Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 February 28

= February 28 =

"Volatility" as a term in Chemistry
I'd like to know the origin of the term "volatility" in Chemistry :  Who introduced it, in what language and in which work? After a search in various Etymologic Dictionaries, I found volatility (1620), volatilité (1641), volatilità (1744), yet I'm not sure if these years refer to the use as term of chemistry. Thanks! --pm a 12:49, 28 February 2016 (UTC)


 * From Etymonline.com: 1590s "fine or light," also "evaporating rapidly" (c. 1600), from Middle French volatile, from Latin volatilis "fleeting, transitory; swift, rapid; flying, winged," from past participle stem of volare "to fly" (see volant). Sense of "readily changing, flighty, fickle" is first recorded 1640s. Volatiles in Middle English meant "birds, butterflies, and other winged creatures" (c. 1300). KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( もしもし！ ) 17:42, 28 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Note that the common usage of "volatile", meaning "explosive", as in "the hostage crisis was a highly volatile situation", is somewhat related to the chemistry meaning of "readily evaporates". That is, if something readily evaporates, and is flammable, like gasoline, then it can burst into flames if it has an ignition source.  However, non-flammable substances which readily evaporate, like water, are volatile in the chemistry sense only. StuRat (talk) 17:55, 28 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Maybe the technical use in Finance is also inspired by Chemistry? pm a  18:59, 3 March 2016 (UTC)


 * [From talk page] Bear in mind that until about 1700 all academic work from most countries in Europe was produced in Latin, as the universal language of scholarship. 109.150.174.93 (talk) 18:22, 28 February 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Baseball Bugs (talk • contribs)
 * This is an interesting question, and you may wish to place a note on the Science reference desk that it has been asked here. I find it used in a discussion of Lavoisier . I am guessing that it came in from alchemy. The source has "volatile alkali", and a search also yields this, indicating that ammonia was called "volatile alkali". You might need to carry on searching using "volatile" with various elements and compounds that were of interest in the transition from alchemy to scientific chemistry, or with the names of individual researchers. I would think that in the proto-science period they understood very little about gases (or different types of air as they thought of them), but a lot more about solid materials. Materials that were likely to evaporate before their eyes would have been particularly puzzling. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:59, 29 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Interesting hints and comments, thank you everybody pm a 18:59, 3 March 2016 (UTC)