Editing Fluorite (section)

==History and etymology==

The word ''fluorite'' is derived from the [[Latin]] verb ''fluere'', meaning ''to flow''. The mineral is used as a [[flux (metallurgy)|flux]] in iron [[smelting]] to decrease the [[viscosity]] of [[slag]]. The term ''flux'' comes from the Latin adjective ''fluxus'', meaning ''flowing, loose, slack''. The mineral fluorite was originally termed '''fluorspar''' and was first discussed in print in a 1530 work ''Bermannvs sive de re metallica dialogus'' [Bermannus; or dialogue about the nature of metals], by [[Georgius Agricola]], as a mineral noted for its usefulness as a flux.<ref name="awe">{{cite web|title=Discovery of fluorine|publisher=Fluoride History |url=http://www.fluoride-history.de/fluorine.htm}}</ref><ref name="assassinated">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl4sdCYrq3cC&pg=PT158|isbn=978-0-444-52239-9|page=149|author=compiled by Alexander Senning.|year=2007|publisher=Elsevier|location=Amsterdam|title=Elsevier's dictionary of chemoetymology: the whies and whences of chemical nomenclature and terminology}}</ref> Agricola, a German scientist with expertise in [[philology]], [[mining]], and metallurgy, named fluorspar as a [[Neo-Latin]]ization of the [[German language|German]] ''Flussspat'' from ''Fluss'' ([[stream]], [[river]]) and ''Spat'' (meaning a [[Nonmetal (chemistry)|nonmetal]]lic mineral akin to [[gypsum]], spærstān, ''[[spar (mineralogy)|spear stone]]'', referring to its crystalline projections).<ref>{{OEtymD|fluorite}}</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|spar}}</ref>

In 1852, fluorite gave its name to the phenomenon of [[fluorescence]], which is prominent in fluorites from certain locations, due to certain impurities in the crystal. Fluorite also gave the name to its constitutive element [[fluorine]].<ref name=Mindat>[http://www.mindat.org/min-1576.html Fluorite]. Mindat.org</ref> Currently, the word "fluorspar" is most commonly used for fluorite as an industrial and chemical commodity, while "fluorite" is used mineralogically and in most other senses.

In archeology, gemmology, classical studies, and Egyptology, the Latin terms ''murrina'' and ''myrrhina'' refer to fluorite.<ref>James Harrell 2012. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Gemstones.</ref> In book 37 of his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'', [[Pliny the Elder]] describes it as a precious stone with purple and white mottling, and noted that the Romans prized objects carved from it.  It has been suggested that the Sanskrit mineral name ''vaikrānta'' (वैक्रान्तः), known from [[Rasashastra|Sanskrit alchemical texts]] dating from the early second millennium CE onwards, may refer to fluorite.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murthy |first=S. R. N. |date=1983-12-01 |title=Minerals Used in Indian Medicine |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jour-geosocindia/article/24/12/664/640580/Minerals-Used-in-Indian-Medicine |journal=Journal of the Geological Society of India |language=en |volume=24 |issue=12 |page=666 |doi=10.17491/jgsi/1983/241206 |bibcode=1983JGSI...24..664M |issn=0974-6889}}</ref>