Thieves' cant was a secret language (or cryptolect) formerly used by thieves, beggars and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. The classic, colorful argot is now mostly obsolete, and is largely relegated to the realm of literature and fantasy role-playing, although individual terms continue to be used in the criminal subcultures of both Britain and the U.S.. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with cant (language). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Argot is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ...

History

It was claimed by Samuel Rid that Thieves cant was devised around 1530 “to the end that their cozenings, knaveries and villainies might not so easily be perceived and known”, by Cock Lorel and the King of the Gypsies at The Devils Arse Apeak in Derbyshire. It does seem to have originated in this period but the story is almost certainly a myth. Events June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... The title King of the Gypsies has been claimed or given over the centuries to many different people. ... Peak Cavern entrance. ... Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, and boasts some of Englands most attractive scenery. ...

Cant was a common feature of rogue literature of the Elizabethan period in England, in both pamphlets and Elizabethan theatre. Thomas Harman who claimed to be a Justice of the Peace included examples in his Caveat for Common Cursitors (1566). He claimed that he collected his information from vagabonds he interrogated at his home in Essex. He also called it “pedlars’ French” or “pelting speech”, and said he was told had been invented as a secret language some 30 years earlier. The earliest records of canting words are included in The Highway to the Spitalfields by Robert Copland c.1536. Copland and Harman were used as sources by later writers. A spate of rogue literature started in 1591 with Robert Greene's series of five pamphlets on cozenage and coney-catching. These were continued by other writers, including Thomas Middleton, in The Black Book and Thomas Dekker, in The Bellman of London (1608), Lantern and Candlelight (1608) and O per se O (1612). Cant was included together with descriptions of the social structure of beggars, the techniques of thieves including coney-catching, gul-groping and gaming tricks, and the descriptions of low life of the kind which have always been popular in literature. Many of these pamphlets borrowed from earlier works, sometimes wholesale. Cant is an example of a cryptolect, a characteristic or secret language used only by members of a group, often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... Thomas Harman was an Elizabethan author who lived in Kent, England. ... A Justice of the Peace (JP) is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. ... Events January 7 - Pius V becomes Pope Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Religious rioting in the Netherlands signifies the beginning of the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands. ... Vagabond refer to: Vagabond, an itinerant person, Vagabond, a manga by Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond, a movie by Agnès Varda, Vagabond, a Marvel Comics universe character. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Highway in Pennsylvania, USA The Pan-American Highway, in the Peruvian town of Máncora, where it serves as the main street. ... Robert Copland (fl. ... Events February 2 - Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. ... Events June - Capture of Zutphen by the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau. ... Robert Greene, BA, MA, (1558 – September 3, 1592) was an English playwright, poet, pamphleteer, and prose writer. ... Thomas Middleton (baptized April 18, 1580, died 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. ... Thomas Dekker, (c. ... Events March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen. ... Events March 18 - Sissinios formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia May 14 - Protestant Union founded in Auhausen. ... Events January 20 - Mathias becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... Gaming is an umbrella term that includes a number of special hobby game types: Board games Collectible card games Computer and video games Tabletop wargaming (i. ... Low-Life was New Orders third studio album. ... A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). ...

Harman included a canting dictionary which was copied by Thomas Dekker and other writers. That such words were known to a wide audience is evidenced by the use of cant words in Jacobean theatre. Middleton and Dekker included it in The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cut-Purse (1611). It was used extensively in The Beggars Bush, a play by Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, first performed in 1622, but possibly written c.1614. The play remained popular for two centuries, and the canting section was extracted as The Beggars Commonwealth by Francis Kirkman as one of the drolls he published for performance at markets, fairs and camps. A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. ... The term Jacobean refers to a period in English history that coincides with the reign of James I (1603 – 1625). ... Events June 23 - Henry Hudsons crew maroons him, his son and 7 others in a boat November 1 - At Whitehall Palace in London, William Shakespeares romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time. ... Sketch of Francis Beaumont Francis Beaumont (1584 – 1616), was an English dramatist most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher. ... John Fletcher (1579-1625) was a Jacobean playwright. ... Philip Massinger (1583 - 1640) was an English dramatist. ... Events January 1 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of March 25. ... Events April 5 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. ... Francis Kirkman (1632 - c. ... Drolls were short dramatic pieces designed for informal performance in England outside the standard theatrical setting. ...

The influence of this work can be seen from the independent life taken on by the "Beggar King Clause", who appears a real character in later literature. The ceremony for anointing the new king was taken from Thomas Harman and described as being used by gypsies in the nineteenth century. Bampfylde Moore Carew, who published his picaresque Life in 1745, claimed to have been chosen to succeed "Clause Patch" as King of the Beggars, and many editions of his work included a canting dictionary. Such dictionaries, often based on Harman’s, remained popular, including The Canting Academy, or Devils Cabinet opened, by Richard Head (1673), and BE's Dictionary of the Canting Crew (1699) This article is becoming very long. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bampfylde Moore Carew (born 1693, died 1759), was an English rogue, vagabond and imposter, who claimed to be King of the Beggars. ... The picaresque novel (Spanish: picaresco, from pícaro, for rogue or rascal) is a popular style of novel that originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and has continued to influence modern literature. ... // Events May 11 - War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy - At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 – Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 - Beginning of the 45 Jacobite Rising at Glenfinnan September 12 - Francis I is elected... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Events January 22 - Impostor Mary Carleton is hanged in Newgate prison in England for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation March 18 - John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton sells his part of New Jersey to the Quakers. ... Events January 26 - Treaty of Karlowitz signed March 30 - the tenth Sikh Master, Guru Gobind Singh created the Khalsa. ...

Some words from thieves’ cant continued to be used into the twentieth century combined with slang words from eighteenth century London. Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ...

Controversies

Two issues remain unresolved. The first is the extent to which thieves' cant developed from Romany. This theory was popular in the eighteenth century, but it has fallen out of fashion. Etymological research now suggests a substantial correlation between Romany words and cant, and equivalents, in many European languages. Against this, in England at least, there are objections that such a connection was widely made by contemporary writers, who regarded the Egyptians, as they were known, as separate from the standard vagabonds, and that cant was fully developed within 50 years of their first arrival in England. The second is the extent to which the words in literature were taken from street usage, or were adopted by those wishing to show that they were part of a real or imagined criminal underworld. The transmission has almost certainly been in both directions. Romani (or Romany) is the language of the Roma and Sinti, peoples often referred to in English as Gypsies. The Indo-Aryan Romani language should not be confused with either Romanian (spoken by Romanians), or Romansh (spoken in parts of southeastern Switzerland), both of which are Romance languages. ...

See also

• Rotwelsch
• Fenya

Rotwelsch or Gaunersprache is a secret language, a cant or theives argot, spoken by covert groups primarily in Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries. ... Fenya or Fenka is a Russian cant language used among criminals. ...

References

• Judges, A.V., (1930, reprinted 1974) The Elizabethan Underworld, includes the main works of rogue literature
• Aydelotte, F., (1913, reprinted 1967) Elizabethan Rogues and Vagabonds, provided analysis of the literature.
• Coleman, J., (2004) A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries, Volume 1: 1567-1784
• Green, J., Romany Rise, Critical Quarterly,
• Volume 41 Page 118 - October 1999 (commenting on Becker-Ho, A., Les Princes du Jargon (1990 & 1993), available at http://www.wordwizard.com/critq3.htm
• Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence. (1811), based on the dictionary compiled by Captain Grose in 1785.
• Transcription of canting terms from 1736
• Extracts and images from Head’s Canting Academy
• http://php.iupui.edu/~asimmon/thief.html