Jan. 1. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



19 



advert presently) supports the derivation from 

 the fruit ; the derivation from jiera, a wallet, is, 

 on merely linguistical grounds, preferable. 



The Greek name of pearl is /xapyupirris, origin- 

 ally 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 mm-wari. 

 Pliny, //. N. ix. 56., speaking of the pearl, says : 

 " Apud Gra3Cos non est, ne apud barbaros quidem 

 inventores ejus, aliud quam margaritte." The 

 Greek name Margarita was used by the Romans, 

 but the proper Latin name for the pearl was 

 ■iinio. Pliny (ibid.) explains this word by say- 

 ing that each pearl is unique^ and unlike every 

 other pearl. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxiii. 

 ad fin.) thinks that pearls, were called unioncs, be- 

 cause the best were found single in the shell ; 

 Solinus (c. 53.) because they were always found 

 single. The more homely explanation of Salma- 

 sius 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 uninte- 

 resting 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 

 unid) instead of peai-l (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 

 " margaritas." 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 unioii generally received 

 in England instead of pearl in Burton's time, and 

 when did it give place to it ? J. Emeeson Tennant. 



" MARTIN DRUNK." 



(Vol. v., p. 587.) 



ILas not the following song something to do with 

 the expression "Martin drunk" ? It is certainly 

 cotemporary with Thomas Nash the Elizabethan 



satirist, and was long a favourite " three man's " 

 song. It is copied from Deiiteromelia, or the Second 

 Part of Mustek's Melodic, 4to., 1609 : 



" MARTIN SAID TO HIS MAN. 



" Martin said to bis man, 



Fie ! man, fie ! 



Martin said to his man, 



Who's the foole now ? 

 Martin said to his man, 

 Fill thou the cup, and I the can ; 

 Thou hast well drunken, man, 



Wlio's the foole now ? 



" I see a sheepe shering come, 



Fie ! man, fie ! 



1 see a sheepe shering come. 



Who's the foole now ? 

 I see a sheepe shering come, 

 And a cuckold blow his home ; 

 Thou hast well drunken, man. 



Who's the foole now ? 



" I see a man in the moone. 



Fie 1 man, fie ! 



I see a man in the moone ; 



Who's the foole now ? 



I see a man in the moone, 



Clowting of St. Peter's shoone ; 



Thou hast well drunken, man. 



Who's the foole now ? 



" I see a hare chase a bound, 



Fie 1 man, fie ! 



I see a hare chase a hound, 



Who's the foole now ? 



T see a hare chase a liound, 



Twenty mile above the ground ; 



Thou hast well drunken, man. 



Who's the foole now ? 



" I see a goose ring a bog, 



Fie ! man, fie ! 



I see a goose ring a hog, 



Who's the foole now ? 



I sec a goose ring a bog, 



And a snayle that did bite a dog ; 



Thou hast well drunken, man. 



Who's the foole now ? 



" 1 see a mouse catch the cat, 



Fie ! man, fie ! 

 I see a mouse catch the cat, 



Who's the foole now ? 

 I see a mouse catch the cat. 

 And the cheese to eate the rat ; 

 Thou bast well drunken, man, 



Who's the foole now?" 

 Edward F. Rimbault. 



GOTHe's reply to NICOIiAI. 



(Vol. vi., p. 434.). 

 Had M. M. E. gone to the fountain-head, and 

 consulted Gothe's own statement in his autobio- 

 graphy, he would have seen in the Werke, vol. xxvi. 



