Bargoens

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You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch. (June 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Dutch article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 229 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at [[:nl:Bargoens]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|nl|Bargoens}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Bargoens (Dutch pronunciation: [bɑrˈɣuns] ^ⓘ) is a form of Dutch slang. 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. It is speculated to originate from Rotwelsch.

However, the word Bargoens usually refers to the thieves' cant 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. 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 loanwords. 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" in French. It is supposed to have been derived either from the Breton words bara+gwin (bread+wine) or from Bourgondisch ('Burgundish', i.e. [the language] from Burgundy).

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

Also the nicknames of former Dutch guilders were Bargoens:

• Endt, Enno; Frerichs, Lieneke (2011). Bargoens Woordenboek - Kleine woordenschat van de volkstaal (1 ed.). Bert Bakker. ISBN 978-90-351-3652-6.
• Moormann, Jules; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2002). De geheimtalen. L.J. Veen. ISBN 902-04-594-57.
• Hauwermeiren, Paul van (2020). Bargoens. Vijf eeuwen geheimtaal van randgroepen in de Lage Landen. Uitgeverij Skribis. ISBN 978-94-639-6916-1.

• Grypsera