Why is tension used for gas and electricity measurements?

[middling]

Does anyone know why 19th Century scientists used

the word "tension", meaning - etymologically- stretched,

for the partial pressure of a gas?

Likewise, the use of "tension" for potential [there is that root again] difference in

electrical circuits?

 

[256bits]

A lot of scientific terms have latin roots.
When a gas expands it is "stretching" its volume, so that kinda makes a bit of sense.

As for electricity, potential comes from the latin root,
from Late Latin potentilis, powerful, from Latin potentia, power,

Why tension - maybe , as the voltage increases the spark gap can increase also, and the one can see the spark stretching across the two terminals, or so they observed way back then.