_For the Table Book._
“To think like wise men, and to talk like common people,” is a maxim
that has long stood its ground. What is the language of “common people?”
_slang_--_ergo_, every body ought to talk it. What is _slang_? Many will
answer that it consists of words used only by the lowest and most
ignorant classes of society, and that to employ them would be most
ungenteel. First, then, we must inquire a little what it is to be
_genteel_, and this involves the question, what is a _gentleman_?
Etymologically, every body knows what is the meaning of the term; and
Dekker, the old English play-poet, uses it in this sense, when in one of
his best dramas he justly calls our Saviour
“The first _true gentleman_ that ever breathed.”
Dekker’s greatest contemporary, in reference to certain qualities he
attributes to “man’s deadliest enemy,” tells us, though we are not bound
to take his word for it, unless we like it,
“The Prince of Darkness is a _gentleman_;”
in which he follows the opinion long before expressed by the Italian
poet Pulci, in his _Morgante Maggiore_, (canto xxv. st. 161.)
_Che_ gentilezza _è bene anche in inferno._
Pulci seems so pleased with this discovery, (if it be one,) that he
repeats it in nearly the same words (in the following canto, st. 83.)
_Non creder ne lo inferno anche fra noi_
Gentilezza _non sia._
The old bone-shoveller in _Hamlet_ maintains that your only real and
thorough gentlemen are your “gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers;” so
that, after all, the authorities on this point are various and
contradictory. If it be objected that _slang_ (otherwise sometimes
called _flash_) is employed very much by boxers and prize-fighters,
teachers and practisers of “the noble science of self-defence,” one
answer may be supplied by a quotation from Aristotle, which shows that
he himself was well skilled in the art, and he gives instructions how
important it is to hit straight instead of round, following up the blow
by the weight of the body. His words upon this subject are quoted (with
a very different purpose certainly) in the last number of the _Edinburgh
Review_, (p. 279.) So that we need only refer to them. Another “old
Grecian” might be instanced in favour of the use of _slang_, and even of
incorrect grammar; for every scholar knows (and we know it who are no
scholars) that Aristophanes in the first scene of his comedy, named in
English _The Clouds_, makes his hero talk bad Greek, and employ language
peculiar to the stable: the scholiasts assert that Phidippides ought to
have said, even in his sleep, ω Φιλε αδιχεις instead of Φιλων αδιχεις,
which he uses. However, we are perhaps growing too learned, although it
will be found in the end, (if not already in the beginning,) that this
is a learned article, and ought perhaps to have been sent for
publication in the _Classical Journal_.
What we seek to establish is this:--_that the language of the ignorant
is the language of the learned_; or in less apparently paradoxical
terms, that what is considered _slang_ and unfit for “ears polite,” is
in fact a language derived from the purest and most recondite sources.
What is the chief recommendation of lady Morgan’s new novel?--for what
do ladies of fashion and education chiefly admire it? Because the
authoress takes such pains to show that she is acquainted with French,
Italian, and even Latin, and introduces so many apt and inapt
quotations. What is the principal advantage of modern conversation? That
our “home-keeping youths” have no longer “homely wits,” and that they
interlard their talk with scraps and words from continental tongues. Now
if we can show that _slang_ is compounded, in a great degree, of words
derived from German, French, Italian, and Latin, shall we not establish
that what is at present the language of the ignorant is in fact the
language of the learned, and ought to be the language employed by all
gentlemen pretending to education, and of all ladies pretending to
blue-stocking attainments? We proceed to do so by a selection of a few
of the principal words which are considered _slang_ or _flash_, of which
we shall show the etymology.
_Blowin_--“an unfortunate girl,” in the language of the police-offices.
This is a very old word in English, and it is derived from _blühen_,
German, to bloom or blossom. Some may think that it comes from the
German adjective _blau_. The Germans speak of a _blue-eye_, as we talk
of a _black-eye_, and every body is aware that _blowins_ are frequently
thus ornamented.
