'mineral-caused' originates from modern English, composed of 'mineral' (from Medieval Latin 'minerale') and 'caused' (past participle of 'cause', from Latin 'causa'), where 'mineral' referred to substances of the earth and 'causa' meant 'reason' or 'cause'.

'mineral' changed from Medieval Latin word 'minerale' and entered English via Middle French/Medieval Latin; 'cause' comes from Latin 'causa', passed into Old French as 'cause' and Middle English as 'cause', with the past participle 'caused' used to form adjectival compounds like 'mineral-caused'.

Initially, 'mineral' denoted a substance obtained from the earth and 'causa/ cause' denoted a reason; over time the compound came to be used adjectivally to mean 'resulting from minerals' (i.e., 'caused by minerals').