Dictionary of Pirate Lingo

Have you ever wondered what a dictionary of pirate lingo would be like? Would it be full of “me hardies” or are there other words involved? Furthermore would a pirate of the Caribbean like Capt. Jack Sparrow be the author of this dictionary of pirate lingo?

There are many books on the market today that explore the notion of pirate lingo or pirate slang. Such books take you on a magical journey to yesteryear where pirates ruled the high seas and when they landed on the sandy shores, terror filled even the bravest man.

A Historical Perspective

Pirate slang is nothing new. As a matter of fact it has been around for as long as there are stories and legends of folklore native to foreign lands. However, it is probably one of the few linguistic items that has been preserved through various generations. There is no telling how many slang words were truly used by pirates.  Even professors of history and linguistic studies can only estimate, however, there are written accounts from voyages and adventures taken long ago that have brought to light the many different slang words and phrases.        

Timeline of Pirate Linguistics

It is estimated that the first pirates made their indelible mark on the world as early as 1400 B.C. in the Mediterranean. However, when most people think about pirates, they tend to think of the pirates who tortured many in the Caribbean.  These pirates first made their presence known in 1544 when the little known French Huguenot pirates captured Cartegena in the Caribbean. While there was probably no official dictionary of pirate lingo back then, there is a possibility that many of the linguistics of the time (despite the language barriers) may have filtered down to pirate lingo as we know it.

Fun Dictionary of Pirate Lingo

It was not too hard to find the perfect dictionary of pirate lingo online. There are several that are of interest. Known simply as “The Pirate Dictionary,” this particular book has plenty of recognizable pirate lingo and dialects. From the popular “shiver me timbers” which is a simple expression of shock or disbelief, to “all hands hoay” which just means “all hands on deck” as a call to action for ship crew.

There are a plethora of words for various parts of the ship and every day things.  A few examples include: jacob’s ladder (which is a rope ladder that is used to climb aboard the ship), cackle fruit (this is slang for chicken eggs), monkey (pirate slang for a small cannon). You might have heard of people referring to the bathroom as the head, well they got that term from pirate lingo because the word head literally referred to a hole cut into the deck of a ship’s head or bow where human waste would go directly into the sea. So the head was a marine toilet where as a poop deck was the deck that had the highest back and was above the Captain’s quarters.

Here are a few other pirate slang phrases which may seem familiar to you: black jack (a black jack was a drinking cup made of tar and leather), grog (this was a drink mixture of water and rum that was used to cover the taste of the spoiled water that sailors often drank).

Death slang is something that has filtered down through the years in to modern linguistics. The two words of Davy Jones seemed to surround all things pirate, death and slang. Here are a few idioms for pirate death slang:

• Davy Jones locker (this is allegedly a place at the bottom of the ocean where dead sailors and pirates would go in death)
• I’ll see you Davy Jones (this simply means that you are threatening to kill someone)
• To have the Davies or the Joneseys (this means that you are frightened)

The whole notion of Davy Jones is attributed to an evil spirit who allegedly lurked at sea waiting to escort dead sailors to the sea bottom.