The noun μαργαριτης (margarites) means pearl, hence the word margarin (pearly white glob) and the name Margaret and thus Maggie, Peggy, Margery, Margarita, Margot, Mag, Madge, Megan and even Gretchen and Greta. It occurs 9 times in the New Testament; see full concordance.

Our noun is of unknown origin, and thus of unclear meaning: we don't know whether pearls were named after their whiteness, their iridescence, their rarity, roundness, region of origin or the process by which they were produced in nature: by constant irritation. Our noun μαργαριτης (margarites) shows up in various guises in many ancient languages (Persian: marvarid; Sanskrit: manjari), but it's not clear how these words relate and which came first. Obvious derivatives in Greek are μαργαρος (margaros), oyster, and μαργαρις (margaris), a kind of palm tree, evidently endowed with some semblance to pearls, although it's difficult to estimate what that might have been because we don't know what pearls themselves stood for (neither of these latter words occurs in the Bible).

Pearls don't appear to be mentioned in the Old Testament, which is rather curious, since pearls were symbols of utter wealth since deep antiquity. But it's perfectly possible that the traditional Hebrew word for pearl indeed occurs but has been mistakenly translated into something else. We simply don't know what the ancients called a pearl, or what they literally meant when they said the word μαργαριτης (margarites).

Proverbs 25:12 speaks of a precious ornament made of כתם (ketem), which is normally considered to be one of a few words for gold, but which actually is suspiciously similar to the verb כתם (katam), which is thought to mean to stain (only in: the stain of your guilt; Jeremiah 2:22), and which may very well refer to the signature iridescence of pearls. Hence the Vulgate interprets this item as being a margaritum fulgens, or brilliant pearl.

Speaking of a colorful spectrum of guilt, the telling adjective μαργος (margos) means furious, mad, lustful, gluttonous, and so on. Noun μαργοτης (margotes) means raging mad passion, and the adjective μαργαω (margao) means raging, especially in battle. These words too are of unknown origin but were possibly formed after μαργαριτης (margarites), pearl. This indicates that, at least in Greek, pearls may have represented extravagance to a proverbially crazy and utterly irresponsible level.

That in turn explains Pliny's disturbing story of Cleopatra's two pearls, which were the "largest that had ever been seen in the whole world" and had come to her through descent from the kings of the East (Nat.Hist.9.58). Fearing that Anthony was getting bored, Cleopatra offered to consume ten million sesterces (2.5 million denarii; one δηναριον, denarion, was a commoner's day wage) in one sitting. She was wearing the pearls as earrings and when Antony accepted the challenge, she tossed one of them in a chalice filled with vinegar and drank it as it dissolved. Horrified, her personnel covered the second pearl, and when Cleopatra had met her demise, the remaining proverbial "pearl of great value" was split and made into a set of earrings for Venus, in the Pantheon at Rome (Matthew 13:45-46).

Just before the story of Cleopatra's pearls, Pliny told the story of Lollia Paulina, the wife of emperor Caligula, who had appeared at an "ordinary wedding entertainment" decked out in layers of emeralds and pearls, which he estimated to be worth forty million sesterces; "fruits of plunder and extortion!" Both these stories appear synthesized in John the Revelator's vision of the great harlot, adorned in gems and pearls and holding a chalice of her abominations (Revelation 14:4).

John the Revelator also envisioned the New Jerusalem as having pearls for gates and streets paved with gold (Revelation 21:21). The gold-paved streets are explained by Jesus' remark about tasteless salt, which is only good to be trampled on by men (Matthew 5:13). The pearly gates are explained by the word πυλων (pulon), gateway or gate-house, which enclosed a space prior to the actual house or city, where low-ranking personnel mingled with beggars and dogs. If a pearl is the utmost in worldly wealth and economic clout, then the rich and powerful of our present world are at best the portal sweepers of the one to come.

The ultimate origin of our noun μαργαριτης (margarites) remains a mystery, but since nobody knows and everybody is guessing, here at Abarim Publications we guess that the word is ultimately Semitic, and combines:

• The root מרר (marar), to be strong or bitter; hence names like Maria and Mara and the important noun מר (mor), meaning myrrh.
• The root גרר (garar), to drag or drag away, mostly in a circular or repetitive motion. Noun גרה (gera) was a unit of weight or a currency. Noun גרגר (gargar) means berry. Noun גרגרות (gargerot) means neck. Noun גרות (gerut) describes a lodging place for foreign travelers. Noun ממגרות (mammegurot) describes storehouses, or places were goods were temporarily stored on their way to the market.