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JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE SOCIETY.
'~ 3
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
VOLUME I.
(JUL Y 1888— OCTOBER 1889}
Sorciers, batdeurs oufilous,
Reste immonde
D'un ancien monde ;
Sorciers, bateleurs oufilous,
Gain bohemiens, d'oit venez-vous ?
BEBANGER.
EDINBURGH
Printed at the University Press by T. and A. CONSTABLE
for the Gypsy Lore Society
1889
n
10
JOUENAL OP THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY.
VOL. I. JULY 1888. No. 1.
PREFACE.
" GOOD wine needs 110 bush," and our Journal, we trust,
will thrive without self-commendation. Still, a word may
well be said as to its aims. These are to gather new
materials, to rearrange the old, and to formulate results, so
as little by little to approach the goal — the final solution of
the Gypsy problem. It has already been solved, but in so
many and such diverse ways, that the true answer still
remains a matter of doubt, if indeed the true answer has
ever yet been given. There is Grellmann's old theory, by
which the Gypsies first reached Europe in 1417, Pariahs
expelled from India by Tamerlane less than ten years before.
There is the Behram Gur theory, by which, about 430 A.D.,
the Jat ancestors of our Gypsies were summoned from
India to Persia, and from Persia gradually wandered west-
ward. And there is the Prehistoric theory, by which there
have been Gypsies in Europe for more than two thousand
years, by which Europe, or a great portion of Europe, owes
to the Gypsies its knowledge of metallurgy.
These are but three out of many theories, besides which
there are a number of minor questions, as, When did the
Gypsies first set foot in England, or in North and South
VOL. i. — NO. i. A
PREFACE.
America ? Then there are the language, the manners, the
folk-lore of the Gypsies. Much as has been written on these
subjects, as much remains to be written, if we are ever to
decide whether Romany is an early or a late descendant of
Sanskrit ; whether the Gypsies derived their metallurgical
terms from Greek, or the Greeks theirs from Romany ;
whether the Gypsies have always been dwellers in tents ;
and whether they got their arts, music, and folk-tales from
the Gaujios, or whether the Gaujios have borrowed from
the " Egyptians."
Already we have promise of contributions dealing with
the Romany dialects of Syria and Brazil, with the Gypsies
of Persia and Central Africa, with Gypsy bibliography, and
with eight hitherto unpublished folk-tales, which were col-
lected from London Gypsies by the late Mr. Campbell of
Islay. Indeed, our sole difficulty seems likely to be want of
space. But if from a hundred we can increase our member-
ship to twice or three times that number, the Journal will
be proportionally enlarged, and Gypsy camp-meetings, at
different centres, might hereafter be duly organised. Any-
how, we trust to preserve much information that might
otherwise perish. It is now seven years since the death of
Dr. Kounavine, a Russian physician who had abandoned his
profession, to wander for thirty-five years among the
Gypsies of Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. What was
the value of his vast collections we can only conjecture ; for
from that day to this no trace of them has come to light.
They perished with him somewhere in Siberia. Not every
one may be a Dr. Kounavine, but there lives not the
Romany Rye that has not something new to impart to his
fellow-students.
THE EDITORS.
TURKISH GYPSIES.
I— TUEKISH GYPSIES.
IN a small village near Tchorlu, between Constantinople and
Adrianople, called Deghirme'n Kioy (Village of the Mill),
encamped in 1866 a party of wandering Tchinghianes, with their
bears. They had all Musulman names, and were considered Musul-
man Bohemians.
One night one of them, called Mustapha, in passing a river with
his bear, got imbedded in the mud up to his waist. His cries were
heard by some workmen at a neighbouring farm, but, thinking that
highwaymen were at their work, they left the poor fellow to his fate.
In the morning he was found still in the mud — dead.
His companions went to the Greek priest in the village to have
him buried, but the priest, knowing that up to that day he had been
called Mustapha, was unwilling to bury him. His companions had
alleged that his name was Theodore. Finally the Turks, finding no
vestige of circumcision, gave him up as a Christian, and he was
buried according to the rites of the Christian Church. It is a strik-
ing example of their indifference to religion.
Near Tchorlu, seventy miles north-west of Constantinople, is a
place called Tchinghiane Serai (The Gypsies' Palace). It was given
by the Turks to the exiled Khans of the Crimea towards the latter
half of the eighteenth century. Now it contains a great many Gypsy
families, who probably came to the place in order to escape the
persecutions of Turks and Christians. For Serai, see the valuable
work of Baron De Tott, Sur Us Turcs et les Tartar es (Maestrich, 1785),
vol i. p. 194. The place is now a miserable village.
To the west of Tchorlu is a large place, called Hariupol. The
Turks call it Hariampol and Herepoli. A great many Gypsies live
in this place. They breed a vast number of buffaloes, the very best
in Roumelia. In early spring they leave the place in great carts
drawn by buffaloes, and travelling in the moist valleys continue their
march until they have sold all their animals. Their families and
culinary implements are all in the carts. They are all Musulmans,
and are most of them wealthy. The carts are generally from five to
ten in number. In autumn they return to their winter quarters in
Hariupol. This place contains 650 families, 500 Turkish.
Up to 1874 the Musulman Gypsies were exempt from military
service, and, like the Christians, paid to the Government the exemp-
tion tax called bedel. The following is a translation of a paragraph in
4 TUEKISH GYPSIES.
Government report of 8 Mouharem 1291 (21st January 1874) : « Up
to the present the Government has neglected to raise personally con-
scripts among the Muslim-gypty (Musulman Gypsies), but to exempt
these men from military service, which is due from all Ottoman subjects,
is a breach of the common law. The Minister of War, by a report ap-
proved by the Council of State, and by the Privy Council, has proposed
in future to subject the Musulman Gypsies to personal military service.
His Majesty has deigned to give his sanction to this proposition.
Consequently, from the day when this measure is put in operation,
the tax called Beddi askeri, paid up to now by the Musulman
Gypsies, will cease." This is an important event in the history of
the race.
I have heard of a Gypsy in Adrianople who offered as a dowry
with his daughter 20,000 francs (£800). He offered her to a young
Greek, who would not take a Gypsy wife.
In a village some forty miles from Adrianople, called by the
Turks, Kirk Kilizz^, and by the Greeks, Saranta Ekklesiai (forty
churches), are a number of Gypsies, who make sweetmeats which are
sold at all the neighbouring fairs.
Nearly all the musicians of Eoumelia are Gypsies. They have
sweet voices, and are very clever players on the violin.
On the farms they are employed at times in mowing and reaping ;
sometimes they plough, but they are generally weak, and cannot
stand at their work as the Bulgarians. They work generally on the
farms as basketmakers and ironmongers.
The Greeks very rarely intermarry with Gypsies. The Gypsies
never send their children to school. They are never seen at church
except on great festival days. They never hunt, nor are they robbers.
In general they cannot endure fatigue or long marches.
A number of people have assured me, that in the cities of Sophia,
Silistria, Samakou, Turnevo, and Kustchuk, there are a great many
public women of pure Gypsy blood. They are never found in the
villages, where public women are not tolerated.
Christian Gypsies never marry into Turkish families, as such
marriages are strictly forbidden by the Musulman law.
At Kizanlik, a small town near Adrianople, they employ Gypsy
women as servants in the Ladies' Baths.
My observations on the Asiatic Gypsies, or rather on the Gypsies
roaming on the plains of Asia Minor, are very meagre.
As to the Eoumelian Gypsies, I have made repeated inquiries in
order to ascertain whether any religious rites exist among them which
TUKKISII GYPSIES. 5
may be considered as of pure Gypsy origin. Their marriages, funerals,
and feasts are those of the sect to which they belong, or profess to
belong. One particular habit I may mention. When they place the
corpse in the coffin, they put the arms at the side of the body full
length, instead of crossing them on the breast, as the Christians are
in the habit of doing.
The Gypsies in all Eoumelia, in Macedonia, and in Thessaly,
celebrate with music and dancing the 23d of April, St. George's Day.
The custom is peculiar to all the inhabitants of the country, Chris-
tians and Turks.
At Volo, in Thessaly, a wandering Gypsy told one of my friends
that their Gypsy tribe once inhabited the central parts of Asia, and in
coming to these countries they had their own peculiar language,
which had been corrupted and mixed with Turkish, Greek, and
Bulgarian words. I have my doubts on the geographical knowledge
of this Gypsy. He probably picked up an idea of this nature from
some European friends.
I have received sundry observations on the Gypsies roaming on
the vast plains of Thessaly and Epirus from Dr. Zulia, an excellent
physician at Volo, who went among them and collected a great many
words. Others I received from Dr. Bugatchelo, a physician in Velizze,
some eighty miles to the north-west of Salonica. The place is
called Velizze in Greek, and Kiupruli in Turkish. A third col-
lection was sent to me by Dr. Crispi of Bellova, west of Sophia, in
the very heart of Thrace.
Nothing new or of special interest has been added to the words
given in my own work on the language, but it is extremely important
to see that they use the same language, though there is so little
intercourse between them. The uniformity of the language spoken
all over European Turkey is remarkable.
ALEXANDER G. PASPATI.
II.— EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
FOR the convenience of those who have not easy access to " The
Papers of the Manchester Literary Club," I have recast a
paper written by me for that Club in 1880. I have incorporated
such further materials as have since come in my way, and hope it
may induce others to contribute their gleanings.
The date of the first appearance of Gypsies in England is unknown.
6 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
From the fact of their formerly common occupation as tinkers, it has
been conjectured by some that they have inhabited these islands from
prehistoric ages. " Tinkler " and " Tinker," as proper names, can be
traced to the thirteenth century at least ; but in those days there
seem to have been two classes of tinkers, the one sedentary, and
perhaps equivalent to our modern ironmongers, and the other styled
" wandering tinkers," who were the itinerant menders of our pots and
pans.
So far as English Gypsy existence is concerned, the prehistoric
period extends to the year 1505.
Mons. Bataillard (De I' Apparition des Bohtmiens en Europe, Paris,
1844, p. 53) has suggested that Gypsies may have come over to
England so early as 1440. Certainly the party which visited Paris in
August 1427 took a northward direction on leaving, and as the
English were then ruling in the French capital, it is very probable
that the Gypsies would hear of these more northerly happy hunting-
grounds, and feel inclined to pay them a visit of inspection.
Mr. Borrow (Lavo-lil, p. 212) says they first came to England
"about the year 1480," which is just half a century before the
English Parliament began a series of repressive efforts.
Sir George M'Kenzie, who died in 1691, has recorded a tradition
that between 1452 and 14GO a company of Saracens or Gypsies from
Ireland infested the country of Galloway, in Scotland, and the King
promised the barony of Bombie to whomsoever should disperse them
and bring in their captain dead or alive. The laird of Bombie's son,
a Maclellan, killed the captain, and took his head on a sword to the
king. Thereafter Maclellan took for his crest a Moor's head, and for
a motto " Think on " (Simson's Hist, of the Gypsies, London, 1865, p.
99 ; Crawford's Peerage, Edinburgh, 1716, p. 238). Mr. Simson adds :
" In the reign of James n. [of Scotland], away putting of sorners
[forcible obtruders], fancied fools, vagabonds, out-liers, masterful
beggars, bairds [strolling rhymers], and such like runners about, is
more than once enforced by Acts of Parliament" (Glendook's Scots
Acts of Parliament). In 1449 an Act, c. 9, was passed in which
" overliers and masterful beggars " are described as going about the
country with " horses, hunds, and other goods " (Marwick, Sketch of
History of High Constables of Edinburgh, 1865, Edinburgh, p. 35),
a fact which acquires a further value when compared with the state-
ment of Krantz, that on the Continent the first Gypsies (" venaticos
canes pro more nobilitatis alunt ") kept hunting-dogs like the nobility.
As yet no positive mention of Gypsies in England earlier than
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 7
1505 has been discovered, but in 1492 the Gypsies were expelled
from Spain, which would drive some at least into France, if not
into England, while in 1500 they were expelled from the German
Empire, and on 27th July 1504 they were expelled from France
(Bataillard, Nouvclles Eecherches, Paris, 1849, p. 38).
The first undoubted record referring to Gypsies in Great Britain
is : — " 1505, Apr. 22. Item to the Egyptianis be the Kingis command,
vij lib." — (Pitcairn's Criminal Trials of Scotland, Edinb. 1833, iii. 591).
A few months later, in July 1505, we find the Scottish King,
James iv., writing to the King of Denmark to commend Anthony
Gagino, a lord of Little Egypt, who, with his retinue, had a few months
previously reached Scotland during a pilgrimage through the Chris-
tian world, undertaken at the command of the Apostolic See (Pitcairn,
592; Dyrlund, Tatere og Natmandsfolk, Christiania, 1872, p. 290).
The draft of this curious letter is preserved in Scotland (Reg. MS.)
1 3 B ii.), and the original is in Denmark.
In 1514, at an inquest respecting the death of Richard Hunne in
the Lollards' Tower, one of the witnesses mentioned an Egyptian
woman who had been lodging at Lambeth, but had gone over seas a
month before, and who could tell marvellous things by looking into
one's hand (A Dyalog of Syr Thomas More, Knight, bk. iii. ch. xv. ;
Bright's Travels in Lower Hungary, London, 1818, p. 538).
Under date 1517, Edward Hall, in his Chronicles (published in
15 48), describes two ladies at a Court mummery as having their heads
rolled in a kind of gauze, and tippers "like the Egyptians" em-
broidered with gold; and under date 1520, he says that at a state
banquet eight ladies came in attired "like to the Egyptians," very richly.
Between 1513 and 1523 some " Gypsions " were entertained by
the Earl of Surrey at Tendring Hall, in Suffolk (Works of H.Howard,
Earl of Surrey, ed. Nott, London, 1815, vol. i. Appendix, p. 5).
About 1517 Skelton wrote his " Elynoure Rumminge," in which
occurs her description.
" Her kirtell Bristowe red,
With clothes upon her heade,
That they way a sowe of leade,
Wrythen iii a wonder wise
After the Sarazin's gise,
With a whim- wham
Knit with a trim-train
Upon her brayne panne,
Like an Egyptian
Capped about
When she goeth oute."
8 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
In October 1521 William Cholmeley gave certain " Egyptions "
at Thornbury the large sum of forty shillings, which would be
equivalent to about twenty pounds (Letters, etc., Foreign and Domestic,
Henry vm., vol. iii. pt. i. p. 499 (4) ).
In 1522 the churchwardens of Stratton, in Cornwall, received
twenty-pence from the " Egypcions " for the use of the Church House
(Arclmologia xlvj.)
