m sapit
refertque: & ut docti arbitrantur, a verbo saphar, quod Ordine numerauit
significat. Unde Sephar numerus est: hinc Siphra (vulgo corruptius). Etsi
vero gens Iudaica his notis, quae hodie Siphrae 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)?", _Etudes de
philologie neo-grecque_, Paris, 1892.

[212] Buehler, 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] [Greek: tziphra], 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 nomme par les uns, _sipos, rota, galgal_ ...; par les autres
_tsiphra_ (de [Hebrew: TSPR], _couronne_ ou _diademe_) ou _ciphra_ (de
[Hebrew: SPR], _numeration_)." Ch. de Paravey, _Essai sur l'origine unique
et hieroglyphique des chiffres et des lettres de tous les peuples_, Paris,
1826, p. 165, a rather fanciful work, gives "vase, vase arrondi et ferme
par un couvercle, qui est le symbole de la 10^e Heure, [symbol]," among the
Chinese; also "Tsiphron Zeron, ou tout a fait vide en arabe, [Greek:
tziphra] en grec ... d'ou chiffre (qui derive plutot, suivant nous, de
l'Hebreu _Sepher_, compter.")

[216] "Compilatus a Magistro Jacobo de Florentia apud montem pesalanum,"
and described by G. Lami in his _Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum qui in
bibliotheca Riccardiana Florentiae adservantur_. See Fazzari, loc. cit., p.
5.

[217] "Et doveto sapere chel zeuero per se solo non significa nulla ma e
potentia di fare significare, ... Et decina o centinaia o migliaia non si
puote scrivere senza questo segno 0. la quale si chiama zeuero." [Fazzari,
loc. cit., p. 5.]