> Sifr is also a valid word both in Farsi, I think
replyThat is the root of 'cipher'; meaning zero/empty/nothingness.
Indeed and used cleverly in Casino Royale by naming Le Chiffre that way.
replyI knew 'sifr' was an Arabic word and only today I came to know that it works in Farsi too.
The double pun/irony is that the John Sipher's surname is related to the topic of cryptography and that the etymological roots is Middle-Eastern.
Also Hindi, Urdu, and no doubt others if we're drawing lines :) – there's an awful lot of overlap/loanwords.
replyMore so if you know the etymology,
replyhttps://www.etymonline.com/word/cipher
(Al Jabr, the translator of Indian Mathematical texts was a Persian IIRC)
Al-Jabr, from where we get the word albebra, is an abbreviated name of the book (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing). The translator's name was al-Khwarizmi, from where we get the word algorithm. He was of Persian origin.
replyWhy do say "translator's name" ?
replyAl-Khwarizmi authored the book Al-Jabr.
Oh you're right, I was confused by the rich cultural exchange of translations happening at the time, from Greek and Sanskrit texts to Arabic then later Arabic texts to Latin. Both the book and the author are fascinating subjects I enjoy learning more about.
replyRandom chance has a really good sense of humor!
reply1/10 dentists hates nominative determinism. That dentist? Dr. Procter
replyYou'd be amazed how many firefighters I know called "Burns", even leaving aside Ayrshire where lots of people are not-too-distantly related to a famous poet who, to put it mildly, put it about a bit.
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