New-York tribune., 1881-10-02
FRENCH Slang.
From he Sntlirdau Reriem.

saturday
Even such pursts and masters OF the language as
ThTophile Gautier do not scruple to make use OF
gy1ot Concerning the dery alton of this word phllol-
ogsts are 1T variance put the most ratl9al M deIiya-
{" n auibblen which has the same origin, and pdrter
drgof would seem to have been primarily equiyalent
10 making use of some suDtety OF speech. french
Argot rs n composite dialect containing seven dis
tinct elements: /. Old French or ProVeneal words;
. Substituted expressions; 3. Arbitrary modihca-
tions of words: T. AltcTativc or onOmatOp9lc
snunds. : Jeux de mots; q. "reminiscences of his
tory politiCs the drama. literature etc; and 4.
Foreign words imported into the language. 10 the
first class belong such words as tcher, now con-
stontlv in the mouth of every Partisan. and serving
for almost every conceivable verbal expression. AS
early as the fourteenth century we ma n Aarecha
de Bouccaut forcing the SaraCens TO beat retreat
II d 81 fcher dams Lcs jdrdiRs. The substituted ex-
preSsions are either arbitrary or represent some
function quality, or aspect OF the original Wordi
such as ticker III English for - watch" and
t,iudH de pOeIt like the American "stove-ppe,' as
French slang for hat The modified words are still
more arbitrary such as c"noorer for cohndIe' t7go
for ici and the like. OF the INITIATIVE SOUNDS JT0a
from for the rustling of silk is sufficiently we'll
known example. The jeHr dc aots are sometimes
very recondite in character; for instance IN the
middle ages mqilIe was the name OF coin ana tno
b1ub,rf was a coat of mail from TINS comes tne
modern word dubcrt in the sense OF money. Ahother
curious word for money in Argot Is 6roiSe, emDers
that is, the thing which makes the pot Doii. III
English slang A" Goals Is used III exactly the same
sense and the Rommanies have translated 1t INTO
rougar with the Identical meaning; amongst tnese
hback-slang" such as Hnsprt, prince and
arso,alle for souiudrO, "blackguard," also mede-
val word TO the "reminiscences" belong such
names as Tartuke. Polichnellc, and epithets like
Gombettiste 3adinguiste and so on. A propos OF
The last expression it will be remembered that
Radinguet was the name of the mason dlsgulsed IN
whose clothes Napoleon Ill escaped from the prison
of Ham, and stuck to him as nickname ever atter
During the Italian campaign the Emperor called up
a soldier who had distinguished himself Tor bravery
in a certain engagement, and fastening the cross OF
the Legion of Honor to his breast, asked him his
name Tbe man hesitated looked foolish, and ut
length naly refused TO tell it; but on being COM
manded to speak out, and asked the reason for MS
reticence he naivcy remarked, Mol aussl le
m'appelle Badinguet" The foreign words IN french
slang are very numerous, and English has con,
tribnted a large share, dandy" handicap"
Jockey" and the like, being quite familiar 10 the
freouenter of the bOuevards. One would at hrst
SIGHT he inclined TO derive the French chic from the
English cheek: but it appears that the English is
itself the derived word. chic being an old Romance
word signifng faesse or subtlety, and forming tine
root OF our own word chicanery. . -,
Argot is as might be expected, peculiarly ricn In
idioms for expressing the various stages OF acoho-
ism Thus at the outset ono is said ere o,en, drof
ga pointe ftro monte train, pouSse, partl lance or
on bnfr0ile little later the patient is tegereneHt
S,.u presently he becomes dttendr, condition
which il presently followed by that state OF self
contemplation which Hans Breitmann hasso beauti-
fully expressed in his meditation upon rocky
Ieoan harp. In this phlosophic stage 1t Is SAID OF
he is decidedly 6m6che, and may expect mat aur
chspeuI in the morning. somewhat more sompre
view of life is suggested by the number OF words tor
assassnaton-fdre suer reroder ckourtner or sour
ner. ccpahuter and 30 on while the synonyms Tor
thieving and cheating are simply innumer ibie' As