lapidary

Meanings

1. A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
2. The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
3. An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
4. Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
5. A treatise on (precious) stones.

1. Of or pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of working them.
2. Senses relating to inscriptions.
3. Of an inscription: engraved on stone.
4. Of a piece of writing or a writing style: characteristic of or suitable for an inscription; embodying the precision and refinement of inscriptions on monuments; concise and stately.
5. Of or pertaining to stones in general.
6. Succinct, laconic.

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives). Noun senses 3.2 (“jewellery”) and 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives). The stone-referent adjective is either: * a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or * derived from the noun. Adjective sense 4 (“succint”) is by metaphor: the speaker or writer has cut and polished their locution, as it were.