nothing, zero and the end, are they universal?

Besoin d'une traduction dans toutes les langues possibles ?
Do you need something translated into as many languages as possible?

Moderators: kokoyaya, Beaumont

Post Reply
auxi
Membre / Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 19 Sep 2011 04:45

nothing, zero and the end, are they universal?

Post by auxi »

Hello!
I'm working on the meaning of nothing, zero and end (not doing X anymore/ X does not happen anymore), and I would like to know if these words (or any kind of expression meaning something similar) exist in all languages...
I've found here an interesting forum about nothing with a lot of examples, but I'm interested in the universality of these meanings: do you know if is there any language without some of these words?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
Auxi
User avatar
pc2
Membre / Member
Posts: 5299
Joined: 18 Feb 2005 13:21
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Contact:

Re: nothing, zero and the end, are they universal?

Post by pc2 »

In Sanskrit, the word शून्य ("shunya", pronounced "shoo-nyah") means "zero" and "nothing". It also means "empty", "void". The word शून्य is also used to refer to the number 0.
Another word that means "nothing" in Sanskrit is the pronoun न किंचित् (pronounced "nah kim-chit"). किंचित् ("kim-chit") means "something", while न किंचित् means "not something" = "nothing".

If by "zero" you are referring to the number 0, there are some interesting facts about it.
The word "zero" has had several different meanings over the time. Concepts of "zero" have been created by many different cultures (including Mayan, Indian and Ancient Egyptian).
We found this interesting paper on the Internet, that you may find useful: A Brief History of Zero. Here is a quote from this paper:
The word "zero" comes from the Arabic "al-sifr". Sifr in turn is a
transliteration of the Sanskrit word "shunya" meaning void or empty
which became later the term for zero. Introduced into Europe during
Italian Renaissance in the 12th century by Leonardo Fibonacci (and by
Nemorarius a less known mathematician) as "cifra" from which
emerged the present "cipher". In French, it became "chiffre", and in
German "ziffer", both of which mean zero.
We haven't heard of any language that doesn't have a word for "nothing", "zero" or "end".
We think that these concepts (not including the number 0) are universal, and exist in any language as at least one individual word. Our point here is that, although the concepts are universal, there are many variations depending on the culture, on the philosophical system or even on the religion.
For example, there are many different concepts of "emptiness" in Buddhism and Hinduism ("shunyata" or "śūnyatā" in Sanskrit means "emptiness"), as we found in the Wikipedia article on Śūnyatā.
Merci de corriger notre français si nécessaire.
Paulo Marcos -- & -- Claudio Marcos
Brasil/Brazil/Brésil
auxi
Membre / Member
Posts: 5
Joined: 19 Sep 2011 04:45

Re: nothing, zero and the end, are they universal?

Post by auxi »

Thank you very much!!!
Post Reply