The expression "wallet" has actually been in usage considering that the late fourteenth century to describe a bag or a knapsack for carrying articles. The word might originate Germanic.

The historical Classical expression kibisis, stated to summarize the sack carried by the god Herrmes and also the sack whereby the mythical hero Perseus brought the decapitated head of the colossal Medusa, has certainly been normally converted as "purse". Utilization of the terminology "purse" in its modern-day definition of "flat instance for carrying paper unit of currency" in American English times to 1834 however this meaning was among lots of in the 19th century as well as early on 20th century.

The classicist A. Y. Campbell set out to answer the concern, "Just what ... in old materials, are the uses of a wallet?" He deduced, as a Theocritean academic, that "the wallet was the unsatisfactory man's compact larder; or, scarcity aside, it was a thing that you filled with provisions."