ܒܶܠܽܘܪܳܐ blwrʾ belurā beryl
Allotropes: ܒܹܪܘܼܠܵܐ brwlʾ berulā βήρυλλος, beryl; (?) ܒܪܘܠܚ brwlḥ, ܒܪܘܼܠܚܐ brwlḥʾ brulḥā. Derivative: ܐܬܒܲܪܲܠ ʾtbrl eṯbaral to glitter like beryl
Parth. bylwr rock crystal (Henning 1937a, 81); MP bēlūr [bylwr] crystal (CPD 18); ManParth. bylwr /bēlūr/ rock crystal and byrwlyyn /bērūlēn/ of crystal (Durkin-Meisterernst 2004, 122, who quotes the proposal, advanced by A. Korn, to transcribe respectively /belūr/ and /berūlēn/); NP bilūr (bulūr) id. — JBA bwrlʾ; Hebr. bəδolaḥ; Md. bylwr bīlūr "crystal" and "wind instrument" (loanword from Parth. according to Widengren 1960, 91): Widengren cannot explain the semantic shift; probably we have to accept the hypothesis advanced by Cardona 1980–1981, 89, who holds that we are probably dealing with two autonomous words which merged by casual homophony; Arab. LW bulūr, ballūr, billawr (← NP). The two Syr. words blwrʾ and brwlʾ do not seem to be loanwords from Greek, but from Iranian (Cardona 1980–1981, 88 f.), and the same is true for JBA bwrlʾ. It is not clear which of the two allotropes is the older one; according to Lagarde, blwr became brwl under the influence of Gr. βήρυλλος. In Syr. there is also a third form, brwlḥ, brwlḥʾ Indian crystal (LS 97a), which—according to Lagarde—could be related to the Syr. name for beryl. This Syr. form corresponds to Hebr. bəδolaḥ in Gen 2, 12 and Num 11, 7, even if the proper meaning of the Hebrew word, often used in the sense of "pearl, Indian crystal", seems to be "balm, vegetal secretion" (see Cardona 1980–1981, 89 and 65 f.; however, Cardona 65 f. observes that the Hebr. word is already understood in various ways in the Septuangint, but always as the name of some precious stone) ● blwrʾ Phil V 82, 1; ThbK 2, 215, 13; brwlʾ Gn 2, 12; Ex 25, 7; Ap 21, 20; ES 1, 231A; JS in asd 99, 14; PsC 217, 2; brwlḥ, brwlḥʾ Gen 2, 12; Nm 11, 7; AS 3, 20, 25; EN 20, 44; BA n 2590; BB 426, 17; ʾtbrl Cat Camb. 384, 14 ◆ LS 78a; 97a; PS Comp. 55; Lagarde GA 20, 39 and 22, 48; Mancini 1992, 23
The Iranian word comes from Skr. vaiḍūrya-, Pāli ve←uriya beryl, lapis-lazuli, which in its turn probably comes from Tamil Vē←ūr, or Bēlūr, lit. "white town", name of a town in southern India, rich in beryl deposits (Master 1943–1946, 304 ff.). From Ind. comes Gr. βήρυλλος, backformation on βηρύλλιον (Frisk I 234), whence Lat. beryllus, and Arm. biwre, beriw, bere rock crystal (Hübschmann AG 344, no. 66).