jerigonza

English

Etymology

From Spanish jerigonza.

Noun

jerigonza (uncountable)

1. A language game in Spanish in which the letter p is inserted after every syllable.
   • 1991, Natalie Lefkowitz, Talking Backwards, Looking Forwards: The French Language Game Verlan, Gunter Narr Verlag, →ISBN, page 12:

     In Jerigonza, a /p/ is placed after each vowel and then is followed by a copy of that vowel.

   • 1999, Carlos-Eduardo Pineros, “Head-Dependence in Jerigonza, a Spanish Language Game”, in Advances in Hispanic Linguistics:
   • 2005 January 1, Randall Scott Gess, Edward J. Rubin, Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Romance Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Salt Lake City, March 2004, John Benjamins Publishing, →ISBN, page 57:

     In the Spanish language game Jerigonza, often used by younger speakers as a secret speech code, intrusive vowels are invisible.

Spanish

Alternative forms

• gerigonza, jerigonzo
• jeringozo, jeringoso

Etymology

From Occitan gergons, from Old Occitan gergon, from Old French jargon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /xeɾiˈɡonθa/ [xe.ɾiˈɣ̞õn̟.θa]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /xeɾiˈɡonsa/ [xe.ɾiˈɣ̞õn.sa]
• Rhymes: -onθa
• Rhymes: -onsa
• Syllabification: je‧ri‧gon‧za

Noun

jerigonza f (plural jerigonzas)

1. jargon
   • 1605, Miguel de Cervantes, “Capítulo XI”, in El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, Primera parte:

     No entendían los cabreros aquella jerigonza de escuderos y de caballeros andantes, y no hacían otra cosa que comer y callar, y mirar a sus huéspedes, que, con mucho donaire y gana, embaulaban tasajo como el puño.

     The goatherds did not understand this jargon about squires and knights-errant, and all they did was to eat in silence and stare at their guests, who with great elegance and appetite were stowing away pieces as big as one's fist.

2. gibberish

   Synonym: galimatías

3. a language game like Pig Latin or backslang

   Synonym: vesre

   1. a game in which the letter p is inserted after every syllable (or sometimes distinguished as jeringozo, if every vowel)

Descendants

• → Portuguese: geringonça

Further reading

• “jerigonza”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28