# mercury / Mercury



## elroy

Arabic uses different words for mercury the element and Mercury the planet.

*mercury the element*: زئبق /ziʔbaq/
*Mercury the planet*: عطارد /ʕutˤa:rid/ 

What about other languages?


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## Yendred

The name of the planet comes from Roman mythology, after the Roman god _Mercurius, _the messenger of the other gods.
The planet was already known in the Antiquity and discovered by the Mesopotamians around 2000 BCE. Its name was given by the Romans.
I guess Arabic does not refer to Roman mythology for planet names (what about the other planets?)


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## elroy

Yendred said:


> I guess Arabic does not refer to roman mythology for planet names (what about the other planets ?)


It does for the last three, not the first six (I still consider Pluto a planet ):

Mercury: عطارد /ʕutˤa:rid/
Venus: الزهرة /azzuhra/
Earth: الأرض /alʔardˤ/
Mars: المريخ /almarri:x/ [I double-checked this one because it looked like it _might_ be from Latin, but no, it's a native Arabic word.]
Jupiter: المشتري /almuʃtari/ [This literally means "the buyer" 🤷‍♂️]
Saturn: زحل /zuħal/

Uranus: أورانوس /uranos/
Neptune: نبتون /nepton/
Pluto: بلوتو /plu:to/

Maybe that's because those three weren't discovered until later, when Arabs were no longer super big in the astronomy field, so the Latin names were just adopted?  No idea. 

(As with country names, some of them have a definite article, and some don't.  In this case, 4 do and 5 don't.)


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## Yendred

elroy said:


> Maybe that's because those three weren't discovered until later


Yes I guess so   Arab astronomers must have rediscovered the first planets and gave them Arabic names.


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## Yendred

elroy said:


> Earth: الأرض /alʔardˤ/


Out of the question scope, but can you say a bit about the etymology of this one? "_al_" is an article isn't it?
(I don't know why I'm specifically interested in this one, it's just the 3rd planet from the Sun, anyway...   )


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## elroy

/al/ is the definite article, yes.  /ʔardˤ/ is from a Semitic root meaning "earth, ground, floor."  It coincidentally sounds similar to English/German/Dutch earth/Erde/aarde, but it's just a coincidence! (cf. Strawberries)


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## Ghabi

elroy said:


> but it's just a coincidence!


Not if you're a Nostraticist (not the name of a rock band)!


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## AndrasBP

elroy said:


> Arabic uses different words for mercury the element and Mercury the planet.
> 
> *mercury the element*: زئبق /ziʔbaq/
> *Mercury the planet*: عطارد /ʕutˤa:rid/
> 
> What about other languages?


The only languages that use the same word are Romance, or those under strong Romance influence, like English or Maltese. 
(or where it's a direct loan from English)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Mercury (element): *«Υδράργυρος»* [iˈðrarʝiɾo̞s̠] (masc.) a modern construction (1802) lit. _liquid-silver._
Mercury (planet): *«Ερμής»* [e̞rˈmis̠] (masc.) < Classical name of the messenɡer ɡod in the ancient Greek Pantheon, *«Ἑρμῆς» Hĕrmês* (masc.) < epic form *«Ἑρμείας» Hĕrmeías* (masc.) < Mycenaean syllabary e-ma-a (< possibly *«Ἑρμαχᾶς» *Hĕrmăkʰâs, an unanalysable substrate Pre-Greek name).


elroy said:


> It does for the last three, not the first six (I still consider Pluto a planet ):
> 
> Mercury: عطارد /ʕutˤa:rid/
> Venus: زحل /zuħal/
> Earth: الأرض /alʔardˤ/
> Mars: المريخ /almarri:x/ [I double-checked this one because it looked like it _might_ be from Latin, but no, it's a native Arabic word.]
> Jupiter: المشتري /almuʃtari/ [This literally means "the buyer" 🤷‍♂️]
> Saturn: الزهرة /azzuhra/
> 
> Uranus: أورانوس /uranos/
> Neptune: نبتون /nepton/
> Pluto: بلوتو /plu:to/
> 
> Maybe that's because those three weren't discovered until later, when Arabs were no longer super big in the astronomy field, so the Latin names were just adopted?  No idea.
> 
> (As with country names, some of them have a definite article, and some don't.  In this case, 4 do and 5 don't.)


