How the characters were made
From a Tang alchemist's list of aliases for mercury to the four characters of 2017. The rules that produce every element character today were written in Shanghai in 1871 and made law in Nanjing in 1933; almost everything in between is missionaries, translators and one journal editor arguing about them.
- 806
石藥爾雅
Méi Biāo’s handbook of alchemical drug names lists twenty-one aliases for mercury alone. Metals have names, but no one has tried to fix them.
Méi Biāo 梅彪
- 1849
天文略論 Tiānwén Lüèlùn
Benjamin Hobson coins 養氣 (nourishing gas) for oxygen and 淡氣 (diluting gas) for nitrogen.
Benjamin Hobson 合信
- 1855
博物新編 Bówù Xīnbiān
Hobson’s natural philosophy names hydrogen 輕氣 and speaks of 56 elements.
Benjamin Hobson 合信
- 1857
六合叢談
Alexander Wylie and Lǐ Shànlán publish the first Chinese list of 64 element names.
Alexander Wylie 偉烈亞力 · Lǐ Shànlán 李善蘭
- 1866
English and Chinese Dictionary
Wilhelm Lobscheid is the first to write elements as single coined characters, 22 of them.
Wilhelm Lobscheid 羅存德
- 1868
格物入門 Géwù Rùmén
W. A. P. Martin’s Tongwen College textbook: keep old names, otherwise name by property, transliterate as a last resort. Only 12 % of his names are one character.
W. A. P. Martin 丁韙良
- 1869
Letters between Fryer and Kerr
Fryer sends his element names to Kerr in Canton for comment; Kerr adopts the principles.
John Fryer 傅蘭雅 · John G. Kerr 嘉約翰
- 1870
化學初階 Huàxué Chūjiē
Kerr and Hé Liǎorán’s medical chemistry, the first to print one-character names systematically.
John G. Kerr 嘉約翰 · Hé Liǎorán 何瞭然
- 1871
金石識別 Jīnshí Shíbié
MacGowan and Huà Héngfāng’s mineralogy, with multi-character transliterations and imperial-taboo avoidance (波羅明 for bromine).
Daniel Jerome MacGowan 瑪高溫 · Huà Héngfāng 華蘅芳
- 1871
化學鑑原 Huàxué Jiànyuán
Xú Shòu and John Fryer set the rule: first syllable of the Western name, one character, radical for the class. Around 92 % of the 64 names are single characters.
Xú Shòu 徐壽 · John Fryer 傅蘭雅
- 1873
化學指南 Huàxué Zhǐnán
Anatole Billequin’s property-based alternative (生色 chromium, 錆 cobalt) with heavy multi-part characters. It does not catch on.
Anatole Billequin 畢利幹 · Lián Zǐzhèn 聯子振
- 1890
Missionary Conference, Shanghai
Fryer laments the terminological chaos, then refuses to let a committee change his own terms unless they are “radically wrong”.
John Fryer 傅蘭雅
- 1898
化學元素修正表 Revised List of Chemical Elements
The Educational Association and the Medical Missionary Association attempt a compromise list.
- 1900
亞泉雜誌 Yàquán Zázhì
Dù Yàquán, the first Chinese author in the story, invents the 气 radical for gases with 氬 argon, and proposes 鈹 鐠 鐿 銩 釓.
Dù Yàquán 杜亞泉
- 1908
化學語彙
The Qing Ministry of Education issues a chemical vocabulary that keeps most of the Xú–Fryer characters.
- 1915
無機化學命名草案 Draft inorganic nomenclature
Republican draft; 氦 replaces 氜 for helium.
- 1919
化學定說名略
Zhèng Zhènwén’s first comprehensive draft of a unified nomenclature.
Zhèng Zhènwén 鄭貞文
- 1933
化學命名原則 Principles of Chemical Nomenclature
Adopted 1932, published 1933: every element one character, 氫 氧 氮 氯 fixed, 矽 for silicon. The framework still in force.
Zhèng Zhènwén 鄭貞文
- 1945
Revised principles Principles of Chemical Nomenclature, revised
氡 radon, 鈮 niobium (for columbium), 釓 gadolinium.
- 1955
矽 → 硅, 鎦 → 鑥 Inorganic terms review
The mainland removes two homophones; Taiwan keeps 矽 and 鎦. The two standards begin to diverge.
- 1991
化學名詞 Chemical Terms
The national terms committee finalises all elements to 109, including 鍀 鉕 砹 鈁.
- 1998
Elements 101–109 Names of elements 101–109
After IUPAC ends the transfermium wars, Chinese names for 鑪 𨧀 𨭎 𨨏 𨭆 䥑 are published.
- 2017
Elements 113, 115, 117, 118 Names of elements 113, 115, 117, 118
鉨 鏌 鿬 鿫 chosen in a public review; Unicode adds the missing characters in 2018.
The people
- Méi Biāo 梅彪 fl. 806 Tang alchemist, compiler of the 石藥爾雅
- Benjamin Hobson 合信 1816–1873 British medical missionary in Canton and Shanghai
- Alexander Wylie 偉烈亞力 1815–1887 British missionary and sinologist
- Lǐ Shànlán 李善蘭 1810–1882 Mathematician, Wylie’s collaborator
- Wilhelm Lobscheid 羅存德 1822–1893 German missionary and lexicographer
- W. A. P. Martin 丁韙良 1827–1916 American missionary, head of Tongwen College
- John Fryer 傅蘭雅 1839–1928 Translator at the Jiangnan Arsenal
- Xú Shòu 徐壽 1818–1884 Chemist and translator; credited with the naming rules
- John G. Kerr 嘉約翰 1824–1901 American medical missionary, Canton Hospital
- Hé Liǎorán 何瞭然 Kerr’s collaborator
- Daniel Jerome MacGowan 瑪高溫 1815–1893 American medical missionary
- Huà Héngfāng 華蘅芳 1833–1902 Mathematician, Jiangnan Arsenal translator
- Anatole Billequin 畢利幹 1837–1894 French chemist at Tongwen College
- Lián Zǐzhèn 聯子振 Billequin’s student and co-translator
- Dù Yàquán 杜亞泉 1873–1933 Editor and textbook author, Commercial Press; took his name from 氬線
- Zhèng Zhènwén 鄭貞文 1891–1969 Chemist who drafted the 1933 Principles