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  1. Apr 3, 2019 · Today, the element is officially known as mercury on the periodic table, but it retains its Hg abbreviation—a nod to its old Latin name, hydrargyrum, which means “water silver.” Jar for mercury pills.

    • Johanna Mayer
  2. Mercury later was identified with Greek Hermes and still later with Germanic Woden. From his role as a messenger and conveyor of information, since mid-17c. Mercury has been a common name for a newspaper. The planet closest to the sun was so called in classical Latin (c. 1300 in English).

  3. Feb 13, 2023 · It isn’t until the Middle English period that we start to see some of the names of the planets Anglicized. In addition to the sun and moon, the South English Legendary, a collection of saint’s lives written c.1300, refers to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, but keeps the Latin Mercurius and Saturnus:

  4. Dec 9, 2022 · Etymology. The name “Mercury” (or Mercurius) probably emerged from the Latin merx, a noun meaning “merchandise.” In its verb form, the word mercari meant “to trade.” A deeper root in the Proto Indo-European language may have been merk- or merg-, meaning “boundary” or “border,” respectively.

  5. Oct 24, 2024 · The name mercury originated in 6th-century alchemy, in which the symbol of the planet was used to represent the metal; the chemical symbol Hg derives from the Latin hydrargyrum, “liquid silver.” Although its toxicity was recognized at an early date, its main application was for medical purposes.

    • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
  6. Like Hermes, Mercurius was the messenger of the gods but he was also the god of trade and commerce, which is why his name shares a root with the Latin words merx (goods or merchandise), mercari (to trade) and merces (wages).

  7. The earliest known use of the noun mercury is in the Old English period (pre-1150). mercury is a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin Mercurius. See etymology. Nearby entries.

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