The Names of Meerschaum: Meerschaum, Écume De Mer, Sepiolite

The names of meerschaum illustrate a single mineral named four different ways in four different languages, each by a different logic. This hydrated magnesium silicate, with the formula Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O, is called sepiolite in mineralogical literature, Meerschaum in German, écume de mer in French, and lüle taşı in Turkish.

One name describes what the stone looks like, another what it resembles, and a third what it is used for; the only direct translation relationship among them is between the German and French terms.

The Sea-Foam Comparison

The literal meaning of the German Meerschaum is "sea foam." The word entered English as-is in 1784, at first describing a soft white type of clay, and from 1789 also the bowled pipe made from that clay. The French écume de mer is a direct translation of the German. The physical basis of the comparison is plain: the stone is porous, soft, and white, and pieces of its low density do not sink in water. One etymological dictionary notes that the description was not unique to German, and traces it through the Latin spuma maris and the Greek halos akhne to the Persian kef-i deryâ; not every source accepts this chain.

As the comparison took hold, some began to take it literally. Popular publications of the nineteenth century circulated explanations claiming the stone was solidified sea foam washed ashore, or formed from the shells of marine creatures; though experts of the time repeatedly corrected these, the belief lingered on in print for a long while. In fact the earliest record of the stone being used in pipe making dates to around 1723: by the time the word had settled into European languages, the material was already well known.