List of chemical element name etymologies.html



It has been suggested that List of chemical elements named after people be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

It has been suggested that Chemical elements named after places be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

A

Name	Symbol	Language of origin	Word of origin	Explanations	Image
Actinium	Ac	Greek	"ακτίς"	"ακτίς" (aktis, aktina, aktinos), means "beam (ray)".
Aluminum	Al	Latin	"alumen"	means "alum".	Alum Crystal.
Americium	Am	English?	"Americas"	Named for the "Americas", because was discovered in the United States (by analogy with Europium)	The Americas.
Antimony	Sb	Greek?	"αντι μόνος"	Possibly from the Greek, "αντι μόνος" (anti monos), approximately means "opposed to solitude", as it was believed never to exist in pure form, or (anti-monachos), (the French "antimoine", still has adherents) would means "monk-killer", because early alchemists being monks and antimony being poisonous. May also be derived from the Pharaonic (Ancient Egypt), "Antos Ammon" (expression), which could be translated as "bloom of the god Ammon". The symbol Sb is from Latin name, Stibium. The word derived from the Greek, "στιμμί" (stimmi), is probably a loan word from Arabic or Egyptian. Littré suggests the first form derives from "stimmida", (one) accusative for "stimmi". The Arabic word for the substance, as "mark" or "the cosmetic", can appear as "ithmid", "athmoud", "othmod" or "uthmod". 1
Argon	Ar	Greek	"αργό(ν)"	means "inactive" (literally "lazy").
Arsenic	As	Greek	""	"" (arsenikon), derived from the Persian, "زرنيخ" (zarnik), means "yellow orpiment".
Astatine	At	Greek	"αστατεο"	"αστατεο" (astateo), means "unstable". 2

B

Name	Symbol	Language of origin	Word of origin	Explanations	Image
Barium	Ba	Greek	"βαρυς"	"βαρυς" (barys), means "heavy". The oxide was initially called "barote", then "baryta", which was modified to "barium" to describe the metal.
Berkelium	Bk	English	"University of California, Berkeley"	Named for the "University of California, Berkeley", where discovered.
Beryllium	Be	Greek	"beryllos"	"beryllos", denoting beryl, which contains beryllium. 3
Bismuth	Bi	Modern Latin	"bisemutum"	"bisemutum", derived from the German, "Wismuth", perhaps from "weiße Masse", means "white mass", due to its appearance.
Bohrium	Bh		"Niels Bohr"	Named in honor of "Niels Bohr", who made fundamental understanding of atomic structure and quantum mechanics. .4
Boron	B	Arabic	"لاعقشا" (buraq)	"لاعقشا" (buraq) derived from the Persian, "بورون" (burah) referring to borax.
Bromine	Br	Greek	"βρωμος" (brómos)	"βρωμος" (brómos), means "stench", due to its characteristic smell.

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Notes and References

1. ^ Antimony,
   • LSJ, s.v., vocalisation, spelling, and declension vary; Endlich; Celsus, 6.6.6 ff; Pliny Natural History 33.33; Lewis and Short: Latin Dictionary. OED, s. "antimony".
   • "stimmi" is used by the Attic tragic poets of the 5th century BC. Later Greeks also used "stibi", which is written in Latin by Celsus and Pliny in the first century AD. Pliny also names "stimi" (sic-m), "larbaris", "alabaster", "very common platyophthalmos", "wide-eye" (means about effect of the cosmetic). In Egyptians hieroglyphics, "" (mśdmt), the vowels are uncertain, but there is an Arabic tradition that "" (mesdemet) (Albright; Sarton, quotes Meyerhof, the translator)
2. ^ Astatine, An earlier name for Astatine was Alabamine (Ab)
3. ^ Beryllium, At one time beryllium was referred to as Glucinium, which from the Greek, "" (glykys), means "sweet", due to the sweet taste of its salts.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} see Naming controversy below
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} Some elements (particularly ancient elements) was associated with Greek (or Roman or others) gods or people, on Greek mythology (or other mythology), and with planets (or others in solar system), such as Mercury (mythology) - Mercury (planet) - Mercury (element), etc.
   Also, astrological symbols (for the planets) (particularly ancient elements) also often used same each ancient alchemical symbols (for the element or its metal).
6. ^ Darmstadtium, some humorous scientists suggested the name Policium, because 110 is the emergency telephone number for the German police.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Previous to discovery of some unknown elements, Prof. Dmitri Mendeleev predicted and described most of them appropriately properties, and fill the gaps in the table, on the basis of them position in his Periodic table. The properties of 4 predicted elements, Eka-boron (Eb), Eka-aluminium (El), Eka-manganese (Em), and Eka-silicon (Es), proved to be good predictors of Scandium, Gallium, Technetium and Germanium, respectively. The prefix "eka-", from the Sanskrit, means "one" (places down from the known element in table), and is sometimes used in discussions about undiscovered elements, such as, Untriennium was referred into Eka-actinium. see also : Mendeleev's predicted elements
8. ^ Gold, the Sanskrit of India, "jval". the Greek, "χρυσος" (khrusos). the Chinese, 金 (jīn).
9. ^ Iron, Benvéniste 1969 cit. dep
10. ^ Lead, Lead was mentioned in the Book of Exodus of Bible. Alchemists expect that Lead was the oldest metal and associated the element with Saturn (planet).
11. ^ Mendelevium, "Mendeleyev" commonly spelt as Mendeleev, Mendeléef, or Mendelejeff, and first name sometimes spelt as Dmitry or Dmitriy
12. ^ Mercury, The Indian alchemy called Rassayana, means "the way of mercury".
13. ^ Neodymium, is frequently misspelled as neodynium
14. ^ Nitrogen, Pure gas is inert enough that Antoine Lavoisier referred to it as "Azote", means "without life", so this term has become the French for Nitrogen and later spread out to many other languages.
15. ^ Protactinium, Kasimir Fajans and Otto H. Göhring ,who identified, name the element 91 Brevium from the Latin, "brevis", means "brief, short" in 1913. The name was changed to "Protoactinium" in 1918 and shortened to Protactinium in 1949.
16. ^ Tin, The American Heritage Dictionary

See also

• List of chemical elements naming controversies
• Chemical elements named after people
• Chemical elements named after places