Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/84

 the Hebrew chono, gentle, kind, affable); chessenspiess, fem., chessenspiesse (the landlord or mistress of an inn frequented by thieves--a place where they may find refuge without fear of discovery. From the Hebrew); chechom (also chochem, chochemer,--more frequently spelled with 'K'--from the Hebrew, the wise one. A prudent, cunning thief. Chochem lehorre, a dangerous thief, one prepared for the worst; of a similar meaning is chochem mechutten, a dangerous companion, a rogue of the worst type); bahnherr (also bohnherr and Herr by itself: literally 'a road-master'; a burglar--one who prepares a robbery); diffler (a thoroughly dexterous thief; from tupfel, 'a point'); drängler (a thief, who, to divert the attention of people from his intention, causes a crowd to assemble); paddendrücker (a pickpocket--one whose speciality is purses: drücker is a corrupted form of trecken, 'to draw' or 'steal' quickly and adroitly. Drücker, like drücken, 'to steal' is never used by itself, but always with the object of the theft; hence paddendrücker, a purse thief; luppendrücker, a watch thief; torfdrücker, a generic name for a pickpocket); eintreiber (a confederate who entices a victim to play so that his comrade may swindle him); erefschieber (a thief who goes out at evening time to commit robberies. Also erefhalchener, erefgänger, erefhändler. Eref = evening); fichtegänger (a night thief or burglar); fiesel (supposed to be derived from faser, 'a birch,' 'rod,' or 'fibre.' In Vienna, the scum of society is meant by fiesel--the commonest thief, professional vagabond, a protector of brothels and whores of the most repulsive kind. These thieves are of great daring, utterly unscrupulous, and are consequently much dreaded. Some feign to carry on the business of a rag and bone-picker, what in the fiesellange or Viennese thieves' lingo is termed, 'going out for profit.' In the sense of 'a rod,' fiesel is applied to the membrum genitale masculi; hence fiesel as synonymous with strength, i.e., pertaining to the stronger sex. It was formerly used in connection with many other words; e.g., mädchenfiesel, 'one who habitually runs after women,' 'a molrower,' a 'loose fish.' Fiesel-language means the language of the strong, of those belonging to the fellowship of thieves, burglars, and rowdies); freikäufer (a thief whose speciality it is to steal at fairs and markets); freischupper (a card sharper; a gambling cheat who carries on his business in crowded places of public resort); gacheler (also gachler, gackler, kachler, kakler, kegler: a pantry thief; one who steals eatables and plate from kitchens whilst servants are attending at table); gannew (from Hebrew gonaw, 'to steal'); gaslan (from Hebrew gosal, 'to rob'); glitscher (gypsy: glitschin, 'the key[** ']: a thief who works by means of skeleton keys); godler chochem (from Hebrew godol, great, strong, celebrated + Hebrew chochem, the wise one; hence, a clever rogue, a thief who thoroughly understands his business); goi gomur (an utterly