The English Gipsies and Their Language

r Mermaid-The Nag or Blind-Worm-Nagari and Niggering-The Nile-Nats and Nautches, Naubat and Nobbet-A Puncher-Pitch, Piller and Pivlibeebee-Quod-Kishmet or Destiny-The Koran in England-"Sass"-Shereng

ompass-Salaam and Shulam-Sarisham!-The Cups-Women's treading on o

quite right; but as mythology far surpasses any philology in interest, as regards its relations to poetry, how much more wonderful is it to find-to-day in Englan

er than himself, sent word to me, to know if "the rye" was aware that Boro Duvel, or the Great God, was an old Rommany expression for water? I thought that this was a si

etch adoi-can there, rya? Duvel is Duvel all the world over-but by the right formation, Vishnoo is the Duvel's ratt. I've shūned adovo būt dusta cheiruses. An'

nu and Indra are t

rishni or Brschindo, and this from the Hindu Barish, and the Sanscrit Varish or Prish, there can be "no rational ground" for connecting the English Gipsy word with the Hindu god. But who can tell what secret undercurrents of dim tradition and vague association ma

say, that I doubt whether either of them ever heard even of the apostles; and I satisfied myself that the one who brought the secret had neve

ess you. This word Maduvel is often changed to Mi-duvel, and is generally supposed to mean "My God;" but I was once

ha? He promptly replied, "Yes; that a booderi or boodha mush was an old man;" and pointing to a Chinese image of Buddha, said: "That is a Boohda." He m

the same word meant a dolphin. "But a dolphin has no wings," I remarked. "Oh, hasn't it?" rejoined the Gipsy; "its fins are its wings, if it hadn't wings it could not be a Seemór." I think I recognise in thi

e opinion of the Rommany, the most mysterious of creatures. I have been told that "when a nag mullers it's hardus as a kosh, and you can pogger it like a sw?gler's toov," "When a blind-

dick sim's

k mush or graī

can hear, he would not allow

ed sār he could pooker adrée a chinamangree." The resemblance between nagari and nigger may, it is true, be merely accidental, but the reader, who will

ast to find a passable parallel for this simile. Nill in Gipsy is a rivulet, a river, or a gutter. Nala is in Hindustan

several English Gipsy words. Nāchna in Hindustani means to dance, while the Nāts, who are a kind of Gipsies, are generally jugglers, dancers, and musicians. A natua is one of these Nā

l itinerant negro minstrels, means to go about with music to get money. "To nobbet round the tem, bosherin'." It also implies time or turn, as I inferred from what I was told on inquiry. "You can s

glish Gipsy "nitchering," moving restlessly, fidgeting and danci

leggings, trousers, or "overalls," peajamangris. This may be Anglo-Indian derived from the

fist." And since panja means in Hindustani a hand with the five fingers extended, it is no violent assumption to conclude that even puncher may owe quite as much to Hindustani as to English, though I cheerfully admit that it would perhaps never have existed had it not been for English associations. Thus a Gipsy calls a pedlar a packer or pack-mush. Now, how much of this word is due to the English word pack or packer, and how much to paikár, meaning in Hindustani a pedlar? I believe that there has been as much of the one as of the other, and that this doubly-formative influence, or influence of continuation, should be seriously con

regards meaning to the Hindu than to the English, and that its tendencies are always rather Oriental than Anglo-Saxon. As an illustration, I may point out piller (English Gipsy) to attack, having an affinity in pilna (Hindustani), with the same meaning. Many

criptive expression for every degree of relationship. Thus a pivli beebee in English Gipsy, or pupheri bahim

s to derive from a college quadrangle; but when we find that the Hindu quaid also

zy, to rub a horse down, or scrape him, in the original tongue signifies "to tie up a horse's head by passing the bridle to his tail," to prevent his kicking while being rubbed or 'scraped. Quasur, or

t is better'n wavers, 'cos they've got more better chiv. Some men's kismut's to bikin grais, and some to bikin kānis; but saw foki has their kismut, an' they can't pen chichi elsus." In English, "A man's destiny is what he is bound to do

ting that the Gipsies did not leave India until familiarised with Mohammedan rule. "He kaired his kurran pré the Duvel's Bavol that he would jāl 'vree the tem for a besh." "He swore his oath upon God's Breath (the Bible) that he would leave the cou

certainly resembles the English rut, but it is quite as much allied to rutana (Hindustani), meaning the same thing. "Sass," or sauce, meaning in Gipsy, bold, forward impudence, i

psies, on being asked if they knew it, promptly replied that it was "an old word for the neck or head of a fiddle." It is true they also called it sarengro, surhingro, and shorengro, the latter word indicating that it might have b

ny word much resembling soor, meaning the early star, but my informant could not give me its exact sound. Dood of the sala is the common name for Venus. Sunrise is indicated by the eccentric term of "kam-left the pa

y not be identified, he will walk with the feet interlocked-one being placed outside the other-making what in America i

been lost, I asked a Gipsy if he knew it, and he at once replie

, and yet calls a small or "shelter" tent a shelter gunno, or bag. "For we rolls up the big tent in the shelter tent, to

e more pleasure, since it fully establishes Mr Borrow as the first discoverer of the word in Rommany, and vindicates

