Wolfram & Tungsten

Wolfram (pronounced wool-fruhm or vawl-fruhm)

In chemistry, another name for tungsten.

1750–1760: From the German Wolfram (originally, wolframite), the construct probably Wolf + -ram, representing the Middle High German rām (the Modern German Rahm) (soot, dirt) and formed on the model the proper name, Wolfram.  The speculation is it was used pejoratively of tungsten because it was thought inferior to the point of worthlessness compared with the tin ores with which it is often found and its presence actually diminished the quantity of tin produced through smelting, thus the dismissive term, "wolf-raven".

Tungsten (pronounced tuhng-stuhn)

(1) In chemistry, a rare, metallic element.  Symbol: W; atomic number: 74; atomic weight: 183.85; specific gravity: 19.3 (20°C).

(2)  An alternative name for wolfram.

1780: From the Swedish tungsten (calcium tungstate) (scheelite), the construct being tung (heavy) + sten (stone).  The Swedish tung was from the Old Norse þungr, from the Proto-Germanic þunguz; sten was from the Old Swedish sten, from the Old Norse steinn, from the Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ (stainaz), from the Proto-Germanic stainaz, ultimately from the primitive Indo-European steyhz-.  Tungstenic is the adjectival form.  The word tungsten was coined by Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele who first identified the metal in 1780.

Highest melting-point

Occurring principally in wolframite and scheelite, tungsten is a hard, gray to white metallic element with a high resistance to corrosion and has the highest melting point of all elements (3410°C ± 20°; boiling point 5,900°C), retaining its strength even at high temperature.  It's was used to increase the hardness and strength of steel used in applications like electrical contact points, X-ray targets, high-speed cutting tools and electric-lamp filaments.  Tungsten's chemical symbol is “W”, drawn from its other name wolfram which comes from wolframite, the element in which it was discovered.  Wolframite means "the devourer of tin" in the disparaging slang of the time because it interferes with the smelting of tin, once considered much more valuable and in its original German form can be translated as “little value”.

Tungsten also has a much older name.  In 1556, German mineralogist and metallurgist Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) discovered a mineral between the tin ore and corroded it completely, leaving a foam.  Due to this characteristic it was said that the tin disappeared as if eaten by a wolf, so this mineral was called wolframite (“wolf foam” or “wolf rahm”, in German).  However, in 1783, Spanish chemist Fausto de Elhuyar (1755–1833) and his brother, chemist and mineralogist Juan José Elhuyar Lubize (1754–1796) discovered the element that formed wolframite was the same that formed tungsten, the difference being they were able to separate the two.

Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Saturday 19 May 2018, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, London.

The entertaining, if not always reliable (the Friday Times is better), Pakistani site thenews.com.pk in 2021 reported Prince (now King) Charles had bestowed upon his daughter-in-law Meghan Markle (now “the difficult” Duchess of Sussex) the nickname "tungsten".  Nicknames have long been popular among the British aristocracy and have included such monikers as “duck”, “mule” and “melons” so for the duchess, it could have been worse.  Quite which of the qualities of tungsten Prince Charles had in mind isn’t known so it’s impossible to say whether he was impressed, intrigued or incandescent.  It’s all a matter of which of tungsten’s characteristics moved his thoughts because it (1) has the highest melting point of all metals, (2) is the heaviest metal known to have a biological role (some bacteria using tungsten in an enzyme to reduce carboxylic acids to aldehydes), (3) is strong and durable, (4) is highly resistant to corrosion and (5) has the highest tensile strength of any element.  However, its strength comes when it’s rendered into compounds whereas (6) pure tungsten is very soft.  So it’s hard to say but when told her father was unable to attend, Prince Charles volunteered to walk the bride down the aisle and give her away so there’s that.