 The name bismuth is from ca . 1660s , and is of uncertain etymology . It is one of the first 10 metals to have been discovered . Bismuth appears in the 1660s , from obsolete German Bismuth , <unk> , <unk> ( early 16th century ) ; perhaps related to Old High German <unk> ( " white " ) . The New Latin <unk> ( due to Georgius Agricola , who Latinized many German mining and technical words ) is from the German <unk> , perhaps from weiße Masse , " white mass " . The element was confused in early times with tin and lead because of its resemblance to those elements . Bismuth has been known since ancient times , so no one person is credited with its discovery . Agricola , in De Natura <unk> ( ca . 1546 ) states that bismuth is a distinct metal in a family of metals including tin and lead . This was based on observation of the metals and their physical properties . Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum <unk> , or " silver being made , " in the sense of silver still in the process of being formed within the Earth . 
