zero Italian · revision 39155

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1374, Paolo dell'Abbaco|origins=ar صفر}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈd͡zɛ.ro/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''zero''' ''m'' (plural zeri)^(Wiktionary)

+ Intermediate forms between the Latin and the modern word were ''zefiro'', ''zefro'' and ''zevero'', the last used by Jacopo da Firenze.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|zephirum]], the Latin form Leonardo Fibonacci gave to [[ar|صِفْر|tr=ṣifr|t=empty; zero]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Arabic word was an adjective meaning “empty”, used for the absence of units;^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) 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.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011) The Latin word was adapted in Italian as [[roa-oit|zefiro]], [[m|roa-oit|zefro]] and [[m|roa-oit|zevero]] before it was shortened to the modern form.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Wiktionary puts a [[la-new|zerum]] between the Medieval Latin and the Italian forms.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ 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.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) DELI and Nocentini hold that [[fr|zéro]] and [[es|cero]] come from Italian.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) 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.^(REW 1935) Devoto also speaks of a crossing with [[osp|zero]].^(Devoto 1968)

+

+ ==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.^(TLIO)^(Nocentini 2010) DELI's earliest record is a line of Burchiello, who died in 1449.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The idea came with the Arabic numerals that Fibonacci's ''Liber Abaci'' made known in the West;^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|4112) DEI notes that the use of a small circle for zero goes back to Indian mathematics and reached Arabic science in the 8th century.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|4112) 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'').^(GDLI)^(DELI 1999) DEI places the shift from “nothing, void” to the figure zero in 16th-century Italy.^(DEI|4112)

+

+ The figurative sense “nothing at all” is in Luigi Pulci before 1484.^(DELI 1999) 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.^(DIFIT)^(DELI 1999) 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.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) French ''zéro'' is recorded from 1485 and English ''zero'' from 1604, the English word from French or Italian.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1202 – Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa uses Medieval Latin ''zephirum''.^(DEI|4112)

+ * 1228 – The second version of Fibonacci's ''Liber Abaci'', the date Nocentini gives for the latinization.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1292 – Medieval Latin ''zephirum'' is dated by GRADIT.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1374 – Paolo dell'Abbaco uses ''zero'' in his ''Regoluzze''.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1449 – Burchiello writes ''al zero foglio''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses ''zero'' for “nothing”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1485 – French ''zéro'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1491 – The form ''zero'' is documented in place of ''zefiro'' and ''zefro''.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1604 – English ''zero'' is first recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1937 – ''Zero assoluto'', absolute zero, is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1961 – ''Zero'' is recorded as the lowest school mark.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # [[m|en|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.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # 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.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' After a noun, a complete lack of something: ''Pazienza zero.''^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(linguistics)'' Of an element that is absent in the form but can be recognized from the system, as a zero ending.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The figure 0.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # The point from which a scale is counted, especially the freezing point of water on a [[m|en|thermometer]]: ''Stanotte siamo scesi sotto zero.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # The lowest mark in a school scale from zero to ten.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(football)'' [[m|en|nil]], no goals: ''La partita è finita due a zero.''^(Wiktionary)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A person of no worth, a [[m|en|nobody]].^(Wikizionario)^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[azzerare]]

+ * [[azzeramento]]

+ * [[sottozero]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cifra]]

+ * [[fr|zéro]]

+ * [[en|zero]]

+ * [[la-med|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.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Tommaseo also records ''zero'' as the Florentine name of a small sea fish like the sardine, sold marinated and salted.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|4, 1940)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}