pearl: [14] Latin perna originally signified ‘leg’, and hence ‘ham’. It came to be applied metaphorically to a variety of sea-mussel whose stalk-like foot resembled a ham in shape. Such mussels could contain pearls, and so a diminutive form *pernula seems to have been coined in Vulgar Latin to designate ‘pearl’. This was later contracted to *perla, which passed into English via Old French perle.
pearl (n.)
mid-13c., from Old French perle (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin perla (mid-13c.), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *pernula, diminutive of Latin perna, which in Sicily meant "pearl," earlier "sea-mussel," literally "ham, haunch, gammon," so called for the shape of the mollusk shells.
Other theories connect it with the root of pear, also somehow based on shape, or Latin pilula "globule," with dissimilation. The usual Latin word for "pearl" was margarita (see margarite).
For pearls before swine, see swine. Pearl Harbor translates Hawaiian Wai Momi, literally "pearl waters," so named for the pearl oysters found there; transferred sense of "effective sudden attack" is attested from 1942 (in reference to Dec. 7, 1941).
例文
1. "You don't need to do that," said Pearl assertively.
「そんなことをする必要はありません」とパーアはきっぱり言った。
2.And what is that pearl of wisdom supposed to mean？
その透徹した見解はいったいどういう意味なのだろうか。
3.On the table sat a box decorated with little pearl triangles.
テーブルの上にはビーズでできた小さな三角形で装飾された箱があります。
4. Pearl didn 't mind his reticence、in fact she liked it.
Pellは無口であることを気にしない、実は、彼女はそれが好きです。
5.I put on the pearl earrings Daddy had bought me.