Appendix – Origin of some of the terms in Physical Geology

Sometimes, it helps to understand the origin of terms (etymology). This can help you remember all the vocabulary words used in Physical Geology. If you understand these words, you will be a better writer and use them effectively in your lab work. This appendix was compiled from the Oxford English Dictionary, including the source of the word and when it was first used in geology or in general in English. You will find some geology words are very old such as marble from 1180 and some recently coined such as geothermobarometry in ~1986. Perhaps you will invent your own terminology to describe geologic processes!

Chapter 1: Scientific Method

• Belief derives from Greek or Latin fides for faith, first used in English in 1175
• Density derives from Latin, densitas for thickness, first used in 1603
• Extrapolation is similar to interpolation and first used in mathematics in 1872
• Fact derives from Latin factum, first used in English in 1487
• Hypothesis derives from Greek for the basis of an argument, first used in science by the Earl of Sussex in 1596
• Latitude is derived from Latin latitud for broad, first used in 1398
• Law is borrowed from old Scandinavian, lagu, or old Icelandic, lag, first use in English is ~1275
• Longitude is derived from French for angular distance, is first used in 1391
• Theory has multiple origins which are partly French and partly Latin, first used in 1588

Chapter 2: Maps

• Contour from French tourner, to turn, first used in 1662
• Elevation from Latin e + levare, to render light or to raise, first used in 1562
• Map from Latin mappa, first used in 1527
• Topography from Latin topographia, first used in ~1550 to describe Scotland

Chapter 3: Plate boundary types and Tectonics

• Convergent derives from Latin present participle of convergĕre, first used in 1713
• Divergent derives from Latin divergentia, first used in 1656
• Hot spot is a compound word after German Wärmepunkt , feature first described in 1963 but without a name, term first used in 1968
• Plate tectonics formed by adding two English words, first used in 1969
• Rift derived from early Scandinavian (Icelandic ripta or rifta or Danish rifte) first used in geology in 1924
• Strike-slip formed by adding two English words, first used in 1913
• Subduction derives from Latin subduction-, action of hauling up a ship onto a beach, removal (c400), expulsion or elimination of something from the body (c1200) first used in geology in 1970
• Transform derives from Latin transformāre, first used in 1340

Chapter 4: Common rock-forming mineral names

• Amphibole derives from Greek amphíbolos (double entendre), implying ambiguity. The group name proposed in 1801 by René Haüy to include tremolite, actinolite and hornblende. The name reflects the variety, in composition and appearance, assumed by this group of minerals.
• Calcite from Latin calx (lime) + -ite coined by Austrian mineralogist Wilhelm Karl von Hardinger, 1849
• Clay from Old English claeg
• Feldspar from German feld (field) + spath (spar), non-metallic mineral, 1785
• Garnet form of gernet from Old French grenate, gernatte, granate, also an adjective, “of a dark red color,” from Medieval Latin granatum perhaps from Medieval Latin or Old French words for pomegranate, from the stone’s resemblance either to the shape of the seeds or the color of the pulp, mid 15th century
• Gypsum from Greek gypsos (chalk)
• Halite from Greek hals (salt) + -ite, by German mineralogist Ernst Friedrich Glocker ,1847
• Hematite from multiple origins; partly from Latin haematites and partly from Greek haimatites lithos (bloodlike stone) from haima (blood) + -ite
• Hornblende from German horn (horn of an animal) + blende, indicates “a deceiver”, 1770
• Magnetite from German magnetit; see magnet+ -ite , 1840
• Mica from Modern Latin “crumb, bit, morsel, grain.”  Could also be Greek mikros (small). The word was applied to the mineral probably on the supposition that it was related to Latin micare (to flash, glitter), 1706
• Olivine named by Abraham Gottlob Werner for its olive-green color, 1796
• Pyroxene from Greek pyr (fire) + xenos (stranger), first used by Abbé Haüy, French mineralogist, “because he thought it ‘a stranger in the domain of fire’ or alien to igneous rocks.” 1796
• Quartz from the German word Quarz, 1756

