Romany

Member of a nomadic people believed to have originated in northwestern India and now living throughout the world. They used to be thought of as originating in Egypt, hence the name Gypsy (a corruption of ‘Egyptian’). The Romany language, spoken in several different dialects, belongs to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family.

They call themselves Rom, meaning ‘man’ (feminine romni) and are traditionally associated with music, various crafts, fortune-telling, and skills with horses. They have had a long history of persecution and many people still think of them as petty criminals. Attempts have been made to encourage travellers to settle and to provide those still nomadic with official camp sites and educational facilities. It is only in Russia that they are recognized as a separate ethnic group and allowed to follow their traditional way of life.

History Romanies may be descended from non-Muslim Indian metalworkers. By the 10th century, and possibly as early as the 6th, there were itinerant smiths or tinkers who sold their wares in many countries. They entered Europe in the early 14th century, settling in the Balkan Peninsula, and are known to have existed in Corfu before 1326. By the 15th century they could be found in many countries north of the Danube: a first migration reached Germany, Switzerland, and Italy between 1414 and 1422, and Paris by 1427. In 1423 a second immigration followed from Hungary. Between 1438 and 1512 many more came to Germany, Italy, and France. They probably reached England and Scotland about 1500. It is generally thought that they were pushed out of eastern Europe by incursions of Turks who subdued the kingdoms of Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria, though some of them continued for a time to live in Greece under Turkish rule.

Persecution In the 15th century they were said to camp in fields while their counts and knights sometimes put up for the night in an inn. Some rode on horseback, others followed on foot, while the women and children travelled in wagons. At first they were well received, if not welcomed, by the medieval towns of Europe as they provided services as smiths, tinkers, traders, craftworkers, entertainers, musicians, and fortune-tellers. Some had letters of protection from the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, who declared that they were Christian pilgrims. European leaders soon began to see them as a threat to society. In 1560 an ordinance of the states of Orléans enjoined all Bohemians or Egyptians to quit the kingdom under pain of death. Similar edicts were issued in many European countries, although many Romanies were simply hanged. In Hungary and Germany they were racked and tortured as late as the 18th century, and in some Balkan regions they were sold as slaves until the 19th century. In Hungary 1782, 45 Romanies were hanged, drawn, and quartered on a charge of cannibalism, and since the beginning of the 17th century they have frequently been charged with kidnapping children. Romanies have frequently been deported from one country to another, as from Scotland to Barbados and other American colonies in 1665 and 1715, and from the Basque country to North Africa in 1802. During World War II, Nazi Germany tried to exterminate them.

Settlement By the 18th century, prejudice against Romanies had decreased in many countries, but they were allowed to enter society only on condition that they abandon their itinerant life. They were reluctant to do so, since it was precisely their way of life that gave meaning to their existence. Diminishing space, game laws, sanitary laws, by-laws against camping, and continuing hostility, however, make resistance to settlement ever more difficult.

Language Studies of the Romany language reveal the routes of their migrations and indicate that they originated in northwestern India. Romany is related to some of the languages spoken in India, such as Hindustani, but all the countries through which the Romany people have passed have added to their word stock, especially Greek and Slavonic languages. In Wales and Turkey they speak perhaps the purest Romany and retain their oldest forms. In the majority of countries, however, Romany is rapidly being broken down. The language everywhere has deteriorated in grammar, although its vocabulary has been enriched by the adoption of foreign words.