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From wordorigins.com
Benjamin Choate
Unregistered User
(5/30/02 3:50 am)
Yegg
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There were once the forms "John Yegg" and "yeggman". The words were associated with tramps (perhaps among other associations) ca. 1900. Claims about the origin include:
(1) from the name of a famous safecracker/criminal, John Yegg;
(2) from the German "Jaeger" = "hunter".
I do not know that either of these has any substantiating evidence.
The Pinkerton Web site gives another derivation (supposedly pre-1900):
**The word 'Yegg' or 'Yeggman' originated with the gypsies. When a particularly clever thief is found among a gypsy tribe, he is selected as the 'Yegg' or chief thief.**
I don't know that this is reliable at all. But note that many Romany dialects have something like "yek" meaning "[number] one" ... as do other Indic languages.
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yegg
WhitmanO'Neill 08/29/03 11:19 AM ![]()
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AnnaStrophic 08/30/03 11:35 PM ![]()
Re: huckery
sjmaxq 08/31/03 03:19 AM ![]()
Re: huckery
AnnaStrophic 08/31/03 03:12 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/31/03 05:13 PM ![]()
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sjmaxq 08/31/03 08:06 PM ![]()
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tsuwm 08/31/03 08:20 PM ![]()
Re: huckery
vbq 08/31/03 09:45 PM ![]()
Re: huckery
WhitmanO'Neill 09/01/03 01:21 AM ![]()
Re: huckery
teepee 05/29/13 05:42 AM ![]()
Re: huckery
tsuwm 08/30/03 09:41 PM ![]()
Re: yegg
GoodWolf 05/29/13 01:44 AM ![]()
Re: huckery
Faldage 05/29/13 10:29 AM ![]()
Re: huckery
GoodWolf 06/02/13 08:56 PM
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