this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/43436964

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On the one hand, I don't really care about the name or have any sentimental attachment to Volts over Voltas, and I can totally get behind naming the unit 1:1 with the guy's name rather than anglicizing it for no real reason.

On the other hand, it was two British scientists that coined the term, honoring the Italian scientist more than 3 decades after his death (though, interestingly, they originally used it for units of resistance, a.k.a. ohms, rather than the unit of electrical force it is now). It is not as if Volta himself wanted to name a unit in his own honor, or that he or anyone else initially called it a volta and then it was bastardized later.

So it really seems like this has nothing at all to do with Volta himself and honoring him, which the current name still does. Rather it seems it's stupid nationalistic posturing about rejecting the international cooperations and influences of science and proping up Italian scientific achievement in particlar.

Also while it's true that the vast majority of units honoring scientists' names are 1:1 to their namesake, volt is also not the only unit to have been abbreviated from their namesake. Farad (Faraday), bel/decibel (Bell), poise (Poiseuille), baud (Baudot), neper (Nepier), torr (Torricelli), Cartesian coordinates (Descartes), bark scale (Barkhausen)... probably more. He's got company.

[–] Smeagol666@crazypeople.online 2 points 3 hours ago

While we're at it, let's change the name of North America to Amerigo del Nord.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Rivolta to volt for tribute to Volta

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

You say volta, I say voltamort

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 16 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

PARIS — The Italian government wants to change the name of the international unit of electrical potential from "volt" to "volta," to pay tribute to Italian electricity pioneer Alessandro Volta two centuries after his death.

Well then I have good news for ya, "volt" was already named after the dude, so this task is already done

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

I think you may have missed the next part of the article where they explain they specifically want to change the spelling to include the a in the official name of the unit

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Shouldn't it be "volto" since he was a man?

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 1 points 6 hours ago

I think this is where we defer to the comment made by an actual Italian

[–] gramie@lemmy.ca 3 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Next thing you know, they are going to want English speakers to say Roma instead of Rome, Napoli instead of Naples, and so on.

[–] Knuschberkeks@leminal.space 1 points 2 hours ago

oh my god, they want everyone to turn into my mother

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

It's almost like they want everybody to use special pronouns for Italy.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 26 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Basically Italians "Gulf of America".

If you have nothing achieved to be proud of, you can only be proud of the country you were accidentally born in...

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

Albert Einstein

I couldn't agree more, except that measles is already the measles of mankind.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 50 minutes ago

And there is a vaccine that could make measles extinct - if it was applied globally.

Finally they stopped wasting time and got down to the serious issues of the country!

[–] nocturne@slrpnk.net 51 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The Italian government wants to change the name of the international unit of electrical potential from "volt" to "volta," to pay tribute to Italian electricity pioneer Alessandro Volta two centuries after his death.

Volta, who is credited with inventing the electric battery and discovering methane, had the "volt" named after him — but in Anglicized form.

Now, the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to re-nationalize it by restoring the errant "a".

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 29 minutes ago

Yeah let's rename everything with the name of the one who discovered it!

I bet that'll be fun.

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Would the plural be "volte"?

[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 10 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Hmm, I think Volti assuming Volta is masculine: https://connex-ita.com/plural-in-italian/

Voltae looks more like Latin. Romani ite domum!

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 hours ago

Now write it out a hundred times!

[–] Damage@feddit.it 5 points 16 hours ago

Italian here. Plural would still be Volta, because it already is in a sense. Now, for the actual words "volta" meaning vault, arch, and "volta" meaning "time" (as in "that time we did that"), then the plural is "volte".

[–] Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I do not know Italian, but I'd be surprised if a word ending on "a" were masculine. Usually, "a" indicates feminine, making the plural "e"

[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 hours ago

Ancient Romans gobbled a lot of classical greek; the masculine -a nouns are usually greek origin (sistema, tema, problema), but they are the exception.

Volta is a proper name, though, so there wouldn't be any rules.

[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 2 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

It would be neutrum in German. (the forbidden sex)

[–] Chrobin@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Voltae would be Latin, in Italian, Volte is the correct plural.

[–] Vinylraupe@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In German it would be Voltae.

And now let the Italian and the German far right fight over it.

[–] DrMartinu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Give it a week, the US will respond by renaming it to freedom shocks instead

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

"We're getting rid of election, and we don't want our citizens to be reminded of the past everytime they turn on the lamp."

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's him it's named after anyway, so I can see the logic in them wanting to do that.
Kind of weird it hasn't been called that all along.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Volta

electric potential is named the volt in his honour.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

am i the only one who thinks "volta" sounds much much worse as a unit? Like, there's a reason people say "amp" instead of "ampere", we don't like saying needlessly long words all the time.
Even if you change the official name i'm almost certain it'll just get shortened back down.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

In my country nobody says Amp, we all say Ampere, an Volta sounds absolutely fine, IDK why it was anglicized?

[–] obvs@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

An even better question is "Why would countries not be allowed to localize standardized words for their own languages?"

Would it seriously be a problem if Italy used "volta" and the U.S. used "volt"?

Has it been a problem with France using "litre" and Italy and Spain using "litro" and the U.S. using "liter"?

[–] Dicska@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Imagine looking for a Philip screwdriver.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Here's the flipping screwdriver. 🪛
Not that that's a flat! I said PHILIP not flipping!
Thank god it's Philips with an s. 🙏

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

But what you really wanted was a pozidriv

[–] tobebannedbygaymods@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago

doesn't seem that bad , sounds better actually !

[–] wrinkle2409@lemmy.cafe 11 points 1 day ago

Really focusing on serious issues I see /s

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 11 points 1 day ago

I'm all for this

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That’s… not going to happen lol

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Why not?

The headline is misleading. They just want to change the Italian word for volt to Volta, since that was the man’s actual name in his native Italian

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Not the person you replied to but I imagine the SI will not change the name, and so scientists will not use "volta", so Italian schools will not want to each "volta".

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I don’t think there will be much difference, since an Italian teacher would already pronounce volt as volt-a.

[–] TraipsersWill@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Iay inkthay atthay I'llay artstay allingcay itay 'oltavay'.