Remarks |
'Northern', i.e., of the north alluding to the North American continent; 'pearl', i.e., a dense variously colored and usually lustrous concretion formed of concentric layers of nacre as an abnormal growth within the shell of some mollusks and used as a gem (p. 865 in Ref. 11978), from Old French 'perle' from Vulgar Latin 'perla, pernula', i.e., pearl, from Latin 'perna', i.e., leg, ham and applied metaphorically to a variety of sea mussels whose stalk like foot resembled a ham in shape (p. 388 in Ref. 11979); 'dace', i.e., term used for any small No. American freshwater cyprinid fish, from Middle English 'dace, darce', from Middle French 'dars' from Middle Latin 'darsus' (p. 322 in Ref. 11978). |