Succinite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A yellowish fossil resin derived from ancient coniferous trees, prized for jewelry and carving
2. The hardened tree sap of prehistoric pines, valued as a gemstone and used in ornamental objects
3. Golden translucent fossil gum from extinct forests, often polished into beads, pendants or decorative pieces

Etymology: Succinite is simply the old scientific name for amber, the fossil resin of ancient conifers, and its story is mostly a matter of the Latin word for amber. The Latin "succinum" meant amber, and it was likely formed from "succus" ("juice, sap"), a pairing that makes sense for a substance that begins life as tree sap. Naturalists in the 18th and 19th centuries used "succinite" as a mineralogical label for the amber found along the Baltic coast, which is still the world's richest source of it. The "-ite" ending is the standard suffix chemists and mineralogists attached to names of minerals and rocks, so the word was a deliberate coinage in that scientific tradition rather than an ancient or everyday term. Its meaning was narrowed in the process: "succinum" covered amber in general, while "succinite" became the technical name for the particular amber of the Baltic region, now more often called Baltic amber.

Synonyms: amber