Grypsera (: from Low German ''Grips'' meaning "intelligence", "cleverness"; also ''drugie życie'', literally "second life" in Polish) is a distinct nonstandard dialect or prison

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-g ...

of the

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

, used traditionally by recidivist prison inmates. It evolved in the 19th century in the areas of Congress Poland: it is said to have originated in Gęsiówka, a prison in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. The basic substrate of the dialect is Polish, but there are many notable influences (mostly lexical) from other languages used in Polish lands at that time, most notably

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 ve ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, but also some Lithuanian, Ukrainian,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. It was also heavily influenced by various

regional dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

s of the Polish language, most notably the

Bałak jargon Bałak (; often mistakenly called ''bałach'') is a jargon or a sociolect spoken by the commoners of the city of Lwów (modern Lviv, Ukraine). A distinct part of the Lwów dialect of the Polish language, it consists of a Lesser Poland Polish lan ...

of Lwów and the

Warsaw dialect The Warsaw subdialect ( pl, gwara warszawska ), or Warsaw dialect ( pl, dialekt warszawski), is a regional subdialect of the Masovian dialect of the Polish language, centered on the city of Warsaw. It evolved as late as the 18th century, under ...

. Initially, it served the role of 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 ...

, or "secret language", but in the late 19th century, it became a standard

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acqui ...

of criminals. Grypsera is constantly evolving to maintain the status of a language understood only by a select group of inmates and not by the wardens or informers. That makes it currently one of the lexically richest dialects of Polish. Also, it is not possible to prepare a comprehensive dictionary of the dialect since it differs from prison to prison. Phonetically, Grypsera is similar to the

and shares its most notable features of assimilation of into and the disappearance of nasal vowels, especially in word-final syllables.

Sample Vocabulary

* ''Adela'': prostitute (from Polish) * ''Adinoczka'': a single prison cell (from Russian) * ''Ajencel'': a single prison cell (from German) * ''Ajnbrunch'': breaking into a cash register (from German) * ''Dzieci naczelnika'': lice (from Polish) * ''Frajer'': an outsider, someone who does not speak Grypsera (from Yiddish) * ''Giwera'': gun (from Yiddish) * ''Gold'': to welcome someone (from English) * ''Kulak'': economic criminal (from Russian) * ''Ogrodnik'': village thief (from Polish) * ''Pinkel'': stolen money or goods from a crime (from German) * ''Pokupka'': theft (from Russian) * ''Pomarańczyk'': homosexual (from Polish) * ''Return'': self-defense of criminals against police officers (from English) * ''Szopenfeld'': theft committed in a shop while the shop assistant is present (from Yiddish)

References

{{Reflist Polish dialects Cant languages