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The Roma people (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), often referred to as gypsies, are a heterogeneous ethnic group who live primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Latin America, the southern part of the United States and the Middle East. They are believed to have originated mostly from the Rajasthan region of India. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago.

Traditionally most Roma spoke Romani (Romany), an Indo-Aryan language. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence.

Etymology

Most Roma refer to themselves as Rom. In the Romani language, Rom (man) derives from the Sanskrit dom (man). Alternate spellings of "Rroma" for the people and "Rromanes" for the language, were rejected by the last World Romani Congress, which defined the universal Romani alphabet.

The English term gypsies (or gipsies), originates from the Greek word Αιγύπτοι (Aigyptoi), modern Greek γύφτοι (gyphtoi), in the erroneous belief that the Roma originated in Egypt, and were exiled as punishment for allegedly harboring the infant JesusFraser 1992.. This ethnonym is not used by the Roma to describe themselves, and is often considered pejorative. However, the use of "gypsy" in English is now so pervasive that many Roma organizations use the word gypsy in their own names. In North America, the word "gypsy" is often misunderstood as a reference to lifestyle or fashion, and not to the Roma ethnicity. The Spanish term gitano and the French term gitan may have the same originSee for example the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française..

In most of continental Europe, Roma are known by many names, most of them similar to the Hungarian cigány (pronounced IPA ). Some notable examples are:

The Hungarian root, cigány may stem from the word szegény (pronounced IPA ), Hungarian for "impoverished". In some archaic Hungarian dialects, szegény very closely resembles Cigány in pronunciation. Alternatively, Angus Fraser traces the earliest historical mentions of cigány, cygan and cingari to a "very limited zone" in northwestern Transylvania, where a noble Hungarian family named Zygan lived. Fraser does not imply that Roma share Hungarian ethnicity, only that the name cigány likely originates from this small Hungarian-speaking enclave.

Another possibility, suggested by early Byzantium literature and Dimitrina PetrovaThe Roma: Between a Myth and the Future , Social Research (Spring 2003), Dimitrina Petrova, European Roma Rights Center of the European Roma Rights Centre, is that the various names which the gypsies are called now, such as tzigane, zincali, gitani, cigány, etc., are derived from the Greek ατσίγγανοι (atsinganoi, Latin adsincani), applied to Roma during Byzantine times,A Brief History of the Rom or from the Greek term αθίγγανοι (athinganoi)in reference to a ninth century heretical sect that had been accused of practising magic and fortune-telling.[http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/goudenhoorn/72karin.html Roma (Gypsies) in the Byzantine empire In modern Greek, aside from the term Rom (Ρομ), the terms gyphtoi (Greek:γύφτοι) and tsigganoi (Greek:τσιγγάνοι) are interchangeable and both are used when referring to gypsies.

Outside Europe, Roma are referred to by more varied names, such as کولی (Kowli) in Iran; as Lambani,Labana Lambadi, or Rabari as well as Banjara in India; as Ghajar غخري or Nawar نوار' in Arabic; as tzoanim צוענים in Hebrew (after an ancient city in Egypt and the biblical verb tsoan - roaming); and as Qereçí or Dom in Kurdish.

There is no linguistic connection between the name Roma (ethnicity) and the city of Rome, ancient Rome, Romania, the Romanian people or the Romanian language.

History

Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates the Roma originated on the Indian Subcontinent. The cause of the Roma diaspora is unknown. One theory suggests the Roma were originally low-caste Hindus recruited into an army of mercenaries, granted warrior caste status, and sent westwards to resist Islamic military expansion. Or perhaps the Muslim conquerors of northern India took the Roma as slaves and brought them home, where they became a distinct community; Mahmud of Ghazni reportedly took 500,000 prisoners during a Turkish/Persian invasion of Sindh and Punjab. Why the Roma did not return to India, choosing instead to travel west into Europe, is an enigma, but may relate to military service under the Muslims.

