Turquoise

sb. (a.) Forms: see below. [In 13–16th c. turkeis, -keys, a. OF. turqueise, -quaise, later turquoise, fem, of turqueis, -quais, turquois adj. Turkish, in full pierre turquoise, i.e., ‘Turkish stone’ (cf. Marco Polo c. xxxiv ‘pierres qui s’appellent turquesses’) = Pr., Sp. turquesa, Pg. turqueza, It. turchese, med.L. (lapis) turchēsius or turkēsius; = MDu. turcoys, turckois, Du. turkoois, MHG. turkîs, -koys, etc., mod.Ger, türkis, türkiss, Da. turkis, tyrkis, Sw. turkos. So named as coming from Turkestan, where first found, or through the Turkish dominions: cf. also med.L. turchīnus, It. turchino, F. turquin blue, azure. The earliest Eng. form was the OF. and AF. turkeis; this by vowel-progression became turkē·se, -ī·se, and by stress-shift, as in other Teutonic languages, tu·rkes, -as, -is; but these forms began before 1600 to be displaced by adoption of the French spelling turquoise, turkois. Ben Jonson stresses tu·rkise, Dr. Johnson tu·rkois, -koise, Milton and Tennyson tu·rkis. Walker and Smart (1846) pronounce turkī·z, Cent. Dict. and Funk’s Stand. tərkoi·z, tərkī·z, Webster 1911, turkoi·z or tu·rkwoiz.]

  I.  1. A precious stone found in Persia (the true or oriental turquoise), much prized as a gem, of a sky-blue to apple-green color, almost opaque or sometimes translucent, consisting of hydrous phosphate of aluminium.

  α.  4–7 turkeis, 5–7 turkeys, 6 turkeies, turquays, turkese, turkies, 7 turcais, torqueis, turquies, -quize, turchis; 6– turkis, 7– turkise (both now archaic).

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xcvi. (Bodl. MS.), lf. 183 b/2. De Turtogis. Turtogis that hatte Turkeis also is a ȝelow white stone and haþ þat name of the contrey of Turkeis. Þis stone kepeþ and saueþ þes siȝt and bredeþ gladnes and comforte.

1463.  in Bury Wills (Camden), 36. I beqwethe to the said Dame Margarete a doubyl ryng departyd of gold with a ruby and a turkeys.

1503.  Hawes, Examp. Virt., iv. 5. Of vertuous turkeys there was a cheyr.

c. 1530.  Crt. of Love, xii. There lacked than, nor emerald so grene, Balais, Turkeis, ne thing to my devise.

1545.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 226. A rynge of golde with a turquays.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., III. i. 226. Out vpon her,… it was my Turkies, I had it of Leah when I was a Batcheler.

1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 305. Orient perles & great Turkeses.

1603.  B. Jonson, Sejanus, I. i. True as turkise in the deare lords ring.

1608.  Willet, Hexapla Exod., 642. It is more like to be the turkeis … the turcais is of a blewish metalline colour.

1616.  Bullokar, Eng. Expos., Turkise, a precious stone of a silke blew colour.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 894. The azurn sheen Of Turkis blew and Emrauld green.

1648.  Gage, West Ind., 71. Bracelets of Turkises and of gold likewise.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 40/2. The Turches or Turky stone … some call it Eranus, others Turcois or Torqueis.

1694.  Strype, Abp. Cranmer, III. i. 308. They seized … a good Turkeys and a Diamond.

1857.  Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 661. The turf was rich in plots that look’d Each like a garnet or a turkis in it.

1877.  W. Jones, Finger-ring, 158. The turquoise, turkise, or turkey-stone having … been supposed to possess talismanic properties.

a. 1913.  S. Vines, Hotel, 16, in Oxford Poetry, 154. Sapphires and amethysts and wicked Turkises.

  β.  5–6 turkes, 5–7 turques, (5 torcas, 5–6 Sc. turcas, 6 turkes, torchas, turcasse, tourques, turquez, toorkes, turquesse, turkesse), 6–7 turches.

1478.  Croscombe Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.), 6. A ryng gold with a torcas.

1488.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 81. Item, a ryng with a turcas. Ibid. (1511–2), IV. 331. Ane ruby, ane turkas.

1501.  Bury Wills (Camden), 91. A ryng of gold w^t a toorkes set in.

a. 1512.  Fabyan, Will, in Chron., Pref. 7. A ryng of gold, sett w^t a turques, a dyamaunt, and a ruby.

1518.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 8. A rynge of golde with a stone in hit callede a turkes. Ibid. (1527), 244. Unum annulum cum le torchas.

1530.  Palsgr., 282/1. Tourques a precious stone, tourquois.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike (1580), 4. Lapis, a stone, comprehendeth in it self, a Saphire, a Rubbie, a Christall, a Turkas. Ibid. (1553), Rhet., 209. No Diamonde, no Saphire, no Rubie, no Christall: no Turcasse, no Emerode.

