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The following is the arrangement of the vocabulary. The alphabetic order is a ā å b bʹ c d dʹ e ē f g gʹ h i ī k kʹ χ l lʹ m mʹ n nʹ o ō p pʹ r rʹ s š t tʹ θ u ū v w y. The references, α, β, γ, are to the specimens of the language printed above. The word is spelt on the phonetic principles already laid down. After the standardized spelling comes the meaning, followed by the renderings of different collectors, examples of the use of the word, and the etymology, when that can be identified (B-L = Bog-Latin, Chap. IV).
bagail ‘taking’, ‘catching’. S’guidh a bagail ar mo ghil ‘it is raining’ (W), properly skai a’ bagail ar mo dʹīl ‘Water a-catching of myself’. Perversion of Irish gabhāil [gawålʹ] ‘taking’.
balast ‘hair’ (ballast K). Romani bal + arbitrary syllable ast(??). But compare fualasg [B-L, no. 5].
bani ‘meal’ (K). Doubtful if true Shelta.
batoma ‘a policeman’ (bathoma K). Probably miswritten for gūtena, q.v.
bilsag ‘lips’, ‘mouth’ (K′). Irish bēal [bʹēl] ‘mouth’ + meaningless syllable (?). Compare beilfleisg [B-L, no. 9].
binsi ‘wings’ (K). Binsi bēro (K) ‘a sailing ship’ [bēro = ‘ship’ in Romani].
bīn ‘great’, ‘good’, ‘grand’ (bin K, been C). Bīn-chit ‘a brooch’ (bīn + cant word); bin-lʹūrʹ (bin-liuer K), also said to mean ‘brooch’, but lʹūrʹ = ‘money’; bīn-lightie ‘daylight’; bīn-lightment ‘Sunday’ (both from K: bīn + cant words). Irish mīn [mʹīnʹ] ‘fine’.
blaci ‘coal’ (blatchi C, blatchy N). Probably cant, from English ‘black’.
bladunk ‘prison’ (bladhunk L.) Irish braighdeānach [bre̅i̅dʹåʹnaχ] ‘a captive’, ‘a prisoner’ seems analogous.
blaiki ‘a pot’ (bláiky ‘a tin vessel’ N, blaikie ‘a pot’ K, blawkie ‘a kettle’ C). English ‘blackie’ (R).
blānōg ‘a cow’ (blan, blanag, blanig K, blànag W, blainteag K′, blánóg brāingōg G). Irish blēaghnach [blʹēnaχ] ‘act of milking’. Used abusively of a woman, β 7. Blānōg-kar’ber ‘a cow-killer’, ‘butcher’; bʹinʹi blānōg (G) ‘a calf’.
blå ‘meal’, ‘oatmeal’ (blaa, blaw C). Probably not true Shelta.
bleater ‘a sheep’ (G). English.
blinkam ‘a candle’; blinkie ‘a window’; blinklum ‘light’. Factitious words from English ‘blink’ (K).
blōrna ‘a Protestant’ (blōrne: pornuc G), β 89.
blyhunka ‘a horse’ (L). Doubtful: not corroborated.
blʹantaχ ‘a shirt’ (bliantach K′). Irish lēine, plur. lēinteacha [lʹēnə, lʹēntʹaχa].
blʹūr ‘a young woman’ (blewr, bloor C).
bog ‘to get’, ‘find’, in a large variety of senses: bogh (L). ‘To learn’ in β 1. Bog ar-mislō ‘to escape’, ‘make off’ (γ 1e); to bog a milk of his dʹī’l ‘to get hold of him’; bog mwīlša aχím gʹamiaθ ‘take me out of, deliver me from, evil’ (α): ‘that bhogd [in first publication bhoghd] out yer mailya’ ‘you let that fall from your hand’ (so in L) should be that bogd out a’ yer målʹa ‘that got out of your hand’. Bag siort a leagauch mhin ‘go down, boy’ (K′) should be bog šīrt a lʹagaχ mʹinʹ ‘go down, little boy’. Boga mē ‘I shall get’ (written buggama, γ 3e). Bog astúrt, lit. ‘to take in’ = ‘to assume’. What munika did you bog astúrt? ‘What name did you assume?’ L’s bog’hin brass ‘cooking food’ needs corroboration. In the English sense of an auxiliary verb, bogin surχa ‘getting tired’ (γ 1d). Often confused with bug, Irish gabh- [gaw-], which has a similar range of meanings.
bonar ‘good’ (C′). Probably cant, from French bon: not corroborated.
bord ‘table’ (L). Irish.
borer ‘gimlet’ (L). English or cant (Sampson).
bovi ‘a bull’ (K). Not corroborated.
brahan Mo bhrathan gan bhras air a chom, gun ghrad a bhagos e ‘Me without food to-night, and I without money to buy it’ (K′) should be mo bhrahan [‘myself’?] gan [Gaelic, ‘without’] brās [‘food’] ar aχón [‘on to-night’] gan gored [‘without money’] a baga sē [‘that will get it’]. The word brathan [brahan] is not elsewhere recorded.
brauen ‘corn’, ‘grain’ (bravan G). Also used to translate the tinker surname ‘Oates’. Irish arbhar [arwar] ‘corn’.
brās ‘food’ (braas, brass L, pras W, brás G). O’Reilly’s dictionary of Irish gives bras ‘bread, means of living’ from an ‘Old Glossary’ unspecified.
brāsi ‘to feed’ ‘dine’ (braasi).
brikler ‘a bowl’, ‘cup’ (brickler C, briagalair K′, brickcler ‘a cup and saucer’ C). English: see R, no. 110.
brod ‘a house’ (C).
brogies ‘breeches’ (C′). Probably English.
bruskler ‘a bowl’ (K). Compare brikler.
bug ‘to give’; in a variety of senses. Can you bug Shelta? (L′) ‘Can you talk Shelta?’ Bug me a gåp ‘Give me a kiss’; buga ‘I will give’ (β 37, 66). Irish gabh.
bul ‘a crown’, ‘five shillings’ (bool, bûl N, bull C). Cant, not Shelta.
bulla ‘a letter’, ‘note’ (L). Not Shelta.
bulscur ‘wire’ (G).
bura, buri ‘great’, ‘fine’, ‘beautiful’ (bori K, baro, bare, bawrie C, burry, buri G). Perhaps Romani båro, but the first syllable is always written as with a short vowel.
buriaχt ‘goodness’, ‘good’. A gloχ is no buriaχt except he granis a buri gloχ (G) ‘a man is no good unless he knows a good man’ [ = has a good companion].
burik ‘a table’ (burrik). Irish bord.
bwikad ‘to hold’, ‘contain’, but with various meanings: bwikadh (γ 2b). Bʹōrʹ a kʹena bwikads the rīšpa (G) ‘the woman of the house wears the breeches’; any inoχ you bwikad (G) ‘anything you like’. Irish coimhēad [kiw̃ēd] ‘keep’, ‘hold’.
bwikads ‘a pair of pincers’.