Etymology

sodium

S1O1D2I1U1M3

Today it means: The chemical element (symbol Na) with an atomic number of 11 and atomic weight of 22.990. It is a soft, waxy, silvery, reactive alkali metal that is never found unbound in nature. Full definition →

English soda ← Italian soda ← Arabic سُوَيْدَاء (suwaydāʔ)
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The story

  1. Arabicأَسْوَد (ʔaswad)
  2. Ancient Greekμελαγχολία (melankholía)calq.?
  3. Arabicسَوْدَاء (sawdāʔ)
  4. Arabicأَسْوَد (ʔaswad)
  5. Arabicسُوَيْدَاء (suwaydāʔ)
  6. Italiansoda
  7. Englishsoda
  8. English todaysodium

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from soda + -ium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.