/ˈkoʊbɔːlt/·noun·1683 in English, in a translation of a German mineralogical text; 'cobolt' appears in English scientific writing by the 1690s·Established
Origin
Cobalt takes its name from the German Kobold, an underground demon blamed by 16th-century Saxon miners for poisoning their ore — formalized into chemistry in 1735 when Georg Brandt isolated the element, making it the first ever named after a mythological creature.
Definition
A hard, lustrous, silver-gray transition metal (symbol Co, atomic number 27), used in high-strength alloys, pigments, and battery cathodes.
The Full Story
Early New High German15th–16th centurywell-attested
The word 'cobalt' entered English in the 1680s from German 'Kobalt' (also spelled 'Kobolt'), first attested in mining literature of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) region of Saxony around the mid-15th century. The term derives from Middle High German 'kobolt' or 'kobald', meaning a mischievous underground spirit or goblin — a mine demon believed by German miners to haunt tunnels and cause harm. Miners applied the name to cobalt-bearing ores because these ores were troublesome: they yielded no copper or silver as expected, and they released toxic arsenic and sulfur dioxide fumes that sickened workers
Did you know?
Cobalt blue had been used in Egyptian glass, medieval cathedral windows, and Chinese porcelain for over three thousand years before anyone knew cobalt existed as an element. Craftsmen were unknowingly exploiting the same ore that German miners feared as demon-work — they just never smelted it in a way that released its arsenic fumes. The color came first; the element came last
), thus 'master of the hollow' or 'cave spirit'. The Germanic root *kubaz relates to a rounded hollow or shelter. Some scholars connect it via Proto-Germanic to PIE *keubh- ('to bend, to hollow out'). Cobalt blue pigment has been used since antiquity in Egyptian glass and Chinese porcelain, though the element itself was not identified until the 18th century. Key roots: *keubh- (Proto-Indo-European: "to bend, curve, hollow out"), *kubaz (Proto-Germanic: "hollow space, rounded shelter, cage or hut"), kobolt / kobold (Middle High German: "underground mine spirit, goblin, mischievous demon of hollow places").