The first account to mention Sanskrit is from Filippo Sassetti. Born in Florence, Italy, in 1540, he was a merchant who was among the first Europeans to study the Sanskrit. Writing in 1585, he noted some word similarities between Sanskrit and Italian such as "devaḥ"/"dio" "God", "sarpaḥ"/"serpe" "serpent", "sapta"/"sette" "seven", "aṣṭa"/"otto" "eight", "nava"/"nove" "nine"). However, neither observation led to further scholarly inquiry.