Name:
Lapis is the Latin for ’stone’ and lazuli the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lazulum, which is from the Arabic lazaward, which is ultimately from the Persian لاژورد lajward, the name of a place where lapis lazuli was mined. The name of the place came to be associated with the stone mined there and eventually, with its colour. The English word azure, the Spanish and Portuguese azul, and the Italian azzurro are cognates. Taken as a whole, lapis lazuli means “stone of azure”.
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Name:
The name is derived from Labrador (Canada), where it was first discovered in 1770.
Description:
Labradorite is truly a fascinatingly beautiful material. Its a mineral whose charm is not fully noticed and may be overlooked if not viewed from the proper position. These beautiful flashes of colour change according to the angle of light refraction, and may be somewhat metallic tints of blue, green, yellow, and pink, with the majority of the stone itself a dark grey in colour. Spectrolite is a trade name for Labradorite, owing to the spectral colours in the gemstone.
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Name:
The name derives from the Greek word “ios”, which means violet.
Description:
A gemstone that comes in various shades of blue. It is sometimes known as “water sapphire”. Because of its pleochroismic qualities (the property in some gems of transmitting relatively strong colours when viewed along different axes) it makes it difficult to cut (even if it does make it easy for navigation!)
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Name:
The name probably derives from the Latin word “Granatum” meaning “pomegranate”, as the red colour of the stone has the appearance of seeds of this fruit.
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Name:
The name derives from the French word ‘Citron’ meaning lemon.
Description:
Citrine is a golden yellow stone obtaining its colour from the presence of iron. Most Citrine is pale yellow and some after heat-treatment become deeper in colour.
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