Elementymology & Elements Multidict |
Plumbum Lead
Lood – Blei – Plomb – Plomo – 鉛 – Свинец – 鉛
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Multilingual dictionary
Indo-European
Plumbum Latin Germanic
Lood AfrikaansBly Danish Blei German Lead English Blýggj Faroese Lead Frisian (West) Blý Icelandic Bläi Luxembourgish Lood Dutch Bly Norwegian Bly Swedish Italic
Plomo AragonesePlumbu Aromanian Plomu Asturian Plom Catalan Plomo Spanish Plomb French Plomp Friulian Chumbo Galician Piombo Italian Piuump Lombard Plomb Occitan Chumbo Portuguese Plumb Romanian - Moldovan Slavic
Олово [Olovo] BulgarianOlovo Bosnian Цвінец [cvinec] Belarusian Olovo Czech Olovo Croatian Òłów Kashubian Олово [Olovo] Macedonian Ołów Polish Свинец [Svinec] Russian Olovo Slovak Svinec Slovenian Олово [Olovo] Serbian Свинець [svynec'] Ukrainian Baltic
Švinas LithuanianSvins Latvian Švins Samogitian Celtic
Plom BretonPlwm Welsh Luaidhe Gaelic (Irish) Luaidh Gaelic (Scottish) Leoaie Gaelic (Manx) Plom Cornish Other Indo-European
Μολυβδος [molyvdos] GreekԿապար [kapar] Armenian Plumb[i] Albanian Indo-Iranian/Iranian
Sirb, Sirîç KurdishЗды [zdy] Ossetian Сурб [Surb] Tajik Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan
লেড [leḍ] Bengaliسرب [srb] Persian સીસુંનો [sīsu'no] Gujarati सीसा [sīsā] Hindi Finno-Ugric
Plii EstonianLyijy Finnish ólom Hungarian Ширысь [Širys'] Komi Вӱдвулно [Vüdvulno] Mari Киви [kivi] Moksha Plii Võro Altaic
Qurğuşun AzerbaijaniХура тăхлан [Hura Tăhlan] Chuvash Къоргъасын [k"org"asyn] Kazakh -- [--] Kyrgyz Хар тугалга [har tugalga] Mongolian Kurşun Turkish قوغۇشۇن [qoğuşun] Uyghur Qoʻrgʻoshin Uzbek Other (Europe)
Beruna Basqueტყვია [tqvia] Georgian Afro-Asiatic
رصاص [raSāS] Arabicעופרת [oferet] Hebrew Ċomb Maltese Sino-Tibetan
Yèn (鉛) Hakka鉛 [namari] Japanese 납 [nab] Korean ตะกั่ว [takua] Thai Chì Vietnamese 鉛 [qian1 / yuen4] Chinese Malayo-Polynesian
Plomo CebuanoTimbal Indonesian Matā Māori Plumbum, ²Timbal Malay Other Asiatic
കറുത്തീയം [kṟuttīyam] Malayalamஈயம் [īyam] Tamil Africa
Kubéle LingalaLoto Sesotho Plumbi, ²Risasi Swahili North-America
Temētztli NahuatlSouth-America
Titi, ²Waychi, ³Antaki QuechuaCreole
Loto Sranan TongoArtificial
Plumbo EsperantoNew names
Leadplom Atomic ElementsCosta Dorseyville |
History & Etymology
Lead was probably one of the first metals to be produced by man. Pearls of metallic Lead and Copper were found at archaeological stratum X at Catal Hüyük, Konya, Anatolia, Turkey, dated at around 6500 BC. Perhaps the first written mention as "abaru" is on Babylonian tablets found in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668-626 BC). One of them includes a hymn to Gibil, the god of fire: "You melt Copper and Lead, you clean Gold and Silver". During the excavations of the city of Ashur a Lead chunk of 400 kilograms was discovered, which dates from 1300 BC. In the Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian compendium of medicine, dated at around 1550 BC, Lead is mentioned. It is also mentioned several times in the Old Testament, such as: "Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters." (Exodus 15, 10). "Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean " (Numbers 31, 22-23). The manner in which prehistoric people extracted lead from its minerals is not well-known. However, there are vestiges of very rudimentary furnaces, done of stone, where these people heated up the lead minerals with bonfires (that burned wood and coal) to extract the element. In the fifth century BC the Romans made an extensive exploration of lead deposits in the whole Iberian Peninsula. In the period 700 AD to 1000 AD the German mines of lead and silver, in the