Well I'd never really considered it before so looked it up!!
Here you go - hope it makes some sense...
The suffix -ite is derived from the Greek and denotes "of the nature of, or
similar to." The Greeks and Romans used it in mineral and rock terms
signifying a quality, constituent, or locality of the stone.
Over 1100 mineral species' names were derived from the names of people. One
of the latest is, wait for it, brianyoungite - named after Brian Young, an
excellent mineralogist, from BGS in Newcastle. Lucky him!! An older example
is millerite, from Wiluan Miller, British Meteorologist. And again we have
the Bismuth tungstate Russellite, found in Cornwall (at Castle-An-Dinas) -
named after Sir Arthur Russell.
Over 500 rise from the localities in which they were discovered, or whence
large quantities come.
Example: Elbaite, a specimen-grade version of tourmaline, from and named
for the Island of Elba, near Italy, whose only other claim to fame was as
the island of Napoleon's exile. Potential example: Redgillite - an obscure
basic copper sulphate which also is found at Esgairhir and Nantycagl in Mid
Wales. But it was found first at Red Gill, Caldbeck Fells - so the name
takes precedence - when the poor mineral is finally described!
Other names are derived from Impersonal names, Chemical composition, a
Physical property, Greek terms, Latin terms etc. For example -
tetrahedrite, because of its common tetrahedral crystals. Cobaltite,
because the metal involved is cobalt - and so on.
The only problem I have with this is the increasing tendency to name
minerals after people. I worry that these could verge on libel, given the
Greek definition given above!! I prefer names to relate to properties of
the mineral or to its type locality, as would several other mineralogists I
know who like a pint, a curry, and don't necessarily take off their wellies
straight away after coming in from the field. Fartingbastardite will be
described one day otherwise - I warn you!
Hope that helps anyway - and personally I still like names like galena!
cheers - John
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