Shelta

American  

[shel-tuh] / ˈʃɛl tə /

noun

1. a private language, based in part on Irish, used among Travelers in the British Isles.

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Shelta British  

/ ˈʃɛltə /

noun

1. a secret language used by some itinerant tinkers in Ireland and parts of Britain, based on systematically altered Gaelic

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Etymology

Origin of Shelta

First recorded in 1875–80; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Our informant did not know whether this word, of Romany origin, meant, in Shelta, policeman or magistrate.

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey

But of late years the old tinkers’ families are mostly broken up, and the language is perishing.” p. 358Then he proceeded to give us the words in Shelta, or Minklers Thari. 

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey

I have spoken of Shelta as a jargon; but it is, in fact, a language, for it can be spoken grammatically and without using English or Romany. 

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey

Shelta is perhaps the last Old British dialect as yet existing which has thus far remained undiscovered. 

From The Gypsies by Leland, Charles Godfrey

In after years I discovered an Ogham inscription and the famed Ogham tongue, or Shelta, “the lost language of the bards,” according to Kuno Meyer and John Sampson.

From Memoirs by Leland, Charles Godfrey