This week's theme
Words borrowed from languages that are now extinct

This week's words
cacique
wampum
pharaoh
mantissa
dragoman

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(WOM-puhm)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Beads made from shells, strung in strands, belts, etc. used for ceremonial purposes, jewelry, and money.
2. Money.

ETYMOLOGY:

Short for Massachusett wampompeag, from wampan (white) + api (string) + -ag, plural suffix. Massachusett, now extinct, was a member of the Algonquian language family spoken in the US and Canada. Earliest documented use: 1636.

USAGE:

"As GE Chairman Jack Welch said in a talk, 'We've got to get more wampum. That means we've got to have more dot.coms.'"
Allan Sloan; Companies Creating New Coin In Push to Enter the Internet Realm; Washington Post; Jul 20, 1999.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: