[Ads-l] Antedating of "Pig Latin"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fascinating citation, JL! The Wikipedia article on Pig Latin mentions
Hog Latin and Dog Latin.
Garson

On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 10:24 AM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> "Early Modern Pig Latin"
>
> Similar inspiration, but a little simpler:
>
> 1834 _Salem [Mass.] Gazette_ (June 6) 2 [Genealogy Bank]:  "Ziph Language"
> [antedating? -JL]...A dozen or fifteen years ago, the Salem school-boys had
> a flash language of a similar description, which they called "hog latin."
> It was formed by suffixing the syllable -vus_ or -gre_ to every word,
> and..was difficult to be understood by the uninitiated. ..._Dovus
> youvus undrestandvus hog-latinvus? - Dogre yougre understandgre
> hog-latingre ?_
>
> Modern:
>
> 1889 _Evening News-Beacon_ (Wichita, Kans.) (Feb. 14) 4 [GenealogyBank]:
> And the next time you hear a street urchin go up to another and ask,
> "ava-hay ou-yay old-say any-may apers-pee [sic]  o-te-ite-nay [sic]?" if
> you translate it, you will learn that he asked him, "Have you sold many
> papers to night [sic]?" He speaks in Hog Latin.  [Etc.]
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 9:37 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Not "erethay"?  FWIW, my grandmother, who was a child in NYC in the 1890s
> > and explained pig latin to me, would have said it that way.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 9:27 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> > 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> pig Latin (OED, 2., 1896)
> >>
> >> 1895 Evening Dispatch (Provo City, Utah) 27 Apr. 1 / 2 (Newspapers.com)
> >>
> >> The words are spelled after the style of schoolboy "pig-latin" ... Thus
> >> the word "there" in "pig-latin" would be "ereth."
> >>
> >> Fred Shapiro
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org