The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c8.36

c8.36

⁵ Of course the earlier historians made innumerable guesses as to the origin of the word *cipher*. E.g. Matthew Hostus, *De numeratione* *emendata*, Antwerp, 1582, p. 10, says: "Siphra vox Hebræam originem sapit refértque: & ut docti arbitrantur, à verbo saphar, quod Ordine numerauit significat. Unde Sephar numerus est: hinc Siphra (vulgo corruptius). Etsi verò gens Iudaica his notis, quæ hodie Siphræ vocantur, usa non fuit: mansit tamen rei appellatio apud multas gentes." Dasypodius, *Institutiones mathematicae*, Vol. I, 1593, gives a large part of this quotation word for word, without any mention of the source. Hermannus Hugo, *De prima scribendi origine*, Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1738, pp. 304–305, and note, p. 305; Karl Krumbacher, "Woher stammt das Wort Ziffer (Chiffre)?", *Études de philologie néo-grecque*, Paris, 1892.