Contemporary scholars have suggested one of the first written references to the Roma, under the term "Atsingani", (derived from the Greek atsinganoi), dates from the Byzantine era during a time of famine in the 9th century. In the year 800 A.D., Saint Athanasia gave food to "foreigners called the Atsingani" near Thrace. Later, in 803 A.D., Theophanes the Confessor wrote that Emperor Nikephoros I had the help of the "Atsingani" to put down a riot with their "knowledge of magic".

"Atsinganoi" was used to refer to itinerant fortune tellers, ventriloquists and wizards who visited the Emperor Constantine IX in the year 1054.Indian studies. The hagiographical text, The Life of St. George the Anchorite, mentions that the "Atsingani" were called on by Constantine to help rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his live stock. They are later described as sorcerers and evildoers and accused of trying to poison the Emperor's favorite hound.

In 1322 a Franciscan monk named Simon Simeonis described people in likeness to the "atsingani" living in Crete and in 1350 Ludolphus of Sudheim mentioned a similar people with a unique language who he called Mandapolos, a word which some theorize was possibly derived from the greek word mantes (meaning prophet or fortune teller).Gypsy Culture

Around 1360, an independent Romani fiefdom (called the Feudum Acinganorum) was established in Corfu and became "a settled community and an important and established part of the economy."A Chronology of significant dates in Romani history

By the 14th century, the Roma had reached the Balkans; by 1424, Germany; and by the 16th century, Scotland and Sweden. Some Roma migrated from Persia through North Africa, reaching Europe via Spain in the 15th century. Both currents met in France. Roma began immigrating to the United States in colonial times, with small groups in Virginia and French Louisiana. Larger-scale immigration began in the 1860s, with groups of Romnichal from Britain. The largest number immigrated in the early 1900s, mainly from the Vlax group of Kalderash. Many Roma also settled in Latin America.

Wherever they arrived in Europe, curiosity was soon followed by hostility and xenophobia. Roma were enslaved for five centuries in Romania until abolition in 1864. Elsewhere in Europe, they were subject to expulsion, abduction of their children, and forced labor. During World War II, the Nazis murdered 200,000 to 800,000 Roma in an attempted genocide known as the Porajmos. Like the Jews, they were sentenced to forced labour and imprisonment in concentration camps. They were often killed on sight, especially by the Einsatzgruppen on the Eastern Front.

In Communist Eastern Europe, Roma experienced assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom. The Romani language and Roma music were banned from public performance in Bulgaria. In Czechoslovakia, where they were labeled as a "socially degraded stratum," Roma women were sterilized as part of a state policy to reduce their population. This policy was implemented with large financial incentives, threats of denying future social welfare payments, misinformation, and involuntary sterilization (Silverman 1995; Helsinki Watch 1991). In the early 1990s, Germany deported tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to Eastern Europe. Sixty percent of some 100,000 Romanian nationals deported under a 1992 treaty were Roma.

Population

Worldwide, there are an estimated 8 to 10 million Roma, most of whom reside in Europe. Although the largest Roma populations are found in the Balkan peninsula, significant numbers may also be found in the Americas, the former Soviet Union, western and central Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Countries where Roma populations exceed half a million are Romania, Egypt, Spain, Bulgaria, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Some other countries with large Roma populations are the countries of the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey.

The Roma recognize divisions among themselves based in part on territorial, cultural and dialectal differences. Some authorities recognize four main groups:

  1. the Kalderash (the most numerous, traditionally smiths, from the Balkans, many of whom migrated to central Europe and North America),
  2. the Gitanos (also called Calé, mostly in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and southern France; associated with entertainment),
  3. the Manush (also known as Sinti, mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany; often travelling showmen and circus people), and
  4. the Romnichal (Rom'nies) (mainly in Britain and North America).

Each of these main divisions may be further divided into two or more subgroups distinguished by occupational specialization or territorial origin, or both. Some of these group names are: Machvaya (Machwaya), Lovari, Churari, Sinti, Rudari, Boyash, Ludar, Luri, Xoraxai, Ungaritza, Bashaldé, Ursari and Romungro.

