this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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Aluminium at least makes sense by analogy to other elements ending in -ium, like helium, sodium, potassium, cadmium, beryllium, etc.
But a bunch of other elements don’t follow that pattern, why don’t they say “ironium”?
Because words have different etymological roots and different endings can convey different grammatical or linguistic information in many languages? This is just a misguided train of thought comparing the endings of iron and helium and expecting them to be the same. The examples I cited either have Latin roots, or were deliberately latinized words, while Iron comes from an Old English root. Ferrum, the Latin for iron, comes closer to the broader pattern. It's like saying, "I have a calculator that calculates, a ventilator that ventilates, so why is it a phone and not a callator." or something.
Because the chemical name of iron is Ferrum.