Wordorigins.org

Wordorigins.org is devoted to the origins of words and phrases, or as a linguist would put it, to etymology. Etymology is the study of word origins. (It is not the study of insects; that is entomology.) Where words come from is a fascinating subject, full of folklore and historical lessons. Often, popular tales of a word’s origin arise. Sometimes these are true; more often they are not. While it can be disappointing when a neat little tale turns out to be untrue, almost invariably the true origin is just as interesting.

Plutonium, element 94, was first produced in 1940 at the University of California, Berkeley by chemist Glenn Seaborg and physicist Edwin McMillan. The element is named for the dwarf planet Pluto, following the pattern set by uranium and neptunium. The first recorded use of the term is by Seaborg and Arthur Wahl in a 1942 government report:

Since such formulae are confusing when the symbols “93” and “94” are used, we have decided to use symbols of the conventional chemical type to designate these elements. Following McMillan, who has suggested the name neptunium [...] for element 93, we are using plutonium [...] for element 94. The corresponding chemical symbols would be Np and Pu.¹

Neptunium, element 93, was first produced in 1940 at the University of California, Berkeley by physicists Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson. The element is named for the planet Neptune, following the pattern set by uranium. McMillan is generally credited with coining the name, although it was not used in the paper announcing the discovery. The first known use of the name is from the 30 August 1941 Science News Letter:

The uranium outpost was passed some years ago by Prof. Enrico Fermi [...] with his discovery of the radioactive element No. 93, now called neptunium.¹

(In 1934, Fermi had thought he had produced element 93, but was mistaken. This 1941 article erroneously gives him credit.)

The chemical symbol for neptunium is Np.

¹Oxford English Dictionary, neptunium, 3rd Edition, December 2008, Oxford University Press, accessed 19 November 2009, http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00323196. 

See uranium, Uranus, pitchblende.

See uranium, Uranus, pitchblende.

Uranium, element 92, was identified as an element in 1789 by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, who named it after the recently discovered planet Uranus. In Greek mythology, Uranus was the primordial sky deity who mated with Gaia, the earth, to give birth to the Titans, the race of beings who preceded the Olympian gods. The chemical symbol for uranium is U. English use of the name uranium dates to at least 1797, when it appears in the third edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Uranium, a fossil found [...] in Saxony, and [...] in Bohemia, and is, by the miners, called Pechblend.¹

For many years now, people have been bemoaning the loss of the local, independent bookseller. A few decades back it was big chains like Border’s and Barnes and Noble threatening the independent bookstore. Now it’s internet retailers like Amazon that are the big threat, and which are also threatening the chains. Here in Berkeley, we recently lost two great bookstores, Cody’s and Black Oak Books. (Although Cody’s demise was as much due to unwise and ludicrously optimistic expansion as it was to competition, and Black Oak still lives on without their flagship storefront.)

I’ve never understood why this is a bad thing. To be sure, many small, independent bookstores have their charms and are pleasant places to visit and browse for books and their staff generally is more knowledgeable than that of big chains, but by their nature they have limited inventory. The competition that is killing them has far superior selection and makes available a much wider range of books at lower prices. The independent bookstore is more attractive as an ineffable ideal than as a cold, commercial reality. The reality is that more and better books are available to more people at lower prices than ever in history. You no longer have to live in Manhattan or San Francisco to find great books. The guy in the cabin with a DSL line in Elkbutt, Montana has as much access to books as the Fifth Avenue socialite.

Then the inimitable Clay Shirky comes along and summarizes the situation and puts forward a potential solution, a vision of what the independent bookstore could become. It is well worth a read.

Protactinium, element 91, was discovered in 1918 by German chemist Otto Hahn and physicist Lise Meitner. They initially dubbed the element proactinium because the element’s radioactive decay converts protactinium into actinium, therefore it “comes before” (pro-) actinium. Shortly after this initial naming, the pair inserted the t to make the name easier to pronounce and it became protactinium.

Thorium, element 90, was discovered by Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1828. Berzelius named the metal after Thor, the Norse god of thunder.¹ The chemical symbol for thorium is Th.

But this wasn’t the first time that Berzelius named a substance for the god. In 1815 he called a compound, which turned out to be yttrium phosphate, thorjord, or Thor’s earth. The French flubbed the Swedish name, dubbing the compound thorine in their language, from which English took the name thorina (which is no longer in use.)²

The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected their word of the year for 2009, and that word is unfriend. The runners up are here. (It’s a bit early to be selecting words. After all we’ve still got more than a month to go. But I guess like hanging Christmas decorations, this stuff gets earlier each year. And it isn’t very catchy to say, “Word of 15 November 2008 through 16 November 2009.)

Of course, we do a words of the year thing here too, but it’s a bit less formal. I don’t select a single word, but rather use the opportunity to learn about and generate discussion on new words and phrases that are out there. So post your suggestions here.

The American Dialect Society is collecting suggestions for their selection of word of the year and word of the decade. (The selection will be in early January, as it should be.) You can send them directly to woty AT americandialect.org. I’ll also be sending the best ones posted here to Grant Barrett and the nominating committee.