A poetic name for hydrogen would be "ginnungagufa". The old mythical prefix "ginnunga-" occurs in "ginnungap", which stands for "the great void, the emptiness before heaven and earth was created. Only two other words occur in Old Icelandic writs that have this prefix:
1) Ginnunga-himinn (the "void" of the "ginnungagap", himinn = heaven) anhe great vault of heaven, 2) Ginnunga-vé ("vé" in the meaning of "holy place", the universe)
This examples show that "ginnungagufa" (gufa = steam, but also "gaseous substance" in general) could serve as a poetic name for the element, much mor elegant than "frumloft" ("frum-" (original) + "loft" (air, gaseous substance)
In de case of helium, the shortest compound would be "hjáfrumloft" (hjá- (additional, co-) and "frumloft" original gas, a syllable less long than "frumeðalloft" (original noble gas). Hydrogen and helium are the primordial gases of the universe. Another possibility is "ifreðli", from "ifröðull", an eddaic name for the sun, in which "röðull" is i-shifted to "-reðli". A shorter possibility is just "reðli", from "röðull", which is also an poetic name for the sun in the Snorra Edda. "Röðull" is most probably related to the german "rad", because the sun was thought to be a disk.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019
Barium: Boloníumálmur
Apart from "þungjörðungur", derived from "þungjörð" ("heavy earth" or "baria", BaO), we can name the metal after the old name of barite (BaSO4): "bologna stone". Many element are named after countries or place-names, so we could call Barium "bologne-metal", Boloníumálmur ("Boloníia" is the form of the city's name use in Old Icelandic texts)
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
An update
Update:
Ruthenium: Hrærekssilfur (Ruthenium was called after an old name for Russia. Why not naming the element after the founder of the Russian nation, Rurik (Icelandic: "Hrærekur"). Many element were named after individuals.
Uranium: ýmisefni, aurgelmisblý (One could name uranium after the equivalent of Uranus in Nordic mythology: Ýmir (or "Aurgelmir"). The construction Aurgelmisblý sound-similar to uranium in the first syllable. Because the element was named after the planet Uranus and not after the god, after whom the planet was named, it would be appropriate to use Aurgelmir for the gas-giant too.
Tantalum: Tálvonarglit (Tálvonarlegur (tantalizing) + glit (metallic lustre)
Lathanides: "Lotuþribblingar" or "lotujarðmálmur": þribbil (element in group 3B: þrí- + B +-ill)
Hafium: Hafnarþungsteinn (hafnar- refering to Copenhagen, þunsteinn (wolfram)
Wolfram: Vargfróðumálmur (an alternative, after "wolfram" (the froth of a wolf, because tungsten-containing scheelite devoured tin in the smelter)
Titanium: Forguðamálmur (forguð= preguðir (pre-gods, the Titans were the Elder gods or "pre-gods" in Greek Mythology)
Krypton: stikuloft (Once krypton was used to exactly establish the length of a metre)
Nobelium: Elfráðsblý (the shortest construction (Elfráður (Alfred (Alfred Nobel) + blý (lead))
Europium: Eftnumálmur (Eftna = Europe (i-shit of "aftan" (evening), the "Evening" land, German "Abendland", Icel. kvöldlönd, Kvöldálfa, Kvoldmeginland, but the shortest construction is "Eftna", which is as short as the second name for Europa in the Snorra Edda (Enea). It's best to keep the name feminine like Evrópa. Other derivation from "aftan": Eftningur (European), Afneskur (European), Aftnesku bandalagið (European Union), or "Eftningabandalagið".
Sulphur: Múspellshallur (synonym, "Múspell" was the "Mordor" in Nordic Mythology.
Ruthenium: Hrærekssilfur (Ruthenium was called after an old name for Russia. Why not naming the element after the founder of the Russian nation, Rurik (Icelandic: "Hrærekur"). Many element were named after individuals.
Uranium: ýmisefni, aurgelmisblý (One could name uranium after the equivalent of Uranus in Nordic mythology: Ýmir (or "Aurgelmir"). The construction Aurgelmisblý sound-similar to uranium in the first syllable. Because the element was named after the planet Uranus and not after the god, after whom the planet was named, it would be appropriate to use Aurgelmir for the gas-giant too.
