Mysteries of vernacular: Zero - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

字源探秘：Zero - Jessica Oreck 與 Rachael Teel

譯者: Geoff Chen 審譯者: Hao-Wei Chang

Mysteries of vernacular:

字源探秘：

Zero,

Zero（零）

a number that indicates an absence of units.

一個用來指出 不存在任何單位的數字

In order to understand the genesis of the word zero,

為了理解為 zero 這個字的起源

we must begin with the very origins of counting.

我們必須從計數的最開端探討起

The earliest known archaeological evidence of counting

最早有關計數的考古證據

dates back approximately 37,000 years

大約可以追溯到三萬七千年前

and is merely a series of notches in bone.

而那些證據 只是骨頭上一系列的凹口

It wasn't until around 2500 B.C.

一直到西元前 2500 年左右

that the first written number system

最初的數字書寫系統

began to take form in Mesopotamia,

才在美索不達米亞開始形成

using the units one, ten, and sixty.

當時的人用 1，10 和 60 為單位計數

Fast forward another three millennia

3000 年過後

to seventh century India

到第七世紀的印度

where mathematicians used a single dot

數學家們使用單一一點

to distinguish between numbers

來區分數目

like 25, 205, and 250.

比如 25，205 和 250

Employed as both a placeholder and a number,

作為預留位置和位數

this all-powerful dot eventually morphed

這威力無窮的點 最終被擬仿為

into the symbol we know today.

我們今天所熟悉的符號

The word zero comes from the Arabic safira,

zero 這個字來自阿拉伯文 safira

whose literal translation is empty.

可以直接譯為「空」

Passing through Italian as zefiro,

到了義大利，這個字轉化為 zefiro

zero came into English in the seventeenth century.

zero 在十七世紀時進入英語

A second descendant of the Arabic root

是阿拉伯文字根的第二個後裔

was adopted into English through old French

通過古法語領養，進而成為英語

as the word cipher.

有 cipher 之意

Originally sharing the meaning empty with zero,

最初 cipher 與零一同共享「空」的字義

cipher later came to describe a code,

但後來，人們逐漸將 cipher 用來描述代碼

as early codes often used complicated substitutions

因為早期的代碼經常使用複雜的

between letters and numbers.

字母和數字之間的替換

From this shared empty origin,

從這個共同的起源「空」

zero continues to represent the number

zero 持續代表一個

that represents nothing.

什麼都沒有的數字零