peridotn.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman peridou, peridout (mid 13th cent.) and Middle French perido, peridon, peridol, French péridot a kind of yellow or green gem, chrysolite, now specifically olivine (1360 as peridol ; 1220 as peritot in a Latin text), of uncertain origin; perhaps alteration of Anglo-Norman pedoretés , Middle French pederote a kind of opal (although these are apparently first attested later: see pederote n.). Compare post-classical Latin peridotus , peridota (from 13th cent. in British sources; also peridon' (1204 in a British source), paritotis , ablative plural (1411 in a British source)), Italian peridode (14th cent., also 14th cent. as peridos ). In sense 2 reborrowed < French (compare quot. 1706 at sense 2).With the suggested alteration in French, compare post-classical Latin perodotem (accusative) and perodote (ablative), variant readings for classical Latin paederotem, paederote in an 11th-cent. manuscript copy of Solinus from Monte Cassino. An alternative derivation of the word ultimately < Arabic farīda ‘pearl, precious stone’ has been suggested, but the latter is a derivative of farīd ‘solitary’ rather than an original gem name, and Arabic initial f is normally preserved in European borrowings. It is uncertain whether examples such as the following should be interpreted as showing the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word:c1315 in J. W. Legg & W. H. St. J. Hope Inventories of Christchurch, Canterbury (1902) 72 Item, lapides ejusdem in argento..Item, j peridot oblongus.1348 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 51 Unum anulum cum peridod imposito.1358 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 70 Annulum meum aureum cum lapide vocato pelidod.