Tantalum: Tálvonarglit (Tálvonarlegur (tantalizing) + glit (metallic lustre)
Lathanides: "Lotuþribblingar" or "lotujarðmálmur": þribbil (element in group 3B: þrí- + B +-ill)
Hafium: Hafnarþungsteinn (hafnar- refering to Copenhagen, þunsteinn (wolfram)
Wolfram: Vargfróðumálmur (an alternative, after "wolfram" (the froth of a wolf, because tungsten-containing scheelite devoured tin in the smelter)
Titanium: Forguðamálmur (forguð= preguðir (pre-gods, the Titans were the Elder gods or "pre-gods" in Greek Mythology)
Krypton: stikuloft (Once krypton was used to exactly establish the length of a metre)
Nobelium: Elfráðsblý (the shortest construction (Elfráður (Alfred (Alfred Nobel) + blý (lead))
Europium: Eftnumálmur (Eftna = Europe (i-shit of "aftan" (evening), the "Evening" land, German "Abendland", Icel. kvöldlönd, Kvöldálfa, Kvoldmeginland, but the shortest construction is "Eftna", which is as short as the second name for Europa in the Snorra Edda (Enea). It's best to keep the name feminine like Evrópa. Other derivation from "aftan": Eftningur (European), Afneskur (European), Aftnesku bandalagið (European Union), or "Eftningabandalagið".
Sulphur: Múspellshallur (synonym, "Múspell" was the "Mordor" in Nordic Mythology.
Friday, April 11, 2014
monosyllabic term for cadmium possible in Icelandic: tink
Cadmium is the homolog of zinc (Icelandic: sink) two places to the left of "tin": sink + tin = TINK
Sunday, March 16, 2014
thallium - þál
The shortest possible word for thallium is þál (the initial of thallium with "-ál" added, in reference of the fact that thallium is a member of the Aluminium group of metals.
Update on thorium
Apart from Þórefni, there's another possibility for this element, which was named after the Scandinavian god of thunder by Berzelius who discovered thorium in a mineral from the Norwegian Island løvøy (leaf-Island, islandic Laufey)
No postplumbic element exect for thorium can be linked up with Scandinavia. For that reason I want to call it "norðblý" (the norwegian lead).
So we have two possibilities now: þórefni and norðblý
No postplumbic element exect for thorium can be linked up with Scandinavia. For that reason I want to call it "norðblý" (the norwegian lead).
So we have two possibilities now: þórefni and norðblý
Monday, February 25, 2013
Update on beryllium
1) einsætlingsefni, einsætla (Beryllium is the "lightest element having but one isotope" or the "dwarf of the monoisotopic elements": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoisotopic_element
It is possible to found a term upon the icelandic samsæta (isotope). The first step is coining an equivalent of the adjective "monoisotopic", which denotes elements that have but one stable isotope, like beryllium. The Orðabanki íslenskrar málstöðvar doesn't contain an equivalent for the term "monoisotopic element" yet, and my first guess was something like "einsamsætu-". But this might well be reduced to simply einsætu-, judging from the shortening of "monoisotopic" into the more flexible term monotopic in some sources: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/@api/deki/pages/7959/pdf
This convinces me of the accuracy of a construction like einsæta, einsætu-. The term monoisotope is used to designate the isotope of a monoisotopic element (google "is a monoisotope"(between brackets!)). This Pdf-file even contains the word monotope:
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~danony/Papers/Neutron%20Cap%20and%20Trans%20of%20Nb.pdf
"Since natural niobium is a monotope, all of the niobium was 93-Nb".
The literal translation of this "monotope" is einsæta: "Málmynja (Mn), feðginasilfur (Nb), illmálmungur (As), lýsill (P), þengi (I), dyrgi (Co) og lútargull (Cs) eru einsætur."
Beryllium is the "hermit of the spallation triad" (einsetuefni í splundrunarþrennd)", because the other two, lithium and boron, have more than 1 isotope. The "spallation triad" or the "rare lights", as they were called on this webpage http://168.144.87.33/~conworld/cwbb/viewtopic.php?t=942&sid=3129e708fe8d7c361795a74d814ee0e1 , are the three dwarf elements (two metals and a metalloid), that are formed in an extrastellar spallation process because their nuclei can't survive the temperature generated in the core of stars,
One could the diminutive suffix -la (as in pípla) and form einsætla, einsætlingsefni (the "little monotope" or the "dwarf-monotope" or einsetluefni, the "dwarf-hermit of the periodic system"). The name for the element itself can be formed on addition of "málmur" (metal)), which gives the construction: einsætlingsmálmur or einsetlumálmur, but reduced forms einsætlingur or einsætla, might already suffice.
