Germanic names, elements

Potassium [7440-09-7] K, is the third, element ia the aLkaU metal series. The name designation for the element is derived from potash, a potassium mineral the symbol from the German name kalium, which comes from the Arabic qili, a plant. The ashes of these plants al qili) were the historical source of potash for preparing fertilisers (qv) or gun powder. Potassium ions, essential to plants and animals, play a key role in carbohydrate metaboHsm in plants. In animals, potassium ions promote glycolysis, Hpolysis, tissue respiration, and the synthesis of proteins (qv) and acetylcholine. Potassium ions are also beheved to function in regulating blood pressure. 

The name tungsten is taken from the Swedish phrase that means heavy stone. In some parts of the world, the element is still called by another name, wolfram. This name comes from the German expression Wolf rahm, or wolf froth (foam). The element s chemical symbol is taken from the German name rather than the Swedish name. 

The name zinc was first used in 1651. It comes from the German name for the element, Zink. What meaning that word originally had is not known. 

Each element has an internationally accepted symbol to represent it. The periodic table at the back of this book includes both the names and symbols of the elements. Note that symbols for most elements are merely abbreviations of their names, consisting of either one or two letters. Three letter symbols are used for elements over number 103. The first letter of the symbol is always written as a capital letter the second and third letters, if any, are written as lowercase letters. The symbols of a few elements do not suggest their English names, but are derived from the Latin or German names of the elements. 

These are the names used in this dictionary. Dubnium is named after Dubna in Russia, where much work has been done on synthetic elements. Hassium is the Latin name for the German state of Hesse, where the German synthetic element research group is located. 

An elemental symbol is based on the element s name and consists of a single capital letter or a capital letter followed by a lowercase letter. The symbols for 11 elements are based on the element s name in Latin or German. An elemental symbol is sometimes used to represent an element in a general way or to represent a single atom of an element. I Table 2.1 hsts the elements whose names and symbols have been agreed on. 

Inorganic Nomenclature. Compounds may be named in German merely by compounding the names of the elements as, Jodkalium (potassium iodide), SHiziumfiuorwasserstoff (hydrogen silicofluoride, fluosihcic acid). Words formed from the names of two elements are usually to be translated by giving the -ide ending to the first part (Jodkalium, potassium iodide). 

By explicitly showing the relationship between the elements, Mendeleyev was able to predict the existence and properties of elements that had not yet been discovered. He theorized, for example, that an undiscovered element should fall between silicon and tin on the periodic table. In 1880, German chemist Clemens Winkler isolated a new element, which he named germanium, that had exactly the properties that Mendeleyev predicted. 

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