The English Gipsies and Their Language Part 7

GERMAN GIPSY.

MIRI KOMLI ROMNI,--Ertiewium Francfurtter wium te gajum apro Newoforo.

Apro drum ne his mange mishdo. Mare ma.n.u.sh tschingerwenes ketteni.

Tschiel his te midschach wettra. Tschawe wele naswele. Dowa ker, kai me gaijam medre gazdias tele; mare ziga t'o terno kalbo nahsle penge. O flachso te hanfa te wulla te schwigarizakri te stifftshakri ho spinderde gotshias nina. Lopennawa, wium ke tsh.o.r.ero te wiam hallauter nange Denkerdum tschingerwam mangi kasht te mre wastiengri butin, oder hunte di kaw te kinnaw tschommoni pre te bikkewaw pale, te de denkerwaw te ehrnahrwaw man kiacke. Me bium kiacke kuremangrender pene aper mande, buten tschingerde buten trinen marde te man, tshimaster apri butin tshidde. O bolloben te rackel tutt andre sawe kolester, kai me wium adre te me tshawa tiro rum shin andro meraben.

TRANSLATION.

MY DEAR WIFE,--Before I came to Frankfort I went to Neustadt. On the way it did not go well with me. Our men quarrelled together. It was cold and wet weather. The children were ill. That house into which we had gone burnt down; our kid and the young calf run away. The flax and hemp and wool [which] the sister-in-law and step-daughter spun are also burned. In short, I say I became so poor that we all went naked. I thought of cutting wood and working by hand, or I should go into business and sell something. I think I will make my living so. I was so treated by the soldiers. They fell on us, wounded many, three they killed, and I was taken to prison to work for life. Heaven preserve you in all things from that into which I have fallen, and I remain thy husband unto death.

It is the same sad story in all, wretchedness, poverty, losses, and hunger. In the English letter there was a _chingari_--a shindy; in the German they have a _tshinger_, which is nearly the same word, and means the same. It may be remarked as curious that the word _meraben_ at the end of the letter, meaning death, is used by English Gipsies to signify life as well.

"d.i.c.k at the gorgios, The gorgios round mandy; Trying to take my meripon, My meripon away."

The third letter is also in the German-Gipsy dialect, and requires a little explanation. Once a man named Charles Augustus was arrested as a beggar and suspected Gipsy, and brought before Mr Richard Liebich, who appears to have been nothing less in the total than the _Furstlich Reuss- Plauenschem Criminalrathe und Vorstande des Furstlichen Criminalgerichts zu Lobenstein_--in fact, a rather lofty local magistrate. Before this terrible t.i.tle Charles appeared, and swore stoutly that he was no more a Rommany chal than he was one of the Apostles--for be it remembered, reader, that in Germany at the present day, the mere fact of being a Gipsy is still treated as a crime. Suddenly the judge attacked him with the words--"_Tu hal rom, me hom, rakker tschatschopenn_!"--"Thou art a Gipsy, I am a Gipsy, speak the truth." And Charles, looking up in amazement and seeing the black hair and brown face of the judge, verily believed that he was of the blood of Dom. So crossing his arms on his breast in true Oriental style, he salaamed deeply, and in a submissive voice said--"_Me hom rom_"--"_I am a_ Gipsy."

The judge did not abuse the confidence gained by his little trick, since he appears to have taken Charles under his wing, employed him in small jobs (in America we should say _ch.o.r.es_, but the word would be frightfully significant, if applied to a Gipsy), {75} and finally dismissed him. And Charles replied Rommanesquely, by asking for something. His application was as follows:--

GERMAN GIPSY.

"LICHTENBERG ANE DESCHE OCHDADO, _Januar_ 1859.