A friend of mine asked me why I didn't use "einsetu- (hermit) constructions", because monoisotopal elements could indeed as well be designated as "hermit elements" (einsetuefni). Add to this the fact the beryllium MONOtope was into the bargain created occasionly in the cold, void extrastellar space, completely in opposite to the other elements formed together in a stellar fusion process or neutron absorption in supernova events and he "hermit-idea" becomes a very interesting avenue of thought. But for the time being I'm not inclined to loose the connection with "-sæta" in samsæta, so I stick with einsætlingsefni instead of einsetlumálmur for the time being.
The interesting thing here is that a whole element can be terminologically isolated merely by building further upon the term samsæta (isotope): einsæta (monoisotope), einsætla, einsætlingur (most logically designates the smallest monoisotope, which is beryllium-9) and finally einsætlingsefni (beryllium).
The line of thought is as follows: samsæta (isotope) - einsæta (monoisotope, monotope or "hermit element" if you like) - einsætlingur ("small monotope" which most appropraitely would designate Beryllium-9, the smallest monotope on the periodic system) - einsætlingsefni (dwarf of the monotopic elements) or einsetlumálmur (the "little hermit" of the periodic system, the "little hermit metal".)
2) harðmelmlingur ("hard dwarf metal"): Lithium and beryllium are the lightest metallic elements so melmlingur actually could, apart from its use on its own to designate lithium, be used as a positioning marker for the two lightest metallic elements on the periodic system: lithium and beryllium: melmlingur on itself for lithium and harðmelmingur for beryllium. The addition of harður distinguishes beryllium, a hard metal from the very weak alkaline metal lithium.
3) njálfur (nonalphium, based upon the alternative name for He-3, trialphium, ní (nine + alfa (particle) and then shaped as much as possible after the word "málmur", Personally, I find trialphium an all but perfect piece of terminology as it could as well be serve as a designation of carbon-12, which is formed in the so-called "triple-alpha-process" (þrjálfun), where He-4 nuclei are fused to carbon-12. But since the term exists, "trialphium" could be used as a kind of "terminological scaffold", if we may call it so, to construct the term "nonalphium", the nucleus consisting of two alpha-particles and one extra nucleus, which is Be-9. A construction with -alfa is relevant for beryllium because it alludes to the fact that fusing two alpha particles doesn't work, it directly decays into two alpha-particles again, it requires an extra nucleon to get to the stable monoisotopic and primordial nuclide Be-9.
4) smál: (smá + ál): Refers to beryllium's nature of being a kind of "light version" of aluminium, with whom it constitutes the metallic part in beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6). Beryllium is chemically more similar to aluminium than its close neighbors in the periodic table due to having a similar charge-to-radius ratio. The word smál also rhymes on stál (steel), which alludes to its "steel-gray" color and the fact it's being almost as hard as steel (beryllium scores 5.5 on Mohs scale, and steel 6). The neologism also alliterates also with smaragður (emerald), the green beryl-variety in which the French chemist François-Nicolas Vauquelin discovered the element in 1798.
5) regði (i-shift of -ragður, the latter part of "smaragður" (emerald), the gem in which the element was discovered by the Frenchman Nicholas-Louis Vauquelin (Nikulás Lúðvík Valkalín). see http://lotukerfi.blogspot.be/2012/06/beryllium-problem-solved.html
I know it is a bold and risky construction but there are other examples like tálknamandra for the axolotl salamander. In this particular case "mandra" was cut from "salamandra" to serve as a second element. There are many examples of this kind of word-lenght reduction in Icelandic neologistic work. I did the same with smaragður (emerald), because the element was first discovered in this very variety of beryl. Of course, I went somewhat further by additionally i-shifting the left-over ragður to regði in order to obtain an i-shifted element name like ildi (from eldur), vetni (from vatn) and lyfti (from loft, once proposed for nitrogen). Regði from smaragður, a bold construction indeed, but still, why not? After all, beryllium (regði) is a part of the aluminium-berillium silicate (álregðiskíslungur) beryl Be3Al2(SiO3)6 . It looks completely Icelandic and there are no connotations with any other word.