Language

Most Roma speak Romani, an Indo-Aryan language likely derived from Sanskrit. Romani is also related to Pothohari. A 2003 study published in Nature suggests Romani is also related to SinhaleseGray 2003, presently spoken in Sri Lanka. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence. Romani is not currently spoken in India.

Some Roma have developed creole languages or mixed languages, including:

Genetics

Genetic data strongly supports linguistic evidence that the Roma originated on the Indian subcontinent. Studies of Bulgarian, Baltic and Vlax Roma genetics suggest that about 50% of observed haplotypes belong to Y-chromosomal haplogroup H. Similar studies on the same subject population with mitochondrial DNA show 50% belong to female mitochondrial haplogroup M. Both of these are widespread across South and Central Asia.

This genetic evidence indicates that approximately half of the gene pool of these studied Roma is similar to that of the surrounding European populations. Specifically, common Y-chromosome (i.e. male-line) haplogroups are haplogroups H (50%), I (22%) and J2 (14%), and R1b (7%). Common mitochondrial (i.e. female-line) haplogroups are H (35%), M (26%), U3 (10%), X (7%), other (20%). Whereas male haplogroup H and female M are rare in non-Roma European populations, the rest are found throughout Europe. However female haplogroups U2i and U7 are almost absent from female Roma, but are present in South Asia (11%-35% approx).

In contrast, male Sinti Roma in Central Asia have H (20%), J2 (20%) and a high frequency of R2 (50%) which is found in India, with high frequencies in West Bengal and amongst the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. The M217 marker, which accounts for about 1.6% of male Roma, is also found in West Bengal (Kivisild (2003) et al). Haplogroups L which accounts for about 10% of Indians males is absent from Roma (Gresham et al however does not seem to test for haplogroup L), as it is also from West Bengal and Central Asian Sinti (Kivisild (2003) et al). A search on the Yhrd database however, shows that some Roma populations (in Europe) have considerable percentages of male haplogroup R1a1. Yhrd gives few matches with South Asian population, but a large number of matches on haplogroup H with Asian Londoners, a sample that has a large number of Bengali and South Indian groups.

Here it should be noted that all these genetic studies in fact show a South-East Indian origin of the male Roma population. In the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, the haplogroup R1a1 is present around 35-45%. However, its frequency reduces to 10-15% in the southeast. On the other hand, the Y-haplogroup H, Y-haplogroup R2 and Y-haplogroup J2 show an increasing frequency towards the southeast. West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh have Y-haplogroup R2 around 20-40% (Bamshad et al. 2001, Kivisild et al. 2003, Sengupta et al. 2006, Sahoo et al. 2006). Whereas Y-haplogroup H and Y-haplogroup J2 are observed around 20-30% among South and East Indian population. Recent study that was published in Nature associating the Roma with Sinhala must be viewed from this genetic profile of Romas. In fact, Sinhalese are mostly descendants from East and South Indian communities.

Luba Kalaydjieva's research has shown that the original group appeared in India some 32-40 generations ago and was small, likely under 1,000 people.

(Ref: Origins and Divergence of the Roma (Gypsies) David Gresham, Bharti Morar, Peter A. Underhill, et al, Am J Hum (2001); The Eurasian Heartland: A continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity, Wells et al.)

Bolstering the linguistic evidence for an Indian sub-continental Roma origin is that ABO blood group distribution is also consistent with that found in northern Indian warrior classes.

Roma society and culture

The traditional Roma place a high value on the extended family. Virginity is essential in unmarried women. Both men and women often marry young; there has been controversy in several countries over the Roma practice of child marriage. Roma law establishes that the man’s family must pay a dowry to the bride's parents.

Roma social behaviour is strictly regulated by purity laws ("marime" or "marhime"), still respected by most Roma and among Sinti groups by the older generations. This regulation affects many aspects of life, and is applied to actions, people and things: parts of the human body are considered impure: the genital organs, because they produce impure emissions, and the lower body. Fingernails and toenails must be filed with an emery board, as cutting them with a clipper is taboo. Clothes for the lower body, as well as the clothes of menstruating women are washed separately. Items used for eating are also washed in a different place. Childbirth is considered impure, and must occur outside the dwelling place. The mother is considered impure for forty days. Death is seen as impure, and affects the whole family of the dead, who remain impure for a period of time. Many of these practices are also present in some Hindu cultures such as those of Bengal and the Balinese. There are very similar practices found in Judaism. However, in contrast to the Hindu practice of cremating the dead, Roma dead must be buried. It is possible that this tradition was adapted from Abrahamic religions after the Roma left the Indian subcontinent.