"LADSCHO BARO RAI,--Me hunde dschinawe duge gole dui trin Lawinser mire zelle gowe, har geas mange an demaro foro de demare Birengerenser. Har weum me stildo gage lean demare Birengere mr lowe dele, de har weum biro gage lean jon man dran o stilibin bri, de mangum me mr lowe lender, gai deum dele. Jon pendin len wellen geg mander. Gai me deum miro lowe lende, naste pennene jon gar wawer. Brinscherdo lowe hi an i Gissig, o baro G.o.dder lolo paro, trin Chairingere de jeg dschildo gotter sinagro lowe. Man weas mr lowe gar gobe dschanel o Baro Dewel ani Bolebin. Miro baaro bargerbin vaschge demare Ladschebin bennawe. O baro Dewel de pleisserwel de maro ladscho sii i pure sasde Tschiwaha demende demaro zelo Beero. De hadzin e Birengere miro lowe, dale mangawa me len de bidschin jon mire lowe gadder o foro Naile abbi Bidschebasger wurtum sikk. Gai me dschingerdum ab demende, hi gar dschadscho, gai miri romni ha.s.s mando, gowe hi dschadscho. Obaaro Dewel de bleiserwel de mange de menge demaro Ladscho Sii. Miero Bargerbin. De me dschawe demaro gandelo Waleddo.

CHARLES AUGUSTIN."

TRANSLATION.

"LICHTENBERG, _January_ 18, 1859.

"GOOD GREAT SIR,--I must write to you with these two or three words my whole business (_gowe_, English Gipsy _covvo_, literally 'thing,') how it happened to me in your town, by your servants (literally 'footmen'). When I was arrested, your servants took my money away, and when I was freed they took me out of prison. I asked my money of them which I had given up. They said they had got none from me. That I gave them my money they cannot deny. The said (literally, known) money is in a purse, a great piece, red (and) old, three kreutzers, and a yellow piece of good-for- nothing money. I did not get my money, as the great G.o.d in heaven knows.

My great thanks for your goodness, I say. The great G.o.d reward your good heart with long healthy life, you and your whole family. And if your servants find my money, I beg they will send it to the town Naila, by the post at once. That I cursed you is not true; that my wife was drunk is true. The great G.o.d reward your good heart. My thanks. And I remain, your obedient servant,

CHARLES AUGUSTIN."

Those who attempt to read this letter in the original, should be informed that German Gipsy is, as compared to the English or Spanish dialects, almost a perfect language; in fact, Pott has by incredible industry, actually restored it to its primitive complete form; and its orthography is now settled. Against this orthography poor Charles Augustin sins sadly, and yet it may be doubted whether many English tramps and beggars could write a better letter.

The especial Gipsy characteristic in this letter is the constant use of the name of G.o.d, and the pious profusion of blessings. "She's the _blessing-est_ old woman I ever came across," was very well said of an old Rommany dame in England. And yet these well-wishings are not always insincere, and they are earnest enough when uttered in Gipsy.

CHAPTER VI. GIPSY WORDS WHICH HAVE Pa.s.sED INTO ENGLISH SLANG.

Jockey.--Tool.--Cove or Covey.--Hook, Hookey, and Walker, Hocus, Hanky- Panky, and Hocus-Pocus.--Shindy.--Row.--Chivvy.--Bunged Eye.--Shavers.-- Clichy.--Caliban.--A Rum 'un.--Pal.--Trash.--Cadger.--Cad.--Bosh.--Bats.-- Chee-chee.--The Cheese.--Chiv Fencer.--Cooter.--Gorger.--d.i.c.k.--Dook.-- Tanner.--Drum.--Gibberish.--Ken.--Lil.--Loure.--Loafer.--Maunder.--Moke.-- Parny.--Posh.--Queer. Raclan.--Bivvy.--Rigs.--Moll.--Distarabin.--Tiny.-- Toffer.--Tool.--Punch.--Wardo.--Voker (one of Mr Hotten's Gipsy words).-- Welcher.--Yack.--Lushy.--A Mull.--Pross.--Toshers.--Up to Trap.--Barney.-- Beebee.--Cull, Culley.--Jomer.--Bloke.--Duffer.--Niggling.--Mug.-- Bamboozle, Slang, and Bite.--Rules to be observed in determining the Etymology of Gipsy Words.

