Why does 'galumpkis' sound like something out of the Grapes of Wrath?

The Mexicans were weak and fled, they had the Galumpkis. They could not resist, because they wanted nothing in the world as frantically as the Americans, who wanted to be rid of the malady.

Then, with time, the squatters were no longer squatters, but owners; and their children grew up and had children on the land got the galumpkis as it spread. And the hunger was gone from them, the feral hunger, the gnawing, tearing hunger for land, for water and earth and the good sky over it, but the Galumpkis also afffected the swelling roots.




Originally Chapter 19 from the GOW.....

The Mexicans were weak and fled. They could not resist, because they wanted nothing in the world as frantically as the Americans wanted land.

Then, with time, the squatters were no longer squatters, but owners; and their children grew up and had children on the land. And the hunger was gone from them, the feral hunger, the gnawing, tearing hunger for land, for water and earth and the good sky over it, for the green thrusting grass, for the swelling roots.