6) valkalín (Vauquelium): The discoverer of berylium was the French pharmacist and chemist Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, whose surname is of Germanic origin and transformable into Icelandic. The addition -ál refers to its being more chemically similar to aluminium than its close neighbours on the periodic table due to having a similar charge-to-radius ratio.
Porté en Normandie (76, 14), c'est un nom de personne d'origine germanique, Walkelin, rattaché par M.T. Morlet au moyen-haut-allemand walkan (= fouler). see http://jeantosti.com/noms/v2.htm
It's a masculine name on -ín, comparable to Hagalín, Espólín, Frakklín.
The funny thing about this word is that the Icelandicized form of the French name contains "alkalí" that is found in jarðalkalímálmur, while the so-called "diagonal relationship" with aluminum is expressed by the latter element -ál.
Lithium and beryllium, the first elements of Group 1 and Group 2 respectively exhibit some properties which are different from those of the other members of the respective group. In these anomalous properties they resemble the second element of the following group. Thus, lithium shows similarities to magnesium and beryllium to aluminium in many of their properties. This type of diagonal similarity is commonly referred to as diagonal relationship in the periodic table.
see http://textbook.s-anand.net/ncert/class-11/chemistry/9-the-s-block-elements
7) lotungsstál (the "steel" (hard metal) on a small period (lotungur, diminutive of lota), which is beryllium. Lithium is a weak metal, while the rest of the elements on the second period are mettaloid, non-metallic or noble gas)
It is possible to found a term upon the icelandic samsæta (isotope). The first step is coining an equivalent of the adjective "monoisotopic", which denotes elements that have but one stable isotope, like beryllium. The Orðabanki íslenskrar málstöðvar doesn't contain an equivalent for the term "monoisotopic element" yet, and my first guess was something like "einsamsætu-". But this might well be reduced to simply einsætu-, judging from the shortening of "monoisotopic" into the more flexible term monotopic in some sources: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/@api/deki/pages/7959/pdf
This convinces me of the accuracy of a construction like einsæta, einsætu-. The term monoisotope is used to designate the isotope of a monoisotopic element (google "is a monoisotope"(between brackets!)). This Pdf-file even contains the word monotope:
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~danony/Papers/Neutron%20Cap%20and%20Trans%20of%20Nb.pdf
"Since natural niobium is a monotope, all of the niobium was 93-Nb".
The literal translation of this "monotope" is einsæta: "Málmynja (Mn), feðginasilfur (Nb), illmálmungur (As), lýsill (P), þengi (I), dyrgi (Co) og lútargull (Cs) eru einsætur."
Beryllium is the "hermit of the spallation triad" (einsetuefni í splundrunarþrennd)", because the other two, lithium and boron, have more than 1 isotope. The "spallation triad" or the "rare lights", as they were called on this webpage http://168.144.87.33/~conworld/cwbb/viewtopic.php?t=942&sid=3129e708fe8d7c361795a74d814ee0e1 , are the three dwarf elements (two metals and a metalloid), that are formed in an extrastellar spallation process because their nuclei can't survive the temperature generated in the core of stars,
One could the diminutive suffix -la (as in pípla) and form einsætla, einsætlingsefni (the "little monotope" or the "dwarf-monotope" or einsetluefni, the "dwarf-hermit of the periodic system"). The name for the element itself can be formed on addition of "málmur" (metal)), which gives the construction: einsætlingsmálmur or einsetlumálmur, but reduced forms einsætlingur or einsætla, might already suffice.
A friend of mine asked me why I didn't use "einsetu- (hermit) constructions", because monoisotopal elements could indeed as well be designated as "hermit elements" (einsetuefni). Add to this the fact the beryllium MONOtope was into the bargain created occasionly in the cold, void extrastellar space, completely in opposite to the other elements formed together in a stellar fusion process or neutron absorption in supernova events and he "hermit-idea" becomes a very interesting avenue of thought. But for the time being I'm not inclined to loose the connection with "-sæta" in samsæta, so I stick with einsætlingsefni instead of einsetlumálmur for the time being.
The interesting thing here is that a whole element can be terminologically isolated merely by building further upon the term samsæta (isotope): einsæta (monoisotope), einsætla, einsætlingur (most logically designates the smallest monoisotope, which is beryllium-9) and finally einsætlingsefni (beryllium).
