Gypsies

Gypsies or Gipsies [from Egypt, because of an inaccurate idea that Gypsies came from a so-called Little Egypt], a traditionally nomadic people with particular folkways and a unique language, found on every continent; they often refer to themselves as Roma. Their language, called Romany , belongs to the Indo-Iranian family and is closely related to the languages of NW India. Their blood groupings have been found to coincide with those of S Himalayan tribes, and genetic mutations they possess are otherwise found only among Indians and Pakistanis. Gypsies worldwide are estimated to number between 10 and 12 million.

In the course of their wanderings, Gypsies have occasionally mixed with non-Gypsy neighbors and have sometimes settled down, but they have clung tenaciously to their identity and customs. Their physical type has remained largely unaltered; most Gypsies are dark-complexioned, short, and lightly built. Their bands are still ruled by elders. Gypsies have usually adopted the religion of their country of residence; probably the greater number are Roman Catholic or Orthodox Eastern Christian. Each year in May they gather in S France from all over the world for a pilgrimage to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Gypsies usually travel in small caravans and make their living as metalworkers, singers, dancers, musicians, horse dealers, and auto mechanics. Gypsy women are famous as fortunetellers.

It is believed that they came originally from NW India, which they left for Persia in the 1st millennium AD Probably during their sojourn in Persia, they became divided into three main tribal divisions: the Gitanos, the Kalderash, and the Manush. Later they moved northward and westward, and are recorded as first appearing in Western Europe in the 15th cent. Alternately welcomed and persecuted by civil and religious authorities, they moved from country to country until they had spread to every part of Europe by the beginning of the 16th cent. They arrived in North America in the late 1800s.

In modern times, and especially since the beginning of the 20th cent., various nations have attempted to end their nomadic lifestyle by requiring them to register and to go to school and learn trades. Some 500,000 perished in gas chambers and concentration camps during World War II. In 1956 the Soviet Union decreed that the last wandering Gypsy bands in that country be gradually settled in places of their choice. The countries of E Europe, where the great majority of Gypsies live, adopted similar measures under Communist rule, and most Gypsies eventually found economic and social protection, if not full acceptance. However, following the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, persecution of the Gypsies arose once more in E Europe, and by the early 21st cent. most faced increased discrimination and lived in poverty. In 2005 eight E European countries and the World Bank backed a ten-year program intended to improve the Gypsies' socioeconomic status.

Bibliography: See G. Borrow, The Romany Rye (1857, new ed. 1949, repr. 1959); I. H. Brown, Gypsy Fires in America (1924); Gipsy Petulengro's autobiography, A Romany Life (1935); J. Yoors, The Gypsies (1967); D. Kenrick and G. Puxon, The Destiny of Europe's Gypsies (1972); D. Mayall, Gypsie-Travellers in Nineteenth Century Society (1988); I. Fonseca, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey (1995).

gyp·sy / ˈjipsē/ (also gip·sy) • n. (pl. -sies) a member of a traveling people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and traditionally live by seasonal work, itinerant trade, and fortune-telling. Gypsies are now found mostly in Europe, parts of North Africa, and North America, but are believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent. ∎  the language of the gypsies; Romany. ∎  a person who leads an unconventional life. ∎  a person who moves from place to place as required by employment. • adj. (of a business or business person) nonunion or unlicensed: gypsy trucking firms. DERIVATIVES: gyp·sy·ish adj.

gypsies and tinkers had different origins although the terms are sometimes interchangeable. Gypsies came from northern India and adopted a wandering life-style, keeping their Romany language and traditions. They arrived in the British Isles during the 15th cent. and their foreignness led to the presumption that they were Egyptians, corrupted to ‘Gypsy’. They earned their livings by dealing in horses and making small household goods. Some of the women told fortunes and sold charms, which added to their air of mystery and magic, although it brought the dangers of being associated with witchcraft.

In Scotland and Ireland gypsies were often called tinkers because of their similar wandering life-style. A ‘tinker’ was an itinerant metalworker, who sharpened cutting tools and made or repaired items for household or farm use.

Despite the idyllic life described by George Borrow and other romantics of the 19th cent., tinkers and gypsies had a reputation for fecklessness and theft. They attracted hostility largely because of their refusal to accept a settled way of life. They were often treated harshly. Gypsies from Germany, expelled by laws forbidding their traditional life-style, were denied refuge in the British Isles early in the 20th cent. Recently local authorities have attempted to control travellers' movements by designating approved sites, and powers to move them on were enhanced during the 1980s.

Ian John Ernest Keil