In 1526 Skelton published his Garland of Laurel, of which line
1455 reads as follows —
" By Mary Gipcy, quod scripsi scripsi,"
the allusion being to Sancta Maria ^Egyptiaca, but showing the early
abbreviation of "Egyptian" into "Gypsy," which is also found in
Shakespere, as will appear later on.
Samuel Reid, in his Art of Juggling (1612, signature Bb), assigns
1528 as the year when the Gypsies invaded England, stating that it
was then (in 1612) about an hundred years ago, about the twentieth
year of King Henry the Eighth, when the " Egyptians " collected in the
south of England, having been banished from their own country,
and excelled in quaint tricks and devices. They spoke the right
Egyptian language, and got much by palmistry and telling of fortunes,
and cheated poor country-girls of money, silver spoons, and ' the best
of their apparel. Their leader was Giles Hather, whom they called
King, and Kit Calot was their Queen. They rode on horseback and
in strange attire.
Thornbury (Shakespere s England, London, 1856, i. 261) says their
chief in Henry vm.'s time was Cock Lorel, and then came Eatsee.
Harrison, in his Description of England (Book ii. chap, x.), which
is prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle (London, 1587, p. 183), says it is
not yet full threescore years since this trade began, and after de-
scribing various sorts of cheats, adds : —
" They are now supposed, of one sex and another, to amount unto above ten
thousand persons ; as I have heard reported. Moreover, in counterfeiting the
Egyptian roges, they have devised a language among themselves, which they name
Canting, but others pedlars' French, a speech compact thirty yeares since of Eng-
lish, and a great number of od words of their owne devising, without all order or
reason ; and yet such is it as none but themselves are able to understand. The
first deviser thereof was hanged by the neck, a just reward no doubt for his
desertes, and a common end to all of that profession."
In 1530, a quarter of a century after their expulsion from France,
they had become an intolerable nuisance in England ; and the Act
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 9
concerning Egipcions was passed in 1530 (22 Henry vm. cap. 10.)
It recites that : —
" Afore this tyme dyverse and many outlandysshe [foreign] People callynge
theinselfes Egyptians, usyng no Crafte nor faicte of Merchaundyce had comen into
this Realtne and gone from Shire to Shire and Place to Place in greate Company,
and used greate subtyll and crafty meanes to deceyve the People, beryng them in
Hande [persuading them] that they by Palmestre coulde telle Menne and Woineus
Fortunes and so many tymes by crafte and subtyltie had deceyved the People of
theyr Money and also had comytted many and haynous Felonyes and Robberies to
the greate Hurte and Deceyte of the People that they had comyn arnonge."
In order to stop further immigration, it was enacted that : —
" From hensforth no suche Psone be suffred to come within this the Kynge's
Realme."
If they did, they were to forfeit all their goods, and to be ordered to
quit the realm within fifteen days, and to be imprisoned in default.
Further, if " any such straunger " thereafter committed any murder,
robbery, or other felony, and, upon being arraigned, he pleaded not
guilty, the jury was to be " altogether of Englysshemen " instead of
half Englishmen and half foreigners (medietutis lingucc), which
they were otherwise entitled to claim under 8 Henry vi. All
Egyptians then in England were to quit it within sixteen days after
the Act was proclaimed, or to be imprisoned and to forfeit their
goods ; but if any of those goods were claimed as stolen, then they
were upon proper proof to be forthwith restored to the owner ; and,
as an inducement to execute the Act zealously, all Justices of the
Peace, Sheriffs, or Escheators, who seized the goods of any Egyptians,
were to retain half of them as their own, and to account in the Court
of Exchequer for the other moiety, and they were not to pay any
fees or other charges upon rendering the account. This Act is duly
noticed in L' office et auctoryte des Justices de Peas, London, 1538.
In 1530 the " Egyptianis that dansit before the king [James v.
of Scotland] in Halyrudhous " received forty shillings (Pitcairn, iii.,
App., 592).
No trace exists of another Act of Parliament which Mr. Hoyland
alleges was passed in 1535 (Hist. Survey, p. 79). He states that,
after a recital similar to that of the Act passed in 1530, it was
enacted that they should quit the realm within a month, or be pro-
secuted as thieves and rascals, and any one importing them was to be
fined £40. It is probable that Mr. Hoyland has made a mistake in
the date, and meant 1555.
In 1531 John Pophain was born at Huntworth or Wellington, in
Somersetshire. He afterwards rose to be Lord Chief-Justice of Eng-
10 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
laud, and tried Guy Fawkes. While still a child he was stolen by a
band of Gypsies, and " for some months," according to Campbell
(Lives of the Chief -Justices, London, 1849, vol. i. p. 209), or "for
several years," according to Roberts (Social History of S. Counties,
p. 259), was detained by them. They disfigured him, and burnt on
his left arm a cabalistic mark ; but their wandering life strengthened
his previously weak constitution.
About December 1536 "a company of lewd persons, calling
themselves Gipcyans," were convicted of "a most shamefull and
detestable murder commytted amonges them," but received the king's
pardon, in which was " a speciall proviso, inserted by their owne
consentes, that, onles they shuld avoyde this his grace's realme by a
certeyn daye, . . . yt shuld be lawful to all his graces offycers to
hang them . . . without any further . . . tryal."
This pardon was filed in Chancery ; but the Gypsies, having
recovered their liberty, were in no hurry to leave the country.
Thomas Crumwell (Lord Privy Seal) wrote on December 5, 1537, to
'•' my lorde of Chestre, president of the Counsaile of the Marches of
Wales," to
" Laye diligent espiall throughowte all the partes there aboutes youe and the shires
next adjoynyng whether any of the sayd personnes calling theraselfes Egipcyans or
that bathe heretofore called themselfes Egipsyans shall fortune to enter or travayle
in the same. And in cace youe shall here or knowe of any suche, be they men or
women, that ye shall compell them to repair to the nexte porte of the see to the
place where they shallbe taken and eyther wythout delaye uppon the first wynde
that may conveye them into any parte of beyond the sees to take shipping and to
passe to outward partyes, or if they shall in any wise breke that commaundement
without any tract to see them executed . . . without sparing uppon any commys-
sion licence or placarde that they may shewe or aledge for themselfes."
In 1542, twelve years after the first Act was passed, Dr. Andrew
Borde, the original " Merry Andrew," published The fyrst boke of the
introduction of Knowledge, and described (ch. 38, pp. 217, 218) the
Gypsies of those days as "swarte.and disgisyd in theyr apparel con-
trary to other nacyons"; he adds, "They be lyght fyngerd and vse
pyking ; they have little maner and euyl loggyng, and yet they be
pleasnt daunsers . . . there money is brasse and golde ... If there
be any man that wyl learn parte of theyr speche, Englyshe and
Egipt speche foloweth." He gives thirteen sentences (Miklosich,
Beitr. zur Kenntn. der zig-mund., Vienna, 1874, i. 5).
In the summer of 1544 Eobert Ap Rice, Esq., the Sheriff of
Huntingdon, caused a large band of Gypsies, owning seventeen horses,
to be apprehended under the Act passed in 1530. They were tried at
a special assizes, a fact which probably indicates that the capture
EARLY ANNALS OF THK GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 11
was one of unusual size and importance. They were convicted and
sentenced to be taken in the custody of William Wever to Calais, the
nearest English port on the Continent. A ship belonging to John
Bowles was hired by the Admiralty for the purpose, the freight being
£6, 5s., and the cost of victualling £2, 18s. The total expense was
£36, 5s. 7d., but was reduced by the sale of the seventeen horses for
five shillings each. The accounts were set out by Mr. Hoyland (op.
cit., p. 81) from the Book of Receipts and Payments of 35 Henry vm.
About Christmas 1544, a number of Gypsies, who had been
imprisoned at Boston, in Lincolnshire, were by the king's command
shipped from there and landed in Norway. Shortly afterwards four
Gypsies came " from Lenn, thinkinge to have had shippinge here at
Bostone as their company had," but " the Constables of the same
towne immediatly not onely sett them in the stockes as vagaboundes,
but also serclied them to their shertes, but nothing cowde be found
upon them, not so moche as wolde paie for their mete and dryuke,
nor none other bagge or baggage but one horse not worthe iiij s." and
" here beynge no shipping for them, the forseide constables of Bostone
did avoyde them owte of the towne as vagaboundes towardes the
nexte portes, which be Hull and Newcastell." These facts are
gathered from a letter of Nicholas Robertson, of Boston, to Thomas,
Earl of Essex, Lord Privy Seal, preserved amongst the Records of the
Rolls' House (Wright, History of Ludlow, p. 390).
On January 21, 1545, at Hampton Court, a passport was granted
for a party of Gypsies under Phillipe Lazer, their Governor, to
embark at London, according to an order of the Admiralty (Archceo-
loyia, xviii., 127, and Proceedings of the Privy Council, folio 129h).
The King of Erance, in 1545, entertained the notion of embodying
four thousand Gypsies as pioneers to act against Boulogne, then held
by the English (Bright, op. cit., 523). This is mentioned in a letter
from the Council of Boulogne to the Privy Council of England, under
date February 21, 1545, preserved in the State Paper Office, French
Correspondence, vol. vi., No. 7 7, and printed in The Works of Henry
Howard, Earl of Surrey (2 vols., London, 1815), vol. i. p. 209, Letter
xx., as follows : —
" It may like your good Lordships to be advertised that this day arrived here a
spy for us that hath been long upon the frontier for that purpose."
The news he had gathered was —
"That their army shall assemble about th' end of March, and that the Rhinecroft
shall bring out of Alrnain twenty four ensigns for th' renforce of th' old bands, and
six thousand Gascons to be new levied, and six thousand pioneers, besides four
12 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
thousand Egyptians that shall serve for pioneers, whom it is thought the French
King minding to avoid out of his realm, determined before their departure to
employ this year in that kind of service, and that by their help, before their dis-
patch he hopeth with a tumbling trench to till the dykes of this town."
On December 5, 1545 (37 Henry VIIL), a Bill was introduced
into the House of Lords "pro animadversione in Egyptios." It was
read on December 7 and 10, and referred to the Chief- Justice of the
Common Bench. It was read the third time next day, and then sent
to the Commons under the title "pro expulsione et supplicio
Egyptorum" (Journal of the House of Lords, vol. i. pp. 273a, 272b,
273b, 274a). The printed Journal of the House of Commons only
begins with 1547 (the year of King Henry's death), and, as the Statute
Book does not include this edict, it probably failed to pass the
Commons, who, in the first year of Edward VI., on November 17 and
23, and December 19, 1547, revived the subject by a Bill " for pun-
ishing vagrants and Egyptians." On December 20, it was taken to
the Lords, and committed to the Lord Chancellor, and read on the
following day (Journal of the House of Commons, vol. i. ; Journal of
the House of Lords, i. 31 Ob, 2 lib); but this Bill likewise proved
abortive, and is not found in the Statute Book.
In 1547 certain garments were made for two Egyptians (Keinpe,
Loseley MSS.t London, 1836, p. 77).
On January 19, 1549, the Justices of Durham wrote to the Earl
of Shrewsbury, then Lord President of the Council in the North, a
letter stating that " John Eoland oon of that sorte of people callinge
themselffes Egiptians " had " accused " Baptist Fawe, Amy Fawe, and
George Fawe, Egiptians," of having " counterfeate the Kyngs Maties
Greate Scale," — that the accused persons had been apprehended, and
amongst their things had been found "one wryting with a greate
Seall moche like to the Kings Maties greate Seall, which we bothe by
the wrytinge and and also by the Seall do suppose to be counterfeate
and feanyd." They sent the seal for examination, and informed his
Lordship that the accused persons, with great execrations, denied all
knowledge of the seal, and alleged that Eoland was " their mortall
enemy and haithe oftentymes accused the said Baptist before this
and is moche in his debte," and that they supposed he " or some of
his complices haithe put the counterfeate Seall amongst their wry-
tyngs" (Brand and Ellis, Popular Antiquities, 2 vols. 4to, London,
1813, vol. ii. p. 438; Lodge, Illustrations of British History, 3 vols.
4to, London, 1791, vol. i. p. 135).
On June 22, 1549, the young king, Edward vi., writes in his
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 13
journal, "There was a privy search made through Sussex for all
vagabonds, gipsies, conspirators, prophesiers, all players, and such
like " (Blackwood's Magazine, vol. i. p. 45 ; Burnet, History of the
Reformation, folio, London, 1681, part ii. p. 16; Cottonian MSS.,
British Museum).
On the 20th, 21st, and 30th November, and 1st December, 1554
(1 Philip and Mary; Commons' Journal, vol. i.), a Bill was before the
Commons "for making the coming of Egyptians into the Realm Felony!'
It was taken to the Lords on the 1st, and read on the 3d, 5th, and
10th of December (Lords' Journal, i. 472a, 472b, 473b, 474b), and
passed as "An Act against certain Persons calling themselves Egyptians"
(1 and 2 Philip and Mary, cap. 4). It recites the Act of 1530, but
omits all mention of Mr. Hoyland's Act of 1535 (ante), and states
that " divers of the said Company and such other like Persons had
enterprised to come over again, using their old accustomed devilish
and naughty Practices and Devices with such abominable Living
as is not in any Christian Eealm to be permitted, named, or
known ; and that they were not duly punished." It was therefore
enacted that after 31st January 1555, any one importing Gypsies
should forfeit forty pounds; that any Gypsy so imported who remained
in England one month should be deemed a felon, and forfeit his life,
lands, and goods, being also deprived of the privileges of a mixed jury,
of sanctuary, and of " benefit of clergy," that is to say, ability to read
was to be no bar to the proceedings. All Gypsies then in England
or Wales were to depart within twenty days after proclamation of
the Act, and any who stayed longer were to forfeit their goods, half
to the crown and half to the person who should seize them. If they
remained forty days after the proclamation the punishment was the
same as for newly-imported Gypsies who stayed a month.
From the next section of the Act it would appear that the penal-
ties had been evaded by obtaining " licenses, letters, or passports";
but now, after 1st January 1555, any applicant for such protection
was to forfeit forty pounds, and all such licences were to become void.
As at least half a century had elapsed since the immigration
began, and many of the Gypsies must have been born in England, the
seventh section excepts from these pains and penalties all who within
twenty days after proclamation of the Act should " leave that naughty
idle and ungodly Life and Company and be placed in the Service of
some honest and able inhabitant or honestly exercise himself in some
lawful Work or Occupation," but only so long as such good behaviour
lasted. Children under thirteen years of age were also excepted, and
14 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
Gypsies then in prison were allowed to quit the realm in fourteen
days after their release.
