May 16, 2007

Zero in Russia


The answer to the question - "how did a pre-Petrine Russian express the notion of zero as a number, in writing and in speech?" - is supersimple: it didn't. The Greeks had no zero, the Romans had no zero, the Russians had no zero as long as they used their variant of Greek numeration.

Zero appears as placeholder in Hindu-Arabic numerals; it is first TREATED as number in using HA numerals for calculation (6-0=6); it is first RECOGNIZED as a number extremely late... the Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin at the end of the 16th century announced that the ONE is the same numerically as all other numbers, and called zero "the root of number." So it's not a number even here. Pascal thinks you're dumb if you don't understand that 0-4=0. One could do all sorts of incredible things in math before coming up with the notion of zero as a number.

Russians used the abacus to calculate - no one ever calculated in Slavic numerals because, like Greek and even Roman numerals, they are not intended for calculation but for setting down results. If your numeration or calculation has no place for zero, you won't understand why there should be a numeral that points to absence of number.

Zero entered Muscovy in the early- or mid-seventeenth century when introduction of HA numerals allowed for calculating on paper. Zero was called tsifra from the Arabic word for empty (sifr) and Medieval / Renaissance Latin for zero (cifra), which gave English both "zero" and "cipher." In Russian, already in the 17th century the word for zero started referring to all HA numerals (tsifry), also arithmetic (tsifir') and code (tsifir'). (Same denotative spread as in Latin, by the way.) I read in, I think, A. P. Iushkevich that in the 17th century the HA zero was also called "on" or "onik," like the letter O, which in Slavic numeration stands for 70.

Anyway, before the seventeenth century there really is nothing in any way like the concept of zero in Russia. And, of course, the concept of number at this point includes only natural numbers, nothing more.

Eugene Ostashevsky
NYU


I seem to remember an article on this subject by Simonov, the leading specialist on early Russian mathematical manuscripts, but I can't find it. For some discussion of this see ch. 2 of A. P. Iushkevich, Istoriia matematiki v Rossii, M. 1968. Also L.L. Kutina, Formirovanie iazyka russkoi nauki, M.,1964, pp. 14-20.

There are several coins, manuscripts and printed books of Russian origin in the seventeenth century which use or give lists of modern 'hindu-arabic' numerals, and Russian traders and officials in the Posolskii prikaz must certainly have been familiar with western numerals, so the concept must have been known and understood, at least by some.

Russian alphabetical numerals did not in fact need a zero since every number ending in zero in modern notation had a letter to designate it: e.g. k= 20. These could be modified by a preceding or subscript oblique line with two cross bars to produce thousands, and various kinds of circle round the letter for larger multiples of 1000. Arithmetical calculation was perfectly possible in this system as it had been for the Greeks from whom it was taken.

The earliest words for zero are recorded from the end of the 17th century and early eighteenth century - on, onik (i.e. the name of the latter o) in Peter I notebook (1688) and Kopievskii, later tsifra and nul'.

Emeritus Professor W. F. Ryan FBA, FSA
Warburg Institute
(School of Advanced Study, University of London)

Tags: math
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

Woe From Wit (bilingual)
June 20, 2017

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955