Earth & SkyGreek → English
Augite
/ˈɔːdʒaɪt/noun
A dark pyroxene mineral, common in basalt and other volcanic rocks.
The Greek roots
αὐγή
augḗ
brightness, dawn light
Literally: “brightness”
Follow a root:αὐγή1 word
The story of the word
Abraham Gottlob Werner named it Augit in 1792 for the flash thrown off a fresh cleavage face. The name is generous: augite crystals are usually black or bottle green, and only the clean break catches any light at all. Since it is a principal mineral of basalt, a good deal of the ocean floor is made of brightness.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → German → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
augite-porphyry
In a sentence
Under the lens the augite showed two cleavages meeting near ninety degrees.
Augite gives the lava its dull black glitter.