ALJOFAR
s. Port. 'seed-pearl.' Cobarruvias says it is from Ar. al-jauhar , 'jewel.'
Historical Citations (3)
"And from these bazars (alcacerias) issue certain gates into certain streets, where they sell many things, such as cloths of silk and cotton, and sendals, and tafetanas, and silk, and pearl (alxofar)."—Clavijo, § lxxxi. (comp. Markham, 81).
"The aljofar and pearls that (your Majesty) orders me to send you I cannot have as they have them in Ceylon and in Caille, which are the sources of them: I would buy them with my blood, and with my money, which I have only from your giving. The Sinabaffs (sinabafos), porcelain vases (porcellanas), and wares of that sort are further off. If for my sins I stay here longer I will endeavour to get everything. The slave girls that you order me to send you must be taken from prizes,[27] for the heathen women of this country are black, and are mistresses to everybody by the time they are ten years old."—Letter of the Viceroy D. Francisco d'Almeida to the King, in Correa, i. 908-9.
"As it (the idol) was too deformed, they made hands for it of the small pearls which we call 'pearls by the ounce.'"—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 228.]
From Hobson-Jobson by Yule & Burnell, 1886.