The word has various shades ofmeaning between a playful youngster and a blackguardly rough.Little streetboys are often in a kindly way called littlelarrikins. (See quotations, 1870 and 1885.) ArchibaldForbes described the larrikin as «a cross between the StreetArab and the Hoodlum, with a dash of the Rough thrown in toimprove the mixture.» (`Century.) The most exalted positionyet reached in literature by this word is in Sir RichardBurton's `Translation of the Arabian Nights' (1886-7),vol. i. p. 4, Story of the Larrikin and the Cook;vol. iv. p. 281, Tale of First Larrikin. The previoustranslator, Jonathan Scott, had rendered the Arabic word, Sharper.
There are three views as to the origin of the word, viz.
This story is believed by 99 persons out of 100; unfortunatelyit lacks confirmation; for the record of the incident cannotbe discovered, after long search in files by many people. Mr.Skeat's warning must be remembered – – «As a rule, derivations whichrequire a story to be told turn out to be false.»
1870. `The Daily Telegraph' (Melbourne), Feb. 7, p. 2, col. 3:
«We shall perhaps begin to think of it in earnest, when wehave insisted upon having wholesome and properly baked bread,or a better supply of fish, and when we have put down the`roughs' and `larrikins.'»
1870. `The Age,' Feb. 8, p. 3, col. 1:
«In sentencing a gang of `larrikins' who had been the terrorof Little Bourke-street and its neighbourhood for several hourson Saturday night, Mr. Call remarked. . .»
1870. `The Herald,' April 4, p.3, col. 2:
«. . . three larikins who had behaved in a very disorderly mannerin Little Latrobe-street, having broken the door of a house andthreatened to knock out the eye of one of the inmates.»
1870. Marcus Clarke, `Goody Two Shoes,' p. 26:
«He's a lively little larrikin lad, and his name is Little Boy Blue.»
1871. `The Argus,' Sept. 19, p.5, col. 4:
«In San Francisco, the vagabond juveniles who steal, smashwindows, and make themselves generally obnoxious to therespectable inhabitants, instead of being termed `larrikins,'as in Victoria, are denominated `hoodleums.' The name is moremusical than the one in vogue here, and probably equally asdescriptive, as its origin appears to be just as obscure asthat of the word `larrikin.' This word, before it got intoprint, was confined to the Irish policemen, who generallypronounced it `lerrikan,' and it has been suggested that theterm is of Hibernian origin, and should be spelt lerrichaun.'»
1871. Sir George Stephen, Q.C., `Larrikinism,' a Lecturereported in `Prahran Telegraph,' Sept. 23, p. 3, col. 1:
What is Larrikinism? It is a modern word of which I can onlyguess the derivation, . . . nor can I find any among theerudite professors of slang who adorn our modern literature whocan assist me. Some give our police the credit of coining itfrom the `larking' of our school boys, but I am inclined tothink that the word is of Greek origin – – Laros, acormorant – – though immediately derived from the French` larron' which signifies a thief or rogue. If I amright, then larrikin is the natural diminutive form in Englishphraseology for a small or juvenile thief. . . . This howeveris, I must acknowledge, too severe a construction of the term,even if the derivation is correct; for I was myself, I franklyconfess it, an unquestionable larrikin between 60 and 70 yearsago. . . . Larrikinism is not thieving, though a road thatoften leads to it. . . . Is it a love of mischief formischief's sake? This is the theory of the papers, and iscertainly a nearer approach to the true solution.»
1871. `Figaro,' in `Prahran Telegraph,' Sept. 30, p. 7,col. 3:
«A local contemporary has . . . done his `level best' to helpme out of my `difficulty' with respect to the word Larrikin.He suggests that lerrichan should read leprichaun, a mischievous sprite, according to Irish tradition. . . .We think we may with more safety and less difficulty trace theword to the stereotype [sic] reply of the police to themagisterial question – – `What was he doing when you apprehendedhim?' `Oh! larriking (larking) about, yer Wurtchip.'»
