> as lemmas

b. In Inorganic Chemistry, -ite is the systematic termination of the names of the salts of acids denominated by adjectives in -ous; e.g. nitrite a salt of nitrous acid, sulphite a salt of sulphurous acid. This was part of the systematic nomenclature introduced by Guyton de Morveau and Lavoisier in their Nomenclature Chimique of 1787.A few of the words in -ite have derivative adjectives in -itic suffix, as Hamitic, Semitic, dendritic, encrinitic, anthracitic, hæmatitic; many of those in group 1 have adjectives in -itish as Israelitish, Moabitish. [In this use, the suffix has no direct connection with the Greek -ίτης , but was suggested by, and differentiated from, the suffix -ate (-ate suffix² 3), appropriated to salts of acids in -ic. In the words of the authors cited ( Nomencl. Chimique, p. 40), these are ‘terminaisons différentes adaptées à la même racine, de la manière qui a paru le plus convenable au jugement de l'oreille.…

Sulphate sera le nom générique de tous les sels formés de l'acide sulphurique.

Sulphite sera le nom des sels formés de l'acide sulphureux.

(p. 49) Cette distinction une fois établie nous a donné les nitrates et les nitrites, les phosphates et les phosphites, les acétates et les acétites’.]