Though the language of the Gipsies has been kept a great secret for centuries, still a few words have in England oozed out here and there from some unguarded crevice, and become a portion of our tongue. There is, it must be admitted, a great difficulty in tracing, with anything like accuracy, the real origin or ident.i.ty of such expressions. Some of them came into English centuries ago, and during that time great changes have taken place in Rommany. At least one-third of the words now used by Scottish Gipsies are unintelligible to their English brothers. To satisfy myself on this point, I have examined an intelligent English Gipsy on the Scottish Gipsy vocabularies in Mr Simpson's work, and found it was as I antic.i.p.ated; a statement which will not appear incredible when it is remembered, that even the Rommany of Yetholm have a dialect marked and distinct from that of other Scotch Gipsies. As for England, numbers of the words collected by William Marsden, and Jacob Bryant, in 1784-5, Dr Bright in 1817, and by Harriott in 1830, are not known at the present day to any Gipsies whom I have met. Again, it should be remembered that the p.r.o.nunciation of Rommany differs widely with individuals; thus the word which is given as _c.u.mbo_, a hill, by Bryant, I have heard very distinctly p.r.o.nounced _choomure_.

I believe that to Mr Borrow is due the discovery that the word JOCKEY is of Gipsy origin, and derived from _chuckni_, which means a whip. For nothing is more clearly established than that the jockey-whip was the original term in which this word first made its appearance on the turf, and that the _chuckni_ was a peculiar form of whip, very long and heavy, first used by the Gipsies. "Jockeyism," says Mr Borrow, "properly means _the management of a whip_, and the word jockey is neither more nor less than the term, slightly modified, by which they designate the formidable whips which they usually carry, and which are at present in general use among horse-traffickers, under the t.i.tle of jockey-whips." In Hungary and Germany the word occurs as _tschuckini_ or _chookni_, and _tschupni_.

Many of my readers are doubtless familiar with the word to TOOL as applied to dexterously managing the reins and driving horses. 'To tool the horses down the road,' is indeed rather a fine word of its cla.s.s, being as much used in certain clubs as in stables, and often denotes stylish and gentlemanly driving. And the term is without the slightest modification, either of p.r.o.nunciation or meaning, directly and simply Gipsy, and is used by Gipsies in the same way. It has, however, in Rommany, as a primitive meaning--to hold, or to take. Thus I have heard of a feeble old fellow that "he could not tool himself togetherus"--for which last word, by the way, _kettenus_ might have been more correctly subst.i.tuted.

COVE is not an elegant, though a very old, word, but it is well known, and I have no doubt as to its having come from the Gipsy. In Rommany, all the world over, _cova_ means "a thing," but it is almost indefinite in its applicability. "It is," says Pott, "a general helper on all occasions; is used as substantive and adjective, and has a far wider scope than the Latin _res_." Thus _covo_ may mean "that man;" _covi_, "that woman;" and _covo_ or _cuvvo_, as it very often does in English, "that, there." It sometimes appears in the word _acovat_, or _this_.

There is no expression more frequent in a Gipsy's mouth, and it is precisely the one which would be probably overheard by "Gorgios" and applied to persons. I believe that it first made its appearance in English slang as _covey_, and was then p.r.o.nounced _cuvvy_, being subsequently abbreviated into cove.

Quite a little family of words has come into English from the Rommany, _Hocben_, _huckaben_, _hokkeny_, or _hooker_, all meaning a lie, or to lie, deception and _humbug_. Mr Borrow shows us that _hocus_, to "bewitch" liquor with an opiate, and _hoax_, are probably Rommany from this root, and I have no doubt that the expression, "Yes, with a _hook_,"

meaning "it is false," comes from the same. The well-known "Hookey" who corresponds so closely with his untruthful and disreputable pal "Walker,"

is decidedly of the streets--gipsy. In German Gipsy we find _chochavav_ and _hochewawa_, and in Roumanian Gipsy _kokao_--a lie. Hanky-panky and Hocus-pocus are each one half almost pure Hindustani. {81}

A SHINDY approaches so nearly in sound to the Gipsy word _chingaree_, which means precisely the same thing, that the suggestion is at least worth consideration. And it also greatly resembles _chindi_, which may be translated as "cutting up," and also quarrel. "To cut up shindies"

was the first form in which this extraordinary word reached the public.