1872. J. S. Elkington, `Tenth Report of Education,Victoria,' dated Feb. 14:
«My inquiries into the origin and habits of that troublesomeparasite the larrikin (if I may adopt Constable Dalton's term)do not make me sanguine that compulsory primary instruction cando much for him, unless indirectly.»
1875. `Spectator' (Melbourne), May 15, p. 21, col. 3:
«On Sunday night an unfortunate Chinaman was so severelyinjured by the Richmond larrikins that his life wasendangered.»
1875. David Blair, in `Notes and Queries,' July 24, p. 66:
«Bedouins, Street Arabs, Juvenile Roughs in London; Gamins in Paris; Bowery Boys in New York; Hoodlums to SanFrancisco; Larrikins in Melbourne. This last phrase is anIrish constable's broad pronunciation of `larking' applied tothe nightly street performances of these young scamps, here aselsewhere, a real social pestilence.»
1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 338:
«There is not a spare piece of ground fit for a pitch anywhereround Melbourne that is not covered with `larrikins' from sixyears old upwards.»
1889. Rev. J. H. Zillmann, `Australian Life,' p. 159:
«It has become the name for that class of roving vicious youngmen who prowl about public-houses and make night hideous insome of the low parts of our cities. There is now the bush`larrikin' as well as the town `larrikin,' and it would bedifficult sometimes to say which is the worse. Bush`larrikins' have gone on to be bushrangers.»
1890. `The Argus,' May 26, p. 6, col. 7:
«He was set upon by a gang of larrikins, who tried to rescuethe prisoner.»
1891. `Harper s Magazine,' July, p. 215, col. 2:
«The Melbourne `larrikin' has differentiated himself from theLondon `rough,' and in due season a term had to be developed todenote the differentiation.»
1893. `Sydney Morning Herald,' Aug. 12, p. 13, col. 2:
«Robert Louis Stevenson, in a recent novel, `The Wrecker,'makes the unaccountable mistake of confounding the unemployedDomain loafer with the larrikin. This only shows that Mr.Stevenson during his brief visits to Sydney acquired but asuperficial knowledge of the underlying currents of our sociallife.»
1896. J. St. V. Welch, in `Australasian Insurance and BankingRecord,' May 19, p. 376:
«Whence comes the larrikin? that pest of these so-calledover-educated colonies; the young loafer of from sixteen toeight-and-twenty. Who does not know him, with his weedy,contracted figure; his dissipated pimply face; his greasyforelock brushed flat and low over his forehead; his too smalljacket; his tight-cut trousers; his high-heeled boots; hisarms – – with out-turned elbows – – swinging across his stomach as hehurries along to join his `push,' as he calls the pack in whichhe hunts the solitary citizen – – – a pack more to be dreaded on adark night than any pack of wolves – – and his name in Sydney islegion, and in many cases he is a full-fledged voter.»
1896. W. H. Whelan, in `The Argus,' Jan. 7, p. 6, col. 3:
«Being clerk of the City Court, I know that the word originatedin the very Irish and amusing way in which the then well-knownSergeant Dalton pronounced the word larking in respect to theconduct of `Tommy the Nut,' a rowdy of the period, and othersof both sexes in Stephen (now Exhibition) street.
«Your representative at the Court, the witty and clever `Billy'O'Hea, who, alas! died too early, took advantage of theappropriate sound of the word to apply it to rowdyism ingeneral, and, next time Dalton repeated the phrase, changed theword from verb to noun, where it still remains, anything to thecontrary notwithstanding. I speak of what I do know, for O'Headrew my attention to the matter at the time, and, if I mistakenot, a reference to your files would show that it was first inthe `Argus' the word appeared in print.»
(«We can fully confirm Mr. Whelan's account of the origin ofthe word `larrikin.'» – – Ed. `Argus.')
[But see quotation from `Argus,' 1871.]
1878. `The Australian,' vol. i. p. 522:
«Marks the young criminals as heroes in the eyes not only ofthe ostensible larrikin element . . .»