The Diachronic Evolution of Chinese Terms for Chemical Elements and Its Implication for the Translation of Scientific and Technological Terms

Throughout the course of scientific and technological exchanges, the translation of terms plays a vital role in spreading and localizing new terms. With the introduction of modern western chemical knowledge, numerous new terms swarmed into China, among which chemical elements were the most fundamental terms in chemistry. In this case, the translation of chemical elements is of vital significance in the history of chemistry. In this paper, three representative chemistry works—Introduction of Chemistry, Theory of Chemistry, and Principles of Chemical Nomenclature—are selected to study the evolution of the Chinese terms for chemical elements using the diachronic study method and case analysis method. According to the study, the Chinese terms for chemical elements have undergone a change from “polyphony” to “monophony”, from “paraphrase-based” to “transliteration-based”, from “irregularity” to “standardization”, and from “one pronunciation for different elements” to “one pronunciation for one element”. The above finding is expected to have an implication for the translation of scientific and technological terms.