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Gypsy
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The term gypsy (or gipsy) has several overlapping meanings. Initially the word was used to referred to the Romani people, who first appeared in England at about the beginning of the 16th century. Although in certain contexts it is still used to describe the Romani, it also describes those in English speaking countries who live a lifestyle similar to that of the Romani, or as a translation of equivalent words in other languages.
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that a gypsy is a
- "member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Hindu origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c.
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Encyclopedia
The term gypsy (or gipsy) has several overlapping meanings. Initially the word was used to referred to the Romani people, who first appeared in England at about the beginning of the 16th century. Although in certain contexts it is still used to describe the Romani, it also describes those in English speaking countries who live a lifestyle similar to that of the Romani, or as a translation of equivalent words in other languages.
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that a gypsy is a
- "member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Hindu origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from Egypt".
The OED records the first usage of the word in English as 1514, with several more in the same century, and that both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used the word.
The word derives from the word for "Egyptian" in Latin, the same as the Spanish Gitano or the French Gitan. It emerged in Europe, in the 15th century, after their migration into the land of the Romani people (or Roma) in that continent. They received this name from the local people either because they spread in Europe from an area named Little Egypt, in Southern Balkans or because they fitted the European image of dark-skinned Egyptians skilled in witchcraft. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, 'gipcian, 'gypcian. As the time elapsed, the notion of Gypsy evolved including other stereotypes, like nomadism, exoticism.
English law
Gypsy has several different and overlapping meanings under English Law. Under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 Gypsies are defined as "persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showmen, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such.", this definition includes such groups as New Age Travellers, as well as Irish Travellers and Romany.
Gypsies of Romany origins have been a recognised ethnic group for the purposes of Race Relations Act 1976 since CRE V Dutton 1998 and Irish Travellers in England and Wales since O'Leary v Allied Domecq 2000 (having already gained recognition in Northern Ireland in 1997).
Other groups sometimes called gypsies
A number of groups are commonly included under gypsy even they are not part of the Romani people proper. This is notably the case with the Dom people and the Lom people of the Middle East and Central Asia.
These are known as
Kowli (????) in Iran and Iraq. The Arabic terms Ghajar (???),Salab (???) and Nawar (???) distinguish occupations: the Ghajar or Salab are entertainers, while the Nawar are traders; Nawar is also used as a pejorative term to mean vulgar, or low in North Levantine Arabic, and are used as insults (see also Garachi, Lyuli, Zott)
"Travellers" is a wider term for groups of people with a nomadic lifestyle, traditionally including but not restricted to the Romani. The Irish Travellers and Scottish Travellers are often included under the term "gypsies". In Central and Western Europe, the Yeniche are known as gypsies (or Zigeuner and other local equivalents of the term) although they are not considered part of the Romani people.
Similarly, the Indigenous Norwegian Travellers are unrelated to the Romani, not to be confused with the Romani Norwegian and Swedish Travellers.
In India, the Banjara are sometimes dubbed gypsies.
Various ethnic groups in South-East Asia are known as "Sea Gypsies". Colloquially, gypsy names also any person perceived as fitting the Gypsy stereotypes (compare Bohemianism).
See also
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