Etymology Dictionary

AMMONIA,  an alkali.  (Gk.)   A modern word, adopted as a contraction of sal ammoniac, Lat. sal ammoniacum, rock-salt; common in old chemical treatises, and still more so in treatises on alchemy.   [Chaucer speaks of sal armoniac, C. T. Group G, 798, 824; and in the Theatrum Chemicum we often meet with sal armeniacum, i.e. Armenian salt.   This, however, would seem to be due to corruption or confusion.]—Gk. ἀμμωνιακόν, sal ammoniac, rock-salt; Dioscorides.—Gk. ἀμμωνιάς, Libyan.—Gk. Ἄμμων. the Libyan Zeus-Ammon; said to be an Egyptian word; Herodotus, ii. 24.   It is said that sal ammoniac was first obtained near the temple of Jupiter Ammon. [†]

ADDENDA

The Egyptian origin is certain.   Peyron gives the Coptic amoun, the name of a great tower in Egypt; the name of a mountain; also, glory, height, high.   And see Smith's Classical Dictionary.   'In the writings of Synesius, bp. of Pentapolis, we have an account of the preparation of the sal ammoniacus by the priests of Jupiter Ammon, and its transmission [from the Libyan desert] to Egypt in baskets made of the leaves of palms;' I. Taylor, Words and Places.   ¶ Otherwise, the name Ἀμμών is from Egypt.   Amon (in Heb. ’Ámón, Jer. 46, 25), the supreme deity of the Egyptians, orig. worshipped at Thebes as Amen-Ra, or Amen the sun.   His name means 'the hidden.'   See Ebers, in Gesenius, Heb. Dict., 8th ed. p. 54; Smith, Dict. of the Bible.—A. L. M.