This circumstance
naturally leads to the conclusion that the robber language has not
arisen fortuitously in the various countries where it is at present
spoken, but that its origin is one and the same, it being probably
invented by the outlaws of one particular country; by individuals
of which it was, in course of time, carried to others, where its
principles, if not its words, were adopted; for upon no other
supposition can we account for its general metaphorical character
in regions various and distant. It is, of course, impossible to
state with certainty the country in which this jargon first arose,
yet there is cogent reason for supposing that it may have been
Italy. The Germans call it Rothwelsch, which signifies 'Red
Italian,' a name which appears to point out Italy as its
birthplace; and which, though by no means of sufficient importance
to determine the question, is strongly corroborative of the
supposition, when coupled with the following fact. We have already
intimated, that wherever it is spoken, this speech, though composed
for the most part of words of the language of the particular
country, applied in a metaphorical sense, exhibits a considerable
sprinkling of foreign words; now of these words no slight number
are Italian or bastard Latin, whether in Germany, whether in Spain,
or in other countries more or less remote from Italy.
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