cifră

Forms

cifră f (plural cifre)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian cifra, as Ciorănescu, DELR, MDA2 and Wiktionary give it.^[2][3][4][1] DELR and DEX add New Latin cifra as a possible second source.^[3][5] Some dictionaries also name French chiffre, but DELR objects that the French word is masculine.^[3] Tiktin lists several possible sources: Italian, Modern Greek τζίφρα (tzífra), German Ziffer and French.^[6] The old variant ⟨țifră⟩ reflects the German pronunciation.^[2][3]

The Italian word comes from Medieval Latin cifra (“zero; numeral”), from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “empty; zero”), a loan translation of the Sanskrit word for “empty”, used for zero by the Indian mathematicians.^[3][7][8] “Zero” was its first sense in Italian too.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR and Tiktin date the first record to 1777.^[3][6] The oldest sense recorded in Romanian is “zero”, now obsolete.^[3][4] MDA2's first record is the Buda Lexicon of 1825.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From “zero” the word passed to any digit, and then to a number, sum or quantity expressed in figures.^[4][5] It also meant a secret writing in numerals and a monogram, senses now obsolete; the variant cifru kept the sense “cipher, key”.^[4][6][2] Later terms include cifră de afaceri “turnover” and cifră-record “record figure”, modelled on French chiffre record.^[5][9]

Timeline

• 1777 – first record.^[3][6]
• 1825 – in the Buda Lexicon.^[4]
• 1840 – the verb cifra “to put into figures”.^[3]
• 1958 – the adjective cifric “numerical”.^[3]
• 1961 – cifră-record in the press.^[9]
• 1962 – coloncifră “page number at the head or foot of a page”, from Russian.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A digit: a written sign for one of the numbers from zero to nine; loosely, a number.^[5][4][1]
2. An amount, sum or quantity expressed in figures;^[5] cifră de afaceri “turnover”.^[5]
3. A number giving the value of a property of a substance or phenomenon: cifră de saponificare.^[5]
4. (obsolete) Zero.^[4][3]
5. (obsolete) A secret writing in numerals; a monogram.^[4][6]

Word family

• cifra
• cifric
• coloncifră
• descifra

Related words

• cifru

Usage notes

The plural is cifre.^[5][1] The variant cifru is now a separate word, used for a code or the combination of a lock.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. cifră
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. cifră
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 394
5. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 183
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. cífră
7. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. cifra
8. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 1010
9. ^ a b Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. cífră