3 October 2009
Silver, element 47, is one of the few elements whose name dates back to Old English. A thousand years ago, the word was siolfor or seolfor. It’s first known appearance is in the Vespasian Psalter from c.825 in Psalms 65:10:
Swe mid fyre bið amearad seolfur.
(As silver is proved with fire.)1
Silver has the chemical symbol Ag, after the Latin name for the metal, argentum.
Oxford English Dictionary, silver, n. and a., 2nd Edition, 1989