Editing Trivial name (section)

==Elements==
{{Main|Chemical element#Element names}}
{{See also|List of chemical element name etymologies|List of chemical elements naming controversies}}

Traditional names of elements are trivial, some originating in [[alchemy]]. IUPAC has accepted these names, but has also defined systematic names of elements that have not yet been prepared. It has adopted a procedure by which the scientists who are credited with preparing an element can propose a new name. Once the IUPAC has accepted such a (trivial) name, it replaces the systematic name.<ref name=Leigh/>

===Origins===
[[File:Pierre Curie et Marie Sklodowska Curie 1895.jpg|thumb|upright|Curium was named after [[Pierre Curie|Pierre]] and [[Marie Curie]].]]
Nine elements were known by the [[Middle Ages]]: [[gold]], [[silver]], [[tin]], [[Mercury (element)|mercury]], [[copper]], [[lead]], [[iron]], [[sulfur]], and [[carbon]].<ref name=Davis>{{cite book|editor-last=Whitten|editor-first=Kenneth W.|first1=Raymond E.|last1=Davis|first2=George G.|last2=Stanley|first3=Larry M.|last3=Peck|chapter=Names of the elements|title=Chemistry|year=2007|publisher=Thomson Brooks/Cole|location=Belmont|isbn=9780495011965|pages=64&ndash;65|edition=8th|chapter-url-access=registration|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chemistry0000unse}}</ref> Mercury was named after the planet, but its symbol was derived from the Latin ''hydrargyrum'', which itself comes from the Greek ''υδράργυρος'', meaning liquid silver; mercury is also known as quicksilver in English.<ref name=Leigh/> The symbols for the other eight are derived from their Latin names.<ref name=Davis/>

Systematic nomenclature began after [[Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau]] stated the need for "a constant method of denomination, which helps the intelligence and relieves the memory".<ref name=Koppenol>{{cite journal|first=W. H.|last=Koppenol |title=Naming of new elements (IUPAC Recommendations 2002) |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |volume=74|number=5|pages=787&ndash;791|year=2002 |doi=10.1351/pac200274050787|s2cid=95859397 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/295589/files/pac200274050787.pdf }}
</ref> The resulting system was popularized by [[Antoine Lavoisier]]'s publication of ''Méthode de nomenclature chimique'' (Method of Chemical Nomenclature) in 1787. Lavoisier proposed that elements be named after their properties. For the next 125 years, most chemists followed this suggestion, using Greek and Latin roots to compose the names; for example, [[hydrogen]] ("water-producing"), [[oxygen]] ("acid-producing"), [[nitrogen]] ("soda-producing"), [[bromine]] ("stink"), and argon were based on Greek roots, while the names of [[iodine]] and [[chlorine]] were derived from the Greek words for their characteristic colors. [[Indium]], [[rubidium]], and [[thallium]] were similarly named for the colors of particular lines in their [[Emission spectrum|emission spectra]]. [[Iridium]], which forms compounds of many different colors, takes its name from ''iris'', the Latin for "rainbow".<ref name=Davis/> The [[noble gases]] have all been named for their origin or properties. [[Helium]] comes from the Greek ''helios'', meaning "Sun" because it was first detected as a line in the spectrum of the Sun (it is not known why the suffix ''-ium'', which is used for metals, was chosen).<ref>{{cite journal|author1-link=William B. Jensen|first=William B.|last=Jensen|title=Why Helium Ends in "-ium" |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |volume=81 |issue=7|pages=81&ndash;82 |year=2004 |url=http://www.che.uc.edu/Jensen/W.%20B.%20Jensen/Reprints/115.%20Helium.pdf |doi=10.1021/ed081p944 |access-date=4 November 2013|bibcode=2004JChEd..81..944J}}</ref> The other noble gases are [[neon]] ("new"), [[argon]] ("slow, lazy"), [[krypton]] ("hidden"), [[xenon]] ("stranger"), and [[radon]] ("from radium").<ref name=Enghag/>

Many more elements have been given names that have little or nothing to do with their properties. Elements have been named for celestial bodies ([[helium]], [[selenium]], [[tellurium]], for the Sun, Moon, and Earth; [[cerium]] and [[palladium]] for [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres]] and [[2 Pallas|Pallas]], two [[asteroid]]s). They have been named for mythological figures, including [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]]s in general ([[titanium]]) and [[Prometheus]] in particular ([[promethium]]); Roman and Greek gods ([[uranium]], [[neptunium]], and [[plutonium]]) and their descendants ([[tantalum]] for [[Tantalus]], a son of Zeus, and [[niobium]] for [[Niobe]], a daughter of Tantalus); and Norse deities ([[vanadium]] for the goddess [[List of names of Freyja|Vanadis]] and [[thorium]] for the god [[Thor]]).<ref name=Enghag>{{cite book|last=Enghag|first=Per|chapter=7.1. Element names|title=Encyclopedia of the Elements Technical Data - History - Processing - Applications.|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaelem00engh|url-access=limited|year=2004|publisher=Wiley-VCH|location=Weinheim|isbn=9783527612345|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaelem00engh/page/n137 71]&ndash;78}}</ref>

Some elements were named for aspects of the history of their discovery. In particular, [[technetium]] and [[promethium]] were so named because the first samples detected were [[Promethium#Discovery and synthesis of promethium metal|artificially synthesised]]; neither of the two has any isotope sufficiently stable to occur in nature on Earth in significant quantities. The [[Promethium#Discovery and synthesis of promethium metal|connection]] to the Titan Prometheus was that he had been fabled to have stolen fire from the gods for mankind.

