Cryptolanguage

A cant (or cryptolect) is the jargon or argot of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.

There are two main schools of thought on the origin of the word cant.

In Celtic linguistics, the derivation is normally seen to be from the Scottish Gaelic cainnt or Irish word caint (older spelling cainnt) "speech, talk". In this sense it is seen to have derived amongst the itinerant groups of people in Scotland and Ireland, hailing from both Irish/Scottish Gaelic and English-speaking backgrounds, ultimately developing as various creole languages. However, the various types of cant (Scottish/Irish) are mutually unintelligible to each other. The Irish creole variant is simply termed "the Cant" Its speakers from the Irish Traveller community know it as Gammon, and the linguistic community identifies it as Shelta.

In parts of Connacht in Ireland, Cant referred to an auction typically on fairday: "Cantmen and Cantwoman, some from as far away as Dublin, would converge on Mohill on a Fair Day,... set up their stalls ... and immediately start auctioning off their merchandise", and secondly-"very entertaining conversation was often described as 'great cant'", or 'crosstalk'.

In Scotland, there are two unrelated creol languages termed as "cant". Scottish Cant (a variant of Scots, Romani and Scottish Gaelic influences) is spoken by Lowland Gypsy groups. Highland Traveller's Cant (or Beurla Reagaird) is a Gaelic-based cant of the Indigenous Highland Traveller population. Both cants are mutually unintelligible with each other.

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