Etymology
Lapis is the Latin word for "stone" and lazuli is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lazulum, which is taken from the Persian لازورد lāzaward, meaning "heaven" or "sky", since the sky is blue; therefore, it is the "stone of heaven" or "sky stone". Lāzaward is from the Persian لاژورد lāzhward, the name of a place where lapis lazuli was mined. Taken as a whole, lapis lazuli means "stone of Lāzhward".
The name of the place came to be associated with the stone mined there and, eventually, with its color. The French azur, Romanian azur and azuriu, the Italian azzurro, the Polish lazur and the Spanish and Portuguese azul are cognates.
Read more about this topic: Lapis Lazuli
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