In article .com,
Dhakala wrote:
...other quotes snipped...


Potassium hydroxide came first, as a result of the very natural and
ancient process of rain falling on forest fires. It is the stuff for
which the word "lye" was coined centuries ago.

http://m-w.com/dictionary/lye

Sodium hydroxide is a manmade and much more recent compound. The oldest
process for its manufacture seems to date to 1772.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide

So I maintain that KOH is the original lye, and NaOH has glommed onto
the name simply by becoming the more common and cheaper caustic.


Just like thousands of other words have had their accepted meanings
changed in the last few hundred years. You can maintain what you want
to, but if you went to any hardware store or chemical supplier and
asked for lye, you'd get NaOH.

No lie! (Sorry couldn't resist)
--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland