norium

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A supposed new chemical element announced in 1845 by Svanberg as detected by him in the mineral zircon, especially in specimens from Norway. It has been shown to be identical with the already known zirconium.

Wiktionary

1. n. obsolete A rejected name for hafnium.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Chem.) A supposed metal alleged to have been discovered in 1845 by the Swedish chemist Swanberg in zircon. After many unsuccessful attempts to verify this new element, the element named hafnium (atomic number 72) was discoverd in 1923 by D. Coster and G. von Hevesey in the zirconium-containing mineral zircon. Hafnium, present at 1 to 5% in many zirconium-bearing minerals, but difficult to separate from zirconium, is probably the element that gave rise to the properties attributed to the hypothetical norium.