''Bargoens'' is a form of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

. More specifically, it is a

cant Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a la ...

language that arose in the 17th century, and was used by criminals, tramps and travelling salesmen as a secret code, like Spain's ''

Germanía Germanía () is the Spanish term for the argot used by criminals or in jails in Spain during 16th and 17th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation. The ultimate origin of the word is the Latin word , through Catalan ...

'' or French ''

Argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...

''. It is speculated to originate from

Rotwelsch Rotwelsch (, ''" beggar's foreign (language)"'') or Gaunersprache ( ''" crook's language"'') also Kochemer Loshn (from Yiddish "", "tongue of the wise") is a secret language, a cant or thieves' argot, spoken by groups (primarily marginalized gr ...

However, the word ''Bargoens'' usually refers to the

thieves' cant Thieves' cant (also known as thieves' argot, rogues' cant, or peddler's French) is a cant, cryptolect, or argot which was formerly used by thieves, beggars, and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English- ...

spoken in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The actual slang varied greatly from place to place; often ''Bargoens'' denotes the variety from the Holland region in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. While many words from Bargoens have faded into obscurity, others have become part of standard Dutch (but are more often used in the "Hollandic" than in other Dutch dialects). ''Hufter'' (jerk), ''gappen'' (to steal) and ''poen'' (money) are examples of words now common in Dutch. As is the case for most thieves' languages, many of the words from ''Bargoens'' are either insults or concern money, crime or sex. Bargoens has many

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s. Examples are ''sjacheren'' (to barter), ''mesjogge'' (crazy), ''jatten'' (hands, to steal), ''gabber'' (buddy, friend), ''tof'' (great), ''hachelen'' (to eat). The name of this cant is close to ''baragouin'', which means "

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

" in French. It is supposed to have been derived either from the Breton words ''bara+gwin'' (bread+wine) or from ''Bourgondisch'' ('Burgundish', i.e.

he language He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

from Burgundy). Many Woonwagenbewoners (Dutch Travellers) used to speak this language as well.

Examples

Also the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

s of former

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...

s were Bargoens:

Examples

See also