惰性气体元素中文名之由来

The Origin of the Inert Elements' Chinese Names

文章主要目的是研究惰性气体元素中文名词氦、氖、氩、氪、氙、氡的形成。在19世纪末,这些元素名词是以意译方式出现,如(氩)与曦(氦)。在1907年《化学语汇》第一次提出氩、氦、氪等音译名词后,惰性气体元素中文译名便开始往音译名词上发展。而氖字,可能最早出现于1908年。氙字是首次出现在1933年出版的《化学命名原则》,然而在此前一年在化学讨论会所通过的是。至于氡字,是在1937年教育部所举行的化学名词审查会议中所决定的。

The main purpose of this paper is to study the history of the translation into Chinese characters of the noble gases-namely 氦（helium）, 氖（neon）, 氩（argon）, 氪（krypton）, 氙（xenon） , and 氡（radon）. In the late nineteenth century, when the translation of noble gases into Chinese script first began, most were translated according to the meanings of the western terms given by western missionaries--for instance 閒 for argon; and 曦 for neon. Then, in 1907, helium, argon and krypton were translated as 氩,氦 and 氪 , respec- tively, under the radical-phonetic principles laid down in Huaxue Yuhui （A Vocabulary of Chemistry）. After that, Chinese terms for the noble gases were almost always translated using the radical-phonetic characters developed by Chinese scholars and Western missionaries. The character 氖 （neon）, however, was deter- mined by the Joint Committee on Medical Terminology in 1908. It was not until 1933, that the Chinese character 氙 （xenon） was decided upon in the Chemical Forum of the Education Ministry. As to 氡 （radon）, this character was not determined until the meeting of the Committee on Chemical Nomenclature convened in 1937.