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What's in a name?
It's elementary, my dear
G Venkatesh
You would be forgiven if you did not give a second thought to the names of
the elements in the periodic table, but stop and take a fascinating tour of how
people, places, planets, mythical gods and the Orient have inspired much of the
naming of the elements from California to behind the then Iron Curtain.
Do names matter? Ask those who have got them changed to invite better luck.
If the Bard of Avon said that a rose by any other name would still be a rose and
smell as sweet, he was perhaps verging more towards romanticism. But the world
of nomenclature is a different jungle to be in! Talking of rose, there is an
element in the Periodic Table which takes its name from 'Rhodon', which is Greek
for 'rose'. The etymology however is not all Greek and Latin, and if one desires
to get to the root of the christening of the elements in the Periodic Table, it
is sure to be an interesting, invigorating and enlightening experience. Broadly,
this could be considered to be based on four Ps - planets, personalities, places
and properties.
People and personalities
A good number of elements are named after people who include both humans in
flesh and blood, and mythological beings. Scientists have been immortalized by
the names given to the heavier elements in the Periodic Table. Albert
'Einstein', Glenn 'Seaborg', Lord 'Rutherford', Niels 'Bohr', Enrico 'Fermi',
Lise 'Meitner', Ernest 'Lawrence', Alfred 'Nobel', Dmitri 'Mendeleev', Marie
'Curie', and John 'Gadolin' are there in einsteinium, seaborgium, rutherfordium,
bohrium, fermium, meitnerium, lawrencium, nobelium, mendelevium, curium and
gadolinium. That is a generous mix of individuals from both sides of the
'now-non-existent' Iron Curtain. We have America, Germany, Austria, Poland,
Sweden, England, Finland and Russia represented by their illustrious
citizens.
Now these are humans in flesh and blood. One also comes across gods and
goddesses from mythology lending their names to some elements. Thorium is from
Thor, the Scandinavian God of War, and Vanadium from Vanadis, the Scandinavian
goddess of beauty. From North Europe to the South…Titanium and Tellurium form
a twins-mother combination with the Titans and Tellus (Mother Earth) forming the
sources of their respective names. Tantalus (Tantalum) is Niobe's (Niobium or
Columbium) father; and these two metals are normally found in the same orebody
(often referred to Coltan ore). Prometheus, the plebeian who famously stole fire
from the gods is revered in Promethium, while Palladium (of which South Africa
is a major producer) is named after Pallus, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
From people to places and planets
From the big to the small would require that we zoom in from the solar system
to the villages on the earth. While relating the heavenly bodies to the names of
elements in the Periodic Table, one could think of the source as a mythological
figure or as an object in space. Mercury (hydrargyrum) and lead (plumbum) are
sort of namesakes, both the Greek names meaning 'liquid silver', which was how
the planet nearest to the Sun was known in Greece in the bygone days. The
brightest planet, Venus, was once known as Phosphorus or the Light Bringer.
Tellurium is after Tellus or Mother Earth (already referred to under the
previous subhead). While Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have not been lucky enough,
the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is represented by Ceres as cerium in
the Table. The actinides with atomic numbers 92,93 and 94 are respectively
Uran(us)ium, Neptun(e)ium and Plutonium. And yes, the Sun and the earth's Moon
also find their places. Helium is from Helios meaning Sun and selenium is from
Selene which is Greek for the earth's moon.
From the outer cosmos to Mother Earth and in it, to the landmass that forms
29% of the geoid's surface. Americium and Europium are self-explanatory names.
Ruthenium is from Ruthenia, which is how the Greeks referred to Russia once upon
a time. Scandium is from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Finland), Holmia
(holmium) is Greek for Sweden. While Franc(e)ium and German(y)ium are
self-explanatory, Germany is honoured again in Hassium (Hess is Latin for
Germany). Lutetia (lutetium) is Greek for Paris, and Hafnia (hafnium) is Latin
for the Danish capital - Copenhagen.
From countries and capitals to cities, towns and villages, as we move further
down on a geographical scale, there is a village in Sweden and another one in
Scotland. The former has the enviable distinction of having four elements named
after it. The village is Ytterby and the elements are yttrium, erbium, terbium
and ytterbium. The Scottish village is Strontia and the element is the alkaline
earth metal strontium.
Further West, californium is from California, berkelium from Berkeley and
dubnium from Dubnia, all in the western part of the USA. Note the ascendancy in
this series: Dubnium, Berkelium, Californium, Americium, Tellurium.
Properties
Colours and physical attributes too have inspired the namings. 'Chloro' is
pale green, 'rubidius' is bright red, 'iodes' is violet, 'zircon' is golden
yellow, 'caesius' is sky blue. Thus we have chlorine, rubidium, iodine,
zirconium and caesium. Osme is smell, bromos is stench, anti-monos means 'not
isolated', barys is heavy, and argos means inactive. The first is Latin and the
others are Greek. These, readers may already have guessed, lend their names to
osmium, bromine, antinomy, barium and argon.
Chemical properties which were identified before the christening became the
roots of the names of gases - hydrogen (water-forming), oxygen (acid-forming)
and nitrogen (nitre-forming). The relative difficulty in identifying certain
elements has given birth to such names as lanthanum, krypton and dysprosium. The
roots are 'lanthanein', 'kryptos', and 'dysprotis', the first one being a Latin
word meaning 'hidden', and the second and third are Greek, meaning 'hidden' and
'difficult to obtain' respectively. Thus, there are two namesakes in lanthanum
and krypton, one a rare earth, and the other an inert gas. This goes to show
that disparate entities can have the same or similar names! (This takes us back
to the question, "Is there anything in a name?) Talking of namesakes, there
is another pair - radium and actinium, one from 'radius' (Latin) and the other
from 'aktinos' (Greek), both meaning the same - 'ray' as in a ray of light.
Oriental names
Do not be surprised to find a Sanskrit name here and a couple of Arabic names
there. Sulvere is Sanskrit for sulphur, buraq is Arabic for boron and qali is
again Arabic for potassium (kalium).
There are borrowed names too, like cadmium which derives its name from
calamine. Calamine is zinc carbonate, and cadmium and zinc occur together in the
same orebody, just as niobium and tantalum do. Sodium is from soda which is
short for sodium carbonate, and silicon is from silicis which is Latin for flint
which contains silica (silicon dioxide). Quite like the cadmium-zinc pair,
molybdenum gets its name from molybdos, which is Greek for lead. (Lead and moly
occur together in polymetallic ores. In fact, lead, zinc, molybdenum, cadmium
and silver are all found together).
More to come
Following up on berkelium, dubnium and californium, researchers at the
University of Berkely in California, stumbled upon am element with atomic number
117 about a year ago. But as a confirmation became difficult to obtain, they had
to take back their claims. They were on the verge of equaling Ytterby's record
of a quartet!
Coming back to the scope of this article, William Shakespeare would indeed
have been glad to know that there is so much in a name - much more than letters
in an alphabet strung together!
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