For reasons — some of which are obvious and some which will become so later in this series — the Travellers developed their own language. This enabled them to communicate only amongst themselves in crowded areas. Their tongues have been called several names, the most common being Shelta, Gammon, or Cant. 

Linguistically, these are cryptolects, private languages designed to keep all outsiders… uh… outside. "Cant" was originally the term used by polite people to describe the language of thieves in Shakespearean England. Since Irish and English Travellers — as well as Gypsies — were considered thieving peoples, that was the name given to their private language. More properly, the Irish Traveller language is Shelta. The Scottish Traveller language is often called Shelta, too, even though it is very different.

Irish Shelta is a mixture of Irish gaelic, English, Hebrew and Romany. It observes English syntax rules, inverting some letters in words, or otherwise engaging in wordplay to keep it opaque to the non-Traveller. It is thought that between 6000-25,000 speak Shelta (or Gammon, technically different, but similarly crafted) in Ireland and 86,000 speak it worldwide. The only Shelta word that has made it into English common usage is the word "bloke" — not used much in the USA, but understandable even there.

Scottish Travellers devised two languages. One was a Shelta of their own (the word’s origins are in dispute, but probably refers to an Irish/Gaelic word meaning "of the walking") that is a combination of Scottish Gaelic, English, Romany and Arabic. The other language is a version of Gaelic unique to the Travellers alone called Beurla Regaird.

These languages are guarded. They are taught only in the community, taught from birth, and those who marry outside the community do not teach their new families the language. In fact, to marry outside the community is to die to your family. You think excommunication is tough? Think of the Old Amish Order’s shunning and you will be close to how the Irish treat those who leave their clan. The Scottish Travellers tended to marry only within their clan but, as the men were killed in high numbers during the two World Wars (uneducated, they usually served as front line infantry — not a good place to be with the incompetent British officers of the last century in charge) they married outside the clan or died single, thus explaining why they are so few today. In the last few years some Scottish Travellers have been telling their traditional stories to professors so that they can be recorded before the last of them dies out. Or, at least, the last ones who are open about who they are. The Irish Travellers have never told their secrets. They are only revealed when one mistakenly gathers too much attention and the police and/or media jumps in.

Mislo granhes thaber — "the traveller knows the road." That is pure Gammon (the Shelta of southwest Ireland), but it rarely gets spoken that way anymore. More and more English is getting into the mix as the old generations die out and the newer generations are influenced by modern music, TV, and films. A modern Traveller might say "I corked him so hard, I broke his pi" for "I hit him so hard, I broke his head." Prayers are still uttered in the old style. Here is the Lord’s Prayer in modern Shelta:

 

Our gathra,
who cradgies in the manyak-norch,
we turry kerrath about
your moniker.
Let’s turry to the norch where your jeel cradgies,
and
let your jeel shans get greydied nosher same as it is where you
cradgie.
Bug us eynik to lush this thullis,
and turri us you’re nijesh
sharrig for the gammy eyniks we greydied
just like we ain’t sharrig at
the gammi needies that greydi the same to us.
Nijesh let us soonie
eyniks that’ll make us greydi gammy eyniks,
but solk us away from the
taddy.

The church could learn a few lessons from this. Our unique language (redemption, Lord’s Supper, praise and worship, scriptural, change agent, etc.) makes us unintelligible to many of our neighbors. Yet, some of that language is beautiful and wonderful and, if not used, it will disappear from the lips of our children. God told us way back at Babel how powerful we would be if we all spoke the same language! 

When I do the columns on the Irish Travellers in the US I will give more examples of contemporary Cant… but not a lot of it. Too often that kind of "insider information" is then used by outsiders to harass the clans. Some secrets need to remain that way. But others? Stay tuned. Slainte mhath! (standard, non-secret Gaelic for "health to all of you")