Holy Orders

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Cant, or Shelta in the United States, is the secret language of Irish travelers, who in the 1950s were known universally, and unpejoratively, as tinkers. The origins of this colorful patois are obscure, and travelers are still reluctant, understandably, to reveal a full vocabulary. The word “Cant” probably comes from the Irish word caint, meaning “talk.” “Shelta” may be a corruption of siulta, the Irish word for “walking,” as in Na Daoine Siulta, the “Walking People.”

Two authoritative sources on Cant are The Secret Languages of Ireland, by R.A.S. Macalister (1937), and Irish Tinkers or “Travellers”: Some Notes on Their Manners and Customs and Their Secret Language or “Cant,” by Pádraig Mac Gréine (Béaloideas, 1931).

Glossary of Cant words used in the text:

aras: soft in the head

cuinne: priest

gatrin: child

granen: pregnant

grit: sick

mugathawn: fool

mull: woman

nyaark: rascal

Palantus: England

shade: policeman

shako: sin

sharog: redhead

sramala: robber

sreentul: friend

sringan: drink (alcoholic)

spurk: fornicate