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Origin and history of cipher

cipher(n.)

late 14c., "arithmetical symbol for zero," from Old French cifre "nought, zero," Medieval Latin cifra, which, with Spanish and Italian cifra, ultimately is from Arabic sifr "zero," literally "empty, nothing," from safara "to be empty;" a loan-translation of Sanskrit sunya-s "empty." Klein says Modern French chiffre is from Italian cifra.

The word came to Europe with Arabic numerals. From "zero," it came to mean "any numeral" (early 15c.), then (first in French and Italian) "secret way of writing; coded message" (a sense first attested in English 1520s), because early codes often substituted numbers for letters. Meaning "the key to a cipher or secret writing" is by 1885, short for cipher key (by 1835).

Figurative sense of "something or someone of no value, consequence, or power" is from 1570s.

also from late 14c.

cipher(v.)

also cypher, 1520s, "to do arithmetic" (with Arabic numerals), from cipher (n.). Transitive sense "reckon in figures, cast up" is from 1860. Meaning "to write in code or occult characters" is from 1560s. Related: Ciphered; ciphering.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to cipher

ciphering(n.)

1530s, "writing in secret code or occult characters," verbal noun from cipher (v.). Meaning "action of using figures in arithmetic" is from 1610s.

decipher(v.)

1520s, "find out, discover" (a sense now obsolete); 1540s, "interpret (a coded writing, etc.) by the use of a key," from de- + cipher (v.). Perhaps in part a loan-translation from French déchiffrer. From c. 1600 in the transferred sense of "discover or explain the meaning of what is difficult to understand." Sense of "succeed in reading what is written in obscure or partially obliterated characters" is by 1710. Related: Deciphered; deciphering.

zero(n.)

0, the arithmetical figure which stands for nought in the Arabic notation, also "the absence of all quantity considered as quantity," c. 1600, from French zéro or directly from Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic sifr "cipher," a translation of Sanskrit sunya-m "empty place, desert, naught" (see cipher (n.)).

As "initial point of progress or reckoning" in general by 1849, from the point or line on a graduated scale from which reckoning begins (1795). By 1820 as "lowest point or degree" (as in absolute zero). Figuratively, the bottom of any scale.

Abstractly, "nothing, nought," by 1823. The meaning "worthless person or thing, someone who amounts to nothing" is recorded from 1813.

As an adjective from 1810. Zero tolerance is attested by 1972 in U.S. political language. Zero-sum in game theory, indicating that if one player wins X amount the other or others must lose X amount, is from 1944 (von Neumann).

A brief history of the invention of "zero" can be found here.

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