Niccolite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A metallic mineral composed of nickel and arsenic, usually found in hydrothermal veins and valued as an ore of nickel
2. A mineral made from nickel combined with arsenic, typically occurring in ore deposits and used as a source of nickel
3. An arsenide of nickel forming a copper-red or pale metallic crystal that is mined chiefly for its nickel content

Etymology: Niccolite is a mineral, nickel arsenide (NiAs), and its name comes from the metal it was mined for. The word is built from Latin "niccolum", the name for nickel, plus the suffix "-ite", which mineralogists use to name rocks and minerals. In other words, the name records the mineral's chief value: it was one of the ores from which nickel was extracted. The Latin "niccolum" is itself tied to a dramatic story of mistaken identity in German mining. Miners in the Erzgebirge region of Saxony found a reddish ore that looked like copper but yielded no copper when smelted. They blamed a mischievous mountain sprite, "Nickel", a name akin to the German word for the devil or goblin, and the metal was named after it. The mineral was named after the metal in turn.

Synonyms: nickeline