Pig Latin

Thomas Love (tlove@CALVIN.LINFIELD.EDU)
Wed, 23 Aug 1995 19:02:18 -0700

A colleague and I are interested in the origins and usages of Pig Latin,
or sometimes called Dog Latin. It apparently goes back at least to
mid-18th century England, and was at first a combination of Latin (or
Greek) and English. Hendrickson, Robert 1987 "The Henry Holt
Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins". Oxford. claims that "One of
the most interesting pig Latin words is 'ofay', a derogatory term among
blacks for a white person, which is said to be pig Latin for the word 'foe'".

Any ideas/information?

Tom Love 45N, 123W
Dept. Soc/Anth
Linfield College
McMinnville, OR 97128
tlove@linfield.edu