224
A CHEMISTRY LESSON
I
I'
DARRYL FRANCIS
Hounslow. Middle sex, England
Following the monumental success of our article '1 A Geography
Le s son ll which appeared in the August 1970 Word Ways, we have de­
cided to offer the reader a further episode of logological instruction.
The previous article concerned itself with various aspects of geo­
graphicologology (the logology of placename s) ; this article will deal
with one particular facet of chemicologology (the logology of chem­
ical name s) .
Authoritative reference books inform :us that there are 103 chem­
ical elements known to man. (However, University of California
scientists at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory reported the synthe­
sis of element 104, tentatively named rutherfordium, in 1969 and of
element 105, tentatively named hahnium, in 1970.) A number of
these 103 elements are also known by other names. CUPRUM is
another name for copper, which explains why the chemical symbol
for copper is Cu; the chemical symbol for tungsten is similarly ex­
plained by the alternative name s of WOLFRAM or WOLFRAMIUM.
QUICKSILVER, a name for mercury, is an obvious description of
the silver - colored liquid element.
However. not all of the alternative names for the elements are as
well-known as the ones just quoted. Element number 100, now called
fermium, was originally called by some people CENTURIUM. A few
chemistry texts can be found which use CENTURIUM instead of fer­
mium when discus sing this element. Other alternative name sexist
merely as obsolete terms from alchemy. The name s of mythologi­
cal per sonages were often used as element na:m.es in alchemy. Yet
other alternative s result from industrial usage where precise chemi­
cal nomenclature has often been ignored.
Apart from alternative name s for the elements, there are variant
spellings for many of the names. KOBOLD, ZINGH, WISMUTH, FOS­
FORUS, STRONTIAN and AIRN are recorded variants of cobalt, zinc,
bismuth, phosphorus, strontium and iron. A multitude of similar
example sis known to us.
{
We
native n
alchemi
sent all
corresp
names 1
earn hif
known,
The cor
tions at
into thi ~
name pI
element
The plu1
unrelat€
want fre
be conh
taken to
Instead,
has acb
1. a
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. a
6. a
7. a
8. a
9. a
10. a
II. a
12. a
13. a
14. b
15. b
16. b
17. b
18. b
19. b
20. c
21. c
2. 2. c
23. c
24. ci
25. ci
26. c
225
I
.,
~ography
e have de­
lstruction.
of geo~ will deal
of chem-
103 chem­
ifornia
;he synthe­
169 and of
ber of
~UM is
symbol
llarly ex­
A.MIUM.
)tion of
are as
now called
rM. A few
id of fernes exist
ythologiny. Yet
ise chemi~nts
ire variant
1UTH, FOS­
)balt, zinc,
similar
t,
.
,
We list below some 103 element names. These names are alter­
native names for some of the elements, variant spellings of others,
alchemic names and so on and so on. The 103 names do not repre­
sent all of the 103 known elements. Many of the name s in the list
correspond to one and the same element. For example, ten of the
names refer to gold. What we are going to ask the reader to do to
earn his chemicologological colors is to give the common, well­
known, everyday equivalent s of the 103 name s pre sented below.
The cor rect answer s to this quiz will be found in Answe r s and Solu­
tions at the end of this issue. Before the reader plunges willy-nilly
into this quiz, a few words of warning might be appropriate. The
name plutonium on this list is not to be equated with the transuranic
element having atomic number 94 which is actually called plutonium.
The plutonium on our list is a genuine synonym for another, totally
unrelated, element; it is the name of this latter element that we
want from the reader. The name transuranium on our list is not to
be confused with the adjective transuranium, which is generally
taken to signify all elements with atomic number in excess of 92.
Instead, we want the reader to give us the name of the element that
has actually been referred to by some as transuranium.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21,
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
adamantine
ala bamine
alderbaranium
alkaligen
altun
anemium
anglohelvetium
argentum virum
ausonium
austrium
azoch
azote
azoth
bastard of tin
bohemium
boracium
borium
brevium
brimstone
capronium
cas siopeium
celtium
columbium
denebium
dephlogisticated air
diana
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
dragon
dubhium
dvicesium
dvimanganese
dvitellurium
ekaboron
ekacae sium
eka-iodine
ek-aluminum
ekamanganese
eka- neodymium
ekaosmium
ekarhenium
ekasilicon
ekatantalum
eline
emamium
erythronium
e sperium
exa- bor
far
ferrum
flor entium
glucinium
hel vetium
hierro
226
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
6l.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.69.
70.
7l.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
hydrargire
illinium
jargonium
jupiter
luna
magnesia
mars
masurium
moldavium
natrium
neoytterbium
niccolum
nigrium
nipponium
obrison
obrize
oceanium
oro
osmund
pelopium
phthore
phtor
plumbum candidum
plumbum cinereum
plumbum nigrum
plutonium
79.
80.
8l.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
9l.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.
quebrith
quick
radiotellurium
red
ridge
russium
saturn
scheelium
seHer
shiny
sol
spanker
spelter
spirit (two answer s)
sylvanium
the moon
transuranium
uralium
venus
verium
virginium
wedge
white
yellow
yerne
The name s in this article cannot all be found in anyone reference
work. In preparing the article, we made use mainly of the following
source s:
We b ster' s New Inter national Dictionary, Second Edition
Funk & Wagnall' s New Standard Dictionary of the English Language
Hackh I s Chemical Dictionary, Third Edition, 1944 (completely
revi sed by Juliu s Grant)
A PR
A. ROS~
Morrist(
Spec
tool for
cal Gam
Nichola~
anagrarr
zen l s v'
1964. )
words ir
most re
of the E
have the
al and R
Pennsyl
Alth
the stci.n
as mode
to descr
and whi<
to be is(
pIe. EX
that a di
groups.
Let
words h
three-IE
aaa, aal
groups j
Bell nur
combine
5, 6, 7 l
115975,
number
words (
will hav