List of chemical element name etymologies

This article lists the etymology of chemical elements of the periodic table.

History[]

Throughout the history of chemistry, several chemical elements have been discovered. In the nineteenth century, Dmitri Mendeleev formulated the periodic table, a table of elements which describes their structure. Because elements have been discovered at various times and places, from antiquity through the present day, their names have derived from several languages and cultures.

Named after places[]

41 of the 118 chemical elements have names associated with, or specifically named for, places around the world or among astronomical objects. 32 of these have names tied to the places on the Earth and the other 9 have names connected to bodies in the Solar System: helium for the Sun; tellurium for the Earth; selenium for the Moon; mercury (indirectly), uranium, neptunium and plutonium for the major planets (note: Pluto was still considered a planet at the time of plutonium's naming); and cerium and palladium for smaller objects.^[1]

Named after people[]

19 elements are connected with the names of 20 people (as curium honours both Marie and Pierre Curie). 15 elements were named after scientists; four other have indirect connection to the names of non-scientists.^[1] Only gadolinium and samarium occur in nature; the rest are synthetic. Seaborg and Oganessian were the only two who were alive at the time of being honored with having elements named after them, and Oganessian is the only one still alive. Elements named after four non-scientists in this table were actually named for a place or thing which in turn had been named for these people: Samarium was named for the mineral samarskite from which it was isolated. Berkelium and livermorium are named after cities of Berkeley, California and Livermore, California are the locations of the University of California Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, respectively. Americium is indirectly connected to Amerigo Vespucci via America.

Named after mythological entities[]

Also, mythological entities have had a significant impact on the naming of elements, directly or indirectly. Cerium, europium, helium, iridium, mercury, neptunium, niobium, palladium, plutonium, promethium, selenium, titanium, thorium, uranium and vanadium and all connected to mythological deities.

Named after minerals[]

Elements may also have been named after minerals (in which they were discovered). For example, beryllium is named after beryl.

Controversies and failed proposals[]

Other element names given after people have been proposed but failed to gain official international recognition. These include columbium (Cb), hahnium (Ha), joliotium (Jl), and kurchatovium (Ku), names connected to Christopher Columbus, Otto Hahn, Irène Joliot-Curie, and Igor Kurchatov; and also cassiopeium (Cp), a name coming from the constellation Cassiopeia and is hence indirectly connected to the mythological Cassiopeia.

Current naming practices and procedures[]

For the last two decades, IUPAC has been the governing body for naming elements. IUPAC has also provided a temporary name and symbol for unknown or recently synthesized elements.

List[]

