Nomenclature

Think About It

Do you know what your name means? Most names are rooted in history and their meanings have been lost over time. In ancient times it was common for people to be named after the date of their birth, their village, a heroic ancestor, a spirit, or a symbol of nature or a god.

People were very rarely ever given a last name. What was Socrates last name? A last name (surname) indicated that you owned property and your last name stood for the property you owned. For example, Robert the Earl of Montgomery would have been known as Robert Montgomery (mont, means mountain). So most people were known as either the son or daughter of their father (Lief Ericson); or were known for the town that they came from. For example Leonardo da Vinci, was a commoner who came from the town of Vinvi (da, means from). Some people were known by their profession: carpenter, smith, fisher, etc. As populations grew people were forced to take last names in order to be properly taxed.

In science most words that are used have Latin or Ancient Greek roots. This is because they are “dead” languages. Often when people look at the periodic table it is a trip through history. Either the symbol is taken from a Latin root, or its name, usually written in Latin, explains the properties of the element. For example, Helium comes from the Ancient Greek word, “helios”, which means Sun. The first evidence of Helium came from examining the spectral analysis (types of light) of the sun in the 19th century. It is only in the past century that we have been able to isolate Helium because it is lighter than air.

Pre-questions:

  1. Why are Ancient Greek and Latin used as roots when writing scientific terms?
  1. Why do some people have middle names?
  1. What does your first and last name mean?

Directions:

Use the following charts to answer questions about elements in the periodic table.

Questions

  1. This element was named for the university where is was synthesized.
  1. A sequence of three elements named after a series of three planets.
  1. A spectral analysis of this element shows that it emits a very strong indigo (blue-violent) colored line.
  1. This element was named after a cleaning compound, which was found to contain large quantities of it.
  1. This element was known in ancient times. It was mined originally on the
  1. Mediterranean island of Cyprus from which the element obtained its Greek name cuprum.
  1. This element was named in honor of two famous French chemist: Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie.
  1. This element was named from the Latin word fluere meaning “to flow” because its compounds are often used as fluxes in metallurgy.
  1. Chemists described this element as cryptic (meaning hidden) because it is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas with a concentration of only 1 part per million in the atmosphere.
  1. The ancient Romans made water pipes out of this metal, and the terms “plumbing” and “plumber” were derived from its original Latin name.
  1. This is elements name derives from the fact that it had to be synthesized by technical means.
  1. Chemists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchoff were examining the spectral emission of an ore known as lepidolite when they discovered a dark ruby-red spectral line never seen before. The element they subsequently discovered derived its name from the color of its spectral line.
  1. This element is strong, corrosion resistant, and had many uses in the aerospace and defense industries. It derives its name from the mythological Greek Titans who were extremely strong.
  1. Frenchman Paul-Emile Lecoq name the element he discovered after the ancient Lating name for his homeland.
  1. The original Latin name of this element was hydragyrus, meaning liquid (hydra) and silver (arg, which is shortened from argentums). This element is also known as “quick silver” and its symbol reflects its original Latin name.
  1. The symbols of most elements correspond to their common names, but there are a number of notable exceptions. Find the corresponding symbols for the following elements. Write down the meaning of the name and the language from which it originated.
  2. Copper
  1. Iron
  1. Silver
  1. Gold
  1. Lead
  1. Mercury
  1. Tin
  1. Potassium
  1. Why do the symbols for the elements listed above not match their common names?