Abstract:The “contemptible shells of the Maldives” which “prove the price of Mankind” are money cowries, Cypraea moneta. The word cowrie is taken direct from the Hindi and Urdu kauri and has a Sanskrit origin....The “contemptible shells of the Maldives” which “prove the price of Mankind” are money cowries, Cypraea moneta. The word cowrie is taken direct from the Hindi and Urdu kauri and has a Sanskrit origin. The Latin name Cypraea derives from the island of Cyprus where Aphrodite (Venus) was worshipped as a goddess of fertility. Many peoples are said to have seen in the long slender orifice of the shell's underside the “one entrance into life,” in the delicate phrasing of Graf ton Elliott Smith. A cowrie worn around a woman's neck was supposed to promote conception and ease childbirth.Read More
Publication Year: 1986
Publication Date: 1986-09-11
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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