Lapidarist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who cuts, shapes, and polishes precious or semiprecious stones into gems or decorative objects
2. A skilled craftsperson specializing in the cutting, polishing, and shaping of gemstones and mineral materials
3. An artisan who works with stones to fashion them into refined gems, ornaments, or decorative pieces through expert technique

Etymology: "Lapidarist" is formed from "lapidary," which in turn comes from Latin "lapidarius," meaning "of stones" or "concerned with stones," built from "lapis" (stone) plus the adjectival suffix "-arius." The English adjective "lapidary" arrived in the early 1600s, and it originally described anything relating to stones or inscriptions cut in stone. That inscriptional sense survives in "lapidary style," a terse, carved-in-stone kind of prose, and in the adjective's connection to monumental engraving. The noun "lapidary" for a gem cutter came later, and "lapidarist" is an even later formation, built by adding the agent suffix "-ist" to the noun. English speakers have long produced such pairs (as with "dentist" from "dental" or "cellist" from "cello"), and "lapidarist" was formed on the same pattern to name a person who works the craft rather than the craft itself. It is a rare word, mostly found in technical or literary writing, and its meaning tracks closely with the older "lapidary" as a gem-cutting trade.

Synonyms: gemcutter, jeweler, stonecutter, gemologist, artisan