لاجورد

Alternative forms

• لاژورد‎ (lâžvard, lâžavard)
• لازورد‎ (lâzvard, lâzavard)

Etymology

Usually said to be from the place name Lāžvard in Badakhshan where the stone was mined.

The first component, لاژ‎, is cognate to Old Irish glas.

But according to Bailey, the second component goes back to Proto-Iranian *varta- (“stone”) and is cognate with Wakhi wurt (“stone”), Northern Kurdish ber (“stone”), Central Kurdish بەرد‎ (berd, “stone”), Khotanese [script needed] (ūḍāra-, “crystal”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to press together”), on which see Pokorny.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian, Dari) IPA^(key): [lɒːd͡ʒˈwæɾd], [lɒːd͡ʒæˈwæɾd]
• (Iranian Persian) IPA^(key): [lɒːd͡ʒˈvæɾd], [lɒːd͡ʒæˈvæɾd], [lɒːd͡ʒeˈvæɾd]

Noun

لاجورد • (lâjvard, lâjavard)

لاجورد بدخشی

Badakhshan lapis lazuli

1. (mineralogy) lapis lazuli
   • 982, Hudūd al-'Ālam

     ‏و اندر بدخشان معدن سیم است و زر و بیجاده و لاجورد.‎‎

     wa andar Badaxšān ma'dan-i sēm ast u zar u bījāda u lājaward.

     and in Badakhshan there are mines of silver, gold, ruby, and lapis lazuli.

2. azure, lapis lazuli (color)

References

• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1973), “լազուարթ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words] (in Armenian), volume II, 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, pages 256–257
• Pokorny, Julius (1959), “³u̯el-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume III, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1138
• Bailey, H. W. (1979), “ūḍāra-”, in Dictionary of Khotan Saka, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University press, page 36b
• Lokotsch, Karl (1927) Etymologisches Wörterbuch der europäischen Wörter orientalischen Ursprungs (in German), Heidelberg: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung, § 1311, page 104b
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1976) Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary] (in German), volume III, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 51
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (2001) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan] (in German), volume III, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 427