The English Gipsies and Their Language

Trident of Siva.-Curious English-Gipsy term for the Cross.-Ashwood Fires on Christmas Day.-Our Saviour regarded with affection by the Rommany becau

e a drum jals atut the waver," which means in English-"God bless

ers in England, when I heard this from her brother, himself an ancient wanderer, who l

lt the true spirit of the most original poetry and art which this country has produced. For look high or low, dear reader, you will find th

ter "porcelain," or the Duchess of --- for Majolica, has its roots among far humbler folk. In fact there were perhaps twenty things which no English reader would have supposed wer

answeri

call it pa

that name. We do it wit

and marked on the flo

n one band of Gipsies goes by a cross road, they draw that deep in the dust, with the end of the longest line pointi

"This is our sign-the trin bongo drums,

the way," he added; "

go drums, or the three crooked roads. Do

, and trushni means a fa

s," I said, "because in it every stick is crossed by the wooden withy

ūl of Mahadeva in Hindustani, and that in coming to Europe the resemblance of its shape to that of the Cross impressed them, so that they gave to the Christian symbol the name of the sacred triple spear. {26} For if you t

a sensation in its time-and Herlossohn in his romance of Der Letzte Taborit (which helped George Sand amazingly in Consuelo), makes a Gipsy chieftain appear in a w

lf having used it in this sense. Cross roads were peculiarly meaning-full as indicating the meet-of life with life, of good with evil, a faith of which abundant traces are preserved in the fact that until the present generation suicides were buried at them, and magical rites and diabolic incantations are supposed to be most successful when practised in such places. The English path, the Gipsy patteran, the Rommany-Hindu pat, a foot, and the Hindu panth, a road, all mee

it. To you, reader, it may be that it points the way of eternal life; to the benighted Rommany-English-Hindoo, it indicates nothing more than the same old weary track of daily travel; of wayfare and warfare with the world, seeking food

riter of these lines for his ignorance of the charming comforts, as yet unborn, which will render his physical condition so de

very singular and Rommany point of view, respect, and even pay him, in common with the peasantry in some parts of England, a peculiar honour. For this reason I bade the Gipsy carefully repeat his words, and wrote them down accurately. I give them in the original, with a translation. Let m

ro Divvus sig' in the sāla, to lel ash-wood for the yāg. That

the Boro Divvus, 'pré the puv, avree in the temm, like we Rommanis, and he w

rukk, pukkered atut him, where he was gaverin, so they have to hatch mullo adrée the wen. And so we Rommany chāls always hatchers an ash yāg saw the Boro Divvuses. For the tickno duvel was chivved à wadras 'pré

her, but she pookered him kek. So because the pash-grai wouldn't rikker him, she was sovahal

cross apré lāki's dumo. And to the divvus the myla has a trin bongo drum and l

Great Day (Christmas), early in the morning, to get ash-wood for the

, was born on the Great Day, in the field, out in the count

stonishment at my ignorance seemed to

see that in th

different from those of the Gorgios, and different ideas abou

tree), told of him (lit. across, against him), where he was hiding, so they have to remain dead through the winter. And so we Gipsies always burn an ash-fire every Great Day. For the Saviour was born

she told him no. So because the mule would not carry him, she was cursed nev

s upon her back. And to this day the ass has a cross and bears young, but

pause, whe

it about an ash tree. Can you tell me anything

en heard our people

hat is

his chuckko, dui hundred besh 'pré he mullers, and then

are a great many men who w

chukko (coat) can be toofered and sivved apré (mended and sewed up) for ever. So, unless a man could get

s get a new li

ves one year, and then h

ive as long

he fields or (are found) under wood, they are not good eating. The best are those which are kept, or live through (literally sleep) th

call a

aid the old f

ro. But in Germany the Rommanis say stārgōli

t a snail on the fire it cries out and squeaks jus

but said nothing. The same Gipsy on a subsequent occasion, being

grai"-a f

matchno

e), hasn't it? Leastways I can't com

ott and Zippel had done before me, over the possible origin of c

ro or cup is round, and they both sound alike and look

everting to a topic which, by the way, I have observed i

s with the big black ki

ever knew they were

with no shell (literally, with no house upon him), and stick it on the thorn of a blackthorn in a hedge, and as the snail dies, one day after the other, for four or five

ppeways or Gipsies, than that smoking which is among our Indians, literally a burnt-offering, {35} I produced a small clay pipe of the time of Charles the Second, given to me by a gentleman who has the amiable taste to collect

the Gipsy at once

sw?gler-a crow-p

crow-

e places in England where you can find 'em by dozens in the fields. I never dicked (saw) one with so long a stem to it as yours. An

Creat

same time; they're hundreds-ávali-thousands of beshes (years) old. And so

hy

e devil liv