Eeferring to this Statute of Philip and Mary, Samuel Eid, in his
Art of Juggling, says : —
" But what a number were executed presently upon this Statute, you would
wonder, yet notwithstanding all would not prevaile ; but still they wandred, as
before up and downe, and meeting once in a yeere at a place appointed : sometimes
at the Devil's A — e in Peak in Darbishire, and otherwhiles at Ketbrooke by Black-
heath, or elsewhere, as they agreed still at their meeting."
But, when speaking of his own time, 1612, he says : —
" These fellowes seeing that no profit comes by wandring, but hazard of their
lives, do daily decrease and breake off their wonted society, and betake themselves
many of them, some to be Pedlers, some Tinkers, some Juglers, and some to one
kind of life or other."
On October 7, 1555, the Privy Council Kegister of Queen Mary
records at Greenwich a letter to the Earl of Sussex and Sir John
Shelton, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, returning again to them the
passports and licences of " suche as name themselves Egiptians of wcb
company they had some in prison requiring them to examyne ye truth
of their pretended Licenses, and being eftsons punished according to
the Statute to give order forthwith for their transportacon out of the
Eealm."
On January 27, 1555(-6), the same Eegister records another letter
written from Greenwich to Mr. Sulliarde, Sheriff of the Counties of
Norfolk and Suffolk " to p'cede with 5 or 6 of th' Egiptians by him
apprehended, and to see the rest sent out of the Eealme with charge
not to returne upon pain of execution of the laws ag* them. He is
also willed to p'cede to the execution of 3 by him stayed and to stay
no more after condemnaeon, but to execute them according to the
judgment. He is also advertised that the Quenes Maty, shall be
moved for staying from granting any pardon to Howlet that he
writeth for, and that the commission of Gaole delivery shall be shortly
made and sent to them."
On February 14, 1558, Joan, the daughter of an Egyptian, was
baptized at Lyme Eegis, in Devonshire, having been born at Char-
mouth, "the quarters theyre being fixed," in accordance with the
seventh section of 1 Philip and Mary" (Eoberts, Social Hist, of
Southern Counties, Lond. 1850, p. 257).
In the summer of 1559 a very large number of Gypsies were
apprehended in Dorsetshire, and committed for trial at the Assizes
under the Statutes of Henry vin. and Philip and Mary. The authori-
ties were apparently perplexed by the number and the wholesale
EAKLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 15
slaughter that would follow a conviction in case the laws were strictly
enforced. Lord Mountjoy, the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, there-
fore wrote to the Privy Council for instructions, which were sent to
him by a minute in Queen Elizabeth's name. This is dated " the last
of August 1559," and states that " in our late dere sistar's tyme some
exaple was made by executi5 of some of the lyke which yet hath not
proffited to teare theis sort of people as was met beside ye horrible
and shamefull lyffe yfc they doe hant." The Queen thought it " very
covenient that some sharpe example and executio shuld be made
upp5 a good nober of them" ; therefore no favour was to be shown to
" fellons or such like malefactors," to old offenders, " or to such as
have fr5 there youth of long tyme hanted this lewd lyffe nor to such
as be ye p^ncipall captens and ryngledars of the copany ;" but " ye
childre being under ye age of xvjth and of such as very lately have
come to this trade of lyffe and that apper to have bene ignorat of
ye lawes in this behalfe provided and of wome having childre ethr
suckyng uppo them or being otherwise very yong so as w*out their
mothers attendace they might perish or other wome being w* child,"
were left to the discretion of Lord Mountjoy and the " Justicees of
assisees at there comig thither," with the remark that " we thynk it
very coveniet that they be coveyed owt of ye realme as in lyke casees
hath been used."
At the Dorchester Assizes, on the 5th of September 1559, these
Gypsies were tried and were acquitted on the technical grounds that
they had imported themselves, and had not come over seas, for " upon
throughe examinacon " they alleged " that in Decembre last they cam
out of Skotland into England by Carlysle wch ys all by land," perhaps
on hearing of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne, November 17,
1558. The "justicees of assisees [serjeants] Ey chard Weston and
Eychard Harpor " however directed them to be kept in custody until
the Queen's pleasure was known, and on the 23d of September, James
Lord Mountjoy wrote from Canford, explaining that he had " caused
learned counsayll to sett in hand the drawyng of their endytement,"
but they and also " the Justyce of assyse judged they not to be wthin
the daunger of felonye, . . . therefore I have taken order that they
shalbe dyspatched, wth as convenyent speede as may be, as vagabonds,
according to the lawes, to the places wher they were borne" (State
Papers — Domestic — Elizabeth, vol. vi. Nos. 31, 39, 50, pp. 137, 138,
139).
It is highly probable that this same band, upon leaving .Dorchester
to go to Scotland, passed through Gloucestershire, and were, on the
16 EAKLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
26th of October 1559, reapprehended at Longhope, in that county, by
George Jones, the county escheator, by direction of William Pytte,
bailiff of the borough of Blanford, Dorsetshire, acting as Lord Mount-
joy's messenger (State Papers, vol. vi. No. 20, p. 141). The
escheator's return furnishes their names, viz. James Kyncowe, George
Kyncowe, Andrew Christo, Thomas Grabriells, Eobert Johanny, John
Lallowe, Christopher Lawrence, and Eicharde Concow. Their ulti-
mate fate beyond being taken to Gloucester Castle is not mentioned,
nor is the cause of their reapprehension ; but probably in Lord
Mountj oy's opinion they were not fulfilling their promise to return
to Scotland.
In 1559 the churchwardens of Stratton, in Cornwall, "receved
of Jewes Jeptyons for the church howse ijs. vjd.," and in 1560 they
" receuyd of J>e Jepsyons on nyzth yn the church howsse iiijd.
(Archceologia, xlvj.).
In 1562 William Bullein, the author of A Book of Simples and
of Surgery forming parte of his Bulwarke of Defence, etc. (1562,
folio), speaks of dog-leeches, who " fall to palmistry and telling of
fortunes, daily deceiving the simple, like unto the swarms of Vaga-
bonds, Egyptians, and some that call themselves Jews, whose eyes
were so sharp as lynx " (Strype, Annals of the Reformation, Oxford,
1824, vol. ii. part ii. ch. xix. p. 307; Brand and Ellis, Popular
Antiquities, p. 440).
On 20th, 23d, and 27th February 1562, we again find the Com-
mons considering a Bill " for the punishment of vagabonds called
Egyptians " (Commons' Journal, vol. i.). It was before the Lords on
27th February, and 2d, 4th, and 6th March (Lords' Journal, i. 596,
597, 598, 599), and passed as " An Act for further Punishment of
Vagabonds calling themselves Egyptians" (5 Elizabeth, cap. 20).
The Earl of Arundel alone dissented from the measure. Under
this Act, after 1st May 1562, any person who for a month
" at one time or at several times " was in the company of Gypsies,
and imitated their Apparel, Speech, or other Behaviour, should, as a
felon, suffer death and loss of lands and goods, without the benefits
of a jury medietatis lingua?, sanctuary, or " clergy " ; but children
under fourteen were excepted; and Gypsies then in prison were,
within fourteen days from their release, to quit England and Wales,
or put themselves to some honest service, or exercise some lawful
trade. No natural born subjects, however, were to be compelled to
quit England or Wales, but only to leave their naughty ways and in
future to labour honestly.
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 17
Wraxall (History of France, ii. 32), referring to this Act of 1563,
states that in the reign of Elizabeth the Gypsies throughout England
were supposed to exceed ten thousand.
On February 19, 1564, William, the son of an Egyptian, was
baptized at Lanchester in the county of Durham (Chron. Miral.,
1841).
On December 29, 1565, Sir John Throckmorton wrote to his
brother Sir Nicholas, that having his house full of children, and
prospects of a further increase, he was forced to wander up and
down " like an Egyptian " in other men's houses, for want of one of
his own (Calendar of State Papers, vol. xii. p. 574).
On March 30, 1567, "Kobartt, ane Egiptic/ was baptized at
Bedford, and on April 26, 1567, at the same place, "John, ane
Egiptn," was baptized (Groome, In Gypsy Tents, Edinburgh, 1880).
In 1567, Thomas Harman, the author of A Caueat or Warening
for commen cvrsetors vvlgarely called Vagabones, when speaking of
" vagabones or lousey leuterars," says : —
" I hope their synne is now at the hyghest ; and that as short and as spedy
a redresse wylbe for these, as hath bene of late yeres for the wretched, wily,
wandering vagabonds calling and naming them selves'Egiptians, depely dissembling
and long hyding and couering their depe decetfull practises,— feding the rude com-
mon people, wholy addicted and geuen to nouelties, toyes, and new inventions, —
delyting them with the strangenes of the attyre of their heades, and practising
paulmistrie to such as would know their fortunes : . . . And now (thankes bee to
god), throughe wholsoine lawes, and the due execution thereof, all be dispersed,
banished, and the memory of them cleane extynguished ; that when they bee once
named here after, our Chyldren wyli muche meruell what kynd of people they
were (Early English Text Society, extra series, ix. p. 23).
Mr. Harman lived at Crayford, near Erith, in Kent.
On March 1, 1568, the Lords of the Council wrote to William
More, Esq., " for the suppression of rogues, vagabonds, and Egyp-
tians " in Surrey, who were to be " corrected sharply and restrained
firmly in accordance with the laws of the Eealm " (Hist. MSS. Record
Com., 7th Report, p. 620).
In 1569, the Privy Council caused a vigorous effort to be made
by the authorities in every county to capture, punish, and send to
their homes all vagrants, including Gypsies, throughout England.
The first search was made on the 24th of March ; and at Higham
Ferrars, Northamptonshire, the following " sturdey vacabownds " were
taken and whypped, and sent home with passports, viz. : —
" Roger Lane, to whom a three weeks' passport was given to go to Stafford.
Robert Bayly, and Alice his wife, 3 days to Gretton, in Rockingham Forest.
Edward Ffyllcocks, 4 days to Newport, Bucks.
Elizabeth Jurdayne, 2 days to Lowek, Northpton.
VOL. I. — NO. I. B
18 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
John Tomkyns, three weeks to Ludlow in Wales.
Valentyne Tyndale, on the 21st of June, had a passport to go to 'ye back streate (!)
in ye Cytie of London.' "
In the Hundred of Nesse of Borough, in the same county, Anne
Duckdale, Jone Hodgekyne, and Elizabeth Lee, were similarly treated
(State Papers— Domestic— Elizabeth, vol. li. No. 11, p. 334).
Many places omitted to make this first search or to send up the
returns, so in June the Privy Council decreed a further and stricter
search " to apprehend all vagabonds sturdy beggars commonly called
rogues or Egyptians, and also all idle vagrant persons having no
master nor no certainty how and whereby to live ; " and a similar
search was to be made every month until November or longer, as
they should see cause. There appear to have been fears of a rising
of the people, and warning is given '•' that all tales, news, spreading
of unlawful books, should be stayed and sharply punished." The
letters on this subject to the Lord-Lieutenant of the North and to
the Sheriff of Yorkshire are to be found in Strype's Annals of the
Reformation (vol. i. pt. ii. ch. liii. p. 295, and Appendix, p. 554,
No. xliii.). They enjoined " a strait search and good strong watch to
be begun on Sunday at night about 9 of the clock which shalbe the
10th of July," and "to continue the same al that night until four of
the clock in the afternoon of the next day."
Baines (History of Lancashire, ed. 1868, ch. xiii. p. 169) mentions
this search, and repeats Strype's statement that the result was the
apprehension of 13,000 masterless men.
On April 17, 1571, a Bill was drafted, but was not passed, that
" priests and other popisly affected " lurking " in serving mens or
mariners apparaile or otherwyse dysguised," were to be " denied
judged and punished as vachabounds wandering in this realme called
or calling theym selves Egiptians " (State Papers — Domestic — Eliza-
beth, vol. Ixxvii. No. 60, p. 410).
In 1577 the Privy Council issued an order, signed by the Lord
Chancellor Sir Nicolas Bacon and others, for the apprehension of
Eowland Gabriel [cf. Thomas Grabriells, 1559], Katherine Deago
[Spanish, Diego], and six others, who were tried on the 18th of April
at Aylesbury for feloniously keeping company with other vagabonds
vulgarly called and calling themselves Egyptians, and counterfeiting,
transferring, and altering themselves in dress, language, and be-
haviour. They were found guilty and hanged (The Annals of
England, Oxford, 1856, vol. ii. p. 287).
In 1578 Whetstone, in his Promos and Cassandra, i. 2, 6, in the
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 19
stage direction for the scene, says : " Two hucksters, one woman, one
like a Giptian, the rest poore rogues " ; and the scene contains the
following line —
" How now, Giptian ? all amort, knave, for want of company."
This I believe to be the first dramatic appearance of a Gipsy in
England.
On April 2, 1581, Margaret Bannister, daughter of William
Bannister, " going after the manner of roguish ^Egyptians," was bap-
tized at Loughborough, in Leicestershire (Burns, History of Parish
Registers, 1829).
In 1584 Eeginald Scot, younger son of Sir John Scot, of Kent,
published a quarto volume, called The Discouerie of Witchcraft, which
contained such " damnable opinions " concerning his beloved witches,
that King James the First ordered all obtainable copies to be burnt.
Scot (Book xi. ch. x.), says —
" The counterfeit ^Egyptians, which were indeed cousening vagabonds, practising
the art called sortilegium, had no small credit with the multitude ; howbeit their
diuinations were, as was their fast and loose."
And a few lines further he alludes to them as "these ^Egyptian
couseners " ; and again (Book xiii. ch. xxix.), he says —
" The ^Egyptians juggling, witchcraft, or sortilegie standeth much in fast or loose,
whereof though I have written somewhat generallie alreadie, yet hauing such
opportunitie I will here show some of their particular feats ; not treating of their
common tricks, which is so tedious, nor of their fortune-telling, which is so impious,
and yet both of them mere cousenages," etc.
This game of fast and loose was sometimes called pricking the
belt or girdle or garter, " in which a leathern belt is made up into a
number of intricate folds and placed edgewise on a table. One of the
folds is made to resemble the middle of the girdle, so that whoever
shall thrust a skewer into it would think he held it fast to the table,
whereas, when he has so done, the person with whom he plays may
take hold of both ends and draw it away. This appears to have been
a game much practised by the Gypsies in the time of Shakspere, and
is still in vogue " (Brand, Popular Antiquities, by Hazlitt, London,
1870,11 325).