There's an older thread with the names of planets in different languages.


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## Awwal12

Russian uses the native word ртуть (rtut') for the element but the loanword Меркурий (Merkúriy) for the planet.


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## amikama

Hebrew:

The element: *כספית*
The planet: *כוכב חמה* (lit. "Sun's star") or *מרקורי*
The Roman god: *מרקורי*


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## Penyafort

Yendred said:


> Yes I guess so   Arab astronomers must have rediscovered the first planets and gave them Arabic names.


In fact, many bright stars from Constellations are more known by their Arabic names than the Scientific Latin ones: Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis),  Achernar (Alpha Eridani), Altair (Alpha Aquilae),  Hamal (Alpha Arietis), Deneb (Alpha Cygni), etc.


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## Demiurg

German:
the god: _Merkur_
the planet: _Merkur_
the element: _Quecksilber_ (_quicksilver_)

I think the latter ist used in English, too.


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## Yendred

Demiurg said:


> the element: _Quecksilber_ (_quicksilver_)


Yes, in French it was also formerly known as _vif-argent_ (lit. _quick silver_), but today it's only called _mercure_.
_Quicksilver_ and cognate names come from the fact that it's a liquid metal at room temperature, and it looks like silver.
Its chemical symbol _Hg_ comes from its Latin name _hydrargyrum_ (itself from Greek words which literally mean _water silver_).

The reason why the element is called like the planet is also interesting: Greek philosophers used to associate the 7 main metals (gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin and lead) with the 7 known "planets" (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).


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## apmoy70

Yendred said:


> Yes, in French it was also formerly known as _vif-argent_ (lit. _quick silver_), but today it's only called _mercure_.
> _Quicksilver_ and cognate names come from the fact that it's a liquid metal at room temperature, and it looks like silver.
> Its chemical symbol _Hg_ comes from its Latin name _hydrargyrum_ (itself from Greek words which literally mean _water silver_).
> 
> The reason why the element is called like the planet is also interesting: Greek philosophers used to associate the 7 main metals (gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, tin and lead) with the 7 known "planets" (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).


I think it's more of a mediaeval alchemist concept (lapis philosophorum and what not), than ancient Greek: Pseudo-Arnald of Villanova and his corpus of alchemical works = Rosarius philosophorum,  Flos florum, Epistola super alchimia ad regem Neapolitanum


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh

arian* (n.m.) *byw *(from 1346)*
silver living/alive
'quicksilver'/'mercury'

*mercwri* (n.m.)
'mercury'

----------------

*Mercher* (n.m.)
'Mercury'

*y blaned* (n.f.) *Mercher*
the SM planet Mercury
'Mercury'

____________

*Dydd* (n.m.) *Mercher*
Day Mercury
'Tuesday'

*Nos* (n.f.) *Fercher*
night SM Mercury
'Tuesday evening'

*Surprised how late Greek is compared to us here - see post #9


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## hui

Finnish:
mercury: _elohopea _(lit. "livesilver")
Mercury (planet): _Merkurius_
Mercury (god): _Mercurius_


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## elroy

Demiurg said:


> I think the latter ist used in English, too.


I don’t think it’s used in modern/contemporary English. 



Yendred said:


> _Quicksilver_ and cognate names come from the fact that it's a liquid metal at room temperature, and it looks like silver.


What’s the connection between “quick” and liquid?


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## Yendred

elroy said:


> What’s the connection between “quick” and liquid?


Mobility. Water flows down faster from the mountains than rocks.


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## AndrasBP

elroy said:


> What’s the connection between “quick” and liquid?





Yendred said:


> Mobility. Water flows down faster from the mountains than rocks.


Close, but no cigar. 

English "quick" used to mean "alive" (=moving), as in the Biblical phrase "the quick and the dead".

This may come as a surprise, but "quick" really *is *an Indo-European cognate of Latin "vivus" and Lithuanian "gyvas" (=alive).


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## Yendred

AndrasBP said:


> This may come as a surprise, but "quick" really *is *an Indo-European cognate of Latin "vivus"


Yes indeed, in French the word _vif_ both means _alive_ and _fast_.
But according to my dictionary, _mercury_ was called _vif-argent_ because of its mobility, not because it's "alive".

