Editing Natron (section)

== Etymology ==
The [[English language|English]] and [[German language|German]] word ''natron'' is a [[French language|French]] [[cognate]] derived through the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''natrón'' from [[Latin language|Latin]] ''natrium'' and [[Greek language|Greek]] ''nitron'' ({{lang|el|νίτρον}}). This derives from the [[Ancient Egyptian]] word [[wikt:nṯrj#Egyptian|''nṯrj'']]. ''Natron'' refers to [[Wadi El Natrun]] or Natron Valley in Egypt, from which natron was mined by the ancient Egyptians for use in burial rites. The modern chemical symbol for [[sodium]], ''Na'', is an abbreviation of that element's [[Neo-Latin]] name ''natrium'', which was derived from ''natron''. The name of the chemical element [[Nitrogen]] is also a cognate to natron, it derives from Greek ''nitron'' and ''-gen (''a producer of something, in this case [[Nitric acid]], which was produced from [[niter]] (potassium nitrate)). Niter was also an obsolete name for natron because in earlier times, both minerals used to be confused with each other.