Chapter 6: Igneous textures and names

• Andesite from andesine, a type of feldspar, first used by Charles Darwin in 1850
• Aphanitic, a fine-grained rock with microscopic grains, first used in 1863 by Dana for the texture of slate
• Basalt derives from Latin for a rock from Africa, first used by Pliny and translated in 1601
• Diorite from French for irregularly, first used 1826
• Extrusive a rock formed by volcanic extrusion, first used in 1909
• Gabbro derives from Latin glaber for smooth and hairless, first used in 1776
• Granite is a felsic igneous rock, borrowed from Italian to first describe the rocks in Egyptian pyramids in 1646
• Komatiite named after the Komati River in South Africa, first used in 1969
• Igneous derives from Latin igneus for fiery, first used in geology by Charles Lyell in 1830
• Intrusive is a rock forced into cavities or fissures, first used by Charles Darwin in 1844
• Obsidian derives from Latin as this was first found by a Roman in Ethopia, first used in geology in 1601
• Peridotite is a rock made of olivine (peridot is the gem name) and pyroxene, first used in 1869
• Phaneritic is an igneous rock with visible grains, first used in 1914 for rocks with granular texture
• Pumice is term borrowed from French, first used in 1422
• Pyroclastic is a rock fragmented by volcanic eruption, from pyro- (fire) and clastic (rock fragments, first used in 1862
• Rhyolite is derived from ancient Greek for a stream of lava, first used in 1861
• Scoria is from Latin for dross, first used in 1398
• Tuff is derived from tufo, Italian for kind of soft, first used in 1569
• Vesicular is characterized by the presence of vesicles (holes), from Latin vesicularis, first used in 1682
• Volcano derived from Latin volcanus, first used in 1613

Chapter 7: Sedimentary textures and names

• Arkose is a French term and was first used in 1839 to describe a kind of sandstone that occurs in central France
• Breccia is borrowed from Italian for gravel or rubbish of broken walls, first used in geology in 1774
• Chert is a local term that is now used in geology since 1686
• Clastic is borrowed from Greek klast to break off, first used in a Physical Geology textbook in 1877
• Coal is inherited from German kol, first used in 1340
• Cobble has an uncertain origin and may be derived from cob (big), first used ~1500
• Conglomerate is borrowed from Latin conglomeratus, first used in geology in 1818 in a Geology textbook
• Coquina was borrowed from Spanish coquina (shellfish), first used in 1837 to describe quarries in Florida
• Delta is the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet and forms a triangle which is the shape of river deltas, first used in 1555 for the shape of the mouth of the Nile River
• Diagenesis derived from Greek dia (across) and genesis (generation), first used in 1886
• Fossil derived from Latin fossilis, obtained by digging, first used in 1569
• Graywacke was first used in 1805 for rocks in the Harz mountains
• Limestone formed in English combining lime and stone, first used in 1523
• Lithification is from English lithify, to turn into stone, first used in 1872
• Pebble is of uncertain origin and is first used about 1425
• Sand is inherited from German and old Norse, first used in 1175
• Sandstone from in English combing sand and stone, first used in 1668
• Sediment is derived from Latin sedimentum, to sink down, first used in geology in 1547
• Silt has an uncertain origin and may be Danish sylt or Norweigan sylta (salt marsh), first used in 1440
• Weathering is old English wederunge

Chapter 8: Metamorphic textures and names

• Anthracite is from Greek anthrax for charcoal, first used in 1797
• Cleavage is derived from English term cleave to divide with a cutting blow, first used in geology in 1816
• Foliation is derived from English term to beat into sheets of gold, first used by Charles Darwin in 1849
• Gneiss derived from German and first used in 1777
• Geothermobarometer is not a term in the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a combination of two terms geothermometer first used in 1949 and geobarometer first used in 1960. These two terms were first combined in ~1986
• Hornfels is borrowed from German horn (horn) + fels (rock), first used in 1854
• Marble is derived from Greek for shiny stone, first used in ~1180
• Metamorphism is derived from Latin, there is a famous poem “Metamorphoses” by Ovid on the transformation of gods and humans into shapes of plants and animals
• Migmatite derives from ancient Greek, migma, for mixture. Then used in Swedish in 1907
• Petrology is combined from Greek, petra- (rock) and –ology (study of) first used in 1811
• Phyllite is derived from Greek for leaves, first used in 1828
• Protolith is a combination of proto (earliest) and lith (rock) first used in 1960
• Schist derived from Latin schistos for readily splitting, first used by the Earl of Dundonald in 1793
• Serpentinite is derived from serpentyn, a plant that contains an antidote to the poison of serpents, serpent is derived from medieval Latin, serpentinum, pertaining to snakes, first used in geology by G.C. Selfridge in 1936
• Slate is a term borrowed from French, escalate, first used in Scotland in 1455