Rhine valley and in the Hartz mountains, were very important, just as those of Saxony, Silesia and Bohemia in the 13th century. The alchemists believed Lead to be the oldest metal and associated it with the planet Saturn. Because of its heavy weight it played a special role in the alchemic operations, they assigned to it the ability easily to be converted into Gold. They had many names for it, some secret, among others Plumbago (lead ore). In astrology alchemy the seven heavenly bodies known to the ancients were associated with seven metals also known in antiquity:
The long history of Lead is reflected in the many different words for this metal. See the list of names to the left and in the overview of Lead in over 100 languages (click here).
It is also tried to interpret the Latin plumbum with help of Indogermanic languages in the suffix -bho-, often used for the names of animals and colours; thus to trace plumbum back to pl-on-bho and to include it in the family of the Greek πελιος [pelios] = bluish-black. Others see both these names derived from the Sanskrit bahu-mala = very dirty. Plumbum was the generic name for soft white metals with low melting points, as lead and tin, and later also bismuth and their alloys. Later plumbum was differentiated with the addition of black and white: Plumbum album (white plumbum; or Plumbum candidum) for Tin and Plumbum nigrum (black plumbum) for Lead.
Others see in the Old High German word blio a derivation from the Greek μολυβδος [molybdos] and/or the Latin plumbum.
It is borrowed from the Irish luaide of unknown origin, although some see it derived from Celtic loud or Sanskrite loka = reddish, because of the red colour of lead oxide (red lead). Another option is that it is derived from *louadia from plumbum (the p- lost in Celtic) (or the donor language for the Latin word). (O.
The origin of the word свинец [svinec] is not clear; probably there is a relation with the Greek κυανος [kyanos] = a darkblue material (Homer, κυανεος [kyaneos] = steel blue). Мир Химии thinks about a derivation from свинка (svinka), little pig. The reason is that the ingots of lead were called pigs. Figurovskij supposes a relation with wine (вино), since the ancient Romans (and in the Caucasus) wine was stored in Lead vessels, which gave unique taste to it.
The old indication for Tin is Plumbum album (white lead), Lead was Plumbum nigrum (black lead). Мир Химии writes that lead was called in Russia Lead originally олово (olovo). When Tin first appeared, people erroneously assumed it identical with Lead, and named it of course олово (olovo). When they finally learned to distinguish both metals, the old name олово was used for the new metal, and its predecessor was called свинец (svinec).
Historical names of Lead isotopes
A peculiar website from Lavian-American Andis Kaulins, Indo-European Afro-Asiatic Words for Metals - Copper Lead Tin Iron Bronze Gold Amber. I am not sure what to think of the value of his unorthodox information, but give it for what it is worth. Kaulins presents the following list for Lead:
Akkadian ABARU (also magnesite?)
And similar lists for Iron, Copper, and Tin. In examining all of these ancient terms for these metals,
Kaulins sees that all names have two basic roots as their origin:
Chemistianity 1873
UTYAN
LEAD, the indispensable to Plumbers, Named Plumbum, is a bluish gray metal, With strong metallic lustre when newly cut, But which tarnishes on exposure to moist Air. Lead is very soft, may be drawn to wire Or roll'd to sheet, has little tenacity, Melts at low heat, and in part vapours at red heat. Further reading
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