DCHP-1 Online

wampum † [< Algonk.: Narraganset wampompeag strings of white (things)] Hist.

• 1 n. a bead or beads of shell, Venus mercenaria, later also of porcelain, important as a kind of currency among eastern Indians.

  See also: porcelain(e)  shell wampum  wampum bead  

  • 1789  (1918)  [They are paid] In Strouds . . . Wampum, and other trinkets. . . .
  • 1863  In 1637 the Abenakis ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Three Rivers, to trade porcelain beads (wampum) with the Algonquins, for beaver skins.
  • 1963  The first settlers to the North American Continent found wampum, a form of shell money, in use among the Indians as an article of adornment and a means of exchange. It consisted of beads made from the inner whorls of certain shells. The beads were polished and strung together in belts and sashes. Different colours stood for different values. The unit of the money was the fathom, consisting of 360 white beads and at one time was worth sixpence, or about fourteen cents. Wampum was also used as a pledge of peace and friendship and for other solemn occasions. Here again the colours were significant, white stood for health, richness and peace, purple and black stood for sorrow and sympathy.

• 2 n. a belt of wampum (def. 1), often worked in significant designs, used by Indians as a reminder of a treaty or agreement, etc.

  See also: wampum belt  

  • 1835  (1947)  Baddeley gave him a "wampum of acknowledgment which would enable him to secure a gun or a pair of blankets at Toronto. . . ."
  • 1908  "And to see us exchange wampums and chiefs as hostages, or kiss the hatchet and bury it as we spoke," added another.