Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AM-MO'NI-A, or AM'MO-NY, n. [The real origin of this word is not ascertained. Some authors suppose it to be from Ammon, a title of Jupiter, near whose temple in Upper Egypt it was generated. Others suppose it to be from Ammonia, a Cyrenaic territory; and others deduce it from αμμος, sand, as it was found in sandy ground. Anglicized, this forms an elegant word, ammony.]

Ammonia is an alkaline salifiable base, which is gaseous or aëriform in its uncombined state, and is composed of nitrogen and hydrogen. It is often called volatile alkali.