A mineral or fossilized resin, possibly a variety of amber or related hydrocarbon mineral with elastic or spring-like properties.
From 'elater' meaning spring or driver, plus the mineral suffix '-ite' indicating a mineral specimen. The name suggests a mineral that exhibits elastic or resilient characteristics, though the term is quite obsolete.
This word reveals how 19th-century mineralogists named specimens based on their observable properties before modern chemistry—they called springy minerals 'elaterite' much like they called shiny ones 'gloss-ite,' creating a now-forgotten vocabulary.
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