I was a bit snippy in my reply, for which I apologize. I did not want persons with English as a 2nd or 3rd language to use the article as a language guide. Many of the chemical terms were incorrect or not English. German is my 2nd language, and I have trouble writing in it whenever I try. Fortunately, the world's universal language for science is now English (it was German when I was in grad school), so I have not had much trouble on that score in the last several decades. Jim Shields At 08:52 PM 8/23/2012 +0100, you wrote: >Fair comment Jim, > I see various other articles I find via google seem to use the term "spore >elements" though I scanned them only briefly. Those articles appear to have >German or Dutch origins too. A quick search of the term "spoor elements" >did not reveal, for me,the term in connection with what I am used to >calling "trace elements". >However incorrect -the use of the term "spore elements" seems to be around, >albeit through mistranslation, and I admit that I have not heard it before. >When I read the term first, I expected it to refer to something mycorrhizal. >Peter (UK) > >On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 7:49 PM, J.E. Shields <jshields@indy.net> wrote: > > > I think I see the tracks of this usage. In German, Spur means track (e.g., > > bear tracks in the woods) and trace (very small amounts). Spoor is > > Afrikaans for track, from old Dutch "spor." > > > > The article cited by Peter seems to have been translated from a German > > original, and contains numerous mis-spellings and incorrect usages. It is > > not a suitable reference for English usages or spellings. > > > > Jim Shields > > > > ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Lat. 40° 02.8' N, Long. 086° 06.6' W