@AndrasBP am I wrong, or you didn't tell us about the Hungarian words for _mercury_?


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## Welsh_Sion

'Quick' can still mean 'alive' in English such as in phrases like, 'to cut to the quick':

cut to the quick

_______

This may come as a surprise, but "quick" really *is *an Indo-European cognate of Latin "vivus" and Lithuanian "gyvas" (=alive). 
- As for the Celtic languages, too: Crn.* bew*, Brt. *beo*, Ir. *béo*, Wel. *byw*.


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## Yendred

Welsh_Sion said:


> cut to the quick


Funny enough, the French equivalent idiom is "_couper dans le vif_"! In that case, _vif_ means _living_.

The Spanish say "_cortar por lo sano_" (lit. _cut in the healthy part_).


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## Frank78

elroy said:


> What’s the connection between “quick” and liquid?



There's also the German adjective "erquickend" = re*vital*izing, refreshing.


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## Frank78

AndrasBP said:


> English "quick" used to mean "alive" (=moving), as in the Biblical phrase "the quick and the dead".



Or "quicksand".


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## raamez

elroy said:


> What’s the connection between “quick” and liquid?


It is actually why we call someone who is fast, cunning or unpredictable متل الزيبق (like mercury) in colloquial Arabic.


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## Panceltic

Slovenian:

Mercury the planet: Merkur

Mercury the element: živo srebro (lit. live silver)


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## apmoy70

Welsh_Sion said:


> *Surprised how late Greek is compared to us here - see post #9


Ιndeed, the ancients extracted it from cinnabar-ore whence called it *«κινναβαρίτης» kĭnnabărítēs* (masc.) --> _of cinnabar_ < Classical 3rd declension neuter noun *«κιννάβαρι» kĭnnắbărĭ* (nom. sinɡ.), *«κινναβάρεως» kĭnnăbắrĕōs* (ɡen. sinɡ.) --> _cinnabar, vermillion_; accordinɡ to Beekes: "A foreign word from an unknown (but probably Oriental) source; cf. Schrader-Nehring 1917(2): 701f. From Greek, Latin borrowed _cinnabaris_, whence MHG _zinober_, etc. A remarkable by-form is Tιγγάβαρι (Diocl. Corn. 9, 10, Theognost. Can. l20, H.) with Tιγγαβάρινος (Dam. Isid. 203)"


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## hx1997

Chinese:
mercury - 汞 (scientific name), 水银 (common name, literally "water silver", probably from Greek _hydrárgyros_)
Mercury - 水星 (literally "the water planet", with connection to Wuxing in Chinese philosophy)


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## bearded

In Italian:

Mercurio = both the Roman god and the planet
mercurio = the element: quicksilver (formerly: argento vivo, analogue to French).

( stress: mercùrio )


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## Mahaodeh

Yendred said:


> Yes I guess so   Arab astronomers must have rediscovered the first planets and gave them Arabic names.


Actually they already knew them, these plants can be seen with the naked eye.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Jupiter: المشتري /almuʃtari/ [This literally means "the buyer" 🤷‍♂️]


The root holds several other meanings. It seems that most historians say it’s from the meaning of “to move in bursts” or “to move consistently”. related meanings: الشريان, because it has a pulse as opposed to الوريد; and شرى البرق أي تتابع لمعانه.


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## Zareza

Romanian

mercur = mercury - the chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80
Mercur = Mercury - a planet in the solar system, closest to the sun
Mercur / Mercurius = the Roman god of trade
Mercurie = saint Mercurius (224 – 250 AD) known in Arabic by the name _Abu-Seifein_ (أبو سيفين), which means "the holder [literally, father] of two swords," referring to a second sword given to him by the Archangel Michael


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## Włoskipolak 72

Polish

Merkury = Mercury the planet

*rtęć  */rtɛɲt͡ɕ/* = *mercury the element

Inherited from Proto-Slavic _**rьtǫtь*_. Cognate to Czech _*rtuť*_ and Russian _*ртуть*_ (rtutʹ).



Merkury
Wenus
Ziemia
Mars
Jowisz
Saturn
Uran
Neptun
Pluton


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