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Sinti or Sinta or Sinte (sing. masc. Sinto; sing. fem. Sintisa) is the name of a Romani or "gypsy
Gypsy

The term gypsy 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....
" population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities, generally in squalor.

The Sinti speak a dialect of the Romani language
Romani language

Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is the language of the Romani people. It is an Indo-Aryan language, sometimes included in either the "Central Indo-Aryan" or the "Northwest Indo-Aryan languages" group, sometimes treated as a branch of its own....
 called "Romanes, Sintenghero Tschib(en)", which has a primarily Romani vocabulary
Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and learning....
 but some grammatical
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
 differences, and exhibits strong German influence.

The origin of the name "Sinti/Sinte" is uncertain.






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Sinti or Sinta or Sinte (sing. masc. Sinto; sing. fem. Sintisa) is the name of a Romani or "gypsy
Gypsy

The term gypsy 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....
" population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled. In earlier times, they frequently lived on the outskirts of communities, generally in squalor.

The Sinti speak a dialect of the Romani language
Romani language

Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is the language of the Romani people. It is an Indo-Aryan language, sometimes included in either the "Central Indo-Aryan" or the "Northwest Indo-Aryan languages" group, sometimes treated as a branch of its own....
 called "Romanes, Sintenghero Tschib(en)", which has a primarily Romani vocabulary
Vocabulary

A person's vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and learning....
 but some grammatical
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
 differences, and exhibits strong German influence.

The origin of the name "Sinti/Sinte" is uncertain. It can be shown to have been adopted in the 18th century, possibly from a German-based secret language. It is often compared to the name of the Sindhi
Sindhi people

Sindhis are a Sindhi language speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, now a province of Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan are predominantly Muslim but there are also smaller minorities of Hindus and Christians....
  of southwestern Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, a notion popular among the Sinti themselves, but there is "no foundation whatsoever" for this comparison.

History

The Sinti arrived in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 and Austria
Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
 in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, eventually splitting into two groups: Eftavagarja ("the Seven Caravans") and Estraxarja ("from Austria"). These two groups then expanded, the Eftavagarja into France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, where they are called "Manouches", and the Estraxarja into Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
, mainly what are now Croatia
Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a Central European country at the crossroads of Pannonian Plain, Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, Romania
Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic

The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
 and Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
, eventually adopting various regional names.

In Italy they are present mainly in Piedmont
Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 Regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km? and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local dialect is Piedmontese....
 region, with some communities in Veneto
Veneto

Veneto or Venetia , is one of the 20 Regions of Italy of Italy. Its population is about 4.8 million, and its capital is Venice. Once the cradle of the renowned Republic of Venice, then a land of mass emigration, Veneto is today among the wealthiest and most industrialized regions of Italy....
 as well.

Other theories

Another theory holds that the Roma differ from the Sinti in that the former converted to Islam in the Seljuq Empire
Seljuq dynasty

The Seljuq were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They set up an empire known as Great Seljuq Empire that stretched from Anatolia through Persia and was the target of the First Crusade....
, thus acquiring citizenship and escaping slavery. The Sinti, on the other hand, allegedly refused to convert to Islam and thus remained in slavery.

Notable Sinti

The Sinti have produced some number of renowned musicians, such as Drafi Deutscher
Drafi Deutscher

Drafi Deutscher was a German singer and composer of Romani people/Sinti heritage. His best known song was the 1965 Schlager Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht, which was featured in the 2006 movie Beerfest during the Oktoberfest scene....
 or the jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
ists Jimmy Rosenberg
Jimmy Rosenberg

Joseph Rosenberg is a Netherlands musician , known for his virtuoso playing of jazz, string swing, and gypsy jazz.He was formerly active in the gypsy environment , inspired by his relative Stochelo Rosenberg after his release of the album "Seresta" ....
 and Paulus Schafer. The Sinto Häns'che Weiss produced a record in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in the 1970s in which he sang about the Poraimos (Romani Holocaust)
Porajmos

The Porajmos is a Romani term introduced by Romani scholar and activist Ian Hancock to describe attempts by the regime in Nazi Germany to exterminate most of the Romani people of Europe as part of the Holocaust....
 in his own language. Many younger Germans first learned about this part of Holocaust
The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as , Churben is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler....
 history as a result of this recording. Titi Winterstein and several members of Reinhardt's clan
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
 still play traditional and modern "Gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz

Gypsy jazz is an idiom often said to have been started by guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz," even in English language sources....
" all over Europe. The jazz keyboardist Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul

Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrians jazz keyboard instrument and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with elements of Rock music and world music....
 was also of Sinte (Sintenghero) descent.

Further reading

  • Walter Winter, Struan Robertson (Translator) Winter Time: Memoirs of a German who Survived Auschwitz Hertfordshire Publications, (2004), ISBN 1-902806-38-7
    • Reviewed by Emma Brockes "" in The Guardian
      The Guardian

      Sorry, no overview for this topic
       November 29, 2004


See also

  • Romani populations


External links

  • (Ravensbrück concentration camp
    Ravensbrück concentration camp

    Ravensbr?ck or Ravensbrueck was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbr?ck ....
    : Memories of surviving female Sinti)