Scot (op. cit., Book xiii. ch. xxix.) describes the trick of " fast and
loose " thus —
" Make one plain loose knot with two corner ends of a handkercher, and seem-
ing to draw the same very hard, hold fast the body of the said handkercher (neer to
the knot) with your right hand, pulling the contrary end with the left hand, which
is the corner of that which you hold. Then close up handsomely the knot which
will be yet somewhat loose, and pull the handkercher so with your right hand, as
20 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
the left hand end may be neer to the knot ; then it will seem a true and a firm
knot. And to make it appear more assuredly to be so indeed, let a stranger pull at
the end which you hold in your left hand, whilest you hold fast the other in your
right hand ; and, then holding the knot with your forefinger and thumb, and the
nether part of your handkercher with your other fingers as you hold a bridle when
you would with one hand slip up the knot and lengthen your reins. This done turn
your handkercher over the knot with the left hand, in doing whereof you must
sodainly slip out the end or corner, putting up the knot of your handkercher with
your forefinger and thumb as you would put up the foresaid knot of your bridle.
Then deliver the same (covered and wrapt in the midst of your handkercher) to one
to hold fast, and so after some words used and wagers layed, take the handkercher
and shake it, and it will be loose."
On April 22, 1586, the Justices at the Bury St. Edmunds Sessions
in Suffolk directed the building of a house of correction, as "yt
appeareth by dayly experience that the number of idle vagraunte
loyteringe, sturdy roags, masteries men, lewde and yll disposed per-
sons are exceedingly encreased and multiplied, committinge many
grevious and outeragious disorders and offences," and the persons to
be taken, under the Poor Laws and Vagrant Acts (14 Elizabeth, cap.
v. ; 18 Elizabeth, cap. iii., repealed by 35 Elizabeth, cap. vii.), included
" all idle persons goinge aboute usinge subtiltie and unlawf ull games
or plaie, all such as faynt themselves to have knowledge in phisiog-
nomye, palmestrie, or other abused sciences, all tellers of destinies,
deaths, or fortunes, and such lyke fantasticall imaginations " (Harl.
MSS., British Museum, No. 364 ; Hoyland, op. cit.y 83-86).
In 1591, Robert Hilton, of Denver, in Norfolk, was convicted of
felony " for callinge himself by the name of an Egiptian," but on
December 22 he was specially pardoned (Calendar of State Papers
— Domestic — Elizabeth, Docquets, vol. ccxl. p. 146).
On August 8, 1592, Simson, Arington, Fetherstone, Fenwicke,
and Lanckaster were hanged at Durham for being Egyptians (Parish
Register, St. Nicholas, Durham; Chron. Mirab. 1841 ; Burns, Parish
Registers; Blackwood's Magazine, 1817, vol. i. 618n. ; Roberts, Social
History of Southern Counties, p. 259).
Shakspere, who was bom 1564 and died 1616, mentions Gypsies
several times : first in Romeo and Juliet (1593), II., iv., 44, thus—
" Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen wench, . . Cleopatra, a gipsy."
Next in As You Like It (1600), v., iii., 16, where the two pages are to
sing—
" Both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse."
Again in Othello (1604), IIL, iv., 56, speaking of the all-important
handkerchief, Othello says —
EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 21
" That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give ;
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people :
She dying gave it me."
And finally, in Antony and Cleopatra (1606), I., i., 10, Philo says of
Antony —
" His captain's heart is become the bellows and the fan to cool a gipsy's lust."
In 1594 William Standley, Francis Brewerton, and John Weeks,
of London, yeomen, were sentenced to be hanged " because they had
consorted for a month with Egyptians " (Middlesex County Records,
vol. i. ; Athenaeum, September 11, 1886, p. 330). On August 28,
1594, they were pardoned "for counterfeiting themselves Egyptians,
contrarie to the Statute " (Gal. of State Papers — Domestic — Elizabeth,
Docquets, vol. cclxii. p. 551). A few years later, Joan Morgan was
sentenced to be hanged for a similar offence (Athenceum, September
11, 1886, p. 330).
On September 5, 1596, Sir Edward Hext (Sheriff in 1607), of
Netherham, in Somersetshire, Justice, wrote the following graphic
letter to the Lord Treasurer : —
" Experience teacheth that the execution of that godly law upon that wicked sect
of rogues, the Egyptians, had clean cut them off, but they, seeing the liberties of
others, do begin to spring up again, and there are in this country of them, but upon
the peril of their lives. I avow it they were never so dangerous as the wandering
soldiers or other stout rogues of England, for they went visibly in one company and
were not above thirty or forty of them in a shire, but of this sort of wandering
idle people there are three or four hundred in a shire, and though they go by two
or three in a company, yet all or the most part of a shire do meet either at fairs or
markets or in some alehouse, once a week. And in a great hay-house, in a remote
place, there did resort weekly forty, sometimes sixty, where they did roast all kind
of good meat. The inhabitants being wonderfully grieved by their rapines, made
complaint at our last Easter sessions, after my Lord Chief Justice's departure, pre-
cepts were made to the tithings adjoining for the apprehending of them. They
made answer, they were so strong that they durst not adventure of them ; where-
upon precepts were made to the constables of the shire but not apprehended, for
they have intelligence of all things intended against them. For there be of them
that will be present at every Assize, Sessions, and Assembly of Justices, and will
so clothe themselves for that time as any should deem him to be an honest husband-
man, so as nothing is spoken, done, or intended to be done, but they know it. I
know this to be true by the confession of some. And they grow the more danger-
ous in that they find they have bred that fear in Justices and other inferior officers,
that no man dares call them into question. And at a late sessions a tall man, a
man sturdy, and ancient traveller, was committed by a Justice and brought to the
sessions, and had judgment to be whipped. He, present at the bar, in the face and
hearing of the whole bench, swore a great oath, that if he were whipped it should be
the dearest whipping to some that ever was. It strake such a fear in him that com-
mitted him, as he prayed he might be deferred until the Assizes, where he was
22 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
delivered without any whipping or other harm, and the justice glad he had so paci-
fied his wrath. And they laugh in themselves at the lenity of the law, and the
timorousness of the executioners of it," etc. etc. (Strype, Annals, etc., vol. iv. p. 410).
This account of the size of the gangs is confirmed by a letter,
dated November 21, 1596, from the Privy Council to the Eecorder
of London, Mr. Topcliffe, and Sir William Skevington, the Lieutenant
of the Tower, and inventor of the torture popularly called the
Scavenger's Daughter, described in Tanner's Societas Europcea, p. 18.
The letter states that " of late certaine lewd persons to the number of
eighty gathered together, calling themselves Egipcians and wanderers
through divers countyes of the realme," and were " stayed in North-
amptonshire, whereupon we caused some of the ringleaders of them
to be brought up hither, and have committed them to prison." The
Council required the Eecorder " to examine the said lewd persons
upon suche artycles and informations as you shall receive from the
Lord Cheife Justice of Her Majesties Benche ; and yf you shall not
be hable by faire meanes to bringe them to reveale their lewd be-
havior, practyses, and ringleaders, then wee thinke it meet they shall
be removed to Brydewell and there be put to the manacles, whereby
they may be constrained to utter the truth in those matters con-
cerning their lewd behaviour that shall be fitt to be demanded of
them" (Privy Council Book; Jardine, The Use of Torture in the
Criminal Law of England previously to the Commomuealth, London
1837, p. 41, and Appendix, No. 43, p. 99).
The well-known Poor Law Act, 39 Elizabeth, cap. iv., which was
passed in 1596, contains, in the second section, a curious catalogue of
persons who were to be deemed rogues and vagabonds, including " all
tynkers wandering abroade . . . and all such p'sons, not being Fellons,
wandering and p'tending themselves to be Egipcyans or wandering in
the Habite, Forme, or Attyre of counterfayte Egipcians."
These are all the Acts which were specially directed against
Gypsies, and they remained in force, though not enforced, until
repealed in 1784 by the Act 23 George m., cap. li.
The Vagrant Act (17 George IL, cap. v.) declared that " all persons
pretending to be Gypsies, or wandering in the habit and form of
Egyptians, or pretending to have skill in palmistry, or pretending to
tell fortunes," were to be dealt with as rogues and vagabonds.
In 1822 that Act was repealed by 3 George iv., cap. xl., by section
3 of which " all persons pretending to be Gypsies or to tell fortunes,
or wandering abroad or lodging under tents or in carts " were to be
deemed rogues and vagabonds ; and by 3 George iv., cap. cxxvi,, sec.
EAKLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND. 23
121, any Gypsy encamping on the side of a turnpike road was liable to
a penalty of forty shillings. By 5 George iv., cap. Ixxxiii. sec. 4, any
one pretending to tell fortunes by palmistry, or otherwise to deceive ;
any one wandering abroad and lodging under any tent or in any cart,
not having any visible means of subsistence, and not giving a good
account of himself, is liable for the first offence to three months'
imprisonment.
Thus the fact of being a Gypsy gradually ceased to be an offence,
and the only Acts which now expressly mention Gypsies are the Act
just quoted against encamping on a turnpike road, and the Highway
Act, 1835 (3 and 4 William iv., cap. 1. sec. 72), which renders any
Gypsy pitching a tent or encamping upon a highway liable to be
fined forty shillings.
At the Devonshire Lent Assizes, 1598, Charles, Oliver, and
Bartholomew Baptist were committed for " wandering like Egyp-
tians " (Fraser's Magazine, 1877, January, etc.).
On January 30, 1602, the Constables of Eepton in Derbyshire
" gave the Gipsies xxd. to avoyde ye towne " (Christian World
Magazine, Dec. 1887).
On July 9, 1605, at Stokesley Quarter Sessions, Yorkshire, the
constables were called to account for permitting four women
" vagrantes more Egyptianorum " to stay in their vill of Sutton
and go forth unpunished, although previously warned by the chief
constable (North Riding Eec. Soc. vol. i. p. 11).
On October 4, 1605, at Eichmond Quarter Sessions, Yorkshire,
the grand jury presented Eobert Metcalf of Borrowby for receiving
into his dwelling-house on January 6th, five men and boys, being
Gypsies (existentes Egiptianos) and harbouring them for four days
and nights together to the great terror of his neighbours (North
Hiding Eec. Soc. vol. i. p. 21).
In 1613 the Earl of Huntingdon had to send forces into Leicester-
shire to compel the Egyptians to disband (Gal. of State Papers,
vol. Ixxii.).
About 1621 Ben Jonson published his Masque of the Gypsies
Metamorphosed.
On September 5, 1622, Lord Keeper Williams wrote to the
Justices of Berkshire, ordering them to put in force the laws for
suppressing vagrancy, etc., against the "whole troupe of rogues,
beggars, ./Egiptians and idle persons " who infested the county (Hist.
MSS. Com., 5th Eeport, p. 410).
About 1630 was published a ballad called "The Brave English
Jipsey " (Ballad Societies Roxburyhe Ballads, part vii. p. 329).
24 EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENGLAND.
In 1631 Margaret Finch was born at Sutton in Kent, and lived
to be 109. She was the first Queen of the Gypsy Colony at Lambeth.
In 1635 the constables of Leverton, six miles north of Boston, in
Lincolnshire, gave eighteen Gypsies one penny each (Thompson, Hist,
of Boston, Boston, 1856, p. 574).
In October 1647, the inhabitants of Plumbland in Cumberland,
complained that a Mr. Nicholson had broken open the doors of their
church and left the church door open, " whereby the church became
a lodging-place to a vagabond people going under the name of
Egyptians, and was in danger of being burnt by the fires made in it "
(Hist. MSS. Com., 6th Report, p. 215).
In 1649, at Bransby, in the North Eiding of Yorkshire, "divers
people in the habitts of jipsey," were apprehended. " Divers of them
did tell fortunes," and "they did some tyme speak in languages
wich none who were by could understand." Their leader's name was
Grey, and his followers were Elizabeth Grey, Richard and Barbara
Smith, and Francis and Elizabeth Parker. They owned a mare, had
several children, and had travelled through the counties of Hereford,
Stafford, Salop, Chester, and Lancaster, on their way to Northumber-
land (Surtees Soc., vol. xl).
About 1650 Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) says, in his Pleas of
the Crown (1778, i. 671): "I have not known these statutes much
put in execution, only about twenty years since at the Assizes at
Bury [St. Edmunds, in Suffolk] about thirteen were condemned and
executed for this offence, namely, for being Gypsies.
Thomas Pennant, in his History of WTiiteford and Holy well (1796,
p. 35) records a tradition that a similar fate overtook eighteen Welsh
Gypsies about the same time.
In 1657 a Gypsy king named Buckle was buried (Moffatt's Hist,
of Malmesbury, Tetbury, 1805, p. 71).
Henry Ellis (Original Letters Illustrative of English Hist., 1st
Series, vol. ii. p. 100) says, " Some others were executed at Stafford a
short time after the Restoration (1660)."
On August 11, 1668, the celebrated diarist Pepys says: "This
afternoon, my wife and Mercer and Deb. went with Pelling to see the
Gypsies at Lambeth and have their fortunes told, but what they did
I did not enquire."
In 1687 we find Herne and Boswell in use as Gypsy names
(Blackwood's Magazine, voL xcix.).
H. T. CROFTON.
A ROUMANIAN-GYPSY FOLK-TALE. 25
III.— A EOUMANIAN-GYPSY FOLK-TALE.
THE BAD MOTHER.
THIS story is No. 4 of the fourteen Koumanian-Gypsy folk-tales
published by Dr. Barbu Constantinescu in his Probe de Limba
si IMeratura Tsiganilor din Romania (Bucharest, 1878), in the
original Eomany, with a parallel Eoumanian translation. Being
ignorant of Eoumanian, I have made this literal translation directly
from the Eomany, with occasional reference to a Eoumanian-German
dictionary for such borrowed words as paloso, " sabre," and odaia,
" chamber." These are not numerous. The story is one of the best
Gypsy folk-tales that we have, and is also one of the best-known
among the Gypsies themselves. For two Eomany variants of it
have been already published — No. 5 in Dr. Friedrich Miiller's
Beitrdge zur Kenntniss der Eom-Sprache (Vienna, 1869), which was
got from a Hungarian Gypsy soldier; and No. 11 in Dr. Franz
Miklosich's Mdrchen und Lieder der Zigeuner der Bukowina (Vienna,
1874). These, being furnished with German and Latin interlinear
translations, are accessible to the general student of folk-tales.
