Lapis Lazuli Blue

Lapis lazuli

Lapis lazuli is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Its name originates from the Persian word for the gem, lāžward, and serves as the root for the word for "blue" in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese azul and English azure. Lapis lazuli is a rock composed primarily of the minerals lazurite, pyrite, diopside, and calcite. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun.

Blue

Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RGB (additive) colour model, as well as in the RYB colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term blue generally describes colours perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective.

lapis

Noun

1. Ellipsis of lapis lazuli.

lazuli

Noun

1. Ellipsis of lapis lazuli.

blue

Adjective

1. Of a blue hue.
2. Depressed, melancholic, sad.

Noun

1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours.
2. Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.