History of Chemistry

The history of chemistry began more than 4,000 years ago with the Egyptians who pioneered
the art of synthetic "wet" chemistry.[1] By 1000 BC, the ancient civilizations were using
technologies that would form the basis of the various branches of chemistry. Extracting metal
from their ores, making pottery and glazes, fermenting beer and wine, making pigments for
cosmetics and painting, extracting chemicals from plants for medicine and perfume, making
cheese, dying cloth, tanning leather, rendering fat into soap, making glass, and making alloys
like bronze.

Philosophical attempts to explain the nature of matter and its transformations failed. The
protoscience of alchemy also failed, but by experimentation and recording the results set the
stage for science. Modern chemistry begins to emerge when a clear distinction is made
between chemistry and alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Sceptical Chymist (1661).
Chemistry then becomes a full-fledged science when Antoine Lavoisier develops his law of
conservation of mass, which demands careful measurements and quantitative observations of
chemical phenomena. So, while both alchemy and chemistry are concerned with the nature of
matter and its transformations, it is only the chemists who apply the scientific method. The
history of chemistry is intertwined with the history of thermodynamics, especially through the
work of Willard Gibbs.[2]

Formation of Words

1. Primary Words:

Words which are not derived or compounded or developed from other words are called Primary Words.

They belong to the original stocks of the words.

Examples:

Most of the words in English language are only Primary Words.

Moon, sun, day, night, month, school, boy, girl, road, write, go sit, walk, net, dash, dot, book, pin, he,
she, it etc…

A Primary Word may be of the type of noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb etc…

2. Compound Words:

The Compound Words are formed by joining two or more Primary Words.

Examples:

Moonlight, undertake, nevertheless, man-of-war, misunderstanding etc…

This way the Compound Words are formed.

A Compound Word may be of the type of noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, adverb, conjunction, preposition
etc…

Compound Words are the most part Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs

Now let us wee how the Compound Words of Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs are formed.

Compound Words-Nouns:
Compound Words-Nouns may be formed:

i. Noun + Noun:

Examples:

• Moonlight
• Armchair
• Postman
• Railway
• Shoemaker
• Windmill
• Teaspoon

ii. Adjective + Noun:

Examples:

• Sweetheart
• Nobleman
• Shorthand

iii. Verb + Noun:

Examples:

• Spendthrift
• Makeshift
• Daredevil
• Hangman
• Scarecrow

iv. Gerund + Noun:

Examples:

• Drawing-room
• Writing-desk
• Looking-glass

v. Adverb (or Preposition)+ Noun:

Examples:

• Outlaw
• Afternoon
• Forethought
• Foresight
• Overcoat

vi. Verb + Adverb:

Examples:

• Drawback
• Lock-up
• Go-between
• Die-hard
• Send-off

vii. Adverb + Verb:

Knowledge of Formation of words will help you form your own words.

Examples:

• Outset
• Upkeep
• Outcry
• Income
• Outcome

Compound Words-Adjectives:

i. Noun + Adjectives (or Participle):

Examples:

• Blood-red
• Sky-blue
• Snow-white
• Pitch-dark
• Breast-high
• Skin-deep
• Moth-eaten
• Note-worthy

Knowledge of Formation of words will help you form your own words.

ii. Adjective + Adjective:

Examples:

• Red-hot
• Blue-black
• White-hot
• Dull-grey
• Lukewarm

iii. Adverb + Participle:

Examples:

• Longsuffering
• Everlasting
• Never-ending
• Thorough-bred
• Well-deserved
• Outspoken
• Down-hearted
• Inborn
• Far-seen

iv. Noun + Verb:

• Waylay
• Backbite
• Typewrite
• Browbeat
• Earmark

v. Adjective + Verb:

Examples:

• Safeguard
• Whitewash
• Fulfill

vi. Adverb + Verb:

Examples:

• Overthrow
• Overtake
• Foretell
• Undertake
• Undergo
• Overhear

NOTE:

In most Compound Words, it is the first word which modifies the meaning of the second word. The accent
is placed upon the modifying word when the amalgamation is complete.When the two elements are only
partially blended, a hyphen is put between the two words and the accent fall equally on both of them.

3. Primary Derivatives:

These words are formed by making some changes in the body of the Primary Words.

• Bond from bind

• Breach from break
• Wrong from wring

NOTE:

The most important class of words formed by internal changes consists of the past tenses of the Primary
Words. Those past tense-words are not treated as Derivatives.

i. Formation of Nouns from Verbs:

Examples:

• Choice from choose

• Bliss from bless
• Chip from chop
• Breach from break
• Dole from deal
• Dike from dig
• Fleet from float

ii. Formation of Nouns from Adjectives:

Examples:

• Dolt from dull

• Heat from hot
• Pride from proud
iii. Formation of Adjectives from Verbs:

Examples:

• Fleet from float

• Low from lie

iv. Formation of Adjectives from Nouns:

Examples:

• Milch from milk

• Wise from wit

v. Formation of Verbs from Nouns:

Examples:

• Bathe from bath

• Bleed from blood
• Believe from belief
• Breathe from breath
• Breed from brood

vi. Formation of Adjectives from Verbs:

Examples:

• Cool from chill

• Hale from heal

vii. Formation of Nouns from Verbs:

Examples:

• Gold from gild

• Grass from graze
• Half from halve
• Knot from knit
• Sale from sell

4. Secondary Derivatives:

Secondary derivatives of a word are formed by adding either a prefix or a suffix to the word.

An addition to the beginning of a word is a Prefix.

An addition to the end of word is a Suffix.

Examples:

• Income is a secondary derivative of the word ‘word’.

• Here the addition ‘in’ is a prefix.

• Undergo is a secondary derivative of the word ‘go’.

• Here the addition ‘under’ is a prefix.

• Friendship is a secondary derivative of the word friend.

• Here the addition ‘ship’ is a suffix.