• Geodad@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    13 hours ago

    But all the other elements are -iums

    Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus…

    There are many elements that don’t end in - ium. The rule is that whoever discovers the element gets to name it.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      13 hours ago

      We have a draw.

      The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was alumium, which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.