moldavite
noun · first attested 1836
The stone is named after a Bohemian river, but it was made in Bavaria by a meteorite.
A forest green natural silica glass of the central European tektite strewn field, used as a gemstone.
48.8589°N 13.8931°E · Q131574
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1836
- 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
Vltava
- In English
moldavite
Frantisek Xaver Maximilian Zippe coined Moldavit in 1836 from Moldau, the German name for the Vltava, where the first described pieces were collected. The glass was flung out of the Nordlinger Ries impact crater in southern Germany about 15 million years ago. The strewn field scattered it across Bohemia, Moravia and Austria, hundreds of kilometers from the crater the material came from.