Etymology
The etymology of vinyl is the Latin vinum = "wine", because of its relationship with alcohol (in its original sense of ethyl alcohol).
Related to vinyl compounds are vinylidenes. Vinylidenes describe compounds containing the functional group CX2=C. For example, 1,1-dichloroethene (CH2=CCl2) is called vinylidene chloride. (The vinylidene free radical itself, a rare species of theoretical interest, is a modified carbene with the formula CH2=C:.)
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)