this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2024
312 points (97.9% liked)

Map Enthusiasts

3711 readers
12 users here now

For the map enthused!

Rules:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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

top 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 104 points 1 month ago (4 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] 40 points 1 month ago

That's almost as much fun as Davy pointlessly waffling between alumium, aluminum, and aluminium till we once again ended up with people who speak the same language using different terms.

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

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

In German, we also have "Pottasche" as the trivial name of potassium carbonate

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

And pot=pot, so potassium is 'from the ashpot' which was how kalium salts were extracted, by adding water to wood ash, then filtering and evaporating the water off.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Jöns was swedish, not swiss.

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

Switzerland and Sweden aren't the same country? Well God damnit, there goes my dream vacation of visiting the home of Ikea and chocolate.
Wait, now which one of them am I supposed to refer to as Swaziland?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Estonia over there with "Natrium, but longer"

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Meanwhile, they don't have time to say 'sodium' in Poland. They're way too busy.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

Kneel before sód

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Funny thing is hungarian also does the same. Á is the long form of a(tho the sound of it does change for some absurd reason i dont know). Tho finnish doesnt do it which is sad because then all the finno-ugric languages in europe would say it naatrium.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sodium, in Romania, can either be "sodiu" or "natriu"

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

But nobody actually calls it "natriu", it's just a thing you hear once in school to help you remember why the symbol is Na and then never use it again.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Can we get a map of tungsten (W) next time?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago

You mean Wolfram (T)?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Fun fact: Tungsten ist W/Volfram in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish where its English name, tung sten meaning "heavy stone", originates from.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Just to clarify, Swedish for "heavy stone" is literally "tung sten".

I don't know if it came around for non Scandinavians.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

Well The Lithuanian one is wrong the person who made this couldn't even copy from google translate. it is natris

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

There's been wars waged for less.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

If any one is curious about japanese, it's basically natrium ナトリウム (and potassium is kalium カリウム)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Undecium or is it Ununium?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

why call it sodium if its (Na) anyway?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Why call it silver when it's Ag anyway?

(we call it nátrium, but there's more to it than the periodic table name)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Why call it gold when it's Au anyway ?

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

argentum would be cool name for it though, but yeah

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium Batman!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Funny how they write “name of sodium (Na)”. I mean the abbreviation is right there…

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I hope Cyprus can at least agree on Cu.

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

If not, we call always say " c u later!"

... I'll show myself out

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is that where the word nitre comes from?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

That's where the (Na) comes from. Anything starting with Nit comes from Nitrogen (N)

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

I like the one that almost looks like "Natriguana"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Natris, not natrio, get your cases correct.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

It's written in genitive, not in nominative.