Religion

Roma have usually adopted the dominant religion of the host country while often preserving their particular belief systems and indigenous religion and worship. Most Eastern European Roma are Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. Those in Western Europe and the United States are mostly either Catholic or Protestant. Most Roma in Latin America are Orthodox. In Turkey, Egypt, and the southern Balkans, the Roma are split into Christian and Muslim populations. Roma religion has a highly developed sense of morality, taboos, and the supernatural, though it is often denigrated by organized religions. It has been suggested that while still in India the Roma people belonged to the Hindu religion, this theory being supported by the Romani word for "cross", trushul, which is the word which describes Shiva's trident (Trishula).

Since the Second World War, a growing number of Roma have embraced Evangelical movements. For the first time, Roma became ministers and created their own, autonomous churches and missionary organizations (see *). In some countries, the majority of Roma now belong to the Roma churches. This unexpected change has greatly contributed to a better image of Roma in society. The work they perform is seen as more legitimate, and they have begun to obtain legal permits for commercial activities.

Evangelical Roma churches exist today in every country where Roma are settled. The movement is particularly strong in France and Spain; there are more than one thousand Roma churches (known as "Filadelfia") in Spain, with almost one hundred in Madrid alone. In Germany, the most numerous group is that of Polish Roma, having their main church in Mannheim. Other important and numerous Romani assemblies exist in Los Angeles, Houston, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Some groups in Romania and Chile have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In the Balkans, the Roma of Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania have been particularly active in Islamic mystical brotherhoods (Sufism). Muslim Roma immigrants to Western Europe and America have brought these traditions with them.

Music

Roma music is very important in Eastern European cultures such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Hungary, Russia and Romania, and the style and performance practices of Roma musicians have influenced European classical composers such as Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. The lăutari who perform at traditional Romanian weddings are virtually all Roma, although their music draws from a vast variety of ethnic traditions—for example Romanian, Turkish, Jewish, and Slavic—as well as Roma traditions. Probably the most internationally prominent contemporary performer in the lăutar tradition is Taraful Haiducilor. Many famous classical musicians, such as the Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, are Roma, as are many prominent performers of manele. Zdob şi Zdub, one of the most prominent rock bands in Moldova, although not Roma themselves, draw heavily on Roma music, as do Spitalul de Urgenţă in Romania.

The distinctive sound of Roma music has also strongly influenced bolero, jazz, flamenco and Cante Jondo in Europe. European-style Gypsy jazz is still widely practised among the original creators (the Roma People); one who acknowledged this artistic debt was Django Reinhardt.

Later, Roma people who came to the Americas contributed to almost every musical style. Salsa, rumba, mambo and guajira from Cuba, the tondero, zamacueca and marinera from Peru, mariachi music from Mexico, "llanero" from the borders of Venezuela and Colombia, and even American country music have all been influenced by their mournful violins and soulful guitar.

Relations with other peoples

Persecution

Because of a false image that they like to steal and kill innocent animals and refuse to live like normal people, there has been a great deal of mutual distrust between the Roma and their more settled neighbours. According to legend in some European nations, particularly in the Black Forest region, at the time of the Crucifixion, no blacksmith would make the nails for the cross. One blacksmith agreed to do so, however, and the spirit of these nails came back to haunt him and his family some years later, forcing them to constantly wander and become the Roma. Persecution of Roma reached a peak during World War II in the Porajmos.

There are still tensions between the Roma and the majority populations around them. Common complaints are that Roma steal and live off social welfare, and residents often reject Roma encampments. In the UK, travellers (referring to Irish Travellers and New Age Travellers as well as Roma) became a 2005 general election issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998.

