 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2025) |
| Quinqui | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Spain |
| Region | Edges of towns |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | quq |
| Glottolog | quin1236 |
Quinqui jargon is associated with quincalleros (an itinerant group). They are a semi-nomadic people who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called mercheros. They have declined in number from earlier reports and are possibly vanishing as a distinct ethnic group.
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The language is based on Germanía , an old Spanish criminal argot. It has elements of Caló, a dialect of the Spanish Roma, and Erromintxela, a mixed Basque–Kalderash Romani language. [1]
The term comes from the word quincallería (ironmongery), from ironmongers who first used this cant as part of their trade. Because the men were frequently blamed for petty crime, the word is associated in modern Spanish with delinquents, petty thieves, or hoodlums. The mercheros identify as a distinct group separate from the Roma gitanos .
Scholars have many theories about the social origins of mercheros, summarized as the following:
- Descendants of mechanical workers who arrived in Spain from central Europe in the 16th century;
- Descendants of peasants who lost their land in the 16th century;
- Descendants of intermarriage between the Roma and non-Roma populations;
- Descendants of Muslims who became nomads after the expulsion in the 15th century to escape persecution; and/or
- A mixture of the above.
