The name "sulfur" comes from the Latin word "sulphur", which itself likely derives from the Sanskrit word "śulvá" meaning "copper".

It's a bit of a roundabout journey, but it seems the ancient Romans associated sulfur with copper due to its use in smelting and other metallurgical processes. While sulfur itself isn't copper, its presence was crucial in working with copper ores.

The modern spelling "sulfur" became more common in the 19th century as a way to align with the systematic naming conventions of other elements.