A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

ELEMENT

Sun, 21 Aug '22
Erbium, terbium or ytterbium
Tue, 12 Oct '21
One of more than 115 on a table
Thu, 26 Aug '21
U, V, W or Y, but not X
Fri, 2 Apr '21
He or I, but not you?