wampum

Etymology

of wampum (sense 1).]] Clipping of wampumpeag (“wampum”), probably borrowed from Massachusett wampompeage (“string of white beads used as money”), from wamp, wap, wompi (“white”) + umpe (“string”) + -ag (plural suffix). Compare peag (“string of white beads used as money”), also a clipping of wampumpeag. cognates * Penobscot wάpαpəyak (singular wάpαpi) * Unami òpapiàk (singular òpapi)

noun

1. (uncountable) Small cylindrical beads made from polished shells (especially white ones) which have been strung together, formerly used by Native American peoples of eastern North America for various purposes including as jewellery and money, and for record-keeping; (countable, archaic) one such bead.
   (uncountable):
2. (uncountable, slang) Money.
   [Kenneth O'Keefe, letter] Have that seven quid. Or else I'll be kaput. […] [Sebastian Dangerfield, letter in reply] Kenneth, we all want wampum. And as you must know, if only I had some I would be only too willing to share. But the only thing I have here is a pile of business magazines which I am going to burn for a fire. 1955, J[ames] P[atrick] Donleavy, chapter 17, in The Ginger Man, London: Corgi Books, Transworld Publishers, published 1963, page 192
   [M]ore and more people in the folk world suddenly discovered there was more than a little wampum to be made by discovering a trace of Indian blood in their past and donning the traditional headband. 1965 December, Phil Ochs, “That was the Year that Weren’t”, in Cavalier, New York, N.Y.: DuGent Publishing Corporation, →OCLC; republished in David Cohen, editor, I’m Gonna Say It Now: The Writings of Phil Ochs, Lanham, Md.: Backbeat Books, The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2020, page 129
3. (countable, obsolete) Clipping of wampum snake (“the common kingsnake or eastern kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula)”)