How do you pronounce the name of the element with chemical symbol Al ??

Question

I, as an American, say "a-LOO-min-um". Now I live in Ireland, and European people seem to say "al-yoo-MIN-ee-um"? Can someone please explain where the 4th syllable comes from, as the word is spelled aluminum? I'm not trying to be rude, just genuinely curious...

Didn't realise it was spelled differently here, makes more sense now! Sorry! By the way, did you notice my spelling of "realise", I didn't write "realize" like a "Yank", so I am making an effort!

Answer 1

You are right, in English as spoken in Ireland and the UK we say aluminium and pronounce it as five syllables. The ending -ium is on the analogy of sodium, potassium, caesium, uranium, strontium etc.

The American spelling and pronunciation are different but, as the website of the International Aluminium Institute says, "Both ALUMINIUM and ALUMINUM have an equal claim to etymological and historical justification, and it seems that the difference in both pronunciation and spelling is likely to stay with us for the foreseeable future!"

So if I were you I would use whatever form is best understood wherever you are at any given time.

It's just a pity that we have to differ across the Atlantic on the name of what I believe is one of the most common elements on earth. If it was beryllium or something, no one would care.

Answer 2

The correct English spelling is Aluminium
The correct American English spelling is Aluminum
It seems that you Americans dropped the syllable i at some point, perhaps it was pronounced that way when your ancestors left the British Isles 400 years ago. American spelling is often quite different with some variation in pronunciation. Second language speakers find our range of dialects really hard to conquer. As a New Zealander, I find that Koreans cannot understand my English because they learn American English and some North Americans I meet travelling overseas don't understand me either. They think I'm speaking some other language. Go figure.

Answer 3

a lu min um or al lu min e um - accent on the min in both cases.

Depends on what brand of English you subscribe to. The above are two of the accepted versions and I have heard some others I wouldn't even attempt to try. I speak American English which is the first the second is British English.

Answer 4

In Britain the word is spelled aluminium, which is why we pronounce it Al-yoo-minny-um. Americans have dropped the extra "i", just like the "u" in colour.

"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant."

Answer 5

In English it is spelled and pronounced aluminium (al-yoo-min-y-um). The American version varies by both spelling and pronunciation.

When in Rome...

Answer 6

I think you'll find that the correct spelling for the word is Aluminium hence the correct pronunciation of Al-yoo-min-ee-um.

Answer 7

It is all down to spelling and the differences between the US and Great Britain. And whether or not a simple spelling mistakee occured!

Word expert Michael Quinlon, who says he "writes about International English from a British viewpoint," notes that in 1807 Humphry Davy proposed the name alumium for the metal Davy was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. In 1812, Davy finally settled on aluminum, which, as other sources note, matches its Latin root. The same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium:

Aluminium, for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound.

This had the advantage of conforming to the -ium suffix precedent set by other newly discovered elements of the period: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy had isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time. Platinum, which had been known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, which was discovered in 1778, and tantalum, which was discovered in 1802, all have spellings ending in -um.

The United States adopted the -ium for most of the 19th century with aluminium appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1828. However, in 1892 Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new efficient electrolytic method for the production of aluminium, despite using the -ium spelling in all of his patents filed between 1886 and 1903. It has consequently been suggested that the spelling on the flier was a simple spelling mistake rather than a deliberate choice to use the -um spelling. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America, even though the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 continued to use the -ium version.

In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications, and American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

In Great Britain and other countries using British spelling, only "aluminium" is used. In the United States, the spelling aluminium is largely unknown, and the spelling aluminum predominates. The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum.

In other English-speaking countries, the spellings (and associated pronunciations) aluminium and aluminum are both in common use in scientific and nonscientific contexts. The spelling in virtually all other languages is analogous to the -ium ending.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both, but places aluminium first. IUPAC officially prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although several IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.

Answer 8

The extra "i" comes from the fact that Al is a metal, and it is conventional for metals to have the last three letters be "ium" and pronounced accordingly. Either usage is acceptable, and the only reason for preferring one would be to avoid possible confusion.

Answer 9

I'm a Chemist and I've often wondered where the stealth 4th syllable comes from as well. I always ask this of my British colleagues, but they've yet to give me a suitable answer...so I doubt you'll find one on here ;-)

Answer 10

It's questionable why the American pronunciation starts with Aloom and misses out the last letter "i" to end with "minum" rather than "minium"

There is no such thing as the "British" way of spelling. It is our native tongue called English. The example you cite is one of many that have been corrupted by todays Americans ...all imports from other parts of the globe...starting with the English. The native American language is from the Red Indians are they are called and whom I understand to have a variety of dialects.

There is no such thing as American English really - only corrupted English.