It may come as a surprise to some readers that the word gregueria has a common etymological source with gringo,the well-known name given to the Americans of the United States by Mexicans. Both terms had their origin as variations of the word griego Greek- which originally signified "lenguaje incomprensible." Juan Corominas finds the first occurrence of the term griego used in this sense in the Quijote and the debut of its variation- gringo- in the Diccionario castellano (1775) of Estebande Terreros. After that,the term gringo,designating a person who speaks an incomprehensible tongue, has reappeared in the eighteenth and nineteenth-century works of Estebanez, Calderon, Breton de Herreros,and Pardo Bazan.
There are numerous other derivations and variations of the term griego in the Spanish language,but gregueria,which most concerns us, is first included and defined in the 1734 edition of the Diccionario de autoridades, carrying the meaning of "algarabia,"which at that time was a reference to the incomprehensible Arabic tongue. Roberto V. Ocuna explains the evolution of the meaning of this word in the following way:
Algarabia significa de modo propio 'lengua arabe,' mas como la conversacion de los arabes suena a veces ininteligible,a confusa griteria, viene la сitada palabra a ser sinonimo de bulla, de griteria." The word algarabia therefore
is defined as "a confused cry uttered instinctively without self-consciousness, by human feeling;a garbling as when many voices speak at the same time about a variety of subjects, something not exactly intelligible,a hubbub."
It is in this same sense that the word gregueria makes its initial appearance in the eighteenth century in a literary work of Leandro Moratin. With such a definition we can compile a long list of terms which are synonymous in
one way or another with gregueria: algarabia, griteria,confusion,alboroto,vocingleria,reclamo,clamor,protesta,exclamacion,vocijeracion, broma,inquietud,sobresalto,disputa, pandemonium,jacara,desorden.
