Thursday, April 29, 2021

Gleypnismálmur (Tungsten)

Tungsten has the highest "tensile strength" of all metal, which is the maximum stress a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. For that reason one could call the element after the almost unbreakable rope "Gleypnir", the binding that holds the mighty wolf Fenrir in Norse Mythology. "Gleypnir" is linked to the idea of "wolf", which is part of the name "Wolfram", referring to the fact that Scheelite (natural Calcium Wolframate) devoured (like a wolf) tin in the smelter.  


Monday, April 5, 2021

gimstjörnumálmur (Titanium)

Asterism is a phenomenon found in gem-stones, like the star-sapphire. It is generated by reflections of light from twin-lamellae or from extremely fine needle-shaped acicular inclusions within the stone's crystal structure. A common cause is oriented sub-microscopic crystals of rutile (TiO2) within the gem mineral.  So gimstjörnumálmur (gem-star-metal) is "titanium".

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Eneumálmur (europium)

 Named after the second name of Europe in the Snorra Edda, Enea, derived from Aeneas, a Trojan hero and forefather of the founders of Rome:  Eneumálmur

Fjáraloft (Flúr)

The construction "fjáraloft" (demon-air) contains the four consonants in "flúr", while the word is formed after the name for fluorine used in Asian counrties and ex-soviet republics "phtor", derived from the Greek word for "destruction", because of the destructive nature of the gas.