The PRONUNCIATION of
CHEMICAL WORDS E. J. CRANE The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
T
H E CHEMICAL teacher has much influence on (4) The pronunciation -61 for the ending of names of alcohols chemical pronunciations, ~h~ vocabulary of and phenols (except the word alcohol itself!), whether regrettable or not, seems firmly fixed and should be recognized. Emphasis the student 'Ontains a limited number Of on a significant ending is probably an iduence in this practice. chemical words when he starts t o study Chemistry. Chemical terms not belonging t o the above classes, but generally He learns the pronunciations which he is likely to use pronounced -6l, should he spelled with a final c; examples, mole, for the rest of his life from his teacher, Accordingly pyrrole. This is in accordance with the recommendation of International Committee on Organic Nomenclature. For the teacher is especial1y interested in any the sol arid words ending in -sol the spelling -ol and the pronunciation effort made t o standardize the pronunciation of chemi- .;l should be cal words. The dictionaries differ. There has really (5) The ending -yl should be pronounced -El. The pronunciabeen no authoritative standard, no place to which the tion -Zis apparently a Germanism, and, although still in use t o teacher or interested hemist, as one called on to some extent, is to be discouraged. The pronunciation -3, apparently common in England, is seldom heard in the United make a radio talk, could turn with confidence for StltPS - .-..-. help. (8) The ending i l c (as in nitrile). Usage is divided among I n an effort t o be of service in this matter the Nomen- the pronunciations -3,-il,and -3. The second of these is identi&ture, spelling, and pronwciation Committee of the cal with the pronunciation recommended for -yl, and the third is apparently a Germanism. The pronunciation - 2 should be A~~~~~~ Chemical Society has made a rather extensive favored. study of chemical pronunciations. A thorough can(7) endings .acic. -anic, -aric, -eLic, -enic, -&, -etic, vass of usage was made and the help of campet+ -idic, die, -inic, -isic, -onic, -epic, -oric. A rather extensive phoneticians and dictionary experts was obtained. study of the pranuuciation of such endings shows a preference for preceding -ic in all but a few cases. This result is in ~h~ committee~sreport is published in full in in,. E ~ aaccord ~short, vowel with age-old general English usage and is t o be approved. Ckenz.3News Ed'9 ' ' 9 202-5 (May20p report Acetic (Zi-sC'tik) is a very emphatic exception. Other exceptions includes a list of 437 chemical words for which reCOm- rn utic (settik) and ceric (se'rik) and adjectives derived from mended ~ronunciations are indicated. It also in- the names of unsaturated hydrocarbons (because of the influence ., eludes l2^rules offered as "an expression of trends t o of the significant -ene ending). The ending -olic. This end&g is an exception t o the (8) be encouraged." These rules follow: rule for wards ending in i c [compare (7)], perhaps owing t o the (1) Accenting names of chemical substances on the h a 1 syllable is to be discouraged in all cases where the preference for such an accent is not emphatic. The names amine, arsine, guC none, and sulfone and words ending in these names (also the suffix +henone) represent most of the exceptions. The general trend of the accent in the English language iQ recognized by authorities to be away from the end and toward the beginning of the ward. However, when the last syllable of a word is a significant s d x , as -a1 for aldehydes, it is not slurred by chemists. ( 2 ) I n the interest of uniformity and in accordance with a general trend of English pronunciation in America, the ending -ideshould be pronounced -id. This appears t o be uniformly the practice in inorganic chemistry. Many organic names are so pronounced also. Certain organic terms, however, are pronounced -Id by many, as acetanilidc, imide, phthalimide, lipide, am&, and several words ending in amide. (3) For chemical names ending in i n e , usage is divided between the pronunciations -2n and -in, with a tendency in favor of -k. Since a distinction in spelling is made by many between names of bases ending in - h e and names of nonbases ending in i n , the pronunciation -2n for the ending -ine is to be encouraged. ( I t is unfortunate that this conflicts in sound with the pronunciation of the ending -me, but i t is believed that this will cause confusion only with a very few words, as benzine and benzene, fluorine and fluorene. As t o the pronunciation -in, usage, a t least in America, is very strongly against it, and i t would con5ict with the ,pronunciation of the new ending y n e adapted for names of acetylene hydrocarbons.) Quinine, because of strong papular usage, is an exception.
Muence of wards ending in -ol. Inasmuch as ten cases out of twelve studied favor the long 6, some of them by v u y large majorities, it is recommended that this ending be uniformly pronounced -8'lik. (9) Adjectives ending in -ic should be &ented on the neat to the last syllable, as glycer'ic, not gly'ceric. I n names of salts the accent. followine " the trend indicated in (1) . . above. nsnallv moves one syllable (occasionally more) toward the beginning of the word, as gly'cerate, sal'icylate. (10) The ending 4mc. I n oxime, a t least, this should be pronounced -Zm, to accord with usage, though this is contrary to the normal English trend. (11) The ending -oin should be pronounced as two syllables, -bh,with the accent coming on the preceding syllable (as, bEn'G-i&, fti'rd-in). I n certain wards where the addition of a chemical suffer causes two vowels to came together there is a natural tendency t o merge them and thus change their sound, as thebaine, linalool. Whiie concession must be made t o usage in particular cases, as cocaine, the pronunciation of such vowels separately is t o be encouraged. The use of the dieresis is helpful, as linalo61. (12) Words ending in -valent should be so prououuced that the last two syllables are -v%-'Ent; as tri-vi-'lht (not triv'i--1Znt).
Reprints of the full report, which includes the word list, can be obtained from the chairman of the committee, E. J. Crane, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. A charge of five cents per reprint (postage acceptable) to cover cost is made.
