Therefore, when a
comprehensive view of the subject is taken, there appears to be
little improbability in supposing, that not only were the Italians
the originators of the metaphorical robber jargon, which has been
termed 'Red Italian,' but that they were mainly instrumental in
causing it to be adopted by the thievish race in various countries
of Europe.
It is here, however, necessary to state, that in the robber jargon
of Europe, elements of another language are to be discovered, and
perhaps in greater number than the Italian words. The language
which we allude to is the Rommany; this language has been, in
general, confounded with the vocabulary used among thieves, which,
however, is a gross error, so gross, indeed, that it is almost
impossible to conceive the manner in which it originated: the
speech of the Gypsies being a genuine language of Oriental origin,
and the former little more than a phraseology of convenience,
founded upon particular European tongues. It will be sufficient
here to remark, that the Gypsies do not understand the jargon of
the thieves, whilst the latter, with perhaps a few exceptions, are
ignorant of the language of the former.
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