1800, "chromium," from French chrome, the name proposed by Fourcroy and Haüy for a new element, from Greek khrōma "color" (see chroma); so called because it makes colorful compounds. The metallic element had been isolated 1798 by French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, who named it chrome. It is now known as chromium (q.v.).
Chrome continued in commercial use in English for "chrome steel" (steel with 2 percent or so chrome) after the chemical name was changed internationally. As a short form of chromium plating it dates from 1937. Related: Chromic.
1914, "to divide into small and mutually hostile groups," as was the political condition of the Balkans; it is said to have been coined by English editor James Louis Garvin, but A.J. Toynbee (1922) credited it to "German Socialists" describing the results of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Either way, the reference is to the political situation in the Balkans c. 1878-1913, when the European section of the Ottoman Empire split up into small, warring nations. Balkanized and Balkanization both also are from 1920.
"morbid and uncontrollable sexual desire in women," 1775, in English translation of "Nymphomania, or a Dissertation Concerning the Furor Uterinus" (1771) by French doctor Jean Baptiste Louis de Thesacq de Bienville (1726-1813), coined from Greek nymphē "bride, young wife, young lady" (see nymph) + mania "madness" (see mania). Perhaps influenced by earlier French nymphomanie. Defined as "a female disease characterized by morbid and uncontrollable sexual desire." Compare also nympholepsy.
1520s, "title given to a widow of rank to distinguish her from the wife of her husband's heir bearing the same name," from French douagere "widow with a dower" literally "pertaining to a dower," from douage "dower," from douer "endow," from Latin dotare, from dos (genitive dotis) "marriage portion, dowry" (from PIE *do-ti, from root *do- "to give").
"App. first used of Mary Tudor, widow of Louis XII; then of Catherine of Arragon, styled 'Princess Dowager'" [OED]. In law, "a widow possessed of a jointure."
non-metallic element, 1814, formed by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy from French iode "iodine," which was coined 1812 by French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac from Greek ioeides "violet-colored" (from ion "the violet; dark blue flower;" see violet) + eidos "appearance" (see -oid).
Davy added the chemical suffix -ine (2) to make it analogous with chlorine and fluorine. So called from the color of the vapor given off when the crystals are heated.
colorless imitation stone of paste or leaded glass, 1879, a loan-translation of French caillou du Rhin "Rhine pebble," so called because they were made near Strasburg, on the River Rhine, and invented there 1680s. Extensively worn later 18c. and popular thereafter.
Rhinestone jewelry, a reproduction of the ornaments of the Louis XV. period, is all the rage in Paris. The Rhinestones are as brilliant as diamonds, and being set in silver, will stand any amount of wear or of cleaning. [The American Stationer, March 20, 1879]
"designation, name given to a person, thing, or class," mid-15c., from Old French apelacion "name, denomination" (12c.), from Latin appellationem (nominative appellatio) "an addressing, accosting; an appeal; a name, title," noun of action from past-participle stem of appellare "address, appeal to, name" (see appeal (v.)).
An appellation is a descriptive and therefore specific term, as Saint Louis; John's appellation was the Baptist; George Washington has the appellation of Father of his Country. A title is an official or honorary appellation, as reverend, bishop, doctor, colonel, duke. [Century Dictionary]
