The word potassium stems from the English “pot ash,” which was used to isolate potassium salts. We get K from the name kalium, given by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, which stemmed from alkali, which stemmed from the Arabic al-qalyah, or “plant ashes.”

Why is potassium not kalium?

Short answer: Potassium was called Potassium (and Sodium Sodium) by Humphry Davy, who first isolated both; it was then renamed Kalium in Germanic countries because of a previous naming proposal by Klaproth, who was the first to show that potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate were different.

Why is sodium named Na?

Na.” A soft, silvery white and highly reactive metal, sodium was first isolated in 1807 by Humphry Davy during the process of electrolysis of sodium hydroxide. It's symbol and name derive from the Latin Natrium or Arabicnatrun and the Egyptian word ntry (Natrun), all of which refer to soda or sodium carbonate.