Editing Lapis lazuli (section)

==History==
Excavations from [[Tepe Gawra]] show that Lapis lazuli was introduced to [[Mesopotamia]] approximately in the late [[Ubaid period]], c. 4900–4000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herrmann |first=Georgina |date=April 1968  |title=Lapis Lazuli: The Early Phases of its Trade |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iraq/article/abs/lapis-lazuli-the-early-phases-of-itstrade/56AE13DC2B65517140129A493FED4335 |journal=IRAQ |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=21–57 |doi=10.2307/4199836 |jstor=4199836 |issn=0021-0889|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A traditional understanding was that the Lapis lazuli was mined some fifteen hundred miles to the east – in [[Badakhshan]]. Indeed, the [[Persian language|Persian]] {{lang|fa|لاژورد}} {{Transliteration|fa|lāžavard/lāževard}}, also written {{lang|fa|لاجورد}} {{Transliteration|fa|lājevard}}, is commonly interpreted as having an origin in a local place name.

From the Persian, the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{lang|ar|لازورد}} {{Transliteration|ar|lāzaward}} is the etymological source of both the English word ''azure'' (via Old French ''azur'') and [[Medieval Latin]] {{lang|la|lazulum}}, which came to mean 'heaven' or 'sky'. To disambiguate, {{lang|la|lapis lazulī}} ("stone of {{lang|la|lazulum}}") was used to refer to the stone itself, and is the term ultimately imported into [[Middle English]].<ref name="Senning-2007">{{cite book |last=Senning |first=Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/elseviersdiction00senn |title=Elsevier's Dictionary of Chemoetymology |publisher=Elsevier |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-444-52239-9 |location=Amsterdam |page=[https://archive.org/details/elseviersdiction00senn/page/n232 224] |chapter=lapis lazuli (lazurite) |url-access=limited}}</ref> {{lang|la|Lazulum}} is etymologically related to the color blue, and used as a root for the word for blue in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese {{lang|es|azul}}.<ref name="Senning-2007" /><ref name="Weekley-1967">{{cite book |last=Weekley |first=Ernest |url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00week |title=An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1967 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00week/page/n50 97] |chapter=azure |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Mines in northeast Afghanistan continue to be a major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of [[Lake Baikal]] in Russia, and in the [[Andes]] mountains in [[Chile]] which is the source that the [[Inca]] used to carve artifacts and jewelry. Smaller quantities are mined in Pakistan, Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.<ref name="ICGA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gemstone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:sapphire&catid=1:gem-by-gem&Itemid=14|title=Lapis Lazuli|publisher=International Colored Gemstone Association|website=www.gemstone.org|access-date=2020-02-13|archive-date=2020-03-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321162641/https://www.gemstone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117%3Asapphire&catid=1%3Agem-by-gem&Itemid=14|url-status=live}}</ref>