Antedating of "Oxygen"

[Fred Shapiro]

oxygen (OED 1790)

1788 Louis Bernard, Baron Guyton de Morveau _Method of chymical
nomenclature, proposed by Messrs. De Morveau, Lavoisier_ (Early English
Collections Online)  We have acted agreeable to these conditions by
adopting the word _oxygen_, deriving it as Mr. Lavoisier proposed ... We
shall therefore say that vital air is oxygen gas, and that oxygen unites
with sulphur.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
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