The Birth of Chemistry

Abstract

YOUR correspondent, “A. H.,” in alluding to my mention of the Insula Cassiterides, inquires whether the name was derived from a Sanskrit source. The word κασσ l τɛρoς is used both by Homer and Hesiod, and it is possible that it may have been borrowed from the Sanskrit kastîra, and that tin was first procured from India. The Sanskrit word for tin—kastira—is clearly related to the verb kās, to shine. It is strange that the Arabic word for tin is kāsdir, closely resembling the Sanskrit, although there is no family relationship between the languages. Possibly the Phoenicians first procured tin from India, and gave it a name resembling its native name kastira; then the Greeks converted the Phoenician word into κασστερμσ, the Romans borrowed the word from the Greeks, and the fact of the scarce metal being found in certain islands north of Spain was sufficient to secure for them the distinctive title of Insulee Cassitcrides, or Tin Islands.