Why are some atomic symbols not based on the conteporary name of the element?

Answer 1

Most atomic symbols are based on the latin name of the element. Latin was a common language of science for hundreds of years, and the symbols remained, though each language has their own name for the elements.

Answer 2

Some of the symbols come from their name in Latin or ancient Greek. For example, gold (Au) is Aurum in Latin and potassium (K) is Kalio (κάλιο) in Greek. Others, like carbon (C), are from English.

Answer 3

They do relate to the name of the element ... just not the English name of the element.

For example, the symbol for silver is Ag, from its Latin name (argentum) and that of gold is Au again from the Latin name (aurum). In nearly all cases where the symbol doesn't obviously come from the English name it comes from the Latin name, with the one exception of tungsten, which has a symbol of W from its name in most Slavic and Germanic languages other than English, wolfram.

Answer 4

because the word comes from the Latin or Greek word that starts with the same letter