Volcanics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The materials ejected during volcanic eruptions include various rock types, ash, and gases that characterize geological formations created by volcanic activity
2. Geological formations associated with eruptive processes consist of a mix of rocks, ash, and gases produced during volcanic events
3. Rocks, ash, and other substances formed from molten material expelled during volcanic eruptions

Etymology: "Volcanics" is simply the plural of "volcanic", used as a noun for the rocks that erupting volcanoes produce. The adjective "volcanic" comes from French "volcanique", which was formed from "volcan", the French word for volcano. That French noun traces back to Italian "volcano", the name of a volcanic island in the Aeolian chain north of Sicily, which the Romans associated with Vulcan, their god of fire and metalworking. The Italian word itself gave English "volcano". The English adjective may have come either through French or directly from the Italian stem "volcano" plus the English suffix "-ic", so the two routes are not fully settled. Either way, the sense of "relating to volcanoes" came first, and the noun use for the rocks followed from it, so a "volcanic" rock is literally a rock of the volcano.