The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c8.37

c8.37

As already stated, the Hindus called it *śūnya*, "void."¹ This passed over into the Arabic as *aṣ-ṣifr* or *ṣifr*.² When Leonard of Pisa (1202) wrote upon the Hindu numerals he spoke of this character as *zephirum*.³ Maximus Planudes (1330), writing under both the Greek and the Arabic influence, called it *tziphra*.⁴ In a treatise on arithmetic written in the Italian language by Jacob of Florence⁵ (1307) it is called *zeuero*,¹ while in an arithmetic of Giovanni di Danti of Arezzo (1370) the word appears as *çeuero*.² Another form is *zepiro*,³ which was also a step from *zephirum* to zero.⁴