Kalzium - names of elements

[Claus Christensen]

In the explanations of names of the elements, I have come across some 
that appear a bit doubtful - at least they don't agree with my sources. 
Not that my sources are infallible - in fact they often disagree among 
each other - anyway I offer their alternatives here for your consideration.

Hydrogen: the suffix from greek 'genes' (creator) or 'geinomai' (to 
beget) or 'genos' (lineage)

Beryllium: named after the gemstone beryl (the greek name for beryl is 
'berullos')

Nitrogen: 'nitre', a medieval term for salpeter (a distortion of the 
greek 'nitron' meaning soda) + greek 'genes'

Sulfur: latin 'sulpur' perhaps from sanskrit 'shulbari' (enemy of 
cupper) or 'sulber'

Argon: from greek 'argos' (inactive)

Zinc: uncertain. german 'zinke' (something pointed, like a tooth), or 
derived form 'zinn' (tin) or from persian 'seng' (stone)

Selenium: greek 'selene' (moon)

Yttrium: Yttrium, Terbium, Erbium and Ytterbium are all named after 
Ytterby. Gadolinium, however, is named after the finnish kemisk J. Gadolin

Molybdenum: Named after the mineral molybdena, which was often confused 
with graphite and galena (a common lead ore). The greek 'molybdos' means 
lead.

Rhodium: greek 'rhodon' (rose)

Cadmium: Calamine, from greek 'kadmeia' (a mixture of zinc carbonate and 
zinc silicate) is the mineral in which cadmium was discovered.

Antimony: 'antimonium' is a medieval latin word of uncertain origin. 
Apparently there are many inventive suggestions, but no real evidence 
for any of them.

Dysprosium: Greek 'dysprositos' (difficult to reach)

Erbium: (Yttrium is also named after Ytterby)

Ytterbium: Yttrium, Terbium, Erbium and Ytterbium are all named after 
Ytterby. Gadolinium, however, is named after the finnish kemisk J. Gadolin

Hafnium: Copenhagen (or København in danish :)

Protactinium: Actually it comes after Actinium in the periodic table. 
However it precedes Actinium in a radioactive decay chain.

Nobelium: It is a bit of a stretch to call Nobel a scientist. He was a 
chemist, but worked as an engineer and industrialist.

Much of this was found on Wikipedia (english pages), but I also 
consulted two handbooks on chemical terminology and two books on the 
elements (all four quite recent but in Danish, unfortunately)