| @johnlk: No, though I can see your point that they were discovered long after the Romans. Sodium and potassium were known about long before they were isolated as elements (though I'm not sure to what extent these chemists were distinguishing between potassium and potash, say). So, they were named when Latin was the dominant language of science and received names in Latin as well as English. If you were speaking Latin, you'd say `Blahus, blahus, kalium, blahus' and, if you were speaking English, you'd say `blah, blah, potassium, blah'. |
Latin Phrases 
Elements Without 'um' 
5 Letters or Fewer Elements
