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What the noun gan mean in the following passage from the third chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses:
White thy fambles, red thy gan
And thy quarrons dainty is.
Couch a hogshead with me then.
In the darkmans clip and kiss.
Can the word mean gin - the alcoholic drink? I looked up gan in some dictionaries, it is written in them that gan can be a form of the verb gin (meaning begin). I have not found anything of help with regards to gan as a noun.
OED
gan,
Etymology: Perhaps connected with gane v.; or possibly < Welsh geneu, Cornish ganau, mouth.
slang.
n.1 The mouth.
1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) Peddelars Frenche sig. Giiv Gan, a mouth.
1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. F4v This Bowse is better then Rom-bowse, It sets the Gan a gigling.
1785 in F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word)
It's a quotation from "The Maunder’s Praise Of His Strowling Mort" in From The Triumph of Wit, by J. Shirley (1707). It is written in 'Cant', which is a kind of criminal underworld dialect.
White thy fambles, red thy gan, [hand; mouth]
And thy quarrons dainty is; [body]
Couch a hogshead with me then, [sleep]
And in the darkmans clip and kiss. [night]
Mouth, lips but also the throat. The term is probably of Welsh origin and referred to fish. GDoS has a very early usage example:
gan n. (also ganns, gans)
[? Welsh geneu, Cornish ganau, mouth; Scot. gane or ganne, mouth, orig. of a fish; itself linked to Norw. gan, a fish-gill]
(UK Und.) the mouth; in pl., the lips; occas. the throat.
- c.1535 [UK] R. Copland Hye way to the Spyttel House Eiii: Cyarum by salmon and thou shalt pek my iere / In thy gan for my watch it is nace gere.
