Earth & SkyGreek → English
Epidote
/ˈɛpɪdoʊt/noun
A pistachio-green calcium aluminium iron silicate found in metamorphosed rock.
The Greek roots
ἐπίδοσις
epídosis
increase, addition
Literally: “an addition”
Follow a root:ἐπίδοσις1 word
The story of the word
Haüy named it in 1801 because the base of the crystal's prism has one side longer than the other, an increase over what symmetry would predict. That is the sort of detail that decided mineral names before chemistry could settle them. Δόσις, a giving, is also the dose on a prescription and the second half of antidote, so epidote is a distant relation of overdose.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- early 19th century
Same family
doseantidoteanecdoteoverdose
In a sentence
Epidote streaked the greenstone in bright yellow-green veins.
Where you find epidote, the rock has been cooked and wetted.