Earth & SkyGreek → English
Rhodonite
/ˈroʊdənaɪt/noun
A pink manganese silicate, usually veined with black, cut for jewellery and carving.
The Greek roots
ῥόδον
rhódon
rose
-ίτης
-ítēs
connected with (mineral suffix)
Literally: “rose stone”
The story of the word
Named in 1819 for its colour, from the same ῥόδον that gave the island of Rhodes its name and the metal rhodium its own, the latter because its salts dissolve rose-red. Russian craftsmen worked the Ural deposits into whole columns and sarcophagi. The black veining is manganese oxide, the mineral's own metal weathered on the surface.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
rhododendronrhodiumrhodochrosite
In a sentence
The pendant was rhodonite, pink shot through with black like marbled paper.