From the Quechua Indian name Llicta, used for a chewing mixture of cocoa and the ashes of certain plants combined by kneading, in allusion to the formm of the aggregates.
Palache, Charles, Harry Berman & Clifford Frondel (1944), The System of Mineralogy of James Dwight Dana and Edward Salisbury Dana Yale University 1837-1892, Volume I: Elements, Sulfides, Sulfosalts, Oxides. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York. 7th edition, revised and enlarged: 450.