I had no trouble at all understanding the term spore element. But that is because Dutch is my 1st languange and I don't know what my second should be. I think the misunderstanding has to do with the spelling of the word spoor vs spore and throwing that into a translator. In dutch you spell it sporen element (with an n at the end) and in german Spurenelement. Sporen means small quantity or very low concentration. You also would say sporen in Dutch when you refer to the ´seeds´ of a fern. So trace would be a fine translation of sporen. And strange enough even dough I studied chemistry ages ago I never ever had to read a book in German. If you say spoor in dutch then then you either refer to the actual railway or metaphorecally speaking traveling with the train. > 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 > > > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/