Medieval alchemists, in seeking to transmute base metals, such as lead, into gold, know and use tin and its compounds.

Tin is an Anglo-Saxon name; the symbol Sn is from stannum, the Latin word for the metal.

Three species of “arsenic” are recognized by the thirteenth century white (arsenic trioxide, As₄O₆); yellow(As₂S₃) and red (As₄S₄).

The element's name derives from Latin arsenicum, which folk etymology connects with yellow and maleness.

The eminent alchemist, natural scientist, and scholar Albertus Magnus notes the appearance of a metal-like substance when arsenicum, another name for As₂S₃, is heated with soap, but he may not actually observe the free element.