cowrie
→
money
10 realizations
Related shifts
| ID | Meaning 1 | Direction | Meaning 2 |
| ACCEPTED Realization 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Akan | |
| lexeme | cedi | |
| meaning 1 | cowrie shell | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | unit of currency in the Republic of Ghana | |
| reference | <personally collected data> | |
| comment | Cowry shells were formerly used as currency in what is now Ghana. The Monetaria moneta or money cowry is not native to West African waters but is a common species in the Indian Ocean. The shells came to West Africa, beginning in the 14th century, through trade with Arab merchants. The first modern coins exclusively used at the Gold Coast were produced in 1796 but cowries were used alongside coins and gold dust as currency until 1901. Ghanaian cedi as unit of currency was introduced in 1965. | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Bengali | |
| lexeme | kaṛi (কড়ি) | |
| meaning 1 | snail-like gastropod resembling a miniature conch, a cowrie; a cowrie-shell (formerly) used as a coin of the smallest denomination | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | coin of the smallest denomination; money | |
| reference | Biswas 2000: 196 | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Hindi | |
| lexeme | kauṛī (कौड़ी) | |
| meaning 1 | small shell, a cowrie (formerly in use as a barter token of very low value) | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | colloq. a small amount of money | |
| reference | McGregor 1993: 219 | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 4 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Hiri Motu | |
| lexeme | toea | |
| meaning 1 | a kind of shell | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | monetary subunit of the Papuan kina (1/100) | |
| reference | Merriam-Webster | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 5 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Khmer | |
| lexeme | bie | |
| meaning 1 | kind of sea mollusc of the genus Cyprea, cowrie | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | money; fee, salary, wages | |
| reference | SEAlang Khmer | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 6 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Lao | |
| lexeme | bīa3 | |
| meaning 1 | shell | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | money | |
| reference | Morev et al. 1982: 574 | |
| comment | bèː in SEALang Lao | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 7 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Mandarin Chinese | |
| lexeme | bèi (貝) | |
| meaning 1 | cowrie | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | (obsolete) money | |
| reference | BKRS | |
| comment | The character 貝 originated as a pictograph of a cowrie shell. Now it is used as radical with meaning 'money, currency' (Kangxi radical 154). Guo (1945) proposes that cowries used by the ancient Chinese dynasties in Central China must have come from the southeastern shores of China and areas further south, as the species of sea snail used as decoration and currency is not native to the eastern seashores of China. He further proposes that in addition to the cowry itself, the word for cowry, 貝, is also an ancient loanword from languages of the south (which call it “bia”). Compare Malay bia 'cowry', Thai bîia 'cowry shell', Proto-Mon-Khmer *ɓa(a)j 'bean, small weight or coin' > Khasi sbâi, 'bâi 'money, cowry, shell', Khmer pɨy 'obsolete small coin'. Alternatively, Starostin, Matisoff (2003) and Schuessler (2007) relate 貝 to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bwap 'snail', via 貝 (Old Chinese *paːds) < *pāps. | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 8 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Marathi | |
| lexeme | kavaḍī (कवडी) | |
| meaning 1 | cowrie | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | fig. money | |
| reference | Molesworth 1857: 144 | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 9 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Thai | |
| lexeme | bîia (เบี้ย) | |
| meaning 1 | shell; cowrie | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | money (fig.) | bīà-bam-nān pension |
| reference | Morev 1964: 409 SEAlang Thai | |
| comment | ||
| NEW Realization 10 | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Yedina (Buduma) | |
| lexeme | kwona | |
| meaning 1 | cowrie used for divination | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | money | |
| reference | Shank et al.: 46 | |
| comment | ||
Shells of cowrie (Monetaria moneta) have historically been used as currency in several parts of the world, as well as being used, in the past and present, very extensively in jewelry, and for other decorative and ceremonial purposes. This species is most abundant in the Indian Ocean, and was collected in the Maldive Islands, in Sri Lanka, along the Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun to Mozambique. Cowry shell money was an important part of the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia.
Western nations, chiefly through the slave trade, introduced huge numbers of Maldivian cowries in Africa. By about 1850 the German explorer Heinrich Barth found it fairly widespread in Kano, Kuka, Gando, and even Timbuktu. Barth relates that in Muniyoma, one of the ancient divisions of Bornu, the king's revenue was estimated at 30,000,000 shells, with every adult male being required to pay annually 1,000 shells for himself, 1,000 for every pack-ox, and 2,000 for every slave in his possession.
The shells were used in the remoter parts of Africa until the early 20th century, but then gave way to modern currencies. The currency of Guinea between 1971 and 1985, syli, was subdivided into 100 cauris (metal coins).
In Southeast Asia, when the value of the Siamese tical (baht) was about half a troy ounce of silver (about 16 grams), the value of the cowrie (Thai bia) was fixed at 1⁄6400 baht. They were also used as means of exchange in India. In Orissa cowry (popularly known as kaudi) was used as currency until 1805 when it was abolished by the British East India Company and rupee was enforced. This was one of the causes of the Paik Rebellion in 1817.
Starting over three thousand years ago, cowrie shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency. Shells were strung on a thread or put in a bag. The extent of the circulation of shell money is unknown, however, copies of cowry shells made out of bone, wood, stone, lead and copper were common enough to presume that they were used in trade. More than 6,800 cowrie shells, along with other treasures, were found on June 7, 1976, during the excavation of the tomb of Fu Hao (Yinxu, Henan, China), who lived at the beginning of the 12th c. BC and was a wife of King Wu Ding of the Shang dynasty (Bin Yang. The Rise and Fall of Cowrie Shells: The Asian Story // Journal of World History. 2011. Vol. 22, no. 1. P. 1-25. doi:10.1353/jwh.2011.0011. )