>>>>>>>> Note
to Jansy: if our Russian speakers tell us the etymology of
/lazur'/, I'll bet
the /l/ is not from Persian but the French definite article.
In fact, it is other way round.
The Vasmer etymological dictionary says (in
translation); " Old Russian " lazor' "...
through Polish lazur, from Mid/Upper
German lazu^r, lasu^r "blue
stone", which derives from Medieval Latin lazurium,
lasurium (Italian l'ÁzzurÏ, azurro from
lazurro), from Arabic
la^zavard...."
th e"blue stone" in question is lapis lazuli with
etymology, from Medieval Latin, from Latin lapis + Medieval Latin
lazuli, genitive of lazulum lapis lazuli, also from Arabic
lAzaward.
The famous poem "Lapis Lazuli" by Yeats (1936) is very much about
something coming from the azure:
" For everybody knows or else should know
That if nothing
drastic is done
Aeroplane and Zeppelin will come out.
Pitch like King
Billy bomb-balls in
Until the town lie beaten
flat..."
Note almost complete coincidence with Blok's (1910, i.e. pre-Great War)
prophetic "The Aviator": "Nochnoi letun, vo t'me nenastnoi Zemle
nesushchii dinamit" ["Night flyer, who in stormy darkness brings the dynamite to
earth below"]
In Russian, lapis lazuli
is lazurit.