This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights into UK primary legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield sites have led to travellers purchasing land, and setting up residential settlements almost overnight, thus subverting the planning restrictions imposed on other members of the community.

Travellers argued in response that thousands of retrospective planning permissions are granted in Britain in cases involving non-Roma applicants each year and that statistics showed that 90% of planning applications by Roma and travellers were initially refused by local councils, compared with a national average of 20% for other applicants, disproving claims of preferrential treatment favouring Gypsies. *

They also argued that the root of the problem was that many traditional stopping-places had been barricaded off and that legislation passed by the previous Conservative government had effectively criminalised their community, for example by removing local authorities’ responsibility to provide sites, thus leaving the travellers with no option but to purchase unregistered new sites themselves.*

In Denmark there was much controversy when the city of Helsingør decided to put all Roma students in special classes in its public schools. The classes were later abandoned after it was determined that they were discriminatory, and the Roma were put back in regular classes. Reference page in Danish

Assimilation

During the Enlightenment, Spain briefly and unsuccessfully tried to assimilate the Roma into the mainstream population by forcing them to abandon their language and way of life; even the word gitano was made illegal. Many nations have subsequently attempted to assimilate their Roma populations.

Rom and crime

The popular image of Roma as tramps and thieves unfit for work contributed to their widespread persecution. This belief is often cited as the etymological source of the term gyp, meaning to "cheat", as in "I got gypped by a con man." The German name Zigeuner is often thought through popular etymology to derive either from Ziehende Gauner, which means 'travelling thieves', or from the Hungarian Cigány from their word "szegény" meaning "poor". The validity of these derivations, however, is disputed.

Law enforcement agencies in the United States hold regular conferences on the Roma and similar nomadic groups.

Roma in Central and Eastern Europe

In Central and Eastern Europe, Roma often live in depressed squatter communities with very high unemployment, while only some are fully integrated in the society. However, in some cases—notably the Kalderash clan in Romania, who work as traditional coppersmiths—they have prospered. Although some Roma still embrace a nomadic lifestyle, most migration is actually forced, as most communities do not accept Roma settlements.

The Roma minority in Romania

There is a sizable minority of Roma people in Romania, 1.8 million to 2 million. They are not well accepted and there is much prejudice against the Roma population. The rise of hate groups such as Noua Dreaptă is causing violence and retribution by both sides.

The Roma minority in Hungary
The actual number of Roma people in Hungary is disputed. In the 2001 census only 190,000 people called themselves Roma, but sociological estimates give much higher numbers (about 5-10 percent of the total population). Since World War II, the number of Roma people has increased rapidly, multiplying seven-fold in the last century. Today every fifth or sixth newborn Hungarian child belongs to the Roma minority. Estimates based on current demographic trends project that in 2050, 15-20 percent of the population (1.2 million people) will be Roma.

Romas (called cigányok or romák in Hungarian) suffer particular problems in Hungary. School segregation is an especially acute one, with many Roma children sent to classes for pupils with learning disabilities. Currently slightly more than 80% of Roma children complete primary education, but only one third continue studies into the intermediate (secondary) level. This is far lower than the more than 90% proportion of children of non-Roma families who continue studies at an intermediate level. The situation is made still worse by the fact that a large proportion of young Roma are qualified in subjects that provide them only limited chances for employment. Less than 1% of Roma hold higher educational certificates. Their low status on the job market and higher unemployment rates cause poverty, widespread social problems and crime.

Many countries that were formerly part of the Eastern bloc and former Yugoslavia, have substantial populations of Roma. The level of integration of Roma into society remains limited. In these countries, they usually remain on the margins of society, living in isolated ghetto-like settlements (see Chánov). Only a small fraction of Roma children graduate from secondary schools, although during the Communist regime, at least some of these countries forced all children to attend school, and provided them, like other citizens, with all required basics such as textbooks and the compulsory uniform. Usually they feel rejected by the state and the non-Roma majority, which creates another obstacle to their integration.