Chapter 9: Earthquakes

• Earthquake combined from earth and quake, first used in 1350
• Hazard is borrowed from French hazard, originally a gambling game played with dice, which then became to mean misfortune in the 13th century
• Landslide combined from land and slide, first used in 1822 in Boston to describe motion of land down a hill
• Liquefaction derived from French, to liquify, first used in 1477
• Seismic from Greek seiin, to shake, first used in 1858
• Wave is derived from Old Norse veifa to swing, first used in 1900 to describe seismic waves

Chapter 10: Deformation

• Anticline is formed from Greek anti (against) + cline (slope or bend), first used by Charles Lyell in 1833 in “Principles of Geology”
• LiDAR was first used in 1963 for both lunar exploration and meteorology
• Normal fault is a combination of two English words first used to describe faults in the mid-1970’s
• Reverse fault is a combination of two English words that were first used to describe faults in 1865
• Strike is the equivalent of straight, not sure when it was first used in geology
• Strike-slip faults is a combination of English words that were first by used Lindgren to describe faults in ore deposits
• Syncline is also from Greek syn (same) + cline (slope or bend), first used by Charles Lyell in 1833 in “Principles of Geology”
• Thrust fault is a combination of two English words first used to describe faults in 1889, then in 1915 were classified as shallow-dipping reverse faults or simply thrusts

Chapter 11: Geologic Time

• Disconformity was first used in 1906 to describe a contact between two parallel, horizontal sedimentary layers with the lower layers having undergone erosion but not deformation before the upper layers were deposited
• Geochronology is from Greek geo (Earth) + kronos (time) was first used to describe the study of time in 1805
• Nonconformity was first used to describe contact between younger sedimentary strata over older metamorphic or igneous rocks in 1850
• Original horizonality was first proposed by Steno in the mid-1700’s
• Superposition was first used in medicine in 1660 and in geology about 1879
• Unconformity was first used in 1829
• Uniformitarianism combines uniformity with a suffix, first used in 1840 about debates of catastrophism

Chapter 12: Rivers

• Basin was adapted from French and used to describe a depression in the land was first used in 1712 and in geology about 1812
• Cut bank was first used for the land about 1819 and by Mark Twain to describe the Mississippi river in 1884
• Flood is derived from German and was first used in Old English
• Meander is derived from the Greek name for the Maeander river in western Turkey which has a winding
• Ocean is derived from Greek oceanus and first used about 1300
• River is derived from French which comes from Latin reverie, first used in English about 1300
• Stream is adapted from German and first used in English about 1275

Chapter 13: Landforms

• Barchan is derived from a central Asian term first used in 1888
• Desert is adapted from French in 1297
• Dune is adapted from Dutch and used in 1605
• Geomorphology is derived from Greek and was first used 1888 by the U.S. Geological Survey
• Glacier is derived from French and first used in 1744
• Isostasy is derived from Greek iso (equal) + statis (weight or standing), first used in geology in 1889
• Karst is derived from either German or Croatian and first used in English to describe the landscape of Slovenia in 1894
• Permeability was first used in 1620 to describe fluid movement
• Porousity was derived from both French and Latin in 1398
• Seif is from Arabic word for sword first used in 1925
• Sinkhole was first used in 1456 to describe land around the Cockersand Abbey
• Subsidence was first used in geology in 1754 to describe the sinking of land due to coal mining

Chapter 14: Planetary Geology

• Crater is derived from Latin and first used to describe a volcanic crater in 1613 and a lunar crater in 1860 by American author Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Lunar is derived from Latin lunaris and first used in English in 1626
• Meteorite is derived from French and first used in 1823
• Mons is borrowed from French for mountain
• Moon is derived from Dutch and first used in Old English
• Rile is probably derived from Dutch and used in poetry to describe small rivers, now used for river-like features on planets
• Rupe is derived from Latin rupestris (cliff) and used for cave art, now is used in planetary geology for cliffs or ridges

Chapter 15: Climate Change

• Climate is derived from Latin clima for bands of the Earth related by latitude and in the 1300’s to relate different areas with different prevailing weather conditions
• Coastline was first used in 1761
• Greenhouse gas was first used in 1975 and then in 1985 related to climate change
• Sea level was first used in 1657 to describe the geography of the entire Earth
• Shoreline was first used in 1811to describe an area near Chester England

Chapter 16: Geophysics

• Geophysics was first used as a term in 1884 for the Earth and in 1946 for the moon
• P (primary) wave was first used in 1908 for earthquakes in India
• S (secondary) wave was used in 1908 for earthquakes in India

Compiled by V.B. Sisson