Discoverers of some elements named them after their home country or city. [[Marie Curie]] named [[polonium]] after [[Poland]]; [[ruthenium]], [[gallium]], [[germanium]], and [[lutetium]] were based on the Latin names for Russia, France, Germany, and Paris. Other elements are named after the place where they were discovered. Four elements — [[terbium]], [[erbium]], [[ytterbium]], and [[yttrium]] — were named after the Swedish village [[Ytterby]], where ores containing them were extracted.<ref name=Davis/> Other elements named after places are [[magnesium]] (after [[Magnesia (regional unit)|Magnesia]]), [[strontium]], [[scandium]], [[europium]], [[thulium]] (after an old Roman name for an unidentified northern region), [[holmium]], [[copper]] (derived from [[Cyprus]], where it was mined in the Roman era), [[hafnium]], [[rhenium]], [[americium]], [[berkelium]], [[californium]], and [[darmstadtium]].<ref name=Enghag/>

For the elements up to 92 (uranium), naming elements after people was discouraged. The two exceptions are indirect, the elements being named after minerals that were themselves named after people. These were [[gadolinium]] (found in [[gadolinite]], named after the Finnish chemist [[Johan Gadolin]]) and [[samarium]] (the mineral [[samarskite]] was named after a Russian mining engineer, [[Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets]]). Among the [[transuranium element]]s, this restriction was relaxed; there followed [[curium]] (after the Curies), [[einsteinium]] ([[Albert Einstein]]), [[fermium]] ([[Enrico Fermi]]), [[mendelevium]] ([[Dmitri Mendeleev]]), [[nobelium]] ([[Alfred Nobel]]) and [[lawrencium]] ([[Ernest Lawrence]]).<ref name=Enghag/><ref name=Nickon/>{{rp|320}}

===Relation to IUPAC standards===
{{See also|Chemical elements in East Asian languages}}
IUPAC has established international standards for naming elements. The first scientist or laboratory to isolate an element has the right to propose a name; after a review process, a final decision is made by the IUPAC Council. In keeping with tradition, names can be based on a mythological concept or character, astronomical object, mineral, place, property of the element or scientist.<ref name=Koppenol/> For those elements that have not yet been discovered, IUPAC has established a systematic name system. The names combine syllables that represent the digits of the [[atomic number]], followed by "-ium". For example, "unununium" is element 111 ("un" being the syllable for 1).<ref>{{cite journal|first=J. |last=Chatt |title=Recommendations for the Naming of Elements of Atomic Numbers Greater than 100 |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=381&ndash;384 |year=1979|url=http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iupac/AtWt/element.html |access-date=4 November 2013 |doi=10.1351/pac197951020381 |doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, once the element has been found, the systematic name is replaced by a trivial one, in this case [[roentgenium]].<ref name=Leigh/>

The IUPAC names for elements are intended for use in the official languages. At the time of the first edition of the IUPAC Red Book (which contains the rules for inorganic compounds), those languages were English and French; now English is the sole official language.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Ture |last=Damhus |title=Reply to 'Wolfram vs. Tungsten' by Pilar Goya and Pascual Román |journal=Chemistry International |volume=27 |number=4 |date=July–August 2005 |url=http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2005/2704/ud_goya.html |access-date=4 November 2013}}</ref> However, other languages still have their own names for elements. The chemical symbol for [[tungsten]], W, is based on the German name {{lang|de|Wolfram}}, which is found in [[wolframite]] and comes from the German for "wolf's foam", how the mineral was known to Saxon miners. The name ''tungsten'' means "heavy stone", a description of [[scheelite]], another mineral in which tungsten is found.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Piler |last1=Goya |first2=Pascual |last2=Román |title=Wolfram vs. Tungsten |journal=Chemistry International |volume=27 |number=4 |date=July–August 2005 |url=http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2005/2704/ud_goya.html |access-date=4 November 2013}}</ref> Russian names for hydrogen, oxygen and carbon are ''vodorod'', ''kislorod'' and ''uglerod'' (generating water, acid and coal respectively). The German names for hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are {{lang|de|Wasserstoff}} (water substance), {{lang|de|Sauerstoff}} (acid substance), and {{lang|de|Stickstoff}} (smothering substance). 
The corresponding Chinese names are ''qīngqì'' (light gas), ''yǎngqì'' (nourishing gas), and ''dànqì'' (diluting gas). A method for translating chemical names into Chinese was developed by John Fryer and Xu Shou in 1871. Where traditional names were well established, they kept them; otherwise, a single character was created.{{refn|group=N|The created character consists of a [[radical (Chinese characters)|radical]] – which, for an element, is "metal" or "air" (gas) or "water" (liquid) or "stone" ([[metalloid]]) – and a component for the sound from a Western name of the element.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Chang |last=Hao |title=Chinese Terms for Chemical Elements: Characters Combining Radical and Phonetic Elements |journal=Chemistry International |volume=26 |number=1 |date=January–February 2004|url=http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2004/2601/3_hao.html |access-date=4 November 2013}}</ref> For details, see [[Chemical elements in East Asian languages#Chinese]].}}