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Originally Posted by highthief
Does it not derive from Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, the Jewish villain of the piece?
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No. When this came up a few years ago I had no idea so I searched quite a bit and it predates the play by a good amount. I think its been accepted as somehow anti-semetic due to the large number of Jewish lawyers, but all it really means is shit talker.
[Probably alteration of German Scheisser, son of a bitch, bastard, from scheissen, to defecate, from Middle High German schīzen, from Old High German skīzzan.]
shysterism shy'ster·ism n.
WORD HISTORY Calling someone a shyster might be considered libellous; knowing its probable origin adds insult to injury. According to Gerald L. Cohen, a student of the word, shyster is derived from the German term scheisser, meaning literally “one who defecates,” from the verb scheissen, “to defecate,” with the English suffix –ster, “one who does,” substituted for the German suffix –er, meaning the same thing. Sheisser, which is chiefly a pejorative term, is the German equivalent of our English terms bastard and son of a bitch. Sheisser is generally thought to have been borrowed directly into English as the word shicer, which, among other things, is an Australian English term for an unproductive mine or claim, a sense that is also recorded for the word.