magnésium

Forms

magnésium m (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English magnesium, the name the English chemist Humphry Davy formed in 1812 from magnesia, white magnesia, after he had isolated the element in 1807; it appeared in French in 1818, in a translation of Thomson's chemistry.^[2][1] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg treat it as a learned derivative of magnésie with the suffix -ium.^[3][4][5] Etymonline dates the English word to 1808.^[6]

That word is borrowed from Medieval Latin magnesia, a derivative of Latin magnēs (“lodestone”), which renders a Greek phrase meaning “stone of Magnesia”, after the city of Ancient Greek Μαγνησία (Magnēsía) in Asia Minor, where much magnetic ore was found.^[4][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1780 the chemist Guyton de Morveau used magnésium for black magnesia, the peroxide of manganese, a sense that soon went out of use.^[2][7] The word for the metal is first recorded in 1818, in the French translation of Thomas Thomson's Système de chimie.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names the light, silvery metal (symbol Mg) that burns with a dazzling white flame.^[7][9] Its use for producing bright flashes, from 1860, took the word out of chemistry into the general language through photography, as in the old éclair de magnésium of photographers.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1780 – Guyton de Morveau uses magnésium for black magnesia (manganese peroxide).^[2]
• 1807 – Humphry Davy isolates the element.^[2]
• 1818 – Magnésium for the metal appears in a translation of Thomson's chemistry.^[3][2]
• 1860 – Burning magnesium comes into use for bright flashes, later in photography.^[2]
• 1878 – The Académie française records the word.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) magnesium, a light, silvery-white metal, chemical element 12, which burns in air with a dazzling white flame.^[7][3]
2. The metal or its powder used for a bright flash in photography and pyrotechnics: une photo prise au magnésium.^[7][9]

Related words

• magnésie
• magnésien
• manganèse
• English magnesium

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse