_Etymology of Pearl_ (Vol. vi., p. 578.; Vol. vii., p. 18.).--SIR EMERSON
TENNENT inquires as to the antiquity of the word _pearl_ in the English
language. _Pærl_ occurs in Anglo-Saxon (Bosworth in v.), and corresponding
forms are found in the Scandinavian languages, as well as in the Welsh and
Irish. The old German form of the word is _berille_. Richardson in v.
quotes an instance of the adjective _pearled_ from Gower, who belongs to
the fourteenth century. The use of _union_ for _pearl_, cited by SIR E.
TENNENT from Burton, is a learned application of the word, and never was
popular in our language.
I may add that Muratori inserts the word _perla_ in the _Italian Glossary_,
in his 33rd Dissertation on Italian Mediæval Antiquities. He believes the
origin of the word to be Teutonic, but throws no light on the subject. It
appears from Halliwell's _Arch. and Prov. Dictionary_, that white spots in
the eyes were anciently called _pearls_. McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_
in v., particularly speaks of the pear-shaped form of the pearl; and, on
the whole, the supposition that _perula_ is equivalent to _pear-ling_,
seems the most probable.