Miiller's is much inferior to our version, from which it differs
widely; Miklosich's is in some points superior; but all three are
clearly derived from an older, more perfect original. Such an
original I cannot recognise in any of the numerous non-Gypsy
variants — five from Greece (Hahn, i. p. 176, 215 ; ii. 234, 279, 283) ;
one from the Harz (Ey, 154) ; one from Lithuania (Schleicher, 54);
two from Eussia (De Gubernatis, Zool. Mytli.i. 212; Ealston, 235),
and one from Norway (Dasent, "The Blue Belt," 178). Hahn's
variants come nearest to our Gypsy versions, but are one and all
decidedly inferior.
THERE was an emperor. He had been married ten years, but had
no children. And God granted that his empress conceived and bore a
son. Now that lad was heroic ; his like was nowhere found. And
the father lived half a year longer, and died. Then what is the lad
to do ? He took [lit. put himself] and departed in quest of heroic
achievements. And he travelled a long time, and took no heed, and
came into a great forest. In that forest there was a certain house,
and in that house twelve dragons. Then the lad went straight
26 A ROUMANIAN-GYPSY FOLK-TALE.
there, and saw that there was no one. He opened the door, and
went in, and saw a sabre on a nail, and took it, and planted himself
behind the door, and waited for the coming of the dragons. When
they came, they did not go in all at once, but went in one by one.
The lad waited with the sabre in his hand, and as each one went in,
he cut off his head, and flung it on the floor. So the lad killed eleven
dragons, and the youngest remained. And the lad went out to him,
and took and fought with him, and fought half a day. And the lad
vanquished the dragon, and took him, and put him in a jar, and
fastened him well.
And the lad went to walk, and came on another house, where
there was only a maiden. And when he saw the maiden, how did
she please his heart ! As for the maiden, the lad pleased her just
as well. And the maiden was yet more heroic than the lad. And
they formed a strong love [ai astardintf on ek drdyostea zurali].
And the lad told the maiden he had killed eleven dragons, and one
he had left alive, and put it in a jar. The maiden said, " You did
ill not to kill it, but now let it be." And the lad said to the maiden,
" I will go and fetch my mother, for she is alone at home." Then
the maiden said, " Fetch her, but you will regret it \kam6 kais tu\.
But go and fetch her, and dwell with her."
So the lad departed to fetch his mother. He took his mother,
and brought her into the house of the dragons whom he had slain,
and he said to his mother, " Go into every chamber, only into this
chamber do not go." His mother said, "I will not go, darling."
And the lad departed into the forest to hunt. And his mother went
into the chamber where he had told her not to go. And when she
opened the door, the dragon saw her, and said to her, " Empress, give
me a little water, and I will do you much good." She went and
gave him water, and he said to her, " Dost love me ? then will I
take thee, and thou shalt be mine empress." " I love thee," she said.
Then the dragon said to her, "What will you do, to escape from
your son, that we may be left to ourselves. Make yourself ill [i.e.
pretend to be ill — Te kerfa tu nasfali — just as in the Anglo-Eomany],
and say you have seen a dream, that he must bring you a suckling
of the sow in the other world ; that if he does not bring it you, you
will die ; but if he bring it you, say that you will recover." Then
she went into the house, and tied up her head, and made herself ill.
And when the lad came home, and saw her with her head tied up,
he asked her, " What 's the matter, mother ? " She said, " I am ill,
THE BAD MOTHER. 27
darling. I shall die. But I saw a dream, to eat a suckling from the
sow in the other world." Then the lad began to cry, for his mother
will die. And he took and departed. Then he went to his sweet-
heart, and told her, " Maiden, my mother will die. And she has
seen a dream, that I must bring her a porker from the other world."
The maiden said, " Go, and be prudent. \Gfta ai 'te avfe gogheauer].
And when you return, come to me. Take my horse with the twelve
wings, and mind the sow doesn't seize you, else she '11 eat both you
and the horse." So the lad took her horse and departed. He arrived
there ; and when the sun was midway in its course, he went to the
little pigs, and took one, and fled. Then the sow heard him, and
after him she came to seize him in her mouth. And at the very
verge, just as he was leaping out, the sow bit off half his horse's
tail. So the lad went to the maiden. And the maiden came out,
and took the little pig, and hid it, and put another in its stead.
Then he went home to his mother, and gave her the little pig, and
she dressed it and ate, and said that she was well.
Three or four days later she made herself ill again, as the dragon
had shown her. When the lad came, he asked her, "What's the
matter now, mother?" "I am ill again, darling. I have seen a
dream that you must bring me an apple from the golden apple-tree
in the other world." So the lad took and departed to the maiden ;
and when the maiden saw him so troubled, she asked him, " What 's
the matter, lad?" " What's the matter! my mother is ill again.
And she has seen a dream that I am to bring her an apple from
the apple-tree in the other world." Then the maiden knew that
his mother was walking to eat his head [i.e. compassing his death
— phirdas te hal Usko sorrf] ; and she said to the lad, " Take my horse
and go, but be careful the apple-tree does not seize you there. When
you return, come to me." And the lad took and departed, and
came to the verge of the earth. And he let himself in, and went to
the apple-tree at midday when the apples were resting. And he
took an apple, and ran away. Then the leaves perceived it, and
began to rustle [? — tsipiri], and the apple-tree took itself after him to
lay its hand on him, and kill him. And the lad came out from the
verge, and arrived in our world, and went to the maiden. Then
the maiden took the apple, stole it from him, and hid it, and put
another in its stead. And the lad stayed a little longer with her,
and departed to his mother. Then his mother, when she saw him,
asked him, " Have you brought it, darling ? " "I Ve brought it,
28 A ROUMANIAN-GYPSY FOLK-TALE.
mother." So she took the apple, and ate, and said there was nothing
more the matter with her.
In a week's time the dragon told her to make herself ill again,
and to ask for water from the great mountains. So she made herself
ill. When the lad saw her ill, he began to weep, and said, " My
mother will die. God ! she 's always ill " [nierto nasfa6J}. Then he
went to her, and asked her, " What 's the matter, mother ? " "I
shall die, darling. But I shall recover if you will bring me water from
the great mountains. Then the lad tarried no longer. He went to
the maiden, and said to her, " My mother is ill again. And she has
seen a dream that I must fetch her water from the great mountains."
The maiden said, " Go, lad, but I fear the marshes will catch you,
and the mountains there, and will kill you. But do you take my
horse with twenty-and-four wings ; and, when you get there, wait
afar off till midday, for at midday the mountains and the marshes
set themselves at table, and eat. And do you go then with the
pitcher, and draw water quickly and escape." Then the lad took
the pitcher, and departed thither to the mountains, and waited till
the sun had reached the middle of his course [ai besld gi Jcand ailo o
Jcham and6 maskdr]. And he went and drew water, and fled. And
the marshes and the mountains saw him, and took themselves after
him : and they could not catch him. And the lad came to the
maiden. Then the maiden went and took the pitcher with the
water, and put another in its stead without his knowing it. And
the lad arose and went home, and gave water to his mother, and
she recovered.
Then the lad departed into the forest to hunt. His mother went
to the dragon, and told him, " He has brought me the water. What
am I to do to him now ? " " What are you to do ? Why, take and
play cards with him. You must say, ' For a wager, as I used to play
with your father.' " So the lad came home, and found his mother
merry [vedselo] : it pleased him well. And she said to him at table,
as they were eating, " Darling, when your father was living, what did
we do ? When we had eaten and risen up, we took and played cards
for a wager." Then the lad, " If you like, play with me, mother." So
they took and played cards, and his mother beat him ; and she took
silken cords, and bound his two hands so tightly that the cord went
into his hands. And the lad began to weep, and said to his mother,
" Mother, release me or I die." She said, " That was just what I was
wanting to do to you." And she called the dragon, "Come forth,
THE BAD MOTHER. 29
dragon, and come and kill him." Then the dragon came forth, and
took him, and cut him in pieces, and put him in the saddle-bags, and
placed him on his horse, and let him go, and said to the horse, " Carry
him, horse, dead [thither], whence thou didst carry him alive." And
the horse hurried to the lad's sweetheart, and went straight to her
there. Then when the maiden saw him, she began to weep. And
she took him, and put piece to piece ; when one was missing, she cut
the porker, and supplied flesh from the porker. So she put all the
pieces of him in their place. And she took the water, and poured it on
him, and he became whole. And she squeezed the apple in his mouth,
and brought him to life. So when the lad arose, he went home to his
mother, and drove a stake into the earth, and placed both her and
the dragon on one pyre [? — rogqfina]. And he set it alight, and they
were consumed. And he departed thence, and took the maiden, and
made a marriage, and kept up the marriage three months day and
night ; and I came away and told the story.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
IV.— STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES IN THE
GEEMAN EMPIEE.
AS I had last year the intention of visiting the Gypsies in Germany,
in order to study their dialects — a field in which there is still
(as every savant knows) a great deal of work to be done — I addressed
myself to the Imperial- Austrian and Eoyal-Hungarian Embassy in
Berlin for information concerning the number and location of the
Gypsies living in the German Empire. This high authority elicited
from the Eoyal Prussian Government extensive data respecting the
Gypsy colonies, and also, though in a less degree, respecting the
nomadic tribes of Gypsies. These facts regarding the present condi-
tion of the Gypsies, not only in Prussia, but throughout the whole
Empire, have only been collected during recent years, and they can
be thoroughly relied upon. To these data I think I ought to add the
observations which I myself had the opportunity of making in the
course of my journey.
30 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE.
PRUSSIA.
Residing permanently in Prussia.
Provinces. Places.
Families.
Heads.
I.
Konigsberg, . 10
24
98
2.
Gumbinen, . 28
69
310
3.
Danzig, .
6
30
4.
Marienwerder, 7
26
136
5.
Potsdam, . 3
9
38
6.
Frankfurt a. d. 0.,
10
39
7.
Coeslin, .
19
68
8.
Bromberg,
13
60
9.
Breslau, . ' 1
2
6
10.
11.
Oppeln, . ; 2
Merseburg, . — ?
2
10
7
28
12.
Erfurt, . . i 1
1
8
13.
Schleswig, . 2
5
19
14.
Liineburg, . | 1
4
9
15.
Minden, . 5
15
74
16.
Arnsberg, . : 3
24
108
17.
Cassel, . . 1
1
10
18.
Wiesbaden, . 1
1
6
Total,
241
1054
With regard to the wandering Gypsies there is no authentic
information. As far as I can gather from newspapers, private
accounts, and experiences gained during travels, nomadic tribes of
Gypsies are still frequently met with in the western parts of Prussia
(for example, in Westphalia and Brandenburg) ; in the northern
parts (as, for example, Schleswig) only rarely. With regard to the
residence of Gypsies as given in the foregoing table, it must not be
assumed that they remain the whole year in the place officially
assigned to them. The occupations of most of them necessitate their
absenting themselves for a shorter or longer period.
Their occupations are, according to official information, as
follows : —
The chiefs of families in the provinces of Konigsberg and
Gumbinen are mostly without a fixed occupation and livelihood:
they are partly horse-dealers, but rarely follow any other distinct
calling. In the provinces of Danzig, Marienwerder, Potsdam,
Frankfurt, Coeslin, Bromberg, Breslau, Oppeln, Merseburg, Erfurt,
the Gypsies are mostly musicians and puppet showmen; while
in Frankfurt and Coeslin they have shooting-galleries. In the
other provinces they mostly lead a wandering life. Eegarding
the condition of the Gypsy colonies in Prussia, I can only speak
STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 31
to what I have witnessed myself ; — and this refers to the colonies
in Klein-Eekeitschen (Prov. Gumbinen), Berleburg, and Sasmanns-
hausen (Prov. Arnsberg). In the first-named place I found very
few Gypsies, the greater number having gone to the fair of Tilsit.
The place itself consists of small houses scattered about the sandy
plain. The cottages, such as they were, in which I found the Gypsies
located, were more like caves. The people did not live exclusively by
themselves, for there were also a few German men and women
among them. All gave one the impression of the greatest squalor
and neglect ; their appearance was mean, and quarrels were frequent.
When I left them I could hear for a long time after the noise of their
wrangling ; the sober ones probably fighting with the drunk ones
over the money received from me.
The German spoken by them is like that of the country people in
the neighbourhood, a low German dialect. Their own language they
speak very fluently, and with comparative purity.1
In Berleburg I have been told that the Gypsies dwell at the end
of the little town. I did not visit them, as in questioning the
Gypsy children in the school there I gained the conviction that the
Gypsies of that colony no longer spoke their language. They are
entirely Germanised, arid only use some Eomany words in intercourse
with their wandering comrades.
In Sasmannshausen the Gypsy colony offered a wholly different
picture from that in Klein-Rekeitscheu. Entirely separated from
those who were not Gypsies, they live in small clean cottages. They
are industrious workmen, on the railroads, and equally active when-
ever a livelihood offers itself. They are not easily induced to leave
the place ; they send their children to school ; and. on the whole,
they give one the impression of kind and peaceful people. The Ger-
man population does not object to mix with them. This colony was
founded by a Prince Wittgenstein, and belongs to the few where the
intention of the founders has been successful. The children do not
speak their mother tongue at all;2 the younger adults under-
stand it only tolerably, but one old Gypsy woman still knows it
perfectly. They said that they could only imperfectly make them-
selves understood in the language of their people with their wander-
ing comrades. " Sie utzen uns weil wir nichts mehr konne " (" They
laugh at us for not knowing any more "), said a Gypsy woman to me.
1 I have given a sketch of the same in the xvui. vol. of the Zeitschrift fur Volkcr-Psycho-
logie und Sprachwissenschaft, pp. 82-93.
2 The results of my observations will appear in the above-mentioned periodical in the
course of the year.
32 STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE.
What particularly struck me was that when the people spoke German
they used the Swabian accent, which is not a peculiarity of the
dialect of the German population of this part.
BAVARIA. — As far as known, there are no Gypsy colonies here.
The police authorities have the strictest orders not to permit Gypsy
bands to enter Bavaria, or, if found, to send them away.
SAXONY. — By the last census there were no Gypsies found here.
Foreign Gypsies are by official orders interdicted from entering the
country ; licences to travel are never granted to them, and should
any enter they are expelled.
BADEN. — In two communities in the province of Eberbach small
colonies of Gypsies are found. In the year 1882 the colonies
amounted to 24 persons, but they are diminishing. They are trades-
men, pedlars, and musicians; they wander incessantly into the
neighbouring countries, so that they very seldom appear in their own
community. Numerous bands of Gypsies wander about the country,
but as the police orders have lately been much stricter, they are
not so frequent as formerly.
OLDENBURG. — Here there are neither Gypsy colonies, nor any
regular migrations of Gypsies.
The same is also the case in HESSE and MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN.
