Spondulix
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Spondulix is 19th-century slang for money or cash, more specifically a reasonable amount of spending money. Spondulicks, spondoolicks, spondulacks, spondulics, and spondoolics are alternative spellings, and spondoolies is a modern variant.


Etymology

There are two views on the origin of the word. The most likely is from the Greek ''spondulox'', which refers to a type of
seashell A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer usually created by an animal or organism that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washe ...
from bivalves of the genus ''
Spondylus ''Spondylus'' is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family (biology), family Spondylidae.MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Spondylus Linnaeus, 1758. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies ...
''. The ''Spondylus'' shell was used as neolithic jewelry and also as an early form of currency. There is global evidence of the importance of the spondylus shell.
Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
evidence shows that people in Europe were trading the shells as jewelry as long as 5,000 years ago. ''Spondylus'' shells from the Aegean Sea were harvested and then worked into bracelets, bangles and ornaments and transported throughout the continent. It is thought that the shells were also traded as an early form of currency due to their mother-of-pearl-like appearance. There may also be a connection with ''spondylo-'', a prefix which means
spine Spine or spinal may refer to: Science Biology * Vertebral column, also known as the backbone * Dendritic spine, a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite * Thorns, spines, and prickles, needle-like structures in plants * Spine (zoolog ...
or vertebrae, based on the similarity between a stack of coins and a spine. This is referenced in an 1867 book by John Mitchell Bonnell and quotes etymologist Michael Quinion's correspondence with a Doug Wilson linking the spine to piled coins; thus "Spondulics - coin piled for counting...". Alternatively - it could come from the Latin verb spondēre, meaning "to promise." Bank notes in England and elsewhere in the 19th Century stated "I promise to pay the bearer ...." (the equivalent of the value of the note). Bank notes today continue with this promise.


Early written use

The earliest recorded occurrence of the word as slang for money appears to have been in the late 19th century in the United States. The New Oxford Dictionary of English marks the origin as US slang. However, according to the Cassell Dictionary of Slang, the term can be traced back to the mid-19th century in England. Other sources also suggest a mid-19th-century origin. The July 1852 edition of the ''Water-Cure Journal'' includes "Gossip from Indiana" by "a Hoosier" which complains about "spending our spondulix." In Meister Karl's Sketch-Book (1855), Charles Godfrey Leland includes it in a long list of synonyms for money: " . . . the magic spell of the ''ready''—otherwise known as money, cash, tin, stuff, rhino, root-of-all-evil, blunt, wherewhital, rowdy, funds, stumpy, pecuniary, dibs, hard, browns, heavy, mopusses, slugs, shiners, lucre, or 'the filthy,' dust, gelt, chips, lumps, chinkers, mint-drops, pewter, brass, horsenails, rocks, brads, spondulix, needful, dough, spoons, buttons, dimes, or the infallible . . ." The spelling "spondulicks" appeared in an 1858 edition of '' Hutchings' Illustrated California Magazine'': "Steve, if the Court recollects herself, then you come up with the spondulicks, and Bill Bresse tuck down Lem's pile." "Spondulix" is used by 19th-century American author Bret Harte in his 1891 story "A Sappho of Green Springs": "MR. EDITOR, — I see you have got my poetry in. But I don't see the spondulix that oughter follow."; in Chapter XIII of '' The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', the riverboat captain tells Huck that he wouldn't forsake a sailor's life "for all ld Jim Hornback'sspondulicks and as much more..." It is also mentioned in the short story "
Ivy Day in the Committee Room ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
" from the collection '' Dubliners'' (1914) by Irish novelist James Joyce. In the 1916
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
silent film ''
The Floorwalker ''The Floorwalker'' is a 1916 American silent comedy film, Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film. The film stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadve ...
'', a title card proclaims "Spondulicks Forever!" after Chaplin appears to rejoice upon recovering a suitcase full of greenbacks.


See also

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References


External links

* {{Wiktionary inline, spondulicks English-language slang Money