ETYMOLOGY OF PEARL.
(Vol. vi., p. 578.)
The inquiry of your correspondent Ifigfowl respecting the etymology of the word pearl does not admit of a simple answer. The word occurs in all the modern languages, both Romance and Teutonic: perla, Ital. and Span.; perle, French and German, whence the English pearl. Adelung in v. believes the word to be of Teutonic origin, and considers it as the diminutive of beere, a berry. Others derive it from perna, the Latin name of a shell-fish (see Ducange in perlæ; Diez, Grammatik der Romanischen Sprachen, vol. i. p. 235.). Neither of these derivations is probable: it is not shown that beere had a diminutive form, and perna was a local and obscure name: see Pliny, N. H. xxxii. ad fin. Salmasius (Exercit. Plin., p. 40. ed. 1689) thinks that perla is formed from perula, for sperula, the diminutive of sphæra. A more probable origin is that the word is formed from the Latin pirum, as suggested by Diez, in allusion to the pear-shaped form of the pearl. Ducange in v. says that the extremity of the nose was called pirula nasi, from its resemblance to the form of a pear. But pirus was used to denote a boundary-stone, made in a pyramidal shape (Ducange in v.); and this seems to have been the origin of the singular expression pirula nasi, as being something at the extremity. Another supposition is, that the word perla is derived from the Latin perula, the diminutive of pera, a wallet. A wallet was a small bag hung round the neck; and the word perula, in the sense of a small bag, occurs in Seneca and Apuleius. The analogy of shape and mode of wearing is sufficiently close to suggest the transfer of the name. Perula and perulus are used in Low Latin in the sense of pearl. Ducange cites a passage from a hagiographer, where perula means the white of the eye, evidently alluding to the colour of the pearl.
The choice seems to lie between perula as the diminutive of pera or of pirum. Neither derivation is improbable. It is to be observed that the modern Italian form of pirum, the fruit of the pear, is pera; the modern feminine noun being, as in numerous other cases, formed from the plural of the Latin neuter noun (see Diez, ib. vol. ii. p. 19.). The analogy of unio (to which I shall
advert presently) supports the derivation from the fruit; the derivation from pera, a wallet, is, on merely linguistical grounds, preferable.
The Greek name of pearl is μαργαρίτης, originally applied to a precious stone, and apparently moulded out of some oriental name, into a form suited to the Greek pronunciation. Scott and Liddell in v. derive it from the Persian murwari. Pliny, H. N. ix. 56., speaking of the pearl, says: "Apud Græcos non est, ne apud barbaros quidem inventores ejus, aliud quam margaritæ." The Greek name Margarita was used by the Romans, but the proper Latin name for the pearl was unio. Pliny (ibid.) explains this word by saying that each pearl is unique, and unlike every other pearl. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxiii. ad fin.) thinks that pearls were called uniones, because the best were found single in the shell; Solinus (c. 53.) because they were always found single. The more homely explanation of Salmasius seems, however, to be the true one; namely, that the common word for an onion, growing in a single bulb, was transferred to the pearl (Exercit. Plin., pp. 822-4.; Columella de R. R. xii. 10.). The ancient meaning of unio is still preserved in the French ognon.
L.
Your correspondent asks the "etymon of our English word pearl." It would not be uninteresting to learn, at the same time, at what period pearl came into general use as an English word? Burton, who wrote his Anatomy in the reign of James I., uses the word union (from the Latin unio) instead of pearl (Anat. Melanc., vol. ii. part 2. sec. 3. mem. 3., and ib., p. 2. sec. 4. mem. 1. subs. 4.). In the latter passage he says "Those smaller unions which are found in shells, amongst the Persians and Indians, are very cordial, and most part avail to the exhilaration of the heart."
The Latin term unio differs from "margarita," in so far as it seems to have been applied by Pliny to distinguish the small and ill-shaped pearls, from the large round and perfect, which he calls "margaritæ." And in his ninth book, c. 59., he defines the difference philologically, as well as philosophically. Philemon Holland, who published his translation of Pliny in 1634, about thirteen years after Burton published the first edition of his Anatomy, uses the word pearl indifferently as the equivalent both of margarita and unio.
Query: Was the word union generally received in England instead of pearl in Burton's time, and when did it give place to it?
J. Emerson Tennant.