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Name of sodium (Na) in every European country (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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(I did not make the map, the typo is not my doing.)

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[–] [email protected] 104 points 1 month ago (10 children)

I found a reddit post why sodium and potassium have 2 names:

There was some argument over what to call the elements. They were discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy who called them "sodium" from the Latin "sodanum" for a compound of sodium used as a treatment for headaches, and "potassium" from English "potash" which was the method used to extract potassium salts.

But a German chemist, Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert, proposed "natronium" from Neo-Latin as a reference to "natron" which is what the Egyptians called sodium carbonate, and "kalium" from the Neo-Latin of the Arabic "al qalyah" which means "ashes".

So in English they were "sodium" and "potassium", but in German they were "Natronium" (now simply "Natrium") and "Kalium".

It just so happened that the guy who invented the modern chemical symbols was Jöns Jacob Berzelius. He was Swiss and spoke German, so he derived the symbols from the German names.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Is that why potassium is K on the periodic table?

And now that I think about it, sodium is Na..

Damnit, our educational system has been telling us we are wrong the whole time! Sneaky bullshit!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Berzelius was an asshole. Antimony is Antimon* in most languages, even in German, but he chose Sb from Latin stibium

Found one more, with a similar double name, but there he used at least the German name: Tungsten (W) is Wolfram in German

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There are also Sn (Stannous) for Tin, Pb (Plumbum) for Lead, Fe (Ferrum) for Iron, Hg (Hydrargyrum) for Mercury, Au (Aurum) for Gold and Ag (Argentum) for Silver.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Those are just the Latin names for already known elements. Not quite the same difference imo.

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