Thorianite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A heavy black mineral composed primarily of thorium oxide, often found in granitic and metamorphic rocks and valued as an ore of thorium
2. A dense black or brown thorium oxide mineral that occurs naturally in crystalline form and serves as an important source of the element thorium
3. A rare mineral containing thorium oxide that typically appears black or dark brown and is mined for its thorium content used in nuclear applications

Etymology: Thorianite is named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder, but not because of any link to thunder itself. The mineral was first identified in 1904 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and named for its thorium content. Thorium was itself named by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1828, after Thor, a choice that reflects the naming habits of early nineteenth-century chemistry, when new elements were often given mythological names. The "-ite" ending is the standard suffix mineralogists use to name minerals, derived from the Greek "-ites," meaning "belonging to" or "pertaining to." So the word simply means "a mineral containing thorium," built from the element's name plus that suffix.