SAXE-WEIMAR. — There were formerly two resident Gypsy families
in the townships of Ilmenau and Langsfeld, but their descendants
have become entirely Germanised. Periodic migrations of Gypsies
do not appear to occur.
MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ. — No colonies. During recent decades
few Gypsies on their migrations have passed through the country.
BRUNSWICK. — At a Commission of Inquiry in 1886 there were
altogether found 85 Gypsies, of whom, however, only 17 were subjects
of Brunswick, the remainder not even belonging to Germany. Only
two families are settled, and these in two different districts. These
two families now number 1 1 persons, who gain their living mostly by
wandering about. Large bands of wandering Gypsies appear during
the season of fairs, from July to December, in the larger towns ; but
this also may come to an end, as lately severe orders have been
passed against wandering Gypsies.
MEININGEN, ALTENBURG, and SAXE-COBOURG-GOTHA. — There are
no colonies ; wandering bands sometimes pass through.
ANHALT. — Gypsies are prohibited from entering the country.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOUTH-AUSTRIAN-ROM AN KS. 33
SCHWARZBURG - SONDERSHAUSEN, SdlWARZBURG - RUDOLSTADT.—
Migrations of Gypsies are at present frequent.
WALDECK. — There were formerly small colonies : the descendants
of those Gypsies live in extremely small numbers, separately. In
August, large bands of wandering Gypsies come to the fair of Arolsen.
KEUSS JUNGERE LINIE, SciiAUMBURG-LiPPE, LiPPE. — Wandering
Gypsies rarely set foot in these countries.
BREMEN. — In the town of Bremen no Gypsies have been seen for
several years. In the country they appear sometimes; but now,
however, more rarely.
HAMBURG. — Only passing bands show themselves whilst crossing
the State.
ALSACE-LORRAINE. — Owing to the strict vigilance of the authori-
ties, wandering bands of Gypsies are seldom seen. Yet there are in
this province, as investigations in 1885 showed, eleven families of
resident Gypsies, consisting of 53 persons. Besides these, there are
also seventy-six families, who, with the exception of a few women,
are not of the race of Gypsies. These people belong to nine town-
ships, and number 332 souls. In Chateau-Salins they live united,
and form a small colony of 47 persons. It is only in winter that
they are found all living together in this dwelling.1
KUDOLF VON SOWA.
V.— ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOUTH-AUSTRIAN-EOMANES.
I. Scene from Othello (Act in. Scene 4).
OTHELLO— DESDEMONA.
Oth. I have a salt and sullen rheum Oth, Mande hi jek sorelo tshil ke me
offends me ; lend me thy handkerchief. duk&a ; pash mande tro nak&keri.
Des. Here, my lord. Des. Aki, mro rai.
Oth. That which I gave you. Oth. Akowa me tut dijum.
Des. I have it not about me. Des. Me na hiles manse.
Oth. Not? Oth. Nane?
DCS. No indeed, my lord. Des. Nane, harodeve"!, mro rai.
Oth. That is a fault : that handker- Oth. Kowa hi rnidshto : Akowa
1 Puchmajer also mentions, in the preface to his Romani Cib (Prague, 1821), that in
Bohemia there are people not Gypsies, called Parne (Whites). These have joined the Gypsies,
who, in distinction to them, call themselves Kale (Blacks) ; they marry into Gypsy families,
and share their wandering way of life. Here in Moravia, and in Hungarian Slavonic, this is
not, so far as I know, the case, nor are these designations in use.
VOL. I. — NO. I. 0
34
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOUTH- AUSTRIAN -ROMANES.
chief did an Egyptian1 to my mother
give ; she was a charmer, and could
almost read the thoughts of people ; she
told her, while she kept it, 'twould
make her amiable, and subdue my
father entirely to her love ; but if she
lost it, or made a gift of it, my father's
eye should hold her loathly, and his
spirit should hunt after new fancies :
she, dying, gave it me ; and bid me,
when my fate would have me wive, to
give it her. I did so : and take heed
oft, make it a darling like your precious
eye ; to lose or give 't away, were such
perdition, as nothing else could match.
Des. Is it possible ?
Oth. 'Tis true ; there 's magic in the
web of it ; a sibyl, that had number'd
in the world the sun to make two
hundred compasses, in her prophetic
fury sew'd the work : the worms were
hallow'd that did breed the silk ; and it
was dyed in mummy, which the skilful
conserv'd of maidens' hearts.
Des. Indeed ! is 't true ?
Oth. Most veritable ; therefore look
to 't well.
Des. Then would to heaven that I
had never seen it.
nakeskeri jeki Rumni l dejas mrahi deja;
jol his jeki tshowajahni, te shasti jol
priservaf o manusheskeri rikerpen ; jol
pendjas glan la tshin job rikerles, jol
veles hako tshiro kamel pash mro dad
te-k6keres rani leskero dsi ; auwa ganna
jol naschjed les, te jol de"les an o dawa-
pen, dala mro dad dikkeles jol ssar
prassapen ; te job rodjas pal newo Rama-
pen : di job hil les merapengre, job
dijas mander, te pendjas, ganna o gowa
man deles jeki pireni, te deles later an o
dawapen : aduj manghe gherdum : le
tut garda, rackel les pash tudder ssir o
guntsh, har tiri guntshi jak ; te nash-
jevaf, gherles mekles, te dawa les pre
vaver veles jek dosh, perdal har hako
dosh.
Des. Aromali?
Oth. But tshasheperi ; jek tshowa-
handpen atshela andri o leskero tann ;
jeki turkopaskeri, ke dikias o kam te
gheraf duivarshel perdo pes trom trujal
o berz ano lakri glanduno rakerpengheri
diviopen sidjum agowa : o pareskoro
ghermi jol has tshohod<5, i shukeraker-
pengheri rani gatterdjas len ano, tarni
raneskeri, gheradum mulendero dsi,
ssarde o hadawaskeri manushi.
Des. Aromali ! tshatshenes ?
Oth. But tshatshepen : doleske dik o
glan tut, de te rakkel les tshatsh6.
Des. Dave, o bolldppen kameles ke
me ne les kekwar dikiom.
II. Psalm CL.
1. Sharen tume u Rai. Sharen tume
u Rai an u leste schwendo ker : sharen
tume les an o buchloppenleskeri sor.
2. Sharen tumen les pre leskero
sorelo gherappen : sharen tume pre
leskero but baroppen.
3. Sharen tume les sar i godli o
sapiengheskeri portamaskeri : sharen
tume les sar o gatsheni te zerdapangheri
4. Sharen tume les sar o tambuk te
kellappen : sharen tume les sar o zerda-
pangheri te kangripashemaskeri.
5. Sharen tume les ap o krisko godli
tambuk : sharen tume les ap o krisko
godlidir tarnbiik.
6. Gai, hako gowa ke lader hi o tucho
share u Rai. Sharen tume u Rai.
J. PlNCHERLE.
pashemdskeri.
NOTE.— It is scarcely necessary to remind English readers that the spelling of the
above is based upon the principles of German orthoepy.
1 Mr. Pincherle remarks: "I deliberately interpret and accordingly translate 'an
Egyptian ' as 'a Gypsy woman' (Rumni)." And it is very evident that Shakespeare was
here speaking of a Gypsy, whom he designated by the full form of the word, very generally
used in his day. Again, " the Egyptian thief " of Twelfth Night (v. 1) is almost certainly
a "Gypsy thief" ; and the casual reference here made throws an interesting side-light on
the ways of English Gypsies in the sixteenth century. In Antony and Cleopatra (iv. 10),
Shakespeare uses " Gypsy " as synonymous with "Egyptian," although there introduced as
an equivoque.
THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA. 35
VI.— THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
IN writing about the Gypsies of the Pyrenean countries,1 the late
Dr. Victor de Eochas distinguishes between those inhabiting
the Basque Provinces and their congeners in Catalonia. He draws
the line of demarcation from north to south, across the Pyrenees,
and not along them, as one would be apt to expect. The Gypsy of
Mauleon, French by nationality, finds his brother in Biscaya or
Navarre : the French Gypsy of Koussillon is at home in Barcelona —
not Bayonne. Though serving in the French army, and voting and
paying taxes as Frenchmen, the French Gypsies of the western and
eastern Pyrenees look southward into Spain, not across to each other,
for their fellow-countrymen. " The speech of the Gypsies of the
Basses-Pyrene'es," says De Eochas, " is Basque ; the most of the
women speaking no other language, and so it is also with those
middle-aged men who have not learned French, either in the army or
in prison." " Our Gypsies [he is speaking now as a Eoussillonnais]
are the brothers of those of Catalonia, from whom they have only
been separated by the conquest of Eoussillon and La Cerdagne, under
Louis XIIL Their usual language is Catalan, still the popular speech
of the department of the Pyrene"es-0rientales.2 They are exactly like
the Gypsies of the Puerto, San-Antonio, at Barcelona and Lerida."
Indeed, the Gypsies of French-Catalonia are even yet spoken of as
" Gitanos " by their non-Gypsy neighbours, who are still practically
Catalans, although it is more than two centuries since the Treaty of
the Pyrenees brought their province within the limits of France. In
this historical fact, that Eoussillon was once a part of Catalonia, lies
the explanation of the identity, in blood and dialect, of the Eoussillon
Gypsies with those of modern Catalonia. And probably a similar
reason accounts for the Basque nationality of the Gypsies on either
side of the Western Pyrenees. However, it is not with them but with
the Catalan family that we have here to do.3
Dr. De Eochas puts " Les Gitanos du Eoussillon et d'Espagne " at
the head of his chapter, but it is apparent that his experiences in this
respect do not take in any part of Spain outside of Catalonia. On
1 Les Farias de France et d'Espagne, Paris, 1876, pp. 215-306.
2 This department answers precisely to the old province of Roussillon, together with the
French portion of Cerdafia.
3 Although De Rochas (op. cit., p. 253) speaks slightingly of the Basque dialect of
Romanes, it nevertheless forms quite as interesting a study as that of Catalonia, to judge
from the list of words given by Michel and Baudrimont. Many of these words are identical
with those used by the Catalan (.Jypsies. Occasionally, the two dialects differ in an interest-
ing way.
36 THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
the other hand, his Catalan Gypsies are not restricted on the north
to the limits of that small corner of Catalonia now known as the
French department of the Pyrtntcs-Orientales. For they are found,
he tells us, in Narbonne, Beziers, and Valence, to the north-east ; and
again, on the north-west, in Toulouse and Bordeaux : " all in com-
munication with each other, all — with some honourable exceptions —
unanimous in taking advantage of the open dealing of those they do
business with, or of the credulity of ignorant minds." Why this
should be so — why the Gypsies of Toulouse, for example, should
speak Catalan instead of Languedocienne, and should even receive
visits from their kinsmen in north-eastern Spain — is not very clear.
Perhaps it is that their connection dates back to the time when
Catalonia was a country, not a province, and when its influence
reached even beyond its most northern limits. That those Toulouse
Gypsies have, at one time or another, moved into France from the
Eastern Pyrenees, is at any rate evident from their speech.
As regards the earliest mention of Gypsies in Spain, M. Bataillard,1
while admitting the possibility, and even the probability, of previous
arrivals, goes on to say that " the first object of historical research
ought to be the immigration of Gypsies into the Peninsula during the
fifteenth century ; because ... it is almost certain that the bulk of
the Peninsular Gypsies are descended from the immigrants of that
century." " It would be important, in any case," he remarks, a little
later, " to collect all the documents that may yet remain relating to
the first appearance of Gypsies in Spain. For my part, I only know
of one such, and it has already been cited by me in my memoir of
1844.2 It records the arrival in Barcelona, on llth July 1447, of
a ' multitude of Egyptians ' [multitud de Egipcios], who, says the
chronicler, spread themselves from thence over Spain." Eeferring to
this event, Dr. De Rochas says that, on the date just mentioned,
" there entered into Barcelona a troop [of Gypsies] commanded by
chiefs, who assumed the titles of duke and count, and who practised
the same impostures as in France, whence they probably came."
There seems no good reason for assuming that they did enter Spain
from France; because not only were they spoken of in 1447 as
Egyptians; and again, in a Castilian edict of 1499 as "Egyptians and
foreign tinkers" [Egiptianos y calderos extrangeros], but, thirteen years
later, they have no less than three different nationalities assigned to
them, not one of which is the French.
1 Les Gitanos d'Espagne, etc., Lisbon, 1884.
2 De V Apparition des Bohemiens en Europe, Paris, 1844,
THE GYPSIKS OF CATALONIA. 37
Like the record of 1447, this last reference relates distinctly to
Caledonian Gypsies ; for it is in the " Constitution of Catalonia " that
they are next mentioned — and in the year 1512. Here they are
spoken of as " Bohemians and fools [sots],1 styled Bohemians, Greeks,
and Egyptians." Only the last of these names is used at the present
day in the Peninsula : being Egipcioac or Jfyjyptoac, among the
Basques, and Gitano in other parts of Spain and in French Catalonia.
" Bohemian," apparently, is now restricted to France ; and " Greek "
is nowhere a modern equivalent of " Gypsy." Yet some of those
Catalonian Gypsies of 1512 may well have come from Greece.
Borrow tells us (The Zincali, 1841, ii. 110-11), in the words of a
sixteenth century Spaniard, that "a learned person, in the year 1540,"
spoke to certain Spanish Gypsies " in the vulgar Greek, such as is
used at present in the Morea and Archipelago," and, adds this Spanish
writer, " some understood it, others did not." " The fact is remarkable,
but not very surprising," comments M. Bataillard (Les Gfitanos, p. 19,
note), since there were, among those of 1512, "some Gypsies who
alleged they were Greeks, and who without doubt came from Greece,
or some neighbouring country." And he also refers to the fact that
Professor Miklosich has found "Greek, Slav, and Roumanian"
elements in the Pyrenean-Gypsy dialects.
Whatever their history since 1512, the Catalonian Gypsies are
to-day in a comparatively flourishing condition. Their physical
appearance betokens good nourishment and an easy life, while several
of them are strikingly handsome. " I have never met a single de-
formed Gypsy," says De Rochas ; " whether it is that the race pro-
duces none, or because the sickly and feeble succumb in infancy to
the rigour of a life that serves to harden those of good constitutions.
In fact, the good health of the Gypsies is proverbial ; their robust
constitutions withstand all excesses and exposure. If there is no
race which produces more children, there is certainly none which
retains a greater number of old people.2 They are well set-up, and
above the average size, with very brown skins, usually of the colour
of leather, but sometimes deeper — never that of a negro : sometimes
also of a clear bistre, and even white, doubtless owing to intermixture.
