Apatit

See also: apatit

German

Etymology

Coined by the German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817) from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πᾰ́τη (apátē, “deceit, fraud”) as it is often mistaken for other minerals (possibly from Pre-Greek) +‎ -it (suffix forming nouns denoting minerals or rocks).[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /apaˈtiːt/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: Apat‧it

Noun

Apatit m (strong, genitive Apatits, plural Apatite)

  1. (mineralogy) apatite [from 1786]
    • 1786, Carl Abraham Gerhard, “Erster Anhang [First Addendum]”, in Grundriß des Mineralsystems zu Vorlesungen [Outline of the Mineral Systems for Lectures], Berlin: Christian Friedrich Himburg, →OCLC, page 281:
      Von einigen noch nicht genau bestimmten und ganz neu entdeckten Mineralien. Ich rechne hierzu folgende drei Körper: 1. Den Apatit des Herrn Werners. […]
      On some still not precisely determined and quite recently discovered minerals. I count among these the following three substances: 1. the apatite of Mr. Werner. […]

Declension
Declension of Apatit [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Apatit die Apatite
genitive eines des Apatits der Apatite
dative einem dem Apatit den Apatiten
accusative einen den Apatit die Apatite

Descendants
  • → English: apatite

References
  1. A[braham] G[ottlob] Werner (1788) “Geschichte, Karakteristik, und kurze chemische Untersuchung des Apatits [History, Characteristics, and Brief Chemical Investigation of Apatite]”, in Bergmännisches Journal [Miners’ Journal], volume I, Freyberg: Alexander Bilhelm Köhler; Grazischen Buchhandlung, →OCLC, pages 84–85:
    Ich wies hierauf diesem Foßile, als einer eigenen Gattung, sogleich eine Stelle in dem Kalkgeschlechte an; und ertheilte ihm, – weil es bisher alle Mineralogen in seiner Bestimmung irre geführt hatte, – den Namen Apatit, den ich von dem griechischen Worte απατάω (decipio) bildete, und welcher so viel as Trügling sagt.
    I then immediately assigned to this fossil [i.e., material obtained from underground], as a separate type, a place in the lime lineage; and conferred on it, — because it had previously led astray all mineralogists in its classification — the name apatite, which I formed from the Greek word απατάω (I deceive), and which says as much as [the word] deceiver.

Further reading
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