Etymologically
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potash

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɒt.æʃ/ (UK); /ˈpɑt.æʃ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is the singular of the earlier plural pot-ashes (1648),[2][3][4] a loan translation of obsolete Dutch potaschen (“pot ashes”),[5][2][4][6][7] from pot (“pot”) and asch (“ash”);[4][7] see pot and ash.[4] It is so called because the substance was first obtained by leaching wood ashes and evaporating the solution in an iron pot.[5][2][4][8] German Pottasche, Danish potaske and Swedish pottaska are also from Dutch,[4][7] and French potasse and Italian potassa are Germanic loanwords.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

An alkaline substance obtained by leaching the ashes of plants and evaporating the solution in pots, at first in the plural pot ashes (1648 in the OED and Barnhart).[3][2][9]

Semantic evolution

The singular potash is recorded from 1751 and was applied especially to the purified carbonate.[3][2][4] Its sense history follows the progress of chemistry:[3] by 1800 chemists used it for potassium hydroxide,[3][9] and in names of compounds such as carbonate of potash it stood for what is now called potassium (1791).[3] In 1807 Humphry Davy coined the name potassium, from the Latinized form potassa, for the metal that is the basis of potash.[9][10] Johnson (1755) describes several commercial kinds, made from burnt wood, ferns and other plants, and used by soap and glass makers, bleachers and dyers.[11] Today the word is used mainly of potassium salts mined for fertilizer.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 1648 – pot ashes, the crude alkali.[3][2]
  • 1751 – singular potash.[3][2][4]
  • 1791 – in names of compounds, = potassium.[3]
  • 1800 – potassium hydroxide.[3]
  • 1807 – Davy names potassium after it.[9]
  • 1843 – any of various soluble potassium salts.[12]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Potassium carbonate, especially the impure form obtained from wood ash.
  2. Potassium hydroxide.
  3. Any of several potassium compounds, such as potassium oxide or potassium chloride, used especially in fertilizers and industry.

Verb

  1. To treat with potash.

Word family

  • caustic potash
  • potash alum
  • sulfurated potash
  • potass
  • potassa
  • potassium
  • pot
  • ash
  • pearl ash
  • lye
  • alkali

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)