How did Aspirin get its name?

Aspirin is a chemistry label squeezed into seven letters. Almost every piece of the name stands for part of the molecule or where it came from.

In 1897, the Bayer chemist Felix Hoffmann made acetylsalicylic acid by treating salicylic acid with acetic anhydride. Arthur Eichengrün, who ran Bayer's pharmaceutical group, sent the compound to Heinrich Dreser's pharmacology group for testing. Eichengrün later claimed the main credit. In a 1949 article, he said he had directed the work without telling Hoffmann its purpose.

The name was settled in January 1899. Etymonline credits Dreser with the coinage. The "a" stood for acetyl, since the drug was an acetylated acid. The "spir" came from Spirsäure, a German name for salicylic acid. That acid was named for meadowsweet, then called Spiraea ulmaria, a plant it could be obtained from. The "-in" was a standard ending for drug names. According to Wikipedia, the final choice came down to Aspirin or Euspirin.

Why invent a word at all? Etymonline explains that German drug makers of the late 19th century coined short, catchy trademark names. Doctors could remember them, and competitors could not copy them. That mattered in Germany, where the law required prescriptions to be filled exactly as written.

The plant name goes back further. Merriam-Webster traces Latin Spiraea to Greek speiraia, the name of a plant.

The medicine is much older than the brand. Willow and other plants rich in salicylates appear as remedies on clay tablets from Sumer and in Egypt's Ebers Papyrus. The word salicylic itself comes from Latin salix, "willow."

Then Bayer lost control of the name. Its UK trademarks were voided on 5 February 1915. After the US entered the First World War in 1917, the government seized Bayer's American assets. History.com says the trademarks were auctioned to Sterling Products for $5.3 million. US court rulings in 1918 and 1921 treated aspirin as generic.

The result is a split map. In the US, aspirin is an ordinary noun. Wikipedia says Aspirin with a capital A is still a Bayer trademark in Germany, Canada, Mexico and more than 80 other countries. In Canada, the generic drug is sold as "ASA."