Shelta, or SHELRŪ, is a secret jargon of great antiquity spoken by Irish tinkers, beggars, and pipers, the descendants of the ancient ceards and bards. The word Shelrū is a perversion of the Irish béulra, 'language.' Shelta is otherwise known as 'Cainnt cheard,' 'Minkur-tharal,' 'Gam (or Gamoch) cant,' 'Bog-latin,' and 'Béarl'eagair.' For use of last name see Gaelic Dictionary of the Highland Society (1828), i. 113: "'Béarl'eagair'" or "Laidíonn nan ceard," the gibberish of tinkers: figulorum stribigo; dialectus qua utuntur ollarum sartores circumforanei; also i. 543: 'Gibberish: mendicorum et nebulonum ex compacto sermo, barbaries.' Béarl'eagair (i.e. 'vernacular') thus used must not be confounded with Béarlagair na saor (mason's jargon), a few words of which are given by MacElligott (Dublin Gaelic Society, 1808). The earliest specimens of this idiom, collected (1877-80) by Mr C. G. Leland from an English vagrant in North Wales and an Irish tinker in Philadelphia, are published in The Gypsies, pp. 354-372. The investigation of Shelta was continued by Mr D. MacRitchie in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society (i. 350-357), where fresh examples from the Scotch Highlands and south of Ireland subsequently appeared. In the same Journal (ii. 204-220) the present writer showed Shelta to be a systematic perversion of the pre-aspirated Gaelic spoken anterior to the 11th century, and Dr Kuno Meyer (ii. 257-266) in an erudite paper on 'The Irish Origin and Antiquity of Shelta' adduced numerous references to this jargon in early Irish MSS. Shelta has been identified by
Dr Meyer with the ancient secret language called Ogam, a word probably surviving in the name Gam or Gamoch cant. References to Ogam as a spoken tongue occur in the Annals of Clonmacnoise (1328) and in O'Molloy, Grammatica (1677), p. 133. Several common Shelta words are found in the Dúil Laithne or Book of Latin (cf. 'Laidíonn nan ceard;' for Latin = cant, see Pott's Zigeuner, i. 8), an Ogam glossary copied by MacFirbis from an old or middle Irish MS. Professor Thurneysen (Revue Celtique, vii. 369-375) has shown that many of these Ogam-words are formed by substituting for the initial its runic name: thus manaith (D. L. 137 = Shelta múnni) is formed from Ir. maith by changing M into muin, the name of the letter; Shelta nadherum, 'mother,' being similarly an anagram of muinathair (Ir. mathair). Shelta words are also fabricated from Irish by reversing or transposing the letters of the original word (e.g. gré, 'rise,' Ir. érg; tober, 'road,' Ir. bothar), by changing the initial (e.g. júmnik, 'Sunday,' Ir. domnach), and by the prefix, suffix, or interpolation of arbitrary letters to the Irish word or its anagram (e.g. gladher, 'skin,' Ir. leathar; thalosk, 'day,' Ir. latha; sriog, 'king,' Ir. ríg; laskon, 'salt,' Ir. salann). Analogous modes of word-disguise are described in the Amra Cholwimchille, an Irish MS. of the 12th century, and in the Uraicept na n-Egcs (Primer of the Poets), each of these processes having a recognised name. A few old Irish words are used in Shelta without disguise, as kúnya, 'priest,' Ir. cairneach, 'druidical priest;' gyukera, 'beggar,' Ir. geocaire. Shelta borrows its grammar and unimportant words from Irish or English. The following translation of the Lord's Prayer ('Staffara a' Dhalyon') by an old Irish tinker illustrates the hybrid grammar of the Ulster dialect:
Múlisha's gather, swúrlh a múnniath, múnni-gráha krádyi dhúlisha's múnnik. Grá be grédhí'd shedhí' ladhu, as aswúrlh in múnniath. Bug múlisha thalosk minúrlh goshta dhurra; gretul our shakú eraik múlisha getyas rídyas grédhí ganiath múlisha. Nijesh solk mwi-il stúrlh ganiath but bug múlisha achlin ganiath. Dhí-il the sréug, thardyúrlath and múnniath. Gradhum a gradhum.
The tinkers believe Shelta to be an independent language of Pictish origin (The Gypsies, p. 371). Mr MacRitchie connects this tradition with the fact that Greenie (Cruitmhagh) is a Connaught tinker surname, and Crink (Cruitlmeach) a nickname for Irish tinkers (Groome, In Gipsy Tents, p. 147). Shelta contributes largely to other English and Irish cants. See ken and gage (vb) in Harman's Caveat (1566), cín (Shelta, ken) in MacElligott's Berlagar na saer, and tobar in Rapparee (Ir. rapaire) cant.