Min. [Named after Covelli, an Italian mineralogist who found the mineral in the lava of Vesuvius: see -INE, -ITE.] A native indigo-blue sulphide of copper; often called blue or indigo copper.
1850. Dana, Min., 510. Covelline. Ibid. (1868), 84. Covellite is the result of the decomposition of other ores of copper.
1863–72. Watts, Dict. Chem., II. 74. Protosulphide of Copper or Cupric Sulphide, CuS. This compound is found native, as Covellin, Indigo copper, etc.
So Covellinite = prec.
1861. Bristow, Gloss., 98. Covellinite.
1869. Phillips, Vesuvius, x. 278. Covellinite—a sulphide of copper—is noticed as a Vesuvian product by Beudant.
