The name beryllium comes from the
Greek beryllos, beryl, from
Prakrit veruliya, from
Pāli veuriya; possibly from or simply akin to a
Dravidian source represented by
Tamil veiruor,
viar, "to whiten, become pale."
[1] At one time beryllium was referred to as
glucinium (from
Greek glykys, sweet), due to the sweet taste of its
salts. This element was discovered by
Louis Vauquelin in
1798 as the oxide in
beryl and in
emeralds.
Friedrich Wöhler and
A. A. Bussy independently isolated the metal in
1828 by reacting
potassium and
beryllium chloride.