''Bargoens'' () is a form of Dutch

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

. More specifically, it is a cant language that arose in the 17th century, and was used by criminals, tramps and travelling salesmen as a secret code, like Spain's '' Germanía'' 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, argo ...

''. It is speculated to originate from Rotwelsch. 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 (language), cant, cryptolect, or argot which was formerly used by thieves, beggars, and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent i ...

spoken between 1850 and 1950. The actual slang varied greatly from place to place; often ''Bargoens'' denotes the variety from the Holland region in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. 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, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

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, or technical language, 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 ...

" 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 languagefrom Burgundy). Many ''Woonwagenbewoners'' (indigenous Dutch Travellers and Romani) used to speak this language as well.

Examples

Also the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

s of former

Dutch guilder The guilder (, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from 1434 until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning 'golden', and reflects the fact that, when first introduced in 1434, its ...

s were Bargoens:

Examples

Further reading

See also