Etymology

tantalum

T1A1N1T1A1L1U1M3

Today it means: A chemical element (symbol Ta) with atomic number 73: a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant. Full definition →

New Latin tantalum ← Latin Tantalus ← Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos)
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The story

  1. Ancient GreekΤάνταλος (Tántalos)
  2. LatinTantalus
  3. New Latintantalum
  4. English todaytantalum

A New Latin word derived by Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg in 1802, from Latin Tantalus, named after Tantalus, alluding to the element's incapacity to absorb acid. See -ium.

Words from the same roots

LatinTantalus all →

tantalus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.