Tantalum
/ˈtæn.tə.ləm/noun
A rare, hard, corrosion-resistant metallic element used especially in electronics and high-performance alloys.
Did you know?The element was deliberately named in 1802 after Tantalus because its oxide was so hard to dissolve in acid that chemists thought it was being “punished” like the mythic king.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ten-
“to stretch”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Τάνταλος (Tántalos)
“Tantalus, the mythological king condemned to eternal frustration”
Late Latin
Latin
tantalus
“a learned borrowing of the Greek name in scientific and literary usage”
1802
English
tantalum
“the name assigned to a new metallic element”
Modern English
English
tantalum
“the chemical element with atomic number 73”
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