Rotwelsch (, "beggar's foreign (language)") or Gaunersprache ( "crook's language") also Kochemer Loshn (from Yiddish "", "tongue of the wise") is a secret language, a cant or thieves' argot, spoken by groups (primarily marginalized groups) in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Bohemia. The language is based on a mix of Yiddish, Hebrew, Romani, Latin, and Czech with a German substrate. Name Rotwelsch was first named by Martin Luther in his preface of Liber Vagatorum in the 16th century. Rot means "beggar" while welsch means "incomprehensible": thus, rotwelsch signifies the incomprehensible cant of beggars. History was formerly common among travelling craftspeople and vagrants. The language is built on a strong substratum of German, but contains numerous words from other languages, notably from various German dialects, and other Germanic languages like Yiddish, as well as from Romany languages, notably Sintitikes. has also played a great role in the development of the Yeniche language. In form and development it closely parallels the commercial speech ("shopkeeper language") of German-speaking regions. During the 19th and 20th century, Rotwelsch was the object of linguistic repression, with systematic investigation by the German police. Examples = (coffee) = (to work) = (master artisan) = (waistcoat) = , (barber) = (walking stick) = (to beg) = (to seek lodging) = (policeman) From Feraru's Muskel-Adolf & Co. From: Peter Feraru: Muskel-Adolf & Co.: Die ›Ringvereine‹ und das organisierte Verbrechen in Berlin [Muscle-Adolf & Co.: The ›Ring-Clubs‹ and Organised Crime in Berlin]. Argon, Berlin 1995. = to arrest (literally 'touch off', secondary: 'to write out') = to eat (from Hebrew) = to go acquire; to go off the line (literally 'to till or cultivate') = to get drunk (literally 'to buy the ape') = to be arrested; to vanish into thin air = to testify against someone, to 'betray' them = to revolt against orders = to hang (literally 'to grease up') = the hanged man = to spy out; to make inquiries about (perhaps from Hebrew = one who brings an accusation) = examining magistrate (from Hebrew = Master of Law) = the prison or penitentiary (literally 'the lodge') = a stupid simple-minded person (literally 'peasant' or 'farmer') = to be hunted for a long time (literally 'to be buried') = by day (Hebrew = day) = by night (Hebrew = night) = the prison toilet = to swindle = to pay up or fork over money (literally 'to plaster a