occupare i luoghi).^[12][2] DEI places the shift from “nothing, void” to the figure zero in 16th-century Italy.^[11]

The figurative sense “nothing at all” is in Luigi Pulci before 1484.^[2] Later senses came with science and school: the zero point of a thermometer, absolute zero (1937), and, from 1961 the lowest mark a pupil can get.^[13][2] In the colloquial language zero after a noun now means a complete lack of something, and in football it is the score of a side that has not scored.^[5][1] French zéro is recorded from 1485 and English zero from 1604, the English word from French or Italian.^[13]

Timeline

• 1202 – Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa uses Medieval Latin zephirum.^[11]
• 1228 – The second version of Fibonacci's Liber Abaci, the date Nocentini gives for the latinization.^[3]
• 1292 – Medieval Latin zephirum is dated by GRADIT.^[5]
• 1374 – Paolo dell'Abbaco uses zero in his Regoluzze.^[10]
• Before 1449 – Burchiello writes al zero foglio.^[2]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses zero for “nothing”.^[2]
• 1485 – French zéro is first recorded.^[13]
• 1491 – The form zero is documented in place of zefiro and zefro.^[2][5]
• 1604 – English zero is first recorded.^[13]
• 1937 – Zero assoluto, absolute zero, is recorded.^[13]
• 1961 – Zero is recorded as the lowest school mark.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. zero: the number that expresses no quantity at all, written 0, which precedes one in the series of natural numbers: Cinque per zero fa zero.^[5][14][7]
2. Placed after a noun, marks the starting point of a series or the initial state of a quantity: Siamo ancora alla fase zero del progetto.^[5][14]
3. (colloquial) After a noun, a complete lack of something: Pazienza zero.^[5]
4. (linguistics) Of an element that is absent in the form but can be recognized from the system, as a zero ending.^[5][14]

Noun

1. The figure 0.^[4][15]
2. The point from which a scale is counted, especially the freezing point of water on a thermometer: Stanotte siamo scesi sotto zero.^[4][7][6]
3. The lowest mark in a school scale from zero to ten.^[4][2]
4. (football) nil, no goals: La partita è finita due a zero.^[1][6]
5. (figurative) A person of no worth, a nobody.^[16][13]

Word family

• azzerare
• azzeramento
• sottozero

Related words

• cifra
• French zéro
• English zero
• Medieval Latin zephirum

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include sparare a zero, to fire with the barrel level at close range and, figuratively, to attack someone with harsh criticism, and ripartire da zero, to start again from nothing.^[7][6] Tommaseo also records zero as the Florentine name of a small sea fish like the sardine, sold marinated and salted.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4112
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c d e f Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
17. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 4, 1940