According to The Guardian (January 8 2003):

"In the Czech Republic, 75% of Roma children are educated in schools for people with learning difficulties, and 70% are unemployed (compared with a national rate of 9%). In Hungary, 44% of Roma children are in special schools, while 74% of men and 83% of women are unemployed. In Slovakia, Roma children are 28 times as likely to be sent to a special school than non-Roma; Roma unemployment stands at 80%." *

In some countries, dependence on social security systems is part of the problem. For some Roma families, it may be preferable to live on social security, compared to low-paid jobs. That creates many new problems: anger against Roma, conditions that produce crime, and extreme sensitivity to changes in social security. A good example of the latter is Slovakia, where reduction of social security (a family is paid allowance only for the first three children) led to civil disorder in several Roma villages.

In most countries within or applying to join the European Union, Roma people can lead normal lives and may integrate into the larger society. Nevertheless, the Roma most visible to the settled community are those who for various reasons, including traditional avoidance of "pollution" by close contact with non-Roma (cultural standards of cleanliness among the Roma state that non-Roma are "mahrime", or spiritually unclean, and are therefore avoided as well as out of fear of persecution), still live in shacks (usually built ad hoc, near railways) and beg on the streets, perpetuating the negative image of the Roma. The local authorities may try to help such people by improving infrastructure in their settlements and subsidizing families further, but such aid is mostly viewed by the Roma as superficial and insufficient. Begging with pre-school children is sometimes practiced by the Roma, despite its illegality in many countries.

In 2004, Lívia Járóka and Viktória Mohácsi of Hungary became the two current Roma Members of the European Parliament. The first Roma MEP was Juan de Dios Ramirez-Heredia of Spain.

Seven former Communist Central European and Southeastern European states launched the Decade of Roma Inclusion initiative in 2005 to improve the socio-economic conditions and status of the Roma minority.

Rom in Israel

Before 1948, there was an Arabic-speaking Roma community in Jaffa, whose members were noted for their involvement in street theatre and circus performances. They are the subject of the play "The Gypsies of Jaffa" (Hebrew: הצוענים של יפו), by the late Nissim Aloni, considered among Israel's foremost playwrights, and the play came to be considered a classic of the Israeli theatre (see *). Like most other Jaffa Arabs, this community was uprooted in April 1948, and its descendants are assumed to be presently living in the Gaza Strip refugee camps; it is unknown to what degree they still preserve a separate Roma identity. Another Roma community is known to exist in East Jerusalem, its members complaining of prejudice and discriminatory treatment by the surrounding Palestinian society despite their sharing in the hardships of those Palestinians.

Some Eastern European Roma are known to have arrived in Israel in the late 1940's and early 1950's, having intermarried with Jews in the post-WWII "displaced persons camps" or, in some cases, having pretended to be Jews when Zionist agents arrived in those camps. The exact numbers of these Roma living in Israel are unknown, since such individuals tended to assimilate into the Israeli Jewish environment. According to several recent accounts in the Israeli press, some families preserve traditional Romani lullabies and a small number of Romani expressions and curse words, and pass them on to generations born in Israel who, for the most part, speak Hebrew.

Fictional representations of Roma

Many fictional depictions of the Rom emphasize their supposed mystical powers or criminal nature. They often appear as stock villains, bucolic nomads, or a sort of supernatural Deus ex machina.

Literary representations include:

Treatments of Roma in other media include:

  • Tabor ukhodit v nebo (1975, USA name: Queen of the Gypsies), film by Soviet (Moldovan) director Emil Loteanu. An excellent look at migrant Roma traditions.
  • King of the Gypsies (1978), a film set among a group of gypsies in the United States, in which a young man first rebels against, then embraces his gypsy heritage.
  • In the 1937 film classic Heidi starring Shirley Temple, gypsies appeared in the stereotypical villain role.
  • Marlene Dietrich stars in Golden Earrings (1947) as a gypsy whose clan aids British agent Ray Milland escape from the Nazis during WWII.
  • Serbian director Emir Kusturica often used the Roma community as basis of his films.
  • Gadjo dilo written and directed by Tony Gatlif. Stéphane, a young French man from Paris, travels to Romania. He is looking for the singer Nora Luca, he had heard on cassette, and whom his father had heard all the time before his death.

