Earth & SkyGreek → English
Siderite
/ˈsɪdəraɪt/noun
A brown iron carbonate mineral, worked as an ore of iron.
The Greek roots
σίδηρος
sídēros
iron
Literally: “iron stone”
Follow a root:σίδηρος1 word
The story of the word
Wilhelm Haidinger fixed the name on iron carbonate in 1845, after it had been thrown at lodestone and several other iron minerals in turn. Meteoriticists use the same word for iron meteorites, a separate tradition and a durable source of confusion. Sidereal is no relation whatever: that comes from Latin sidus, a star.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1845
Same family
siderosissiderophilesiderophore
In a sentence
The seam was mostly siderite, poor stuff by modern standards but enough for a local furnace.