The dialect used for their own peculiar purposes amongst thieves is
by no means entitled to the appellation of a language, but in every
sense to that of a jargon or gibberish, it being for the most part
composed of words of the native language of those who use it,
according to the particular country, though invariably in a meaning
differing more or less from the usual and received one, and for the
most part in a metaphorical sense. Metaphor and allegory, indeed,
seem to form the nucleus of this speech, notwithstanding that other
elements are to be distinguished; for it is certain that in every
country where it is spoken, it contains many words differing from
the language of that country, and which may either be traced to
foreign tongues, or are of an origin at which, in many instances,
it is impossible to arrive. That which is most calculated to
strike the philosophic mind when considering this dialect, is
doubtless the fact of its being formed everywhere upon the same
principle - that of metaphor, in which point all the branches
agree, though in others they differ as much from each other as the
languages on which they are founded; for example, as the English
and German from the Spanish and Italian.
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