1555.  Eden, Decades, 235. Turquesses are founde in Exer a place of Siech Ismael.

1567.  Maplet, Gr. Forest, 23. The Turches or Turcois, is of the common sort called Eranus…. It is called a Turches for that it is onely found in Turkland or amongst the Turkes.

1599.  Warn. Faire Wom., I. 217. You wear a pretty turkesse there, methinks.

1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart. (N. Shaks. Soc.), 107. The Turches being worne in a Ring.

1653.  Greaves, Seraglio, 15. A Basen and Ewer of massive gold, set with Rubies and Turkesses.

1688.  [see α].

  γ.  6 turkoise, 6–7 turquoys, turcoyse, turquoies, 6–8 turcois, 7–8 turcoise, (turchois), 7–9 turkois, (8 torquois, turkquoise, 9 tourquois), 6– turquoise, -ois.

1567.  Turcois [see β].

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XXXVII. viii. II. 619. The best Turquois is that which approcheth nearest to the grasse green of an Emeraud.

1607.  Turchois, 1631 Turcois [see b].

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. i. (1686), 42. Crystall … will receive impression from Steel, in a manner like the Turchois.

a. 1658.  Cleveland, Common Place, Wks. (1677), 166. The Compassionate Turcoise confesseth the Sickness of his Wearer by changing colour.

1668.  Wilkins, Real Char., II. iii. 63. Turkois.

1676.  Phil. Trans., XI. 755. Turkoises are no where found but in Persia.

1679.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1418/4. Lost … a Ring with a large Turquoies of the Old Rock, very good colour.

1747.  Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XLIV. 429. This Stone has received its … Name of Turchesia, and Turquoise, from its being most commonly brought from Turky.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, v. The small brown hand … is laden with pearls, diamonds, and turquoises.

  b.  In collect. sing., esp. as a substance.

1607.  Lingua, IV. iv. Orient Pearles, and sparkling Diamonds: Beset at the end with Emerauds and Turchois.

1631.  Widdowes, Nat. Philos., 28. Turcois is darke, of a skie colour, and greenish.

1836.  T. Thomson, Min., Geol., etc., I. 230. Tourquois seems to have been known to the ancients.

1857.  Wood, Comm. Objects Sea Shore, 64. They … are blue and bright as turquoise, to which jewel they bear some resemblance.

1882.  ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 62. The Ligurian sea, blue as turquoise.

1884.  Browning, Ferishtah, Melon-seller, 35. Ferishtah … passed … To Nishapur, that Elburz looks above Where they dig turquoise.

  2.  More fully turquoise stone: see also TURKEY STONE, Turkish stone (TURKISH a. 2 b). Now rare.

1556.  N. C. Wills (Surtees, 1908), 240. One ring of golde with a turkeys stone in it.

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 440. In the gates … there are many Turques-stones.

c. 1610.  in Heriot’s Mem., App. VII. (1822), 215. A ring sett with 5 little Turkis stones.

1673.  Ray, Journ. Low C., Florence, 333. An entire image made of one Turchois stone.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 568. Persia contains mines of… above all, turquoise stones.

1831.  Ld. Houghton, Mem. Many Scenes (1844), 75. This heaven … With richer, but less brilliant, hue, Built up of turkis-stone.

  3.  As name for a color (short for turquoise blue): see 6 b.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., viii. (1856), 61. The blue and white were mixed in a pale turkois.

1860.  W. G. Clark, in Vac. Tour., 42. A cave with a floor of liquid turquoise.

1876.  Miss Broughton, Joan, I. xix. Looking out through the open windows at the absolute turquoise of the heavens.

1878.  Miss J. J. Young, Ceram. Art (1879), 41. The Chinese value one piece … for the depth of its turquoise.

1881.  Porcelain Works, Worcester, 35. To the admirers of colour, the Persian turquoise, Imperial yellow,… and other enamels present an interesting series.

  4.  Lapidaries’ name for odontolite: see quot. 1839; also called bone-turquoise and occidental turquoise.

1796.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 154. Turquoise is ivory tinged by the blue Calx of Copper.

1819.  Odontolite Turquoise [see odontolite (ODONTO-)].

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, etc., 744. A totally different kind of turquois, called bone turquois, which seems to be phosphate or lime coloured with oxide of copper.

1868.  Dana, Min. (ed. 5), 580. Turquoise de vieille roche (in distinction from Odontolite, or T. de nouvelle roche, called also Occidental Turquois).

  b.  (See quot.)

1840.  Penny Cycl., XVIII. 472/2. s.v. Pottery, These mixtures give a fine white body for ornaments…. A body called turquoise has been manufactured to a great extent for a few years past…. When glazed, it has the peculiar milky tint of the gem after which it has been named.

  II.  attrib. and Comb.

  5.  a. Simple attrib. ‘of turquoise’: as turquoise bead, color, enamel, gem, mine, miner, treasure, work, working.

