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The Arabic word for code, "shifra" gives us the French word "chifre"=number, and the English word decipher.  I learned this from my student Abd-Al-Malik Al-Mousa when I asked him how code in "The DaVinci Code" was translated and he said "shifra."

This would have come into the European languages during the time when the Arab merchants were trading with Europe and transmitting their use of numbers to Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries.

One of the nice things about teaching in Saudi Arabia.  Here is a pictue of me in my nice new studio apartment at KFUPM.