Venemosite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rare crystalline mineral species identified by mineralogists and recorded in scientific classifications of naturally occurring substances
2. A scarce naturally occurring mineral that geologists have catalogued as a distinct species within the mineral kingdom
3. An uncommon mineral substance found in rock formations and named as a separate species by researchers studying the Earth's composition

Etymology: Most mineral names ending in "-ite" descend from a Greek suffix, "-ites," meaning "belonging to" or "associated with." Ancient Greek used it to form adjectives from nouns, and writers applied it to stones: "pyrites," from "pyr" (fire), named a stone that gave off sparks when struck. Mineralogists later adopted the pattern to name newly identified substances, usually after a locality or a person. Venemosite follows that convention. Its name takes the familiar "-ite" ending attached to a root that marks where or by whom the mineral was named. The suffix itself tells you only that the name belongs to a mineral family, not what the mineral contains or where it was found, so the specific origin of the root has to be traced in the original naming publication.