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Origin and history of wallet

wallet(n.)

late 14c., walet, "bag, knapsack, large purse," especially one used by travelers, a word of uncertain origin, probably from an unrecorded Old North French *walet "roll, knapsack," or similar Germanic word in Anglo-French or Old French, from Proto-Germanic *wall- "roll" (from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve").

The meaning "flat pocket-case for carrying paper money" is recorded by 1834, American English.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to wallet

*wel-(3)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn, revolve," with derivatives referring to curved, enclosing objects.

It might form all or part of: archivolt; circumvolve; convoluted; convolution; devolve; elytra; evolution; evolve; Helicon; helicopter; helix; helminth; lorimer; ileus; involve; revolt; revolution; revolve; valve; vault (v.1) "jump or leap over;" vault (n.1) "arched roof or ceiling;" volte-face; voluble; volume; voluminous; volute; volvox; volvulus; vulva; wale; walk; wallet; wallow; waltz; well (v.) "to spring, rise, gush;" welter; whelk; willow.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit valate "turns round," ulvam "womb, vulva;" Lithuanian valtis "twine, net," vilnis "wave," apvalus "round;" Old Church Slavonic valiti "roll, welter," vlŭna "wave;" Greek eluein "to roll round, wind, enwrap," eilein "twist, turn, squeeze; revolve, rotate," helix "spiral object;" Latin volvere "to turn, twist;" Gothic walwjan "to roll;" Old English wealwian "roll," weoloc "whelk, spiral-shelled mollusk;" Old High German walzan "to roll, waltz;" Old Irish fulumain "rolling;" Welsh olwyn "wheel."

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    bulge
    c. 1200, "a wallet, leather bag," from Old French bouge, boulge "wallet, pouch, leather bag," or directly from Latin bulga...
    budget
    early 15c., bouget, "leather pouch, small bag or sack," from Old French bougette, diminutive of bouge "leather bag, wallet...of probable expenditures and revenues" (1733) is from the notion of the treasury minister keeping his fiscal plans in a wallet...
    mail
    1200, "a traveling bag, sack for keeping small articles of personal property," a sense now obsolete, from Old French male "wallet...from Frankish *malha or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *malho- (source also of Old High German malaha "wallet...
    bandolier
    1570s, "shoulder belt" (for a wallet, etc.), from French bandouiliere (16c.), from Italian bandoliera or Spanish bandolera...
    scarf
    suspended from the neck," perhaps from Frankish *skirpja or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse skreppa "small bag, wallet...
    case
    early 13c., "what befalls one; state of affairs," from Old French cas "an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial," from Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," from cas-, past-participle stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle do
    hatch
    early 13c., hachen, "to produce young from eggs by incubation," probably from an unrecorded Old English *hæccan, of unknown origin, related to Middle High German, German hecken "to mate" (used of birds). Meaning "to come forth from an egg," also "cause to come forth from an egg"
    prejudice
    c. 1300, "despite, contempt," from Old French prejudice "a prejudice, prejudgment; damage" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin prejudicium "injustice," from Latin praeiudicium "prior judgment, judicial examination before trial; damage, harm," from prae- "before" (see pre-) +
    mirage
    "optical illusion of objects reflected in a sheet of water in hot, sandy deserts," 1800, in translations of French works, from French mirage (1753), from se mirer "to be reflected," from Latin mirare (see mirror (n.)). Or the French word is from Latin mirus "wonderful" (see mirac
    speakeasy
    "unlicensed saloon," 1889 (in the New York "Voice"), from the verbal phrase, from speak (v.) + easy (adv.); so called from the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police and neighbors. Compare early 19c. Irish and B

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