| 释义 |
shelta|ˈʃɛltə|
Also shelter.
[Of obscure origin: for the forms of the name that are used in the ‘language’ itself, see quot. 1891.
Prof. Kuno Meyer conjectured (Jrnl. Gypsy Lore Soc. II. 259) that the form sheldrū represents the Old Irish bélre (mod. béarla) language, with arbitrary substitution of initial sh for b.]
A cryptic jargon used by tinkers, composed partly of Irish or Gaelic words, mostly disguised by inversion or by arbitrary alteration of initial consonants.
1876in Leland Gypsies (1882) 355 Now Romanes is genteel... But as for this other jib, its wery hard to talk. It is most all Old Irish, and they calls it Shelter. 1882Leland Ibid. 354 Shelta, the tinkers' talk. Ibid. 360 Our informant could give only a single specimen of the Shelta literature. 1891Sampson in Jrnl. Gypsy Lore Soc. II. 206 Like all true citizens of the road, the tinkers protect themselves by the use of a secret language, variously known as Shelta, Sheldrū, Shīldru, Shelter, and Shelteroχ, ‘Bog Latin’, ‘Tinkers' Cant’, or ‘the Ould Thing’. |