v t Etymology of the chemical element names
Element		Original word	Language of origin	Meaning	Nature of origin
Name (symbol)	Z	Description (symbol etymology, former names)
Hydrogen (H)	1	ὕδωρ (root: ὑδρ-) + γενής (hydor genes)	Greek via Latin and French	"water + begetter"	descriptive
		From French hydrogène[2] and Latin hydro- and -genes, derived from the Greek ὕδωρ γείνομαι (hydor geinomai), meaning "Ι beget water".
Helium (He)	2	ἥλιος (hélios)	Greek	"sun"	astrological; mythological
		Named after the Greek ἥλιος (helios), meaning "the sun" or the mythological sun-god.[3] It was first identified by its characteristic emission lines in the Sun's spectrum.
Lithium (Li)	3	λίθος (lithos)	Greek	"stone"
		From Greek λίθος (lithos) meaning "stone", because it was discovered from a mineral while other common alkali metals (sodium and potassium) were discovered from plant tissue.
Beryllium (Be)	4	?City of Belur via Greek βήρυλλος (beryllos)	Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit via Greek, Latin, Old French, and Middle English	?"beryl", a mineral	descriptive (colour)
		βήρυλλος (beryllos), denoting beryl, which contains beryllium.[4] The word is derived (via Latin: beryllus and French: béryl) from the Greek βήρυλλος (bērullos), "a blue-green spar", from Prakrit वॆरुलिय‌ (veruliya), from Pāli वेलुरिय (veḷuriya), भेलिरु (veḷiru) or भिलर् (viḷar): "to become pale", in reference to the pale semiprecious gemstone beryl.[5]
Boron (B)	5	بورق (buraq)	Arabic, Medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman, Middle French, and Middle English
		From the Arabic بورق (buraq), which refers to borax. Possibly derived from Persian بوره (burah). The Arabic was adapted as Medieval Latin baurach, Anglo-Norman boreis, and Middle English boras, which became the source of the English "boron".
Carbon (C)	6	charbone	Latin via French	"charcoal"
		From the French charbone, which in turn came from Latin carbō, meaning "charcoal" and is related to carbōn, meaning "a coal". (The German and Dutch names, "Kohlenstoff" and "koolstof", respectively, both literally mean "coal matter".) These words were derived from the Proto-Indo-European base *ker- meaning "heat", "fire", or "to burn".[6]
Nitrogen (N)	7	νίτρον (Latin: nitrum) -γενής (-genes)	Greek via Latin and French	"native-soda begetter"	descriptive
		From French nitrogène[7] derived from Greek νίτρον γείνομαι (nitron geinomai), meaning "I form/beget native-soda (niter)".[8]
		· Former name azote (French), from Greek ἄζωτος (azōtos) "lifeless" but possibly inspired by azoth, one of the alchemical names of mercury, from Andalusian Arabic al-zuq, the Classical Arabic name of that element.
Oxygen (O)	8	ὀξύ γείνομαι (oxy geinomai)/oxygène	Greek via French	"to bring forth acid"
		From Greek ὀξύ γείνομαι (oxy geinomai), meaning "Ι bring forth acid", as it was believed to be an essential component of acids. This phrase was corrupted into the French oxygène, which became the source of the English "oxygen".[9]
Fluorine (F)	9	fluor	Latin	"a flowing"
		From Latin fluor meaning "a flowing", from mineral name fluorspar (calcium fluoride). Fluorspar was used to make iron flowing in smelting.
Neon (Ne)	10	νέος (neos)	Greek	"new"
		From Greek νέος (neos), meaning "new".
Sodium (Na)	11	soda	English
		From the English "soda", used in names for sodium compounds such as caustic soda, soda ash, and baking soda. Probably from Italian sida (or directly from Medieval Latin soda) meaning "a kind of saltwort", from which soda was obtained, of uncertain origin.[12]
		· Symbol Na is from the Modern Latin noun natrium, derived from Greek νίτρον (nítron), "natural soda, a kind of salt".[10] The original source is either the Arabic word نطرون (natrun) or the Egyptian word netjeri.[11]
Magnesium (Mg)	12	Μαγνησία (Magnesia)	Greek		toponym
		From the Ancient Greek Μαγνησία (Magnesia) (district in Thessaly), where it was discovered.
Aluminium (Al)	13	alumen	Latin	"alum" (literally: bitter salt)[13]
		Latin alumen, which means "alum" (literally: bitter salt).
Silicon (Si)	14	silex, silicis	Latin	"flint"	descriptive
		From Latin silex or silicis, which means "flint", a kind of stone (chiefly silicon dioxide).
