2717: Mercury’s Symbol is Hg: Less Obvious Than You’d Think May 29

There are occasionally discrepancies between the English names for the elements, and the symbols for the periodic table. Usually, this is because the common name is Germanic and the periodic symbol is from Latin, as with Tungsten (W), Iron (Fe), and Lead (Pb), but looking at Mercury, with its symbol Hg, it's hard to understand here. After all, you can’t get much more Latinate than the name of a member of the Roman pantheon. 

The discrepancy starts with the fact that the name for the element is named via Latin 'hydrargyrum’ from the Ancient Greek ὑδράργυρος (hydrargyros) meaning ‘water silver’, or liquid silver, related to ‘argentum’ (silver), hence why silver’s symbol too is Ag. This is related to the English expression ‘quicksilver’, the earlier name for the term, but due to alchemical and astrological associations between the metals of quicksilver, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin respectively associated with the seven (known) celestial bodies, the planet Mercury was linked to the metal and replaced the earlier name.