[varg]

The word zero comes ultimately from the Arabic ṣifr (صفر) meaning empty or vacant, a literal translation of the Indian Sanskrit śūnya meaning void or empty. :)

[Oatka]

The word zero comes ultimately from the Arabic ṣifr (صفر) meaning empty or vacant, a literal translation of the Indian Sanskrit śūnya meaning void or empty. :)

One History Channel program about the invention of zero had a neat scene: A teacher is telling a scribe about the concept. The scribe gets a puzzled look and says "What symbol do we use for it? How do you display "nothing"? The teacher says, "Think of a hole in the ground - that is nothing". So the scribe carefully writes "0" to describe the hole. A neat Urban Legend, if nothing else.