_To fib_--a term in boxing. It means, to clasp an antagonist round the
neck with one arm, and to punish him with the other hand. It is from the
Italian _fibbia_, a _clasp_ or buckle. The Italian verb _affibiare_ is
used by Casti precisely in this sense:--_Gli affibia un gran ceffon._
(Nov. xliii. st. 65.)
_Fogle_--a handkerchief--properly and strictly a handkerchief with a
bird’s eye pattern upon it. From the German _vogel_, a bird.
_Gam_--the leg. Liston has introduced this word upon the stage, when in
Lubin Log he tells old Brown that he is “stiffish about the _gams_.” We
have it either from the French _jambe_, or the Italian _gamba_.
_Leary_--cunning or wary. Correctly it ought to be written _lehry_. The
derivation of it is the German _lehre_, learning or warning. The
authorities for this word are not older than the time of James I.
_Max_--gin. Evidently from the Latin _maximus_, in reference to the
strength and goodness of the liquor.
_To nim_--to take, snatch, or seize. It is used by Chaucer--“well of
English undefiled.” It is derived from the Saxon _niman_, whence also
the German _nehmen_, to take. We have it in the every-day adjective,
_nimble_. The name of the corporal in Shakspeare’s _Henry V._ ought to
be spelled _Nim_, and not _Nym_, (as the commentators ignorantly give
it,) from his furtive propensity.
_Pal_--a companion. It is perhaps going too far to fetch this word from
the Persian _palaker_, a comrade. It rather originates in the famous
story told by Boccacio, Chaucer, Dryden, &c. &c. of the friendship of
Palamon and Arcyte; _pal_ being only a familiar abbreviation of Palamon,
to denote an intimate friend.
_To prig_--to rob or steal. It is doubtful whether this word be
originally Spanish or Italian. _Preguntar_ in Spanish is to _demand_,
and robbing on the highway is demanding money or life. _Priega_ in
Italian is a petition--a mode of committing theft without personal
violence. In English the word _to prig_ is now applied chiefly to
picking pockets, owing to the degeneracy of modern rogues: a _prig_ is a
pick-pocket.
_Sappy_--foolish, weak. Clearly from the Latin _sapio_--_lucus à non
lucendo_.
_Seedy_--shabby--worn out: a term used to indicate the decayed condition
of one who has seen better days: it refers principally to the state of
his apparel: thus a coat which has once been handsome, when it is old is
called _seedy_, and the wearer is said to look _seedy_. It is only a
corruption of the French _ci-devant_--formerly; with an ellipsis of the
last syllable. It has no reference to running to _seed_, as is commonly
supposed.
_Spoony_--silly or stupid--is used both as a substantive and as an
adjective. Some have conjectured that it owes its origin to the _wooden
spoon_ at Cambridge, the lowest honour conferred by that university, the
individual gaining it being entitled to no other, rather from his
dulness than his ignorance. Its etymology is in fact to be found in the
Italian word _saponé_, soap; and it is a well-known phrase that “a
stupid fellow wants his brains washing with _soap_-suds.”
_Spree_--fun, joke--is from the French _esprit_, as every body must be
aware in an instant.
_Togs_--dress--from the Latin _toga_, the robe worn by Roman citizens.
_Toggery_ means properly a great coat, but it is also used generally for
the apparel.
We might go through the whole vocabulary in the same way, and prove that
some terms are even derived from the Hebrew, through the medium of the
Jews; but the preceding “elegant extracts” will be sufficient. It is to
be regretted that the Rev. J. H. Todd has been so hasty in publishing
his second edition of _Johnson’s Dictionary_, or he might, and no doubt
would, after what we have said, include many words not now to be found
there, and which we contend are the chief ornaments of our vernacular.
Perhaps it would be worth his while to add a supplement, and we shall be
happy to render him any assistance.
_December, 1827._