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Origin and history of nickel

nickel(n.)

whitish metal element, 1755, the name was coined in 1754 by Swedish mineralogist Axel von Cronstedt (1722-1765) from shortening of Swedish kopparnickel "copper-colored ore" (from which it was first obtained), a half-translation of German Kupfernickel, literally "copper goblin" from Kupfer (see copper) + Nickel "goblin, rascal, fool" (a pet form of masc. proper name Nikolaus.)

Jacob Grimm suggests this is from the source of nixie (and compare pumpernickel). Later German sources (Kluge, etc.) connect the German word to St. Nicholas and the customs surrounding his day in Germany (for which see Krampus). Also compare English Old Nick "the devil;" for which see Nick). Yet the earliest uses of the word are only for a fool or a contemptible person, not a supernatural creature. According to OED (2nd ed., 1989), the ore was so called by miners because it looked like copper but yielded none. Compare fool's gold meaning "iron pyrite."

The meaning "coin made partly of nickel" is from 1857, when the U.S. introduced one-cent coins made of nickel to replace the old bulky copper pennies. The application to the five-cent piece (originally one part nickel, three parts copper) is from 1883; silver half-dimes served for this in the earlier currency.

To nickel-and-dime (someone) "make or keep (someone) poor by accumulation of trifling expenses," is by from 1964 (nickels and dimes "very small amounts of money" is attested from 1893).

also from 1755

Entries linking to nickel

copper(n.1)

malleable metallic element, noted for its peculiar red color, tenacity, malleability, and electric conductivity, late Old English coper, from Proto-Germanic *kupar (source also of Middle Dutch koper, Old Norse koparr, Old High German kupfar), from Late Latin cuprum, contraction of Latin Cyprium (aes) "Cyprian (metal)," after Greek Kyprios "Cyprus" (see Cyprus).

Ancient Greek had khalkos "ore, copper, bronze;" an old IE word for "ore, copper, bronze" is retained in Sanskrit ayah, Latin aes. Latin aes originally was "copper," but this was extended to its alloy with tin (see bronze), and as this was far more extensively used than pure copper, the word's primary sense shifted to the alloy and a new word evolved for "copper," from the Latin form of the name of the island of Cyprus, where copper was mined (the alchemists associated copper with Venus).

Aes passed into Germanic (which originally did not distinguish copper from its alloys) and became English ore. In Latin, aes was the common word for "cash, coin, debt, wages" in many figurative expressions. Chemical symbol Cu is from cuprum.

As "a copper coin," from 1580s; as "a vessel made of copper," 1660s. The adjective, "of or resembling copper," is from 1570s; the verb, "to cover with copper" is from 1520s.

Krampus(n.)

also Krampusz, 1872, name of a Germanic folkloric figure who assists St. Nicholas at Christmas-time by punishing the wicked with abduction and/or flogging.

In older German texts often spelled Grampus or Grampes. The name is of uncertain etymology. Encyclopedia Britannica derives it from German Krampen, "claw." OED ventures no further than to suggest "the Germanic base of cramp." This would include among possibilities Bavarian dialect gramp, a scolding word for a naughty child, from Middle High German grimpfen, krimpfen, meaning bent or crooked (for sense evolution compare crook); there is also Swiss dialect grampen, "to grab; to snatch."

Ich sage es jezt immer allen Kindern, daß sie sich nicht erschrecken lassen sollen, und daß der Nikola sowohl, als der Grampus gemeiniglich Hausknechte senn, wie es mir mein Herr Vater gesagt hat. [ "Die Lebkuchen oder der vernünftige Knab," Die Heiligen nach den Volksbegriffen, vol. III, 1791]