It’s not typically that the worlds of lexicography and technological know-how collide, but in a movie by the etymologist [RobWords] we could have uncovered a exceptional case in point. In a interesting 16-moment video clip he requires us by way of the origins of the names you will find in the periodic desk. Here’s a term online video you never have to be on the staff members of a dictionary to recognize!
Etymology is a interesting review, in which the scholar have to disentangle folk etymologies and mistaken homophones to uncover the correct root of a term. Luckily in the case of most things they bear a title bestowed on them by the experts who found out them, so their etymologies are almost never in dispute.
The etymologies break up neatly into classes, with among them such distinctions as Latin or Greek descriptions, areas including the Swedish village of Ytterby which has more features named just after it than everywhere else, features named for mythological figures, and these named for men and women.
He artfully skates around the difference between aluminium and a curiously similar metallic the People in america phone aluminum, simply because etymologists are used to deflecting controversy when language discrepancies colour, or even coloration, people’s thoughts. Thank you, Noah Webster!
It’s an entertaining diversion for everyone with a appreciate of each science and of language, and really should remind us that the study of language has just as significantly scientific rigour in its investigation as any of individuals factors.
Cupcake periodic table: Science Historical past Institute, CC BY-SA 3..
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