Groups in Europe sometimes mistaken for Roma

In Europe, where the settled lifestyle has long been the norm, other non-Indo-Aryan nomadic peoples (not originating in India), have also been labeled Gypsies for convenience or by accident. The Rom used to refer to some of these groups as didicoy. In Germany, Switzerland, France and Austria there also exist so-called white gypsies who are known under the names of Jenische (German), Yéniche (French), and Yenish or Yeniche (English). Their language seems to be grammatically identical with other (Swiss) German dialects; the origin of the lexicon, however, incorporates German, Romani, Yiddish and other words.

In Norway (and, to a lesser degree, in Sweden and Denmark), there is a group of people who call themselves Tatere. An estimated 10,000 to 25,000 Swedes are estimated to have Tater heritage. Confusingly, the term some of their more vocal representatives use to describe themselves today is rom or romani. The links between the Tater people and Roma are uncertain. The Tater people were mostly itinerant and provided services that were needed by rural populations, but not often enough to warrant resident practitioners. Typical examples would be tinsmithing, selling knick-knacks, and the neutering of horses. The origin of the "Taters" is unknown. Their name might derive from a belief that they were of the nomadic Tartar people. The word in Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish comes from low-German and is of Turkish origin. Distinguished Norwegian rocker Åge Aleksandersen is a Tater, as was evangelist Ludvig Karlsen. On the southern and western coast of Norway, and to some extent on the western coast of Sweden, the tater would live in boats rather than in horse-drawn wagons.

There is also a group of people in Ireland and the United Kingdom called Irish Gypsies or Irish Travellers. In Scotland, Scottish Travellers are known as ceardannan (Scottish Gaelic "summer walkers") or tinkers, apparently derived from the Gaelic "tinceard", meaning "tinsmith" (although there is a certain resemblance between this word and words such as Gitanos (Spain), Zingari (Italy), or Cigány (Hungary) for Roma). As this term became a pejorative amongst the settled community, the term Irish Travellers or (in Scotland) Gypsy Travellers emerged as a more neutral name. They are not Roma, but their nomadic culture has been influenced by them. The language of the Irish Travellers, Shelta, is mainly based on an Irish Gaelic lexicon and an English-based grammar, with influence from Romani. Similarly, Scottish Gypsy Travellers (who have a history of intermarriage with Scottish Romanies) speak Cant, a mixture of Scots, Gaelic and Romani. The North Highland Travellers also spoke an almost defunct form of Gaelic backslang known as Buerla Regaird.

The quinqui or mercheros of Spain are a minority group, formerly nomadic, that share a lot of the way of life of Spanish Roma. Their origin is unclear, although there are a few theories: they may be peasants who lost their land in the 16th century, descendants of Muslims who took to nomadism to avoid persecution, or marginalised people who have mixed with Roma. Most likely they are a mixture of all of the above. In spite of sharing persecution and mores with the Roma, the quinqui have often set themselves apart from them.

Notes

References

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  • Roberts, Samuel. The Gypsies: Their Origin, Continuance, and Destination. London: Longman, 4th edition, 1842.
  • Silverman, Carol. “Persecution and Politicization: Roma (Gypsies) of Eastern Europe.” Cultural Survival Quarterly, Summer 1995.
  • Tebbutt, Susan (Ed., 1998) Sinti and Roma in German-speaking Society and Literature. Oxford: Berghahn.
  • Turner, Ralph L. (1926) The Position of Romani in Indo-Aryan. In: Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society 3rd Ser. 5/4, pp. 145–188.
  • Danish Broadcasting Corporation A page in Danish about Roma treatment in Denmark
  • Firdawsi Tousi. “Shah-Nameh” (book of Kings) ca. 1000 A.D.

See also

Further reading

  • Erich Hackl, Farewell Sidonia, New York: Fromm International Pub., 1991. ISBN 088064124X. (Translated from the German, Abschied von Sidonie (1989)

External links

Museums

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Roma people".

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