lapidary

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lapidarie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin lapidārius (“of stone, a stonecutter”),^[5][3][6][7] probably partly through Old French lapidaire (“stonecutter; treatise on precious stones”).^[8][4][2] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1121–35 in the sense "lapidary, book of stones".^[9] The Latin adjective is formed from lapis (“stone”) and the suffix -ārius,^[5][10] and was used as a noun for a stonecutter in Late Latin.^[6][11] The sense "treatise on precious stones" goes back to Medieval Latin lapidārium (“book of gems”).^[5][6] Barnhart and Klein take lapis as probably cognate with Ancient Greek λέπας (lépas, “bare rock, crag”),^[8][12] and Barnhart traces both to Proto-Indo-European *lep-.^[8] The English adjective was borrowed from Latin again in the 18th century.^[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A craftsman who cuts, polishes or engraves precious stones: before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][8] The sense "treatise on precious stones" follows about 1384, in Chaucer's House of Fame.^[5][8][13]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word named both the craftsman and a book describing the kinds and virtues of gems, a genre already established in French.^[5][4][9] From about 1440 to 1794 a lapidary was also an expert on gems, a connoisseur,^[5][6] and in the 16th century the word could mean precious stones in general, jewellery.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as one who deals in stones or gems.^[14] The adjective appears in 1724, first of inscriptions engraved on stone and of a style suited to monumental inscriptions;^[5][3][4] the more general sense "concerned with stones" is recorded from 1831, in De Quincey, and is rare.^[5] From the style of inscriptions the adjective came to describe any writing that is concise, precise and elegant,^[2][3][15] a use that Grammarphobia finds in nearly every current dictionary.^[16] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the noun for the art of cutting gems.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a cutter, polisher or engraver of precious stones.^[5][8]
• c. 1384 – a treatise on precious stones.^[5][8]
• c. 1440 – an expert on precious stones (obsolete by 1794).^[5]
• 1509 – precious stones collectively, jewellery (obsolete by 1609).^[5]
• 1724 – adjective, engraved on stone; of a style, suited to monumental inscriptions.^[5][3][4]
• 1831 – concerned with stones.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who cuts, polishes, engraves or deals in gemstones.^[15][3][2]
2. The art of cutting gems: She took a weekend class in lapidary.^[3]
3. A treatise on precious stones; now only historical.^[5][6]
4. (obsolete, 1440–1794) An expert on precious stones; a connoisseur of gems.^[5][6][3]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to gemstones or the work of cutting them.^[15][3][2]
2. Engraved or inscribed on stone.^[15][2][5]
3. Of writing or speech, concise, precise and elegant, as if fit to be carved on a monument: the lapidary prose of her final chapter.^[2][3][15]
4. (rare) Concerned with stones.^[5]

Related words

• lapidarian
• lapidate
• dilapidate
• lapis lazuli

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart, The Grammarphobia Blog, grammarphobia.com, p. "A lapidary opinion", 7 December 2020