gaberlunzie means A licensed beggar. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “gaberlunzie” is a great word
GABERLUNZIE — [Noun] A licensed, professional itinerant beggar, historically a defined figure in Scotland. Borrowed from Scots gaberlunzie, of unknown origin; first attested in the 16th century. Unlike a mendicant, which carries a broad or religious air, or a tramp, which implies aimless wandering, a gaberlunzie was an official part of the social fabric, his poverty a credentialed trade. He was the glint of a tin badge stamped with a crown, the weary recitation of a plea at a dozen threshold-stones, and a patchwork cloak moving with purpose between known parishes—a bureaucracy of want in a pre-modern world, where even destitution could be a regulated trade.
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots gaberlunzie, of unknown origin.
noun
- A licensed beggar.“Better say naething about the laird, my man, and tell me instead, what sort of a chap ye are that are sae ready to cleik in with an auld gaberlunzie fiddler?”
- A pouch carried by a strolling beggar.