slum

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Fwiw, Hebrew has a root SH-L-M = pay.  Is there any possibility of this root making its way into English cant as "slum" in its monetary sense?
 
Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Douglas G. Wilson
Sent: Wed 7/11/2007 11:01 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: slum



>Relevant to the meaning of "dollar," though not very enlightening
>and not found elsewhere:
>
>   1859 George W. Matsell _Vocabulum_ (N.Y.: Matsell) 61: SLUM. A
> package of bank bills; a low drinking-place.  SLUMING [sic].
> Passing spurious bills. SLUMMING. Stealing packages of bank-bills.

_Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words_, 2nd ed. (John
Camden Hotten, London, 1860): p. 219: <<SLUMMING, passing bad
money.>> (some slightly later versions apparently are found at Google Books)

Farmer and Henley give some senses of "slum" approximating "counterfeit".

-- Doug Wilson


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