The Zero

The concept of zero was first conceived of in ancient India. Its graphic symbol was a dot called a Bindu in Sanskrit. This dot was also called śūnya, meaning void or empty. It was perceived as being like a seed. That is, in itself inert and unmanifest, but from which life springs and returns. The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad compares this to a tiny spider at the center of its web, spinning out and reeling in concentric circles of silken threads.

Even today, thousands of years later, Hindus still paint a bindi on their foreheads for spiritual, cultural, and aesthetic reasons. It’s applied mid point just above the eyebrows where the ajna chakra, or third eye, is located. This chakra is associated with concealed wisdom. The Buddha is often depicted with the index finger and thumb of one hand in the form of a circle. This too symbolizes the void. Given the commercial and cultural exchange between the Indian sub continent and the Arab gulf, the term sunya was eventually transliterated into Arabic as sifra, or cipher. 

In the twelfth century C.E, an Italian mathematician nicknamed Fibonacci wrote the Liber Abaci, or The Book of Calculation. In it he introduces the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to the West for the first time. Of course, the cipher for nothingness was included. Being fluently multilingual, Fibonacci transliterated sifra into the similar sounding Latinate term, zefiro. This term, which had wide currency in the Greco-Roman world, was used to signify the West Wind. In ancient times, Zephyrus, was believed to be god of the West Wind. Interestingly, many cultures associate this cardinal direction, where the sun sets, with death, imagination, metamorphosis, and rebirth. The ancients also believed that Zephyrus and Iris, the rainbow goddess, had two children, Eros, god of love and Porthos, god of longing. Of the four cardinal winds, the zefiro was considered the gentlest. Associated with spring, it was also called the fructifying wind. Over time, zefiro became zero. However, it also continued in modern usage as zephyr, which still means gentle wind. Fibonacci’s transliteration was based on similarity of Arabic and Latin vocalizations. While the two terms sound the same, their meanings are different. This unintended semantic link merits further consideration. Is there perhaps a subliminal relation between zefiro as wind and zefiro as nothing? The original concept of zero has been depicted in other ways as well. For example, in ancient Vedic belief, Hiranyagarbha is the golden egg of the universe.The Ouroboros biting it's own tale is another striking example. This also recalls Einstein’s famous comment that imagination encircles the world.