But their features are never those of the negro, nor have they his
1 In Scotland the earlier statutes associate with. Gypsies "stich as make themselves
fools," " fancied fools," and "professed pleasants." In other European countries, also, they
have been known as mountebanks and jugglers. It is evident that those quasi-Bohemian
sots of Catalonia were also, like their compeers elsewhere, professional "clowns," and
" merry-andrews."
2 These statements form a curious contrast to Dr. Paspati's remarks on the Turkish
Gypsies, ante, p. 3.
38 THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
crisp hair, Eather do they resemble the yellow nice, by reason of
their big cheek-bones, their narrow foreheads, and their long, coarse,
jet-black hair. One is inclined to suspect an admixture of Dravidian
blood. This, however, is not the prevailing type. The most of them
are not easily distinguished from the natives except by their com-
plexion. But the observer can recognise them by other less striking
though equally characteristic traits : by the brilliancy of their black,
searching eyes, the beauty of their teeth, the symmetry of their
figures." Dr. De Eochas had, of course, an intimate knowledge of
the Eoussillon Gypsies ; but a casual acquaintanceship with the
same people leads me to remark that I have the memory of eyes of a
fine hazel (such as I have seen in some English and Greek Gypsies),
instead of the deep black he speaks of ; and further, that the Mon-
golian type was never suggested to me by a Catalonian Gypsy,
although it was by one of a company of Hungarian "Tzigane"
musicians. Otherwise, my impressions are of some very swarthy
faces ; others of a rich clear brown — clear enough to show the blood
mantling in the cheeks; while the complexion of others was of a
delicate sallow. One of this last type, a young fellow of nineteen
or twenty, was exceedingly handsome, and with certainly most
exquisite teeth. His own brother, a man of about thirty, had the
good-natured, well-fed, comely appearance so often seen among
the people of that region, Gypsy and Gentile. He was of the
brown-skinned type, and both brothers bore witness to the fore-
going statements as to the physical advantages, and also as to the
fecundity of the race, since they belonged to a family of nine, and
their father was one of ten.
So recently as 1832 the costume of the Catalonian Gypsies, as
described by the author of the Historia de los Gitdnos,1 was of the
same picturesque style as that of the more southern Gitanos as
portrayed by Burgess and other modern artists. But De Eochas,
writing in 1876, pictures them to us thus: "The costume of the
Eoussillon Gypsy men invariably consists of a loose blouse of coarse
blue cloth, falling to the knees, an otter-skin cap or a felt hat." To
this may be added the equally invariable and prosaic trousers, while
their feet are usually shod with the espardenas of the province. De
Eochas adds that " the women wear the costume of the people, but
particularly affect red." From personal experience I can add the
memory of a young Gypsy girl in a country town, who wore a
gown of a very gorgeous appearance, with broad stripes of faded
1 Borrow's Zincali, 1841, vol. i. pp. 311, 312.
THE GYl'SIKS OF CATALONIA. 39
pink, alternated with white, running perpendicularly through it.
Also of two others in Perpignan, of a much more sedate and re-
spectable order, whose dresses were of a flowered print pattern,
though quiet in tone. De Eochas further says that well-to-do
Gypsies, though dressed like other citizens, still show their inborn
taste for gay colours. On the whole, however, it may be said that
the Gypsies of Catalonia are attired so much in the same fashion
as the Gaujoes, that what attracts the eye to them is, in ninety-
nine cases out of a hundred, not any peculiarity in the shape or
colour of their dress, but the unmistakable hue of their tawny faces.
These Catalan Gypsies are very thoroughbred, and seldom marry
outside their caste. But, like their brethren everywhere, they are
forgetting their mother tongue. Unless when speaking to the old
people, their language is Catalan. (Frequently, of course, in speaking
with non-Gypsies, they employ Castilian or French, according to the
side of the Pyrenees to which they belong.) At fairs, or in any
horse-dealing or other business matter, they will introduce much
Romanes into their talk, so that the yadje present may not under-
stand them. But the reason that a middle-aged Roussillon Gypsy
gave me for the neglect of their own tongue was simply that the
younger members did not know enough of it for a continuous con-
versation. They speak of their language as Kcdo, but of course they
also use the ordinary term, which I have heard them pronounce
variously Romani, Rtimani, Romanes, Romanes, and Rdmanditch.
Rom, or Rdm, of course signifies a Gypsy: otherwise Romanishel,
Romnishel, or Romnitchel : also Kal6 J and Chavo. But although Horn
is here, as everywhere, equivalent to " Gypsy " (and to " husband "),
yet here, as Dr. Paspati tells us is the case in Turkey, the word is
sometimes inaccurately applied to others. One young Catalan Gypsy,
who, however, possessed only a fragmentary knowledge of the
language, assured me that " a man " was either rom or gadjo, indiffer-
ently ; and another enthusiastically informed me that a certain man
(not a bit of a Gypsy, but a most accomplished scamp) was a latM
rom, meaning thereby a brave homme. So that when De Rochas
defined Rom as also signifying " man," he had doubtless been
influenced by similar experiences ; although he elsewhere restricts It
to its proper signification of " Gypsy " and " husband." But probably
one might say of the Catalonian Romane, as Dr. Paspati says of their
brethren in Turkey, that although they sometimes " extend the
1 Besides being employed as above, and in the ordinary way as the adjective "black/
Kal6 also denotes "coffee."
40 THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
designation of rom to strangers," yet " the primitive signification of
word is retained with a remarkable tenacity."
The Gypsy population of Eoussillon is estimated at about 300
persons, says De Eochas, while the Beziers colony numbers about
100, and that of Toulouse sixty. In Narbonne there are only two or
three families. Thus, including those of Bordeaux and Valence
(whose numbers he does not give, but who are not likely numerous),
we may assume the total number of Catalan Gypsies living north of
the Pyrenees to be 500 or 600. Although the modern province of
Catalonia, lying wholly in Spain, has always constituted nearly the
whole of " Catalonia," De Eochas says nothing as to the size of its
Gypsy population. The reason of this is no doubt that his experience
were chiefly of French Catalonia. Nor can the present writer say
anything noteworthy about those of Spanish Catalonia, since he only
saw a few of them in the town of Gerona, and occasional stragglers
on the French side of the borders.
Like Paspati, De Eochas divides his Eoussillon Gypsies into two
classes — Sedentary and Nomadic ; " those who have a fixed domicile
in towns, and those who go about in waggons, with their families,
from village to village and from fair to fair." The former, he says,
are the most numerous. In spite, however, of this division into two
separate groups, he states in another place, when speaking of the
Toulouse colony, that " like their brothers of Eoussillon, they frequent
all the fairs within a radius of fifty leagues"; while the few families
in Beziers " are still half-nomadic." These statements are not quite
consistent. But the fact seems to be that no such line of demarca-
tion can be drawn. If we except the families of wealthy educated
Gypsies (of which there are examples in Perpignan, Beziers, Toulouse,
and Lerida), and also those who are unfit to travel by reason of age
or infirmity, it may be affirmed with some certainty that all those
town-dwellers lead the nomadic life, in some cases without a break,
during the greater part of the year. And that, on the other hand,
the most — if not all — of them are house-dwellers during the incle-
ment weather of winter. Indeed, the non-Gypsy nomads would
appear to be more incessantly nomadic than the Gypsies. During a
winter residence of some seven weeks in a French Catalonian village,
I saw many nomads— knife-grinders, tinkers, etc. — but only two
Gypsy families; and these, although travelling separately, were
closely related, and occupied together the same house, situated in the
little town of Le Boulou. There they hibernated, and only emerged
at intervals for a brief waggon-trip, on the chance of getting some-
THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA. 41
thing to do. Indeed some members of the Toulouse colony (a
delightfully cordial group) plainly told me that they only spend the
winter months in town, during which time their waggons have been
placed in winter-quarters ; but as soon as the weather allows of it
out come the waggons, and away they go along the roads, to villages,
farms, and fairs. This wandering life they greatly prefer. But to
lead it in winter is impossible. For one thing, the law only allows
them twenty-four hours in one place, as nomads, and this — irksome
enough in fine weather — is more than irksome during severe cold.
Moreover, they can get little enough work in the towns during winter,
without attempting the country. The chief occupation of these Catalan
Gypsies is clipping horses, mules, etc., and this they are not required
to do in winter. Thus there is every inducement for them to spend
the winter months in the towns, where, being then house-dwellers,
they may live in one place as long as they like.
In the above paragraph a passing reference has been made to the
nomadic knife-grinders, tinkers, etc., of Catalonia, in contradistinction
to Gypsies. It is a curious thing that these occupations, so much
identified with Gypsies in other countries, should here be apparently
quite dissociated from them. Metal-working, De Eochas tells us, is
almost quite a lost art among the French Gitanos, and is in decadence
even in Spain, although it was not so in former times. Several of
those people whom I saw in Eoussillon were clearly not Gypsies ;
and when I told the Gitanos that our English Gypsies often followed
these callings, they were surprised and slightly amused. The almost
exclusive occupation of the Catalan Gypsy is that of clipping and
trimming horses, combined often with horse-dealing.
It is as horse-dealers that certain Gitanos have attained to wealth
— a wealth sufficient to give a college education to their sons and to
bring up their daughters as ladies — and even the poorest Gitano is a
horse-dealer when he has the chance. But the profession of esquila-
ddr, tondeur (or, in Spanish Romanes), munrabaddr, is their main-
stay, " horses, mules, donkeys or dogs, they are ready for all." * The
humblest little tilted cart carries in it the large, heavy, but finely-
adjusted shears, and the still more delicate instrument for close work
round pastern and fetlock. In the towns, such as Toulouse and
Perpignan (presumably also those of Catalonia proper), the Gypsies,
1 However, when De Rochas, whom I have quoted, goes on to say, " What is there that
the Gitano would not clip ? He would try to shave an egg," he makes rather a wide state-
ment. When I asked one of them, who had just been showing me his instruments with
evident pride, whether he was in the habit of shearing sheep, he repudiated the idea with
astonishment, and with some slight indignation.
42 THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
cluster daily, and with great regularity, at well-known corners, where
they may be found — unless they have been secured for some piece of
work — any time between eight and five o'clock, excluding an hour or
two for their midday meal. Those, of course, who by successful
trafficking in horse-flesh rise to become capitalists do not work as
esquiladores, although these are themselves horse-dealers when they
get a chance. In addition to this twofold occupation, however, there
are others which they follow. Sometimes, says De Eochas, they are
" mountebanks, chiromancers, mesmerists,1 and clairvoyants," palmis-
try and clairvoyance being specially managed by the women. He
qualifies this remark by further stating that although fortune-telling
still flourishes in Spain, it is no longer permitted in French- Catalonia,
though slyly prosecuted in the booths at fairs. He says nothing about
begging ; but one of them, in descanting upon the delights of their
open-air life in summer, remarked to me that one had nothing to do
but idle about, as one's wife and children got by begging all one
wanted. To these pleasing accomplishments the Gitanas add those of
pilfering,2 and of selling contraband goods. " They also sell dresses,
shawls, and neckerchiefs." " Some young girls sing, accompanying
themselves on the guitar. This gift of music and love of the guitar
(remarks De Eochas) forms yet another feature distinguishing the
Eoussillon Gypsies from the other natives."
Besides these various forms of industry, roulette engages the
attention of the men to a considerable extent, and probably pocket-
1 The statement that mesmerism is still practised by Catalonian Gypsies is very interesting.
Under the name of glamour, the mesmeric power was formerly associated with the Gypsies
in Scotland. " Glamour " is defined by Sir Walter Scott as the " power of imposing on the
eyesight of the spectators, so that the appearance of an object shall be totally different from
the reality." And, in explanation of a reference to " the gypsies' glamour'd gang," in one of
his ballads, he remarks: "Besides the prophetic powers ascribed to the Gypsies in most
European countries, the Scottish peasants believe them possessed of the power of throwing
upon bystanders a spell to fascinate their eyes and cause them to see the thing that is not.
Thus, in the old ballad of ' Johnnie Faa,' the elopement of the Countess of Cassillis with a
Gipsy leader is imputed to fascination —
' Sae soon as they saw her weel-faur'd face,
They cast the glamour o'er her.' "
And he relates an incident, told to him a long time previously, in which " a Gypsy exercised
his glamour over a number of people at Haddington." He further remarks : " The jongleurs
were also great professors of this mystery, which has in some degree descended, with their
name, on the modern jugglers." (See note 2 M. to The Lay ; also pp. 277-8 of The Min-
strelsy, Murray's reprint, 1869. )
Not only have British Gypsies been accused of "jugglery," but the Scotch Act of Parlia-
ment of 1579 was directed against "the idle people calling themselves Egyptians, or any
other that fancy themselves to have knowledge of prophecy, charming, or other abused
sciences." It is tolerably clear that all this class of words-now obsolete, except in a poeti-
cal sense— such as "glamour," "enchantment," "spellbound," "a magic spell," "to be-
witch," " to charm "—were used to indicate the mesmeric influence ; as far back as Merlin's
famous " charm of woven paces and of waving hands."
2 This is stated by De Rochas, and it had been previously stated by a writer of the year
18f:2 in describing the same Gypsy family. (See Simson's History, p. 87.)
THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA. 43
picking is not unknown among them. This I realised from some
almost reverential references to English pickpockets as " very adroit,"
" tres forts" etc. (which were intended as indirect compliments to their
English auditor, — for what Eomani Eai' has not experienced that a
knowledge of Eomanes infers an intimate acquaintance with " the
seamy side " ?). This, and the roulette-table, as well as other Gypsy
proclivities, naturally makes them the prey of the officers of the law.
" Do you like the gendarmes ? " I asked of one of the shadiest of them
all. " In the river" was his grim, response. However, it is but fair
to add that a country Gypsy whom I sounded on this subject repudi-
ated any feeling of dislike to the gendarmes, remarking that if one
didn't " do anything " one had no cause to fear or dislike them. He
had a very frank, honest face, this young Gypsy, and very likely
stuck closely to his legitimate business of horse-trimming and horse-
dealing. Nevertheless, Gypsy ideas of right and wrong are radically
different, in some respects, from those recognised by the laws of
Europe.
And yet it is a mistake to suppose that the Gypsies of Spain, or
indeed of Europe, do not share the religious beliefs common to Europe.
