potassium

Forms

potassium m (uncountable)^[1] Early French texts also spell it potasium (1808).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English potassium, a word coined in 1807 by the English chemist Humphry Davy from potash or potass “potash” with -ium, the suffix of metal names.^[2][3][4] Davy's paper used both “potasium” and “potassium”, and its French translation appeared in 1808.^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert describe it as Modern Latin potassium, from the English word or, according to the Grand Robert, from French potasse.^[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg take the English “potass” itself to be a borrowing of the French word.^[7] In English it was formed from Modern Latin potassa, a Latinized form of “potash”, the substance from which Davy first isolated the metal; the chemical symbol K comes from New Latin kalium.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in French in 1808, in the Bibliothèque britannique, which printed a translation of Davy's article with both potasium and potassium, naming the alkali metal drawn from potasse.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the same 1808 article in the Annales de chimie Davy announced that he had ventured to name the two new substances potassium and sodium.^[7] The Académie française recorded it in 1835,^[2] and Littré described it as a metal discovered by Davy in 1807 that gives pure potash when combined with oxygen.^[9] The Petit Robert notes that the element was formerly also called kalium.^[6]

Timeline

• 1807 – Humphry Davy coins the English word from potash, potass.^[2][8]
• 1808 – The French translation of Davy's paper in the Bibliothèque britannique has potasium and potassium.^[2]
• 1808 – The Annales de chimie print Davy's naming of potassium and sodium.^[7][10]
• 1835 – The Académie française records the word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) potassium, the soft, silvery, highly reactive alkali metal (symbol K, atomic number 19), found in nature in many salts.^[2][6][4]
2. In names of its compounds: bromure de potassium, chlorure de potassium, cyanure de potassium.^[6]

Related words

• potasse
• New Latin kalium
• English potash

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse