<P> The first of these symbols were intended to be fully universal . Since Latin was the common language of science at that time , they were abbreviations based on the Latin names of metals . Cu comes from Cuprum , Fe comes from Ferrum , Ag from Argentum . The symbols were not followed by a period ( full stop ) as with abbreviations . Later chemical elements were also assigned unique chemical symbols , based on the name of the element , but not necessarily in English . For example , sodium has the chemical symbol ' Na ' after the Latin natrium . The same applies to `` W '' ( wolfram ) for tungsten , `` Fe '' ( ferrum ) for iron , `` Hg '' ( hydrargyrum ) for mercury , `` Sn '' ( stannum ) for tin , `` K '' ( kalium ) for potassium , `` Au '' ( aurum ) for gold , `` Ag '' ( argentum ) for silver , `` Pb '' ( plumbum ) for lead , `` Cu '' ( cuprum ) for copper , and `` Sb '' ( stibium ) for antimony . </P>
<P> The first of these symbols were intended to be fully universal . Since Latin was the common language of science at that time , they were abbreviations based on the Latin names of metals . Cu comes from Cuprum , Fe comes from Ferrum , Ag from Argentum . The symbols were not followed by a period ( full stop ) as with abbreviations . Later chemical elements were also assigned unique chemical symbols , based on the name of the element , but not necessarily in English . For example , sodium has the chemical symbol ' Na ' after the Latin natrium . The same applies to `` W '' ( wolfram ) for tungsten , `` Fe '' ( ferrum ) for iron , `` Hg '' ( hydrargyrum ) for mercury , `` Sn '' ( stannum ) for tin , `` K '' ( kalium ) for potassium , `` Au '' ( aurum ) for gold , `` Ag '' ( argentum ) for silver , `` Pb '' ( plumbum ) for lead , `` Cu '' ( cuprum ) for copper , and `` Sb '' ( stibium ) for antimony . </P>
the abbreviated name of an element is called
the abbreviated name of an element is called
symbols
symbols