[233] Rabbi ben Ezra (1092-1168) used both [Hebrew: GLGL], _galgal_ (the Hebrew for _wheel_), and [Hebrew: SPR'], _sifra_. See M. Steinschneider, "Die Mathematik bei den Juden," in _Bibliotheca Mathematica_, 1893, p. 69, and Silberberg, _Das Buch der Zahl des R. Abraham ibn Esra_, Frankfurt a. M., 1895, p. 96, note 23; in this work the Hebrew letters are used for numerals with place value, having the zero. [234] E.g., in the twelfth-century _Liber aligorismi_ (see Boncompagni's _Trattati_, II, p. 28). So Ramus (_Libri II_, 1569 ed., p. 1) says: "Circulus quae nota est ultima: nil per se significat." (See also the Schonerus ed. of Ramus, 1586, p. 1.) [235] "Und wirt das ringlein o. die Ziffer genant die nichts bedeut." [Koebel's _Rechenbuch_, 1549 ed., f. 10, and other editions.] [236] I.e. "circular figure," our word _notation_ having come from the medieval _nota_. Thus Tzwivel (1507, f. 2) says: "Nota autem circularis .o. per se sumpta nihil vsus habet. alijs tamen adiuncta earum significantiam et auget et ordinem permutat quantum quo ponit ordinem. vt adiuncta note binarij hoc modo 20 facit eam significare bis decem etc." Also (ibid., f. 4), "figura circularis," "circularis nota." Clichtoveus (1503 ed., f. XXXVII) calls it "nota aut circularis o," "circularis nota," and "figura circularis." Tonstall (1522, f. B_3) says of it: "Decimo uero nota ad formam [symbol] litterae circulari figura est: quam alij circulum, uulgus cyphram uocat," and later (f. C_4) speaks of the "circulos." Grammateus, in his _Algorismus de integris_ (Erfurt, 1523, f. A_2), speaking of the nine significant figures, remarks: "His autem superadditur decima figura circularis ut 0 existens que ratione sua nihil significat." Noviomagus (_De Numeris libri II_, Paris, 1539, chap. xvi, "De notis numerorum, quas zyphras vocant") calls it "circularis nota, quam ex his solam, alij sipheram, Georgius Valla zyphram." [237] Huswirt, as above. Ramus (_Scholae mathematicae_, 1569 ed., p. 112) discusses the name interestingly, saying: "Circulum appellamus cum multis, quam alii thecam, alii figuram nihili, alii figuram privationis, seu figuram nullam vocant, alii ciphram, cum tamen hodie omnes hae notae vulgo ciphrae nominentur, & his notis numerare idem sit quod ciphrare." Tartaglia (1592 ed., f. 9) says: "si chiama da alcuni tecca, da alcuni circolo, da altri cifra, da altri zero, & da alcuni altri nulla." [238] "Quare autem aliis nominibus vocetur, non dicit auctor, quia omnia alia nomina habent rationem suae lineationis sive figurationis. Quia rotunda est, dicitur haec figura teca ad similitudinem tecae. Teca enim est ferrum figurae rotundae, quod ignitum solet in quibusdam regionibus imprimi fronti vel maxillae furis seu latronum." [Loc. cit., p. 26.] But in Greek _theca_ ([THEKE], [Greek: theke]) is a place to put something, a receptacle. If a vacant column, e.g. in the abacus, was so called, the initial might have given the early forms [symbol] and [symbol] for the zero.