Etymology

hafnium

H4A1F4N1I1U1M3

Today it means: A chemical element (symbol Hf) with an atomic number of 72: a lustrous, silvery-grey tetravalent transition metal. Full definition →

Latin Hafnia ← Old Danish hafn ← Proto-Germanic *habanō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  2. Proto-Germanic*habanō
  3. Old Norsehǫfn
  4. Proto-Germanic*habanō
  5. Old Danishhafn
  6. LatinHafnia
  7. English todayhafnium

From Latin Hafnia (“Copenhagen”) + -ium, as the element was discovered there

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.