mungarly casa
Preserved but no longer current.
A baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of a Lingua Franca phrase for an eating-house. The well-known "Nix Mangiare" stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout, "Nix mangiare," i.e., "Nothing to eat," to excite the compassion of the English who land there,—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, MANGIARE being Italian, and Nix (German, NICHTS), an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.
Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “mungarly casa” mean?
A baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of a Lingua Franca phrase for an eating-house. The well-known "Nix Mangiare" stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout, "Nix mangiare," i.e., "Nothing to eat," to excite the compassion of the English who land there,—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, MANGIARE being Italian, and Nix (German, NICHTS), an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.
Is “mungarly casa” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.