itabirite
noun · first attested 1822
Brazil exports hundreds of millions of tons of this rock a year under a Tupi name meaning shining stone.
A metamorphosed banded iron formation of granular quartz and scaly hematite.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 1822
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Itabira
- In English
itabirite
Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege introduced the term in his 1822 Geognostisches Gemälde von Brasilien for the iron bearing rock of Minas Gerais. Sources differ over whether the eponym is Itabira in the east of the state or Itabirito near Ouro Preto, both named from the Tupi for raised or shining stone. The rock is the ore of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, the iron quadrangle that is one of the world's great iron districts.