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perula

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word perula

perula1 small bag

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC Cicero, quoted by Quintilian
Ultimate origin
Latin pēra
Etymology tree of perula1
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek πήρα (pḗra)
Latin pēra
English pier
Latin pērula
From the same root · perula1
English pear ← pēra

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpeː.rʊ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ru.la][1]

Forms

pērula f (genitive pērulae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The word for the small bag is formed from Latin pēra + -ula, a diminutive of the word for a satchel.[2][3][1] pēra is a borrowing of Ancient Greek πήρα (pḗra).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is a quip of Cicero's that Quintilian reports: to someone who said that his son had been carried in his mother's womb, Cicero answered quid? aliae in perula solent ferre? (“why, do other women carry them in a little bag?”).[3] A reading in Plautus' Truculentus rests on a doubtful conjecture.[3]

Semantic evolution

Seneca tells how Diogenes broke the cup he had taken from his little bag, exemptum e perula calicem.[3][5] Apuleius also uses it jokingly for a pregnant woman's swelling womb.[3][6]

Medieval glossaries still explained it as a small bag.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero jokes about children carried in a perula.[3][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca tells of Diogenes taking his cup from his little bag.[5][3][8]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it jokingly of a pregnant womb.[3][6][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small satchel or bag, a little wallet.[2][5]
  2. (humorous) The swelling womb of a pregnant woman.[3][6]

perula2 pearl

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1225
Ultimate origin
Latin pirum
Etymology tree of perula2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pirum
Latin pērula
From the same root · perula2
Latin pirus ← pirum

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛ.rʊ.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ru.la][1]

Forms

perula f (genitive perulae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The word for the pearl is Medieval Latin, also spelled perla, ⟨perna⟩ and ⟨pella⟩.[9][8] Niermeyer and Wiktionary derive it from Latin pirum (“pear”).[9][1] Köbler calls the origin unclear and suggests either that word or perna (“ham”).[8] Etymonline also finds the origin of the form ⟨perla⟩ unknown: it may come from *pernula, a diminutive of ⟨perna⟩, which in Sicily meant “pearl” and earlier “sea mussel”, named from the shape of the shell; other proposals connect it with the word for the pear or with pilula (“globule”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In British Medieval Latin the spelling perula appears in 1240, of an amice to be made and adorned with pearls.[11] The word, mostly spelled perla, is recorded there from 1225.[11]

Semantic evolution

The word named the pearl as a precious stone, used in ornaments, embroidery and medicine, and was sometimes distinguished from margarīta.[11] Du Cange also records perula for a white spot on the eye, taken from French perle, in Wolfhard's life of Saint Walburga.[7]

The word passed into the Romance languages, as Italian perla and Friulian perle,[1] and Old High German has perala.[8]

Timeline

  • 1225 – British Medieval Latin records the spelling perla.[11]
  • 1240 – A British record speaks of an amice adorned perulis, “with pearls”.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A pearl.[9][11][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A white spot on the eye.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Perula.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/perula. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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