Where does “ciphertext” come from?
Ciphertext combines cipher, from Old French cyfre (meaning zero, from Arabic صفر), and text, from Old French texte (from Latin textus, meaning woven or composed).
ciphertext (English): Encoded text, text that is unreadable
Definitions
- Encoded text, text that is unreadable
Ancestry of “ciphertext”, step by step
ciphertext traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English text
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | text | A writing consisting of multiple glyphs,... |
| 2 | Middle English | text | — |
| 3 | Old French | texte | text |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | textus | the Scriptures, text, treatise; text |
| 5 | Latin | textus | woven, having been woven; texture, structure;... |
| 6 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |
via English cipher
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | cipher | A numeric character; Any text character; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | cifre | The mathematical symbol or figure 0, representing... |
| 3 | Old French | cyfre | — |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | cifra | zero, numeral; numeral, cipher; zero |
| 5 | Arabic | صِفْر | zero, nothing, empty, void; nothing, cipher;... |
| 6 | Sanskrit | शून्य | zero; cipher, cypher; blank, deserted |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱówH- | — |