In the original Gipsy tongue the word to quarrel is _chinger-av_, meaning also (Pott, _Zigeuner_, p. 209) to cut, hew, and fight, while to cut is _chinav_. "Cutting up" is, if the reader reflects, a very unmeaning word as applied to outrageous or noisy pranks; but in Gipsy, whether English, German, or Oriental, it is perfectly sensible and logical, involving the idea of quarrelling, separating, dividing, cutting, and stabbing. What, indeed, could be more absurd than the expression "cutting up shines,"

unless we attribute to _shine_ its legitimate Gipsy meaning of _a piece cut off_, and its cognate meaning, a noise?

I can see but little reason for saying that a man _cut away_ or that he _shinned_ it, for run away, unless we have recourse to Gipsy, though I only offer this as a mere suggestion.

"Applico" to shindy we have the word ROW, meaning nearly the same thing and as nearly Gipsy in every respect as can be. It is in Gipsy at the present day in England, correctly, _rov_, or _roven_--to cry--but _v_ and _w_ are so frequently transposed that we may consider them as the same letter. _Raw_ or _me rauaw_, "I howl" or "cry," is German Gipsy. _Rowan_ is given by Pott as equivalent to the Latin _ululatus_, which const.i.tuted a very respectable _row_ as regards mere noise. "Rowdy" comes from "row"

and both are very good Gipsy in their origin. In Hindustani _Rao mut_ is "don't cry!"

CHIVVY is a common English vulgar word, meaning to goad, drive, vex, hunt, or throw as it were here and there. It is purely Gipsy, and seems to have more than one root. _Chiv_, _chib_, or _chipe_, in Rommany, mean a tongue, inferring scolding, and _chiv_ anything sharp-pointed, as for instance a dagger, or goad or knife. But the old Gipsy word _chiv-av_ among its numerous meanings has exactly that of casting, throwing, pitching, and driving. To _chiv_ in English Gipsy means as much and more than to _fix_ in America, in fact, it is applied to almost any kind of action.

It may be remarked in this connection, that in German or continental Gipsy, which represents the English in a great measure as it once was, and which is far more perfect as to grammar, we find different words, which in English have become blended into one. Thus, _chib_ or _chiv_, a tongue, and _tschiwawa_ (or _chiv_-ava), to lay, place, lean, sow, sink, set upright, move, harness, cover up, are united in England into _chiv_, which embraces the whole. "_Chiv it apre_" may be applied to throwing anything, to covering it up, to lifting it, to setting it, to pushing it, to circulating, and in fact to a very great number of similar verbs.

There is, I think, no rational connection between the BUNG of a barrel and an eye which has been closed by a blow. One might as well get the simile from a knot in a tree or a cork in a flask. But when we reflect on the constant mingling of Gipsies with prizefighters, it is almost evident that the word BONGO may have been the origin of it. A _bongo yakko_ or _yak_, means a distorted, crooked, or, in fact, a bunged eye.

It also means lame, crooked, or sinister, and by a very singular figure of speech, _Bongo Tem_ or the Crooked Land is the name for h.e.l.l. {83}

SHAVERS, as a quaint nick-name for children, is possibly inexplicable, unless we resort to Gipsy, where we find it used as directly as possible.

_Chavo_ is the Rommany word for child all the world over, and the English term _chavies_, in Scottish Gipsy _shavies_, or shavers, leaves us but little room for doubt. I am not aware to what extent the term "little shavers" is applied to children in England, but in America it is as common as any cant word can be.

I do not know the origin of the French word CLICHY, as applied to the noted prison of that name, but it is perhaps not undeserving the comment that in Continental Gipsy it means a key and a bolt.

I have been struck with the fact that CALIBAN, the monster in "The Tempest," by Shakespeare, has an appellation which literally signifies blackness in Gipsy. In fact, this very word, or Cauliban, is given in one of the Gipsy vocabularies for "black." Kaulopen or Kauloben would, however, be more correct.

"A regular RUM 'un" was the form in which the application of the word "rum" to strange, difficult, or distinguished, was first introduced to the British public. This, I honestly believe (as Mr Borrow indicates), came from _Rum_ or _Rom_, a Gipsy. It is a peculiar word, and all of its peculiarities might well be a.s.sumed by the sporting Gipsy, who is always, in his way, a character, gifted with an indescribable self-confidence, as are all "horsey" men characters, "sports" and boxers, which enables them to keep to perfection the German eleventh commandment, "Thou shall not let thyself be _bluffed_!"--_i.e_., abashed.