[210] Cantor, Geschichte, Vol. I (3), p. 674; Y. Mikami, "A Remark on the Chinese Mathematics in Cantor's Geschichte der Mathematik," Archiv der Mathematik und Physik, Vol. XV (3), pp. 68-70.
[211] 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.
[212] Bühler, loc. cit., p. 78 and p. 86.
[213] Fazzari, loc. cit., p. 4. So Elia Misrachi (1455-1526) in his posthumous Book of Number, Constantinople, 1534, explains sifra as being Arabic. See also Steinschneider, Bibliotheca Mathematica, 1893, p. 69, and G. Wertheim, Die Arithmetik des Elia Misrachi, Programm, Frankfurt, 1893.
[214] "Cum his novem figuris, et cum hoc signo 0, quod arabice zephirum appellatur, scribitur quilibet numerus."
[215] τζίφρα, a form also used by Neophytos (date unknown, probably c. 1330). It is curious that Finaeus (1555 ed., f. 2) used the form tziphra throughout. A. J. H. Vincent ["Sur l'origine de nos chiffres," Notices et Extraits des MSS., Paris, 1847, pp. 143-150] says: "Ce cercle fut nommé par les uns, sipos, rota, galgal ...; par les autres tsiphra (de
צפר
, couronne ou diadème) ou ciphra (de
ספר
, numération)." Ch. de Paravey, Essai sur l'origine unique et hiéroglyphique des chiffres et des lettres de tous les peuples, Paris, 1826, p. 165, a rather fanciful work, gives "vase, vase arrondi et fermé par un couvercle, qui est le symbole de la 10e Heure,