ONEY SALTEE, a penny, from the _Ital._, UNO SOLDO.
DOOE SALTEE, twopence DUE SOLDI.
TRAY SALTEE, threepence TRE SOLDI.
QUARTERER SALTEE, fourpence QUATTRO SOLDI.
CHINKER SALTEE, fivepence CINQUE SOLDI.
SAY SALTEE, sixpence SEI SOLDI.
SAY ONEY SALTEE, or SETTER SALTEE, sevenpence SETTE SOLDI.
SAY DOOE SALTEE, or OTTER SALTEE, eightpence OTTO SOLDI.
SAY TRAY SALTEE, or NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence NOVE SOLDI.
SAY QUARTERER SALTEE, or DACHA SALTEE, tenpence DIECI SOLDI.
SAY CHINKER SALTEE, or DACHA ONE SALTEE, DIECI UNO SOLDI, &c.
elevenpence
ONEY BEONG, one shilling.
A BEONG SAY SALTEE, one shilling and sixpence.
DOOE BEONG SAY SALTEE, or MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown,
or two shillings and sixpence.
⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is,
strange as it may seem, derived from the _Lingua Franca_, or bastard
_Italian_, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples
may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. SALTEE, the cant term
used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than
the _Italian_, SOLDO (plural, SOLDI), and the numerals—as may be
seen by the _Italian_ equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation
of the originals. After the number SIX, a curious variation occurs,
which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as SAY
ONEY, _six-one_, SAY DOOE, _six-two_ = 8, and so on. DACHA, I may
remark, is perhaps from the _Greek_, DEKA (δέκα), ten, which, in the
Constantinopolitan _Lingua Franca_, is likely enough to have been
substituted for the _Italian_. MADZA, is clearly the _Italian_ MEZZA.
The origin of BEONG I have not been so fortunate as to discover, unless
it be the _French_, BIEN, the application of which to a shilling is
not so evident; but amongst costermongers and other street folk, it
is quite immaterial what foreign tongue contributes to their secret
language. Providing the terms are unknown to the police and the public
generally, they care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay
Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their vocabulary. The
numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence
in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers,
foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connection
with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent,
the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and
tramps.
SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.—_See_ OLD HORSE.
SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.
SAM, to “stand SAM,” to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand
paymaster for anything. An _Americanism_, originating in the letters
U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States soldiers, which letters were
jocularly said to be the initials of _Uncle Sam_ (the Government), who
pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.
SANGUINARY JAMES, a sheep’s head.—_See_ BLOODY JEMMY.
SANK WORK, making soldiers’ clothes. _Mayhew_ says from the _Norman_,
SANC, blood,—in allusion either to the soldier’s calling, or the colour
of his coat.
SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.
SAUCEBOX, a mouth, also a pert young person.
SAVELOY, a sausage of chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of POLONY.
SAVEY, to know; “do you SAVEY that?”—_French_, SAVEZ VOUS CELA? In the
nigger and _Anglo Chinese patois_, this is SABBY, “me no SABBY.” The
Whampoa slang of this description is very extraordinary; from it we
have got our word CASH!
SAW YOUR TIMBER, “be off!” equivalent to _cut your stick_.—_See_ CUT.
SAWBONES, a surgeon.
SAWNEY, or SANDY, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander.
SAWNEY, a simpleton.
SAWNEY, bacon. SAWNEY HUNTER, one who steals bacon.
SCAB, a worthless person.—_Old._ _Shakespere_ uses SCALD in a similar
sense.
SCALDRUM DODGE, burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder,
so as to suit the hues and complexions of the accident to be deplored.
SCALY, shabby, or mean. _Shakespere_ uses SCALD, an old word of
reproach.
SCAMANDER, to wander about without a settled purpose;—possibly in
allusion to the winding course of the Homeric river of that name.
SCAMMERED, drunk.
SCAMP, a graceless fellow, a rascal; formerly the cant term for
plundering and thieving. A ROYAL-SCAMP was a highwayman, whilst a
FOOT-SCAMP was an ordinary thief with nothing but his legs to trust to
in case of an attempt at capture. Some have derived SCAMP from _qui ex
campo exit_, viz., one who leaves the field, a deserter.
SCARPER, to run away.—_Spanish_, ESCAPAR, to escape, make off;
_Italian_, SCAPPARE. “SCARPER with the feele of the donna of the
cassey,” to run away with the daughter of the land-lady of the house;
almost pure _Italian_, “_scappare colla figlia della donna della casa_.”