The story
- Latin · calque ofmāter perlārum
- English todaymother-of-pearl
Calque of Latin māter perlārum, with the first element perhaps connected in popular imagination with obsolete mother (“dregs”). Possibly referring to the fact that the nacre-lined shells are the belly (“mother”) in which pearls are produced.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.