Azurite, a name which has been given to the mineral more commonly called Lazulite (q.v.), and to which, along with Lapis Lazuli (q.v.) or Azure-stone, mineral turquoise (see TURQUOISE), &c., the generic name, Azure Spar, is sometimes given.—The name azurite is also given by mineralogists to an ore of copper, generally known as Blue Copper or Chessylite (see COPPER), nearly allied to Malaclite (q.v.), and remarkable for its beautiful azure colour.

B

is the second letter of our own alphabet, and a corresponding and related symbol occupies the same place in the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other alphabets. Derived ultimately from the hieroglyphic picture of a crane, it was called, when taken over by the Phœnicians, beth, 'the house,' whence came the Greek name beta, which we retain in the last syllable of the word alpha-bet. In the Aramean alphabets the loop of the Phœnician form gradually opened out, and finally disappeared, giving the square Hebrew and the Arabic forms shown in the table on p. 187, article ALPHABET. In the Greek alphabet the tail was bent round, forming a second complete loop, as in our capital B, out of which the Greek minuscule β easily arose as a cursive form. Our minuscule b comes from the cursive Latin, this form being found as early as the 1st century A.D. scribbled on Pompeian walls. From the Roman cursive it was adopted into the Irish semi-uncial, whence it passed in the 7th century into England, and in the 9th century into the French or Caroline minuscule, thus becoming the source of the Roman b of our printed books. It arose through the upper loop of B being left incomplete, as is shown by the intermediate form, B. In our b the loop of the primitive letter has disappeared, while in the Indian form this loop is all that remains. In the alphabet of ancient Corinth we find a form, S, which approaches very closely to that of the Egyptian Hieratic prototype. Phonetically, B may be defined as the soft labial mute.

Owing to physiological causes, b may exchange with m, p, v, or f. Thus the Greek brotos corresponds to the Latin mortalis, and the Gaelic beinn is the Cymric pen. Again, episcopus has become bishop in English and évêque in French, while the English bear corresponds to the Latin ferre. About the 4th century, b in Latin and Greek was very commonly softened down to v, which explains how the French avoir arose out of habere, and the Italian tavola out of tabula. The physiological causes of these changes will be explained in the article LETTERS.