Re: "Cipher"

[adam fast <adamfast@u.washington.edu>]

> Arthur Chandler

>   Neil Postman, in his *Technopoly*, asserts that the word "cipher" derives 
> ultimately from the Hindu word for void, and therefore "suggests the idea 
> of nothingness." (p 128) Does anyone else have info on the origin of this 
> word? Is Postman correct?

the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language suggests the 
origin of the word cipher as:

[Middle English cifre, zero, from Old French, from Medieval Latin cifra, 
from Arabic sifr]

it doesn't go back further than that, but Postman's etymology seems sound...


ciao
adam