Etymograph

English

technetium

Technetium comes from Ancient Greek τεχνητός ‘artificial, manmade’, from τέχνη ‘craft, skill, art’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-‘to create, produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*téḱ-sneh₂reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτέχνη‘craft, skill, art’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτεχνητός‘artificial, manmade’
  5. Englishtodaytechnetium

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-‘to create, produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*téḱ-sneh₂reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτέχνη‘craft, skill, art’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτεχνητός‘artificial, manmade’
  5. Englishtodaytechnetium

Formed from τεχνητός ‘artificial, manmade’ + -ium

The story

From Ancient Greek τεχνητός (tekhnētós, “artificial, manmade”) + -ium, because it was the first manmade element synthesized.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’

architecture, arch, textile, pretext, tectonics, tassie, tela, 16 more

through Ancient Greek τέχνη ‘craft, skill, art’

technical, technique, polytechnic, 2 more

Today it means

noun A metallic chemical element (symbol Tc) with an atomic number of 43.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- / technetium

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