英语词汇gunsel的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

gunsel. Gunsel, for “a cheap thief or criminal,” is another word reinforced by “gun” in the mind but which really has nothing to do with any weapon. Gunsel derives from either the German ganzel or the Yiddish gantzel, both meaning a gosling. At the beginning of this century prisoners and hoboes called young, inexperienced boys, especially homosexuals, gunsels. From constant underworld use, where it later meant a sly, sneaky person, it was adopted generally as a term for a “run-of- the mob,” usually second-rate criminal. Cannon, for a male pickpocket, has a similar roundabout derivation. As far back as 1840 a pickpocket was called a gun, from the Yiddish goniff, “thief ”; cannon was simply an elegant variation on this word adopted by criminals in about 1910. Thus the popular belief that a male pickpocket is so named because he carries a gun or cannon is all wrong—in fact, pickpockets don’t usually carry guns.

词汇	gunsel
词源	gunsel. Gunsel, for “a cheap thief or criminal,” is another word reinforced by “gun” in the mind but which really has nothing to do with any weapon. Gunsel derives from either the German ganzel or the Yiddish gantzel, both meaning a gosling. At the beginning of this century prisoners and hoboes called young, inexperienced boys, especially homosexuals, gunsels. From constant underworld use, where it later meant a sly, sneaky person, it was adopted generally as a term for a “run-of- the mob,” usually second-rate criminal. Cannon, for a male pickpocket, has a similar roundabout derivation. As far back as 1840 a pickpocket was called a gun, from the Yiddish goniff, “thief ”; cannon was simply an elegant variation on this word adopted by criminals in about 1910. Thus the popular belief that a male pickpocket is so named because he carries a gun or cannon is all wrong—in fact, pickpockets don’t usually carry guns.
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