Etymograph

English

tellurium

Tellurium comes from Latin tellūs ‘earth’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtellūs‘earth’
  2. New Latinmoderntellurium
  3. Englishtodaytellurium

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtellūs‘earth’
  2. New Latinmoderntellurium
  3. Englishtodaytellurium

The story

New Latin, coined by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1798, from Latin tellūs (‘earth’) + -ium (‘-ium’). Piecewise doublet of tellurion (see etymology 2).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ‘to bear, to undergo, to endure’

talent, tolerance, toll, atlas, tolerate, tolerant, intolerable, tolerable, toleration, extol, 17 more

Another origin of tellurium

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtellus‘earth’
  2. Englishtodaytellurium

Today it means

noun The chemical element with atomic number 52. Symbol: Te. A rare, brittle, mildly toxic, silver-white metalloid.

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

Etymograph / Latin tellūs / tellurium

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