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?