Yep, neat word- from the Greek 'a' meaning 'without' and 'ergon', meaning 'work'. This transitions to the word 'argos' (also Greek), meaning 'idle'. It is an idle material because it will not interact or form any bonds with any other element; we use the word inert to describe it in English.
Tomorrow's word should be 'lead' (as in lead pipe) and why it got the chemical symbol Pb..... It is from the Latin word "plumbum", which means liquid silver. It sort of does look like silver when it melts too, unlike silver which does not look like silver at all when molten. Anyway, I think it is an interesting thing that the first big use for lead was to make plumbing..... which is why people who work on plumbing are still called plumbers, meaning he / she who works with lead (plumbum) even though the lead is long- gone from.... well, plumbing. All the time, at least mostly.
Brian
Argon. I like that word. Has a good ring to it. Let's make it the word of the day.