Mineral/rock

Derived from or for

Sanbornite

for Frank Sanborn, American mineralogist. Div. Mines, Dept. Natural Resources, CA

Sanidine

Greek sanis (-idos) = a board, a table in reference to the mineral's tabular habit

Salt

Latin sal which originated from the Greek for hals = the sea (see halite)

Samarskite

Vasilii Erafovich Samarski-Bykhovets (1803-1870), of the Russian Corps of Mining Engineers

Saponite

Latin sapo (-idos) = soap for its soaplike appearance

Sapphire

ancient name of uncertain origin; possibly Hebraic sappir and Sanskrit sanipruja; applied by the ancients to lazurite

Sassolite

Sasso, Tuscany, Italy where first observed, Greek lithos = stone

Searlesite

John W. Searles, Californian pioneer; Searles Lake, CA, named for him

Selenite

Greek selenites (lithos) = moon (stone) since it was supposed to wax and wane with the moon and/or it has moon-like white reflections

Sellaite

Quntino Sella (1827-1884), Italian mining engineer and mineralogist

Senarmonite 

Henri Hureau de Sénarmont (1808-1862), French physicist and mineralogist, School of Mines, Paris, who first described the species

Sepiolite

Greek sepion = the bone of the cuttle-fish and lithos = stone since the bone of the cuttle-fish is light and porous like the mineral

Sericite

Greek for silky alluding to its silky luster

Serpentine

Latin serpens = snake because of the similar surface patterns

Shortite

Maxwell Naylor Short (1889-1952), American mineralogist, U of Arizona, and Greek lithos = stone

Siderite

Greek sideros = iron in reference to its composition

Sienna

locality at the town of Sienna in Tuscany, northern Italy

Silica

Latin silex = flint

Sillimanite

Professor Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), American mineralogist, Yale

Slate

Smectite

Greek smektis = fuller's earth from smechein = to wipe off, to cleanse because of its property of extracting grease from cloth (see Fuller's Earth)

Soda

possibly from the name of a mineral that occurs near Djebel es Soda, Libya. Alternatively, the Spanish soda (from the Arabian suvvad = a plant from the ash of which soda was obtained in Sicily and Spain), or from the medieval Latin sodanum = a remedy for headaches (from the Arabic suda = headache).

Soda ash

from soda and ash, originally prepared by evaporating the lixivium of wood ashes in iron pots (see potash) 

Sodalite

from composition, Latin solidus = solid since it was a solid used in glassmaking (see soda ash)

Sodium sulfate

chemical name

Spessartine (garnet)

locality at Spessart in northwestern Bavaria, Germany

Sphalerite

Greek for trecherous or slippery since it was often mistaken for galena but yielded no lead

Sphene

Greek for wedge due to characteristic habit of the crystals 

Spinel

Latin spinella = little thorn referring to its spine-shaped octahedral crystals

Spodumene

Greek spodoun = to reduce to ashes refers either to its ash-gray color or the ash-colored mass formed when heated before the blowpipe

Stassfurtite

locality at Stassfurt, Germany, where it is associated with potash. A.k.a. boracite

Staurolite

Greek stauros = a cross and lithos = stone because of its common cruciform twins

Steatite

Greek steatos = suet

Stibiconite 

Greek stimmi and Latin stibium = antimony and Greek for powder or dust, because it often occurs as a powder

Stibnite

Greek stimmi and Latin stibium = old names for antimony

Strontianite

locality at Strontian, a small town in Argyllshire, Scotland

Suanite

locality at Suan County, Korea

Sulfur

Latin sulfur, an old name; akin to Sanskrit sulvere

Sulphohalite

from composition, a sulfate with the halogen elements Cl and F

Suzorite

locality at Suzor Township near Boucherville, Quebec, Canada (phlogopite mica)

Sylvite

old chemical name Sal digestivus Sylvii or digestive salt of Francois Sylvius de la Boë (1614-1672), Dutch chemist and physician of Leyden

Syngenite

Greek syn = with, together with, or related to in reference to its similarity to polyhalite

Szaibelyite

Stephan Szaibely (1777-1855), Hungarian mine surveyor of Rézbánya. A.k.a. ascherite