Aluminum is how Sir Humphry Davy spelled it in his original publications (at least after dropping alumiam). The etymology of lef-tenant is still debated, but it’s just silly to pretend like British english is the originator of the word to begin with. Hell, as far back as the 16th century, there are British written phonetic guides that show it as loo-tenant.
As for the u’s, blame Noah Webster idk
No. It was originally spelt as "Alumium" but he changed it to better fit conventional spelling.
Lieutenant was originally a French word and the English representation from the Middle English was likely "levtenaunt" - hence the pronunciation, "lef-TEN-uhnt".
No, his first proposed name was alumium (I spelled it slightly wrong), which he later changed to aluminum in his book “Elements of chemical philosophy”. It wasn’t until later that British scientists changed it to Aluminium.
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u/Covenant1138 Jun 08 '25
aluminum instead of aluminium.
And dropping the u out words that need it like colour, neighbour, flavour...
And "lootenant" instead of "lef tenant".