English
halogen
Halogen comes from Ancient Greek ἅλς ‘salt" or "sea’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l‘salt’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*hā́ls‘salt’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλςháls‘salt" or "sea’
- Englishearliest quotation 2024halogen
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sḗh₂l‘salt’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*hā́ls‘salt’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἅλςháls‘salt" or "sea’
- Englishearliest quotation 2024halogen
Earliest quotation: 2024, Chemical Decomposition, Fire, and Toxic Gas Release at Bio-L: “Plant 12 also stored super sacks of bromochloro-5,5-dimethylimidazolidine-2,4-dione (BCDMH),…”
Equivalent to halo- + -gen
Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l ‘salt’
Proto-Hellenic *hā́ls ‘salt’
Ancient Greek ἅλς ‘sea, salt’
English halo-
The story
From Ancient Greek ἅλς (háls, “salt" or "sea”) + γεν- (gen-), "to produce" (coined by Berzelius in 1842).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l ‘salt’
salt, sauce, salary, salad, cellar, sausage, salsa, sal, saline, salami, salina, 32 more
Today it means
noun Any element of group 17, i.e. fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine and tennessine.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l / halogen