In proportion to the importance of the real existence of this word among the Gipsies must be the suspicion with which we regard it, when it depends, as in this in

ant the Scriptures, but also any written book whatever, and somewhat marred the dignity of the sublime association of the

ndia sihr, it is true, is applied to enchantment or magic in general, but in this case the whole may very well stand for a part. I may add that my own communications on the subject of the je

s'iks', to learn, to acquire science; siksáka, adj., a learner, a teacher. Hindustani, seek'hna, v.a., to learn, to acquire; seek'h, s.f., admonition." I next inquired why they were called Seeks, and they told me it was a word borrowed from one of the commandments of their founder, which signifies 'learn thou

aid of the sea. Bero in Gipsy is the sea or a ship, but the Rommany had reduc

' Eesken

ning with the Eastern stan, "a place, station," and by application "country," so familiar to the reader in Hindustan, Iranistan, Beloochistan, and many other names. It is curious

ly enough the origin of the cant word "slang." Using other men's words, and adopting a conventional language, strikes a Gipsy as artificial; and many men not Gipsies express this feeling by speaking of conventional stage language as "theatrical slang." It

"the thing itself," the whole of it. And thus the ultimate point of Brahma, and the infinite depth of all transcendental philosophy, may reappear in a cheap, portable, and convenient form, as

lish Gipsy bar. "She pirryed adrée the bar lellin ruzhers." "She walked in the garden plucking flowers." And it is also like old times and the Arabian N

male Dom, sings at weddings. Everything known of the Dom identifies them with Gipsies. As for the sound of the word, any one need only ask the first Gipsy whom he meets to pronounce the Hindu d or the word Dom, and he will find it at once converted into l or r. There are, it is true, ot

riahs of India who carry out or touch dead bodies, also eat the bodies of animals that have died a natural death, as do the Gipsies of England. The occupation of the Domni and Romni, dancing and ma

the Rommany on first coming to England should speak of far-away regions as being the same as the land they had left, and among such ignorant people the second generation could hardly fail to extend the term and make it generic. At present

nd Utar is west in Rommany. As it was explained to me, I was told that "Utar means west and wet too, because the west wind is wet." Shimal is also north in Hindu; and on

orth America, because oratory, involving the accurate use of words, is among them the one great art; nor are the negroes, despite their heedless ignorance, so deficient, since they are at least very fond of elegant expressions and forcible preaching. I am positive and confident that it would be ten times easier to learn a language from the wildest Indian on the North American continent than from any real English Gipsy, although the latter may be inclined with all his heart and soul to teach, even to the extent

of salutation. The Hindu sar i sham signifies "early in the evening," from which I infer that the Dom or Rom was a nocturnal character like the Night-Cava

ies and Hindus may be found in a custom which was

he chav? or juvalo mush, or whoever it may be, then their friends for trin divvuses kairs their habben an' bitchers it a lend

e (or the girl, or young man, or whoever it may be), then their friends for three days prepare their food and send it to them. And t

, in Hindustani (Brice, Hin. Dict.) "karwá khana is the food that is sent for three days from relations to a family in which one of the members has died." The Hindu karwán

happen, the cup is never used again. By touching the ground it becomes sacred, and should no more be used. When a Gipsy cares for nothing else, he keeps his drinking-cup under every circumstance." I have not been able to ascertain whether this species of regard for the cup ever existed in England, but I know of many who could not

tains to the table, high up in their waggons. It is almost needless to point out how closely these ideas agree with those of many Hindus. The Gipsy eats every and any thing except horseflesh. Among themselves, while talking Rommany, they will boast of having eaten mullo baulors, or pigs that have died a natural death, and hotchewitchi, or hedgehog, as did the belle of a Gipsy party to me at Walton-on-Thames in the summer of 1872. They can give no reason whatever for this inconsistent abstinen

or dub'na, is of this description. Is it derived from the Hindu dhoobd'ha, which every Gipsy would pronounce doobna, or from the English dubious, which has been made to assume the Gipsy-Indian termination na? Of this word I was na?vely told, "If a juva's bori (girl is big), that's dub'ni; and if s

llected a mass of overwhelming proof as to the Indian origin of Rommany. At present the dictionary which I intend shall follow this work shows that, so far as the Rommany dialects have been published, that of England contains a far greater number of almost unchanged Hindu words than any other, a fact to

ies are still wild, black wanderers, unfamiliar with many things for which the English Gipsy has at least a name, and to which he has continued to apply old Indian words. Every one familiar with the subject knows that the English Gipsies in America are far more intelligent than their German Rommany cousins. A few years ago a large party of the latter appeared at an English racecourse, where they excited much attention, but

teenth century. I believe they were chiefly of the primitive tribes, because evidence which I have given indicates that they were identical with the two castes of the Doms and Nāts-the latter being, in fact, at the present day, the real Gipsies of India. Other low

s, manners, and customs, one irrefutable proof still remains in the physical resemblance between Gipsies all the world over and the natives of India. Even in Egypt, the country claimed by the Gipsies themselves as their remote great-grandfather-land, the native Gipsy is not Egyptian in his appearance but Hindu. The peculiar brilliancy of

but a great deal with Bohemian or Chech-in fact, he maintained, if I remember right, that a Chech and a Rom could understand one another in either of their respective tongues. I once devoted my