Derivation of "Zero"

(No. 14. p. 215.).—*Zero* Ital.; Fr. *un chiffre, un rien*, a cipher in arithmetic, a nought; whence the proverb *avere nel zero, mépriser souverainement*, to value at nothing, to have a sovereign contempt for. I do not know what the etymology of the word may be; but the application is obvious to that point in the scale of the thermometer below the numbered degrees to which, in ordinary temperatures, the mercury does not sink.