Note to Jansy: if our Russian speakers tell us the etymology
of
/lazur'/, I'll bet the /l/ is not from Persian but the French
definite
article.
Dear Jerry,
You are mistaken. Most foreign words came to us via
Germany, and so did lazur', or its near-homonym, glazur'
(glaze, in ceramics). Both of these Russian words derive from the German
"Lasur." They merely changed gender (masc. to fem.) in the process of
Russification.
In the English word, which comes from Persian
through Arabic al lazuwar(d), the initial l was lost together with the
article (says my dictionary, the Random House Webster).
best,
Alexey