ProbableIndirect, via a person or title
magnesium
noun · first attested 1808
One ancient Greek district gave English magnesium, manganese and magnet.
A light silvery alkaline earth metal, element 12, that burns with a brilliant white flame.
39.4167°N 22.8333°E · Q1884468
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 1808
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Magnesia Regional Unit
- In English
magnesium
Humphry Davy isolated the metal in 1808 and first proposed the name magnium, then settled on magnesium. The word descends from magnesia, which reaches back to Magnesia, a district of Thessaly. Which Magnesia is meant has been argued over: some accounts point instead to Magnesia ad Sipylum in Asia Minor, but the Thessalian district is the usual attribution.
Greece
All 29 entries 28 more words from Greece
marathonThe long race is named for a plain in Attica.MarathoncurrantThe baking fruit is a worn-down word for Corinth.CorinthmagnetThe lodestone is named for Magnesia.MagnesiaacademyEvery academy is named for a grove outside Athens.AkademeialaconicA tight-lipped style is named for Sparta’s region.SpartaOlympicThe games are named for a sanctuary, not for Mount Olympus.OlympiaatticThe room under the roof is named for the region around Athens.AtticaBoeotianAn insult preserved from one Greek region's rivalry with another.Boeotia