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Lunfardo
Lunfardo is an argot of the Spanish language which developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the lower classes in and around Buenos Aires.
Many Lunfardo expressions have entered into the popular language and have become an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay. A few have been recognized even by the Real Academia Espanola. Lunfardo is frequently found in the lyrics of tangos, supplying nuances and double-entendres with overtones of sex, drugs, and the criminal underworld.
Development
Much of Lunfardo arrived with European immigrants, such as Italians, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, and Poles. It should be noted that most Italian and Spanish immigrants spoke their regional languages and dialects and not standard Italian or Spanish; other words arrived from the pampa by means of the gauchos; a small number originated in Argentina's native population.
Most sources believe that Lunfardo originated in jails, as a prisoner-only argot. Circa 1900, the word lunfardo itself (originally a deformation of lombardo in several Italian dialects) was used to mean "outlaw".
Characteristics
Lunfardo words are inserted in the normal flow of Rioplatense Spanish sentences. Thus, a Mexican reading tango lyrics will need, at most, the translation of a discrete set of words, and not a grammar guide.
Tango lyrics use lunfardo sparsely, but some songs employ lunfardo heavily. "Milonga Lunfarda" by Edmundo Rivero is an instructive and entertaining primer on lunfardo usage.
A characteristic of lunfardo is its use of wordplay, notably vesre (reversing the syllables). Thus, tango becomes gotan and cafe con leche becomes feca con chele.
Lunfardo employs ingenious metaphors such as bobo ("dumb") for the heart, who "works all day long without being paid", or bufoso ("snorter") for pistol.
Finally, there are words that are derived from others in Spanish, such as the verb abarajar, which means ''to stop your opponent's blows with the blade of your knifeand is related to the verb "barajar", which means to cut or shuffle a deck of cards.
Examples
Manyar- To know / to eat (from the Italian mangiare-to eat-)
Morfar- To eat (from French argot morfer-to eat-)
Laburar- To work (from Italian lavorare- to work-)
Algo voy a cerebrar'' - I'll think something up (cerebrar from cerebro -brains-)
Chochamu - Young man (vesre for muchacho)
Guri - Boy (from Guarani -boy-) Feminine: gurisa - girl. Plural: gurises - kids
Garpar - to pay with money (vesre for "pagar" which means to pay)
Gomias - Friends (vesre for amigos)
Trucho - False/Fake/Not Real
Fiaca - laziness (from the Italian fiacco -weak-)
Engrupir - To fool someone .
Junar - To look to / to know (from Calo junar -to hear-)
Pescar - To know (from the italian capire) -to know-).
Percanta - a woman
Modern Buenos Aires slang
Since the 1970s, it is a matter of debate whether newer additions to the slang of Buenos Aires qualify as lunfardo. Traditionalists argue that lunfardo must have a link to the argot of the old underworld, to tango lyrics, or to racetrack slang. Others maintain that the colloquial language of Buenos Aires is lunfardo—by definition.
Some examples of modern talk:
Gomas (lit. tires) - woman's breasts
Maza (lit. mace or sledgehammer) - superb
Curtir (lit. to tan) - to be involved in
*Curtir fierros can mean "to be into car mechanics" or "to be into firearms" (see Notes below)
Zafar - to barely get by (see Notes below)
Kochi - counterfeit, fake (see Notes below)
Many new terms had spread from specific areas of the dynamic Buenos Aires cultural scene: invented by screenwriters, used around the arts-and-crafts fair in Plaza Francia, culled from the vocabulary of psychoanalysis, or created by the lyricists of cumbia villera.
Only a very staunch conservative would deny lunfardo status to this verse from cumbia villera band Los Pibes Chorros ("The Thieving Boys"): "Al primero que se haga el ortiba / por pancho y careta le vamos a dar" (see Notes below).
See also
Cocoliche, a Buenos Aires pidgin of Spanish and Italian
Germania
Vesre, a common reversing syllables wordplay found in lunfardo
Jeringonza, twisted game with letters for pseudo-encrypted messages.
Notes
Zafar is actually a standard Spanish word (originally meaning to extricate oneself) that had fallen out of use and was restored to everyday Buenos Aires speech in the 1980s by students, with the meaning of "barely passing (an examination)".
Trucho is from old Spanish slang truchaman, which in turn derives from the Arabic turjeman . There is also a folk etymology that derives this word from trucha (trout). Reference (Spanish)
Fierro is the Old Spanish form of hierro (iron). In Argentine parlance, it can mean a firearm or anything related to metals and mechanics, for example a racing car.
Ortiba is a way of saying selfish with a negative context
External links
Course description - Includes extensive bibliography
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Lunfardo
