A Dictionary of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words / Used at the Present Day in the Streets of London; the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; the Houses of Parliament; the Dens of St. Giles; and the Palaces of St. James.

by John Camden Hotten

SALOOP, SALEP, or SALOP, a greasy

looking beverage, formerly sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of the Orchis mascula, or Red-handed Orchis. Within a few years coffee stands have superseded SALOOP stalls, but Charles Lamb, in one of his papers, has left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young chimney sweeps.

SALT, “its rather too SALT,” said of an extravagant hotel bill.

SALT BOX, the condemned cell in Newgate.

SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned:—

Oney saltee, a penny, from the Ital.,	UNO SOLDO.
Dooe saltee, twopence	DUE SOLDI.
Tray saltee, threepence	TRE SOLDI.
Quarterer saltee, fourpence	QUATTRO SOLDI.
Chinker saltee, fivepence	CINQUE SOLDI.
Say saltee, sixpence	SEI SOLDI.
Say oney saltee, or SETTER SALTEE, sevenpence	SETTE SOLDI.
Say dooe saltee, or OTTER SALTEE, eightpence	OTTO SOLDI.
Say tray saltee, or NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence	NOVE SOLDI.
Say quarterer saltee, or DACHA SALTEE, tenpence	DIECI SOLDI.
Say chinker saltee, or DACHA ONE SALTEE, elevenpence	DIECI UNO SOLDI, &c.
Oney beong, one shilling.
A beong say saltee, one shilling and sixpence.
Dooe beong say saltee, or MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, or two shillings and sixpence.

⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. Saltee, the cant term used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the Italian, SOLDO (plural, SOLDI), and the numerals—as may be seen by the Italian equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation of the originals. After the number SIX, a curious variation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as SAY ONEY, six-one, SAY DOOE, six-two = 8, and so on. Dacha, I may remark, is perhaps from the Greek, DEKA (δέκα), ten, which, in the Constantinopolitan Lingua Franca, is likely enough to have been substituted for the Italian. Madza, is clearly the Italian MEZZA. The origin of BEONG I have not been so fortunate as to discover, unless it be the French, BIEN, the application of which to a shilling is not so evident; but amongst costermongers and other street folk, it is quite immaterial what foreign tongue contributes to their secret language. Providing the terms are unknown to the police and the public generally, they care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connection with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and tramps.

SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.—See [OLD HORSE].

SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.

SAM, to “stand SAM,” to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand paymaster for anything. An Americanism, originating in the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of Uncle Sam (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.