Tag: wallet

A wallet, or billfold, is a small, flat case that is used to carry personal items such as cash, credit cards, identification documents (driver’s license, identification card, club card, etc.), photographs, business cards and other paper or laminated cards. Wallets are generally made of leather or fabrics, and they are usually pocket-sized and foldable.
The word “wallet” has been in use since the late fourteenth century to refer to a bag or a knapsack for carrying articles. The word may derive from Proto-Germanic. The ancient Greek word kibisis, said to describe the sack carried by the god Hermes and the sack in which the mythical hero Perseus carried the decapitated head of the monster Medusa, has been typically translated as “wallet”. Usage of the term “wallet” in its modern meaning of “flat case for carrying paper currency” in American English dates to 1834 but this meaning was one of many in the 19th century and early 20th century.
The classicist A. Y. Campbell set out to answer…