This post shows some interesting english words, etymologically.
Origin: Old latin: Vitrium: glass Extension: Vitriolic: sharp, keen (+critisism)
Intersting story:
In the late 18th century, chemist Antoine Lavoisier discovered oxygen and mistakenly believed that it was a necessary component of acid, so he named it “oxygen”. In fact, it was hydrogen ions that make acids. But this naming convention lasts till today. There are also other languages that are affected by this solecism. For example, in Japanese/Korean: “酸素”(さんそ)/산소(酸素), directly translated to “acid element”, is a directly borrow from Western chemical terms.
So oxygen can be broken into 2 parts: oxy, derived from the Greek “oxys”, meaning “sharp” or “sour,” it was associated in ancient times with acidity (sour taste). Although it’s hardly seen in modern English, their influence can still be seen in science and medicine. For example: Oxidize / Oxysalt. The second part: gen simply means “generate”, together means “element that generates acids”.
The same naming convetion applys to hydrogen: “element that generates water”
In (not) + fant (speak, comes from latin affix fari, extended to modern english: confess, fate, fate), simply means “unable to speak”, which, well, is quite vivid to describe an infant.