That thing that some people (even the late Queen Elizabeth) carry…is it a handbag, bag, purse, pouch, clutch, or something else? In fact it’s any of those, depending somewhat on where you live.
“Pocketbook” originated in the 1600s, and at first actually meant a book you could fit in your pocket. It didn’t take long before “books” that size were being made that were actually empty of pages so you could stuff in your own notes, paper money (which existed by that time in many places), and documents. Women’s large purses for carrying similar things started to be called “pocketbooks” by the early 1800s. By the 20th century “pocketbook” started to be used metaphorically, for example when a budget might be called a “pocketbook” — during a budget debate in Congress, for one.
A “purse” was originally a much simpler thing than a pocketbook, and the word is accordingly older. It goes back to Old English — and so does “pocket”, but not “pocketbook;” Old English predates the time when ordinary people would be likely to own a book, let alone want one to fit in their pocket (if they even had pockets). “Pocket” comes from the same source as “pouch;” the Old French word “poche,” meaning “bag.” By the way the “poke” in “pig in a poke” comes from the same source, and so does “poach” as in “illegal poaching of animals” — if you were hunting animals when or where you weren’t allowed, you’d stuff them in a bag if you caught them, so you were “pouching” or “poaching.” But you’d be unlikely to find an illegal squirrel stuffed in a pocketbook, so let’s get back to “purse.”
The word “purse” comes from the Latin “bursa”, which meant both leather and a money bag made of leather. That association with money also led to the word “bursar;” the person in charge of money in an institution like a college. But in English “purse” meant a bag, usually closed with a drawstring. Both men and women used purses for their money. The way the bag looked when you closed it with the drawstring led to the phrase “purse your lips.” Little bags like that were so useful that even with multiple design changes over the centuries, they’re still around, and so is the word “purse.” Along the way, “purse” acquired a metaphorical meaning: the “purse” is the prize money in a race (especially a horse race, which for some reason is the kind of race most likely to have a monetary prize).
“Handbag,” by comparison, is a relatively new construction, and it was possibly invented by people writing advertisements — for purses and pocketbooks, of course. The term “clutch” first appeared in the 1940s when a small handheld pocketbook became a popular fashion item for women in the US and England — fashions at the time precluded pockets for women, so they had to hold onto — or clutch — their purse.
One thing you might carry in a handbag or purse is your “wallet.” In the US that’s a “billfold”, but in England, “wallet” can mean a bag — but not exactly a handbag; more like a backpack. “Wallet” first appeared in the mid-1300s, probably from the German word “wallon,” to roam or travel. You’d want to bring some stuff with you on your journey, so you’d use a “wallet” — and the English sense of “wallet” as a kind of rucksack seems to have been the original meaning. “Wallet” used as a flat “pocketbook” for carrying your money (in your pocket) seems to be an American invention dating back to the 1830s.
Another word for these sorts of carrying cases is “satchel” — this one has never really caught on as a term for the everyday containers used by nearly everybody, but it means pretty much the same thing anyway; a little bag. It came to English in the 1300s from the Old French word “sachet” or “sachel,” which surprisingly enough meant “a little bag.” “Sachet” is still in use as well, and it means…well, I’ll give you one guess.
The most broadly useful word of this whole bunch is probably “pocket,” at least measuring by the variety of its meanings. Although nowadays a pocket is a little bag attached inside a garment, historically the important thing about “pocket” is the bag part, not the “inside your clothes” part. Pockets were at first just bags, like purses. “Pocket” has acquired new meanings pretty constantly over the last few centuries. A “pocket” can also be your financial resources (the same as your “pocketbook”), a compartment in a wall or piece of furniture, an envelope, a small anomalous area or group contained within a larger area or population (a “pocket of poverty” in the western part of the state), one of the goals in a game of billiards, the place where the quarterback stands in American football, the deepest part of the glove in baseball, the target for rolling a strike in bowling, an anatomical sac, and, probably most obscure of all (in the US at least), an English unit of weight equalling 168 pounds — but not the weight of anything; it has to be hops (the grain used in making beer). Why 168 pounds specifically? Why is there a measure of weight used only for hops? That information is not recorded in the notes in my pocketbook.