1662.  Merrett, trans. Neri’s Art of Glass, 56. This [sea] salt so calcin’d, keep to make a Blew or Turcois colour.

1753.  Chambers’ Cycl., App. s.v. Turcois, The pale blue of the natural turcois gem. Ibid., Turcois enamel.

1765.  Phil. Trans., LV. 21. Copper … gives the torquois colour to white glass.

1826.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxx. 177. Three blue tubercles, like … little turquois beads.

1849.  M. Arnold, Strayed Reveller, 195. Their wealth … Of gold and ivory, Of turquoise-earth and amethyst.

1876.  Birch, Rede Lect. Egypt, 20. Magarah and its turquoise treasures had been lost.

1877.  W. R. Cooper, Egyptian Obelisks, iv. (1878), 16. A mercantile intercourse with the Semitic nations, conterminous with the northern and eastern borders of Egypt, had encouraged already the copper and turquoise miners of the Wady Magara.

1882.  Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U. S., 323. Many ancient turquois workings are found in the neighborhood.

1896.  Georg. M. Stisted, True Life of Sir R. F. Burton, xv. 377. The Land of Midian is still wealthy; turquoise mines exist.

1906.  Outlook, 30 June, 881/2. [In common, doubtless, with the Sinai Bedawys, the Egyptians worshipped the Goddess of the Turquoise. Ibid.] That … the worship of the Turquoise goddess [was] non-Egyptian in nature.

1908.  Ch. Times, 20 March, 392/2. Turquoise and Indian Work for … Zenana Mission.

  b.  In sense ‘set or adorned with a turquoise or turquoises, or composed of turquoises,’ as turquoise ear-ring, locket, ring.

1808.  Scott, Marm., V. x. The fair Queen of France Sent him a Turquois ring.

1868.  Ld. Houghton, Select. fr. Wks., 60. And turkis-lockets, that no churl Hath fashioned out mechanic-wise.

1896.  Georg. M. Stisted, True Life Sir R. F. Burton, vii. 164. A red sausage-shaped cushion strung with turquoise rings.

1901.  Westm. Gaz., 28 Dec., 1/3. The girl with turquoise eyes and turquoise earrings.

  C.  Instrumental, similative, etc., as turquoise-colored, encrusted, -hued, -like, -studded, -tinted adjs.; turquoise-berry, a liliaceous Tasmanian herb, Drymophila cyanocarpa, bearing white flowers and blue pendulous berries.

1864.  Daily Tel., 26 Sept. The turquoise-like water, too, sparkled in the light of the declining day.

1881.  Athenæum, 4 June, 754. A pure turquoise-coloured sky.

1893.  J. Ashby-Sterry, Naughty Girl, xii. A coquettish turquoise-hued tea-gown.

1898.  Morris, Austral Eng., 426/2. Solomon’s Seal,… the Tasmanian name for Drymophila cyanocarpa,… also called Turquoise Berry.

1899.  Edin. Rev., Jan., 35. The turquoise-tinted feathers of the Kingfisher.

1906.  Daily Chron., 23 March, 8/1. Her strings of Orient pearls, her turquoise-encrusted heart-lockets.

1906.  Westm. Gaz., 24 Nov., 7/2. A gossamer turquoise-coloured scarf, lightly thrown across her shoulders.

1909.  Daily Chron., 15 July, 4/5. Neck ornament in the form of a turquoise studded serpent.

  6.  As adj. Of the color of the turquoise; turquoise-blue.

1573.  G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 125. An alabaster neck, a turcois eie.

1844.  Lady G. Fullerton, Ellen Middleton (1854), II. xiv. 149. The cordon bleu [bird], with his turquoise breast.

1882.  Mrs. B. M. Croker, Proper Pride, I. xi. 217–8. Rising here and there against the turquoise sky were palms lofty and graceful.

1891.  E. Roper, By Track & Trail, x. 138. Here and there broad pools of lovely turquoise water lay beside the track, which reflected the magnificent landscape in their serene depths.

1901.  [see 5 b].

1909.  Le Queux, House of Shadows, xviii. Her pretty gown or turquoise chiffon.

  b.  With adj. or sb. of color.

1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 122. A Turcoise blue enamel.

1828.  Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 279. Wings with from 8 to 10 spots of turquoise blue, bordered with orange.

1863.  Miss Braddon, Eleanor’s Vict., III. viii. 108. The turquoise blue eyes shone with a feverish light.

1877.  Black, Green Past., xii. Beds of turquoise-blue forget-me-nots.

1882.  Mrs. B. M. Croker, Proper Pride, I. 1. 1. A bright, turquoise-blue sky.

1883.  Truth, 31 May, 769/2. A train and corsage of turquoise blue satin.

1886.  Kipling, Departm. Ditties, Delilah, viii. The wasteful sunset faded out in turkis-green and gold.

1890.  Daily News, 15 July, 5/6. One of the … ladies who wore the beautiful turquoise blue that has been a specialty of this season.