The line of thought is as follows: samsæta (isotope) - einsæta (monoisotope, monotope or "hermit element" if you like) - einsætlingur ("small monotope" which most appropraitely would designate Beryllium-9, the smallest monotope on the periodic system) - einsætlingsefni (dwarf of the monotopic elements) or einsetlumálmur (the "little hermit" of the periodic system, the "little hermit metal".)
3) njálfur (nonalphium, based upon the alternative name for He-3, trialphium, ní (nine + alfa (particle) and then shaped as much as possible after the word "málmur", Personally, I find trialphium an all but perfect piece of terminology as it could as well be serve as a designation of carbon-12, which is formed in the so-called "triple-alpha-process" (þrjálfun), where He-4 nuclei are fused to carbon-12. But since the term exists, "trialphium" could be used as a kind of "terminological scaffold", if we may call it so, to construct the term "nonalphium", the nucleus consisting of two alpha-particles and one extra nucleus, which is Be-9. A construction with -alfa is relevant for beryllium because it alludes to the fact that fusing two alpha particles doesn't work, it directly decays into two alpha-particles again, it requires an extra nucleon to get to the stable monoisotopic and primordial nuclide Be-9.
4) smál: (smá + ál): Refers to beryllium's nature of being a kind of "light version" of aluminium, with whom it constitutes the metallic part in beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6). Beryllium is chemically more similar to aluminium than its close neighbors in the periodic table due to having a similar charge-to-radius ratio. The word smál also rhymes on stál (steel), which alludes to its "steel-gray" color and the fact it's being almost as hard as steel (beryllium scores 5.5 on Mohs scale, and steel 6). The neologism also alliterates also with smaragður (emerald), the green beryl-variety in which the French chemist François-Nicolas Vauquelin discovered the element in 1798.
5) regði (i-shift of -ragður, the latter part of "smaragður" (emerald), the gem in which the element was discovered by the Frenchman Nicholas-Louis Vauquelin (Nikulás Lúðvík Valkalín). see http://lotukerfi.blogspot.be/2012/06/beryllium-problem-solved.html
I know it is a bold and risky construction but there are other examples like tálknamandra for the axolotl salamander. In this particular case "mandra" was cut from "salamandra" to serve as a second element. There are many examples of this kind of word-lenght reduction in Icelandic neologistic work. I did the same with smaragður (emerald), because the element was first discovered in this very variety of beryl. Of course, I went somewhat further by additionally i-shifting the left-over ragður to regði in order to obtain an i-shifted element name like ildi (from eldur), vetni (from vatn) and lyfti (from loft, once proposed for nitrogen). Regði from smaragður, a bold construction indeed, but still, why not? After all, beryllium (regði) is a part of the aluminium-berillium silicate (álregðiskíslungur) beryl Be3Al2(SiO3)6 . It looks completely Icelandic and there are no connotations with any other word.
6) valkalín (Vauquelium): The discoverer of berylium was the French pharmacist and chemist Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, whose surname is of Germanic origin and transformable into Icelandic. The addition -ál refers to its being more chemically similar to aluminium than its close neighbours on the periodic table due to having a similar charge-to-radius ratio.
Porté en Normandie (76, 14), c'est un nom de personne d'origine germanique, Walkelin, rattaché par M.T. Morlet au moyen-haut-allemand walkan (= fouler). see http://jeantosti.com/noms/v2.htm
It's a masculine name on -ín, comparable to Hagalín, Espólín, Frakklín.
The funny thing about this word is that the Icelandicized form of the French name contains "alkalí" that is found in jarðalkalímálmur, while the so-called "diagonal relationship" with aluminum is expressed by the latter element -ál.
Lithium and beryllium, the first elements of Group 1 and Group 2 respectively exhibit some properties which are different from those of the other members of the respective group. In these anomalous properties they resemble the second element of the following group. Thus, lithium shows similarities to magnesium and beryllium to aluminium in many of their properties. This type of diagonal similarity is commonly referred to as diagonal relationship in the periodic table.
see http://textbook.s-anand.net/ncert/class-11/chemistry/9-the-s-block-elements
7) lotungsstál (the "steel" (hard metal) on a small period (lotungur, diminutive of lota), which is beryllium. Lithium is a weak metal, while the rest of the elements on the second period are mettaloid, non-metallic or noble gas)
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