Lapis lazuli or lapis for short, is a deep-blue rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Lapis is the Latin word for "stone" and lazulī is the form of the Medieval Latin lazulum. It means "sky" or "heaven"; so this is a "stone (of/from) the sky" or "stone (of/from) heaven". 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 azul.
