What's the origin of the word charlatan?

Search: charlatan origin

Why: The judge presiding over a case of a family of shoplifters called Dr. Phil - who had "treated" the couple on his show - "a terrible, terrible man" and said, "What a charlatan this man is."

Answer: Well, nobody is certain. Of course. Originally, it referred to "a patent medicine salesman, an itinerant seller of useless potions, liniments and cure," but maybe someone who put music outside his store to draw in customers. According to the Oxford English Dictionary:

• derived from Italian ciarlatano, "babbler," which came from
  
• ciarla, "to prattle or chat"
• or cerrtano, "a seller of phony Papal indulgences," which came from
• the Italian village Cerretto, which had a bunch of such jerks
  

Source: Word Detective

The More You Know: Other funny words for charlatans:

• quacksalvers - from the quacking sound of their patter as they pushed their phony “salves”... now just “quack”
• mountebank - from the Italian monta in banco, literally “to climb up on the bench,” referring to the elevated platform from which the “quack” usually made his sales pitch
• Slap Chop Guy

Nice jacket, Vince.