Argot
An
argot is a secret language used by various groups — e.g. schoolmates, outlaws, colleagues, among many others — to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term
argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, occupation, or hobby, in which sense it overlaps with jargon. The author Victor Hugo was one of the first to research argot extensively. He describes it in his 1862 novel
Les Misérables as the language of the dark; at one point, he says, "What is argot; properly speaking? Argot is the language of misery." The earliest known record of
argot was in a 1628 document. The word was probably derived from the contemporary name,
les argotiers, given to a group of thieves at that time. Under the strictest definition, an
argot is a proper language, with its own grammar and style. But such complete secret languages are rare, because the speakers usually have some public language in common, on which the argot is largely based.