Why do Americans spell Aluminium Wrong?

Question

Is it as has been suggested that when the first shipment of Aluminium was sent to the US from the UK it was spelt wrong on the outside of the case and it persisted from there onwards?

Anyone know the Truth?

Just as an aside what happened to the h in Herbs as well?

So at the moment it looks like in 1892, Charles Martin Hall who was a big producer had a typo on his advertising bills and decided to keep using that instead of the original spelling!

Answer 1

Alright, I looked up the history of the spelling of Aluminum. We Americans don't, in truth, spell it incorrectly. There are simply two variant spellings. See below:

"Etymology/nomenclature history
The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from his journal Philosophical Transactions: "Had I been so fortunate as..to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium." [11]

By 1812, Davy had settled on aluminum, which, as other sources note, matches its Latin root. He wrote in the journal Chemical Philosophy: "As yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state."[12] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound." [13]

The -ium suffix had the advantage of conforming to the precedent set in 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, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802.

Americans adopted -ium for most of the 19th century, with aluminium appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In 1892, however, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.

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

Answer 2

In most cases where British and American English differs, American English either drops a letter (eg colour - color) or uses the phonetic way (eg analyse - analyze).

Why I don't know, it would be interesting to see some early American literature to see if this has always been the case or just evolved through the years. I would guess that words like centre, theatre etc must originally be of French origin, but have been Americanised by changing the ~re to ~er.

Must admit though I've never been able to work out why the Americans spell the word 'braces' - 'suspenders' :)

Answer 3

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RE:
Why do Americans spell Aluminium Wrong?
Is it as has been suggested that when the first shipment of Aluminium was sent to the US from the UK it was spelt wrong on the outside of the case and it persisted from there onwards?

Anyone know the Truth?

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axhRe

I get teased (in fun ways mostly) about MY spelling, - My friends will say when I type or write words such as 'favourite' or 'labour' or 'colour' that I'm typing in Canadian again!! Actually we use the Queen's English, and thus the spelling. Phonetically, they're the same.. sound the same, only difference is in the written word, or print. Yes, Americans will say it's US who are doing it wrong, but we're each just spelling certain words differently. Cheers. And to the guy trying to insult you above - It's 'you're' not your.. lol. At least get YOUR spelling right before you criticize others! :)

Answer 5

Spell Aluminum

Answer 6

Fist off all, people need to know that US does not have an official language (fact from CIA World Fact Book -except Hawaiian on Hawaii). Second, it exists only one English language. All others are dialects (slang). Language has a roles and those need to be followed. Everybody can speak language of their choice. Just English authorities can say what official English language is. On reciprocity , only Americans can say what American slang is. Nobody can be bigger Pope than himself! "Listen BBC to learn correct English language"...

Answer 7

I think dropping that H in herbs is a South thing, not and American thing. I always pronounce the H.

Answer 8

Sometimes it is not about wright/Wrong, it is just different and it might be that the American spelling is the original English spelling, which changed in the British English.

Answer 9

You've got your answer for aluminum.
The 'h' in 'herbs' is not sounded in US but is in UK and Australia.
Not very unusual. Nobody sounds the 'h' in 'honest' either.

Answer 10

Why do they spell centre center