- I Love Lapis.... Lazuli, that is -

I have always loved the deep, intensive blue of lapis lazuli. No wonder - people have been using this stone for about 7,000 years! I recently created a lapis lazuli and Bali silver necklace.
Besides the beautiful color, I was always fascinated by the name. Here is what Wikipedia says about its origins:

The first part of the name is the Latin lapis, meaning stone. The second part, lazuli, is the genitive form of the medieval Latin lazulum, which came from Arabic (al-)lazward, which came from Persian لاژورد lāzhward. This was originally a place-name, but soon came to mean blue because of its association with the stone. English azure, Spanish azul, Italian azzurro also derives from this source. Taken as a whole, lapis lazuli means stone of azure

Cyberbeader
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