Phosphorus (P)	15	φῶς + φόρος (phos + phoros)	Greek via Latin[14]	"light-bearer"	descriptive
		From Greek φῶς + φόρος (phos + phoros), which means "light bearer", because white phosphorus emits a faint glow upon exposure to oxygen. Phosphorus was the ancient name for Venus, or Hesperus, the Morning Star.[3]
Sulfur (S)	16	Old Latin sulpur (later sulphur, sulfur) Proto-Indo-European *swépl̥ (genitive *sulplós), nominal derivative of *swelp.[15]	Latin Proto-Indo-European (PIE)	"to burn"
		The word came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman sulfre, itself derived through Old French soulfre from Late Latin sulfur.[16]. From Proto-Indo-European *swelp "to burn"
Chlorine (Cl)	17	χλωρός (chlorós)	Greek	"pale green"[17]	descriptive (colour)
		From Greek χλωρός (chlorós), which means "yellowish green" or "greenish yellow", because of the colour of the gas.
Argon (Ar)	18	ἀργόν (argon)	Greek	"inactive"	descriptive
		Greek argon means "inactive" (literally: "slow").
Potassium (K)	19	potassa; potasch via potash[18]	Modern Latin via Dutch and English[19]	"pot-ash"
		From the English "potash", which means "pot-ash" (potassium compound prepared from an alkali extracted in a 'pot' from the 'ash' of burnt wood or tree leaves). Potash is a literal translation of the Dutch potaschen, which means "pot ashes".[20]
		· Symbol K is for the Latin name kalium, from Arabic القلي (al qalīy), which means "calcined ashes".
Calcium (Ca)	20	χάλιξ/calx	Greek/Latin	"pebble"/"limestone"[21]
		From Latin calx, which means "lime". Calcium was known as early as the first century when the Ancient Romans prepared lime as calcium oxide.
Scandium (Sc)	21	Scandia	Latin	"Scandinavia"	toponym
		Named from Latin Scandia, "Scandinavia".
		· Former name eka-boron[22]
Titanium (Ti)	22	Τιτάν, gen:[?] Τιτάνος (Titan)	Greek	"Titans", sons of Gaia	mythological
		For the "Titans", the first sons of Gaia in Greek mythology.[3]
Vanadium (V)	23	Vanadís	Old Norse	"Dís of the Vanir"	mythological
		From Old Norse Vanadís, one of the names of the Vanr goddess Freyja in Norse mythology, because of multicoloured chemical compounds deemed beautiful.[3][23]
Chromium (Cr)	24	χρῶμα (chróma)	Greek via French	"colour"	descriptive (colour)
		From Greek χρῶμα (chróma), "colour", because of its multicoloured compounds. This word was adapted as the French chrome, and adding the suffix -ium created the English "chromium".[24]
Manganese (Mn)	25	Μαγνησία (Magnesia; Medieval Latin: magnesia)	Greek via Latin, Italian, and French	"Magnesia", Greece	descriptive, toponym
		From Latin Magnesia, ultimately from Ancient Greek region Magnesia. The word Magnesia evolved into manganese in Italian and into manganèse in French.
Iron (Fe)	26	īsern (earlier: īren/īsen) /yren/yron	Anglo-Saxon via Middle English	"holy metal or strong metal"[25]	descriptive
		From the Anglo-Saxon īsern which is derived from Proto-Germanic isarnan meaning "holy metal" or "strong metal".
		· Symbol Fe is from Latin ferrum, meaning "iron".
Cobalt (Co)	27	[[kobold|Kobold]]	German	"goblin"
		From German Kobold, which means "goblin". The metal was named by miners, because it was poisonous and troublesome (polluted and degraded by other mined elements, such as nickel). Other sources cite the origin in the silver miners' belief that cobalt had been placed by "Kobolds", who had stolen the silver. Some suggest that the name may have been derived from Greek κόβαλος (kobalos), which means "mine" and which may have common roots with kobold, goblin, and cobalt.
Nickel (Ni)	28	Kopparnickel/ Kupfernickel	Swedish via German[26]	"copper-coloured ore"	descriptive
		From the Swedish kopparnickel, meaning "copper-coloured ore". This referred to the ore niccolite from which it was obtained.[26]
Copper (Cu)	29	Κύπριος (Kyprios)?	Greek? via Latin, West Germanic, Old English, and Middle English[27]	"who/which is from Cyprus"	toponym
		Possibly derived from Greek Κύπριος (Kyprios) (which comes from Κύπρος (Kypros), the Greek name of Cyprus) via Latin cuprum, West Germanic *kupar, Old English coper/copor, and Middle English coper. The Latin term, during the Roman Empire, was aes cyprium; aes was the generic term for copper alloys such as bronze. Cyprium means "Cyprus" or "which is from Cyprus", where so much of it was mined; it was simplified to cuprum and then eventually Anglicized as "copper" (Old English coper/copor).
