2431: cant Aug 17

'Cant' can refer to any whining, empty, or hypocritical speech, or jargon of criminals in particular. It comes from the Latin 'cantāre' (to sing) also leading to English's 'chant', 'cantor' etc.. This switch from referring to a song to referring to this basically unwanted speech due to 'cant' having mostly religious connotations. It was associated strongly with beggars and eventually to a lesser extent with hypocritical religious singing, or at least that done without emotion and thought behind it. Even in the 17th century it was noted for slang for undesirable, later criminal language.