helium

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin helium,^[2][3][4][5] coined from Ancient Greek ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) with the ending -ium used in selenium and tellurium,^[2][6] because the element was first inferred from a line in the spectrum of the sun.^[7][4][8][9] The name was proposed by the astronomer Norman Lockyer and the chemist Edward Frankland after the solar eclipse of August 1868.^[10][5][11] Etymonline adds that the ending -ium reflects the belief, before the gas was obtained, that it was an alkali metal.^[10] The Greek word comes from Proto-Indo-European *sāwel- (“the sun”),^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The chemical element, so far known only from the solar spectrum: Wilton finds the first printed use in William Thomson's presidential address to the British Association in August 1871, where a footnote credits Frankland and Lockyer with the name.^[11] The OED's first quotation is from the printed address of 1872,^[2][12] and Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1871 or 1872.^[3][13] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1868, the year of the observation.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

Until 1895 helium was known only in the sun; in that year William Ramsay first obtained the gas on Earth in 1895.^[2][14][6] Ramsay also took part in the discovery of argon (1894) and of neon, krypton and xenon (1898), all named from Greek.^[14] From 1903 the word was used attributively, as in helium atom and helium star.^[12]

Timeline

• 1868 – the spectral line is observed during a solar eclipse.^[10][11]
• 1871 – the name first appears, in William Thomson's address.^[11][3]
• 1872 – first quotation in the OED, from the printed address.^[2]
• 1895 – the gas is first obtained on Earth, by Ramsay.^[2][14]
• 1903 – attributive uses such as helium star.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very light, colourless, odourless and inert gaseous chemical element, the lightest of the noble gases, found in some natural gases and used to fill balloons and in cryogenic work; symbol He, atomic number 2.^[15][3][8]

Word family

• antihelium
• helium I
• helium II

Related words

• helio-
• Helios
• heliacal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "helium", 13 October 2023
12. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins