(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 {19} 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 [Greek: margaritês], 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_.