When we were in a Turkish gemstone store (jewelry store) and the woman talked about the different types of turquoise, Turkish, American. I don't remember the other places it comes from. What came to me at the time was the similarity of the word Turquoise and Turkey. So I looked it up. Sure enough, the name of the stone comes from the area of Turkey.
turquoise
precious stone, 1560s, replacement from M.Fr. of M.E. turkeis, turtogis (late 14c.), from O.Fr. turqueise, fem. adj. "Turkish," in pierre turqueise "Turkish stone," so called because it was first brought to Europe from Turkestan or some other Turkish dominion (Sinai peninsula, according to one theory)
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