lapis lazuli

Etymology

From Middle English lapis lazuli, from Medieval Latin lapis (“stone”) +‎ lazulī, genitive singular of lazulum (“lapis lazuli, azure, the sky”), from Arabic لَازُوَرْد (lāzuward, “lapis lazuli, azure”), from Persian لاجورد (lâjvard). Compare azure, of the same origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌlap.ɪs ˈlaz.jʊ.laɪ/, /ˈlaz.jʊ.li/
• (General American) enPR: lăp'ĭs lăzʹ(y)ə-lē, lăzʹ(y)ə-lī, lăzhʹə-lē, lăzhʹə-lī, IPA^(key): /ˌlæp.ɪs ˈlæz.(j)ə.li/, /ˈlæz.(j)ə.laɪ/, /ˈlæʒ.ə.li/, /ˈlæʒ.ə.laɪ/, /ləˈzu.li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: la‧pis la‧zu‧li

Noun

lapis lazuli (countable and uncountable, plural lapides lazuli or lapis lazulis)

1. (mineralogy) A deep-blue stone, used in making jewelry, and traditionally used to make the pigment ultramarine.

   Synonyms: lapis, lazuli, lazurite

   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Talisman, page 66:

     He saw the amber silk curtains wave to and fro: the middle window was open; in it stood a pillar of lapis lazuli, which supported an alabaster figure, Canova's Dansatrice.

2. A deep, bright blue, like that of the stone.

   lapis lazuli:  

Adjective

lapis lazuli

1. Of a deep, bright blue, like that of the stone.
   • 1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:

     I cannot convey to you the sheer and surreal scale of everything: the towering ship, the ropes, the ties, the anchor, the pier, the vast lapis lazuli dome of the sky.

See also

• (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, dark blue, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, light blue, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre ^{(Category: en:Blues)}
• sodium aluminum sulfosilicate
• ultramarine

Further reading

• lapis lazuli on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed from English lapis lazuli, from Medieval Latin lapis (“stone”) and lazulī (“of the heavens”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaː.pɪs laːˈzu.li/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: la‧pis la‧zu‧li

Noun

lapis lazuli m (uncountable)

1. (mineralogy) lapis lazuli

   Synonyms: azuursteen, lazuursteen

Etymology

Compound of lapis (“stone”) +‎ lazulum (“heaven”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈla.pis ˈlaz.zu.liː/, [ˈɫ̪äpɪs̠ ˈɫ̪äz̪d̪͡z̪ʊlʲiː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.pis ˈlad.d͡zu.li/, [ˈläːpis ˈläd̪ː͡z̪uli]

Noun

lapis lazulī m (genitive lapidis lazulī); third declension

1. lapis lazuli

References

• “lazuli lapis lazuli”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lazuli lapis lazuli”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• LAZULI lapis lazuli in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lazuli lapis lazuli in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lapis lazuli”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 678

Alternative forms

• lapis-lazuli

Etymology

Internationalism; compare English lapis lazuli, French lapis-lazuli, German Lapislazuli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈla.pis laˈzu.li/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Syllabification: la‧pis la‧zu‧li

Noun

lapis lazuli m inan (indeclinable)

1. lapis lazuli, lazurite

   Synonym: lazuryt

Further reading

• lapis lazuli in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lapis lazuli in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• lapis lazuli in PWN's encyclopedia