		· Symbol Cu is from the Latin name cuprum ("copper").
Zinc (Zn)	30	Zink	German	?"Cornet"
		From German Zink which is related to Zinken "prong, point", probably alluding to its spiky crystals. May be derived from Old Persian.
Gallium (Ga)	31	Gallia	Latin	"Gaul" (Ancient France)	toponym
		From Latin Gallia, which means "Gaul" (Ancient France), and also gallus, which means "rooster". The element was obtained as free metal by Lecoq de Boisbaudran, who named it after his native land France. Allegations were later made that he had also named it for himself, as gallus is Latin for le coq ("rooster"), but he denied that this had been his intention.[28]
		· Former name eka-aluminium by Mendeleev, who predicted its existence.[22]
Germanium (Ge)	32	Germania	Latin	"Germany"	toponym
		From Latin Germania, which means "Germany".
		· Former name eka-silicon by Mendeleev.[22]
Arsenic (As)	33	ἀρσενικόν (arsenikon)	Syriac/Persian via Greek, Latin, Old French, and Middle English	?"male"	descriptive (colour)
		From Greek ἀρσενικόν (arsenikon), which is adapted from Syriac ܠܫܢܐܠܐ ܙܐܦܢܝܐ‎ ((al) zarniqa)[29] and Persian زرنيخ (zarnik), "yellow orpiment". The Greek arsenikon is paretymologically related to the Greek word ἀρσενικός (arsenikos), which means "masculine" or "potent". These words were adapted as the Latin arsenicum and Old French arsenic, which is the source for the English arsenic.[30]
Selenium (Se)	34	σελήνη (selene)	Greek	"moon"	astrological; mythological
		From Greek σελήνη (selene), which means "Moon", and also moon-goddess Selene.[3]
Bromine (Br)	35	βρόμος (brómos)[31]	Greek via French	"dirt" or "stench" (of male-goat)[32]
		βρόμος (brómos) means "stench" (literally: "clangor"), due to its characteristic smell.
Krypton (Kr)	36	κρυπτός (kryptos)	Greek	"hidden"	descriptive
		From Greek κρυπτός (kryptos), which means "hidden one", because of its colourless, odorless, tasteless, gaseous properties, as well as its rarity in nature.
Rubidium (Rb)	37	rubidus	Latin	"deepest red"	descriptive (colour)
		From Latin rubidus, which means "deepest red", because of the colour of a spectral line.
Strontium (Sr)	38	Strontian	Scottish Gaelic via English	proper name	toponym
		Named after strontianite, the mineral. Strontianite itself was named after the town of Strontian (Scotland) where the mineral was found; Sròn an t-Sìthein literally means "nose ['point'] of the fairy hill".
Yttrium (Y)	39	Ytterby	Swedish	proper name	toponym
		Named after the mineral yttria (yttriumoxide), where it was originally extracted from. Yttria itself was named after Ytterby, Sweden.[33]
Zirconium (Zr)	40	ܙܐܪܓܥܢܥ (zargono),[34] زرگون (zargûn)	Syriac/Persian via Arabic and German	"gold-like"
		From Arabic زركون (zarkûn). Derived from Persian زرگون (zargûn), which means "gold-like". Zirkon is the German variant of these and is the origin of the English zircon.[35]
Niobium (Nb)	41	Νιόβη (Niobe)	Greek	"snowy"	mythological
		Named after Niobe, daughter of Tantalus in classical mythology.[23][3]
		· Former name columbium from Columbia, personification of America.
Molybdenum (Mo)	42	μόλυβδος (molybdos)	Greek	"lead-like"	descriptive
		From Greek μόλυβδος (molybdos), "lead".
Technetium (Tc)	43	τεχνητός (echnetos)	Greek	"artificial"	descriptive
		From Greek τεχνητός (technetos), which means "artificial", because it was the first artificially produced element.
		· Former name eka-manganese[22]
Ruthenium (Ru)	44	Ruthenia	Latin	"Ruthenia", Kievan Rus'[36]	toponym (exonym)
		From Latin Ruthenia, geographical exonym for Kievan Rus'.
Rhodium (Rh)	45	ῥόδον (rhodon)	Greek	"rose"	descriptive (colour)
		From Greek ῥόδον (rhodon), which means "rose". From its rose-red compounds.
Palladium (Pd)	46	Παλλάς (genitive: Παλλάδος) (Pallas)	Greek via Latin	"little maiden"[37]	astrological; mythological
		Named after Pallas, the asteroid discovered two years earlier. The asteroid itself was named after Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and victory.[3] The word Palladium is derived from Greek Παλλάδιον and is the neuter version of Παλλάδιος, meaning "of Pallas".[38]
Silver (Ag)	47