Despite its original meaning, the word “ноль” (нуль) (from the Latin, nullus — “nothing”) is truly something in Russia. On a personal note, every time I write this column, я начин≈аю с нул≈я – start from scratch; if I don’t forget what I wrote in the previous piece, there is no way to keep a fresh eye.
So what do I mean when I say zero is really something here? To begin with, there are two ways of writing 0 in Russian – ноль and нуль. The difference is virtually insignificant, but there are nuances that would mark one as either a native or an interloper. The word нуль is an older word than ноль. Нуль has been known in Russian since Petrine times (Peter introduced Arab figures; before him all figures were identified with Cyrillic letters).
Whence the word? Supposedly, нуль came from the Dutch or another language of the Germanic group. The word ноль came from Swedish (noll). Starting from the 19th century, dictionaries have both forms, нуль and ноль. Vladimir Dal’s dictionary features two adjectives: нолев≈ой и нулев≈ой, but today нолев≈ой is outdated.
There are phrases, though, where ноль is required: ноль ц≈елых две дес≈ятых (the manner of delineating decimals: 0.2), ноль час≈ов (0:00, a.k.a. midnight), ноль-ноль (0:0), for scorekeeping, but it can also mean midnight.
In other cases, нуль is more appropriate: веро≈ятность р≈авна нул≈ю (the odds are close to nil) and температ≈ура оп≈устится н≈иже нул≈я (temperature will fall below zero). And pilots can land a plane в усл≈овиях нулев≈ой в≈идимости (in zero visibility).
So what’s the rule? None. Zip. Nyetu. The vowels у and о alternate without much logic – you’ll just have to memorize words on a case-by-case basis (hopefully not starting from nil, of course).
Note some other нулев≈ые сл≈учаи (zero-related cases):
“Я ем≈у говор≈ю, а он – ноль вним≈ания” (“I talk to him, but he just seems to ignore me,” from a parent-to-son conversation). If a team’s player is in bad shape, he can be catalogued as нулев≈ой. And a scoreless draw is called нулев≈ая ничь≈я. Or, as sports observers write in such instances: На табл≈о одн≈и нул≈и (only zeros on the scoreboard).
In business and finance you can обнул≈ить счёт (zero-out an account), incur нулев≈ые затр≈аты (zero costs), or present a нулев≈ой бал≈анс (zero balance sheet). And there is an elegant way to express the notion of a million. Instead of saying “they offered me a million,” just say – он≈и мне предлож≈или ц≈ифру с шесть≈ю нул≈ями (a figure with six zeros).
In military terminology, there is нулев≈ая отм≈етка (ground zero, as in a nuclear explosion) or игр≈а с нулев≈ым результ≈атом (a zero-sum game), an idiom popular in the Reagan-Gorbachev era, when disarmament was high on everyone’s agenda.
In day-to-day life, if someone is a real mediocrity, a nothing, you can say, “Он – п≈олный ноль” or “Oн – кр≈углый ноль,” or even worse – he is ноль без п≈алочки (literally, “a zero without a stick,” as in take the 1 off a score of 10).
But the best way to appreciate the role of 0 in things Russian is to watch the film Г≈ород З≈еро (Zero Town), a tragicomedy by Karen Shakhnazarov about the apotheosis of the stagnation period. The protagonist (played by the superb actor Leonid Filatov) is an inspector who visits a state factory. The factory director is, well, нулев≈ой – a complete zero without a stick who does not notice that his chief engineer has been missing for a months, and that his secretary is typing at her desk in the nude. The inspector finds himself in a city of zeroes where no work is being done and where everyone is, like the mathematical function, стрем≈ится к нул≈ю (striving for or approaching nil).
What are the odds such stagnation will return to Russia? Well, let’s hope веро≈ятность равн≈а нул≈ю (zero probability), as they say, but you never know. If the U.S. president (which many here are calling the most нулев≈ой in U.S. history) keeps playing an игр≈а с нулев≈ым результ≈aтом, events might spin out of control and all our recent advances will свод≈ится к нул≈ю (come to naught), turning more than just Baghdad into Г≈ород З≈еро.
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