Abstract: In the history of scientific vocabulary, the birth of the language of modern
chemistry represents a breakthrough. The effective change in the terminological
paradigm is determined by the efficiency it guarantees, strategies involved and the
groups of scientists who imposed it.
The new nomenclature is based on simple, efficient principles, including the
motivation of the names used, the choice of Greek roots and French forms for the
terms.
An analysis of these terminological upheavals makes obvious the determining
desire to limit the arbitrary nature of language, whereas this is the very principle of
spontaneous language.
