trona:
Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate also sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate, Na2CO3•NaHCO3•2H2O is a non-marine evaporite mineral.[3][4] It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced the Solvay process used in most of the rest of the world for sodium carbonate production.
The word “trona” entered English by way of either Swedish (trona) or Spanish (trona), with both possible sources having the same meaning as in English. Both of these derive from the Arabic trōn, which in turn derives from the Arabic natron, and Hebrew נטרן(natruna), which comes from ancient Greek νιτρον (nitron), derived ultimately from ancient Egyptian ntry (or nitry). [Wikipedia]
And its use? Treehugger.com’s Katherine Martinko explains:
An article on Grist recently addressed this topic, explaining how baking soda is mined. It comes out of the ground in the form of minerals nahcolite and trona, which are refined into soda ash (a.k.a. calcium carbonate), then turned into baking soda (a.k.a. sodium bicarbonate), among other things.
(Bold mine.) Katherine goes on to note the environmental impacts of the mining and processing of trona, vs the positives of baking soda.
I was interested to see the Wikipedia’s entry on trona’s etymology:
The word “trona” entered English by way of either Swedish (trona) or Spanish (trona), with both possible sources having the same meaning as in English. Both of these derive from the Arabic trōn, which in turn derives from the Arabic natron, and Hebrew נטרן (natruna), which comes from ancient Greek νιτρον (nitron), derived ultimately from ancient Egyptian ntry (or nitry).
I’d run across natron as being used in ancient Egyptian mummification rituals – it helped with the drying process. So, in some sense, that baking soda you were using this morning happened to also be used in drying out human bodies millenia ago.
