'gem-laden' originates from the combination of 'gem' and 'laden', where 'gem' refers to a precious stone and 'laden' means heavily loaded or weighed down.

'gem' comes from the Old French 'gemme', and 'laden' comes from the Old English 'hladen', meaning to load or burden.

Initially, 'laden' meant 'to load or burden', and when combined with 'gem', it evolved to mean 'filled with gems'.