In the seventeenth-century tale of Alonso, quoted by Borrow, we read
of Gypsies praying to the saints (The Zincali, 1841, pp. 93-4). From
these very Catalonian Gitanos M. Bataillard has received two Chris-
tian legends (referred to on pp. 169, 170 of In Gypsy Tents). And, in
Dr. De Eochas' account one reads how sacredly they observe All-
Hallowtide and Christmas, at which latter time friends and relations
separated all the year gather together to renew their friendship and
to renounce all enmity. Mention is made, indeed, of one Gypsy who
came from Barcelona to Perpignan at Christinas-time for no other
reason than to be reconciled to his brother. These things testify, says
De Eochas, to the existence of " religious sentiments that one would
not have expected to find among people too often described as living
without either faith or law."
" The Catalan peasant, superstitious and rude, detests the Gitano,
and believes him capable of bewitching and poisoning his live-stock.
This latter imputation (continues De Eochas) is not as trifling as
the other — at least not as regards the past — for the Spanish Gypsies
had a name for the poison they administered to animals, which they
called drao.1 Some years ago a peasant belonging to the neighbour-
hood of Perpignan stabbed a Gypsy to death on the mere suspicion
that he had poisoned his pig." However little that particular Gypsy
1 This word (variously inflected) is of course well known to other European Gypsies.
44 THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA.
had deserved bis pimishment, it is not improbable that the practice
— known in England also — has not been wholly forgotten in Cata-
lonia. At any rate I found that a reference to batttcho-drao elicited
an interchange of looks, and the laughing remark that " he knows
all about it." Whether or not they still find opportunities to dine
off pork thus procured (for the poison is completely washed out
before cooking), the Catalonian Gypsies, like others of their race,
know how to appreciate baked hedgehog. Curiously enough, they
do not seem to have a Roman! name for it, and the liotchiiuitchi
of our Romano proved meaningless in their ears. And although
snails are cooked in France by the gadje, yet some Gitauos whom
I interrogated assured me they never use them as food. As for the
word I got for " snail " on this occasion, it was obviously not Romanes.
The man who offered me this word was a somewhat dangerous
guide. He was unquestionably a most fluent speaker of Romanes ;
but he was too clever. He not only, like his brother-Gypsies, could
speak Catalan and French (or Spanish, when they are Spanish-
Catalans), but he also knew Hungarian and Italian. He had
travelled much, and in his travels he had gained a certain amount
of education and polish, which raised him immensely above even
his own brother, and which caused him to be regarded as a perfect
savant by all his friends, as indeed he was. He could — and did
— discourse with easy fluency upon " vagabondage," " the nomadic
races," and "la vie de Boheme," like any philosopher. (And yet
a more thorough knave one could hardly meet: his special weak-
ness is roulette, and with prison interiors he is quite familiar.)
One result, then, of all his experiences is that, while really a
master of Romanes, he has added to his vocabulary various
words that are not genuine. This appeared when he told me that
the Romani word for a "snail" 'is shntk, and again when he in-
sisted, in the teeth of his friends (who protested humbly), that
pdnali is not the proper word for " brandy " (though that is the
real Catalan-Romanes), but that it ought to be called Irantuina.
And shnoofa, he said, was Romanes for " tobacco."1 That he had
picked up these German words (schnecke, branntwein, and schnupf)
from some of his foreign friends is quite evident. He was ignorant
of the language to which they really belonged, and hearing them
used by Romane he had assumed they were Romanes.
1 I afterwards obtained the true word, pronounced variously sAbalo and shtivalo, with
which compare toovcdo (Smart and Crofton, p. 185), tchuvdlo (Jesina, p. 96) and tcuv&lo
(Wlislocki, p. 124).
THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA. 45
One has always to guard against similar errors. I have had
stimbrtro and tambien given to me as Komanes by French-Catalan
Gypsies, who, themselves unacquainted with Castilian, had heard
their trans-Pyrenean kindred use these words ; and so convinced
were they that they were right, that on each occasion (for time,
place, and people were different) it was necessary to appeal for
support to Spanish Gitanos standing by. Probably there are several
such errors in this dialect of the language. It is probable that
De Bochas himself has taken a Catalan word as Komanes when
he includes do (signifying " of " or " of the ") in his vocabulary.
Certainly Catalan Gypsies are constantly using the word —
as in pindro do grai (a horse's hoof), ddi do gaf (the mayor of a
town) ; but then, on the other hand, the word occurs in Catalan,
and moreover the construction has not the Eomani cachet.
The French-Gitano use of ddi, as in the preceding paragraph,
is worthy of remark. As elsewhere, ddi is in Catalonia the Eomani
for "mother." But not only do the French Gitanos make it do
duty for mere, but it stands for maire as well, from the assonance
of these two words. That the Gypsies of the French-Basque country
have the same usage may be seen from Baudrimont's " baro day a"
with the meaning of "magistrate." l
And the word grdi, introduced above, is also worth referring to
in its Catalonian aspect. In England it is the singular of " horse "
(in the plural gram). According to De Eochas, " horse " is grast or
gras in the singular, and grasts in the plural. The form grdi
is not mentioned by him. But although I found that the usual
singular form is grass, grast, grash, or graslit, yet I once heard ye
grdi, and it seemed invariable that one ought to say v&riHtchi 2
grdi for " several horses." Dr. Paspati says that grdi, as a singular
noun, is known to the Sedentary division of the Turkish Gypsies,
but that their almost invariable word is grast, gras, or gra. The
Nomads use only grdi.
To refer more particularly to the noteworthy features of the
Catalan dialect is not within the limits of this paper. But it may
be remarked that the guttural sounds — decaying in England, where
they are often represented by k, h, and sh — are found here in their
full vigour. DAVID MACEITCHIE.
1 Conversely, both Michel and Baudrimont have raja for "mere" (although the latter
has also da'ia). In tnese instances the word asked for must have been " mere," which
the Gypsy interrogated had heard as " maire."
2 Pastor Jesina's vocabulary is the only one in which I find this word (there spelt
varekeci). It is cognate with vdreko or vdresn (any), vdrekdy (somewhere), etc.
4G
ADDITIONS TO GYPSY- ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
VII.— ADDITIONS TO GYPSY-ENGLISH VOCABULAEY.
(The words in parentheses are roots or other forms given in Smart & Crofton's
Dialect of the English Gypsies, London, 1875.)
Abba, n., Haste.
Bau&/ter6"va, v., / boast (kh guttural).
Baufc/iere"ssa, You boast.
BauWtereJa peski, He boasts.
BauMado, part., Boasted.
Baurodirus (for baurodairest), adj.,
Greatest (bauro).
Bazengro, n., Shepherd (barsengri).
Bengales, \
Binges, I adv., Wickedly (beng).
Berigene"s, )
Bignomus, n., Beginning (begin-omus).
Bisto, adv., Well (nristo).
Boo"inova, v., / boast (boolno).
Bo6tsering, part., Working (bodtsi).
Bunnek, n., Grasp, hold (bdnnek).
Chalavar, v., To bother, vex.
Cham, v., Stop, halt.
Charer, v., To stir.
oc. pi., Friends, mates,
. brothers (chooali, choobali).
Chowali, J
Cho<5velo, adj., Poo?' (chooVeno).
Choromus, n., Thievery (chor).
Choro, adj., Heavy.
Dabus, n., A blow. Related to English
slang dab, and Paspati's dap, tap,
tav.
Didiis, He gave (del).
Desiring, part., Praying.
Dikd<5va, I saw. As if dik-ed-ova, I
look-ed (dik).
Diksome"ngri, Watchmen (dik).
Dooieni, )
Do6ikani,|adJ-'^co^(do6'i)-
Dosh, n., Wrong (doosh).
Drdber, v., To physic, poison, drug
(drab).
Drabado, part., Poisoned.
Eiavela, Understanding, lit. He under-
stands (see Heia'voVa).
Eezeno-ktfshters, ) n. pi., clothes-pegs
Ee"zenghi kdshters, ) (e<$zaw).
Glalenghi chorus, Previously ('glay).
Godlieskro, n., Bell (godli).
Gresta, n., Mare.
Haure, n. pi., Pennies ; lit., Coppers
(hauro).
Heiiiv6va, v. J understand (eiiivela).
Heiaddm, I understood.
Heiawela, He understands.
Hetarova, ) x beat hit
Hetavova, )
Hetavela, He hits.
Hillarus, n., A hill.
Hinova, v., Latin cacabo (hinder).
Hodaw, inter]., Never mind.
Hoiav, v., To vex (hoino).
HoMtamangro, n., Toad (hdMter).
Hdlava, n., Stocking (hoolavers).
Holova^ri, n. pi. Stockings.
Hdnjer, v., To scratch (hondj).
Hdrov, v., To scratch. Pott ii. 167,
charuvav.
Horovdva, J scratch.
Horovela, He scratches.
H6rov, n., A scratch.
Horodo, part., Scratched.
Horoddrn, I scratched.
Jalomus, n., Walk (jal).
Jinaser, v., to knoiv (jin).
0 rei kek jinasered, The gentleman
did not know.
Jfnomus, n., Knowledge (jin).
Jivomus, n., Life (jiv).
Kairikeni, n. Housekeeper (kair).
Kelimus, n., Business (ker).
Karrotaari, n. pi., Carrots.
Kater, prep., From ; Pasp., Katar
From.
Ka"ter yek kair kater waver, From
one house to another.
Ke"keno, adj., None.
Kinasar lesti, Buy it (kin).
ADDITIONS TO GYPSY-ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
47
Kitchem&kro, n., Innkceprr (Kitchcnui).
Klfsinomlngro, n., Lock (Klisin).
Koonya, n. pi., Knees ; Pasp., Kuni
Elbow.
Ko<5ser, v., To clean (Kosher).
Koosh, n. and v., Falsehood, to tell lies ;
Pasp., Kushipe.
Kodshlo, adj., Soft. Miklosich vi. 28,
ktfslo, Smooth.
Kutcheno, adj., Noble.
Kutcheno, n., Hedgestake.
Ladjtfva, v., J am ashamed (ladj).
Ladjado, part., Ashamed.
Ladjer ! For shame ! shocking !
Law, pron., Her. Pasp. la.
Komde yon law, They loved her.
Li, pron., She. Pott i. 242.
Nanef po<5ri si-li, haw ? She is not
old, is she ?
Wdfedi rakli sas If, She was a bad
girl.
Lubnes, adv., Like a harlot (lubni).
Limdere'nghi R6mani-chals, London
adj., False.
j n., Constable (uiodshkero).
Massom6ngri, n., Frying-pan (mas).
Meera, n. pi. Miles (mee'a).
Meino, My. English mine, Germ.
mein.
Mindw, interj. Koordom d<5va gafro
misht<5, mindw, 7 beat that man
well, did I not? (Mi-naw, lit.
me not}.
Mollako
Molliko
Mo6vli, n., Candle (inumbli).
Moskero
Miiskro
Motsi )
Miitsi | n'' Skm
Norodo, negat., No.
'Too kedas les.' 'Ndrodo'; You
did it. No, not I.
Okaw, n. pi., Eyes (yok).
Pallov /
Pallova J prep>' Afier> behind (palla)*
Pandomus, n., Sheepfold (pander).
Passer, v., To trust, borroiv (pazer).
Peer l
por | n., Stomach (per).
Peker, v., To cook (pek).
P6nesko-rom, Brother-in-law (pen).
. Themselves.
P^nghi
Pes, Himself. Pasp. Pes.
Piromengro, n., Pedestrian (pfro).
P6das, n. pi., Stairs (po6rdas).
P6das chokha,, Slippers, shoes.
Po6keromus, n., Story (po6ker).
Poorenki 6ra, Secondhand watch (poo"ro).
Pdorokones, adv., In the old manner
(poor).
Pocjtcher, v., To ask (pootch).
Porder, v., To fill (pdrdo).
Pordad6m, I filled.
Posh koriroko, Wednesday, lit. Half-
week ; cf. Germ. Mittwoch.
P6sher, v., To halve, share, divide (posh).
Pre"-omus, n., Height ('pre).
Randjer, v., To scratch. Pasp. Khand-
jiovava ; Liebich, randewawa.
Ranshko, adj., Carroty, red.
Batcher, v., To bleed (ratt).
Raunikani -\
Raiinienikani ( adj., Lady-like (raiini).
Raunieski )
Rfdder, v., To carry, bear (ri'gher).
Ridder, v., To wear (rood, riv).
Rfvopen )
Rfvomus \K; Clothes (nv).
Ro6mus or Rdomes, adv., Gypsily
(Romanes).
Rod(5m, 7 cried \ , }
Rote, They cried) ^
Ruzles, adv., Strongly (rodzlo).
Sa, conj., If (sar).
Salimusti kdva, A joke (sal).
Sastere, n. pi., Irons, fetters (sdster).
Shikeri, adj., Bad, spiteful.
Shim, adj., Small, inferior.
Shoonomus ) -*T , •> s
> n., News tshoon).
Shoonopen )
Sid, adj., Quick (sig).
Sfg-sig, Very quick (sig).
Sigly, adv., Immediately (sig).
Sis, Was (sas).
Sme"ltini, n., Cream (smentini).
So61omus, n., Oath (soloh61omus).
Sodter, v., To sleep (so6ti).
Spdngo, n., Match (spingher).
Stanyengro } n., Stableman, groom
Stanyamengro ) (stanya).
Staromeskries, n. pi., Prisoners (sttirdo,
staiiri, steriinus).
Stdva, n., Prison.
48 ADDITIONS TO GYPSY-ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
Stor, v., To feel. StoroVa, I feel ; Tilome'skro, n., Pothook (til).
Stord<5m, I felt. Tinkaari, n. pi., Tinkers.
Stdrenghi, Fourth (stor). Trineno, adj., Third (Trin).
Stor, v., To arrest (staiiri). Pasp. asta-
r^va Vart, v., To watch (vdrter).
Tardader, Longer (tarder).
Tarderimengro, n., Examiner (tarder). Yoger, v., To fire (a gun), (yog).
Tasserme"ngro, n., Frying-pan (tatter).
Tatchomus, n., Truth (tatcho). Zimmer, v., To paivn (sframer).
Thinkasessa, You think
Tiller, v., To hold (til). H. T. CROFTON.
VIII.— EEVIEW OF THE AECHDUKE JOSEFS " CZIGANY
NYELVATAK"
IT may well be a legitimate source of pride to all who belong to
the Gypsy Lore Society that contemporary with it there ap-
peared a work by our fellow-member the Archduke Josef of Austro-
Hungary on the subject of the Eomany race and their language,
which is of such marked excellence that it cannot fail to be read
with deep interest by every philologist or student of anthropology.
For, as its author was one of the first half-dozen who formed the
Association, the appearance of such a work at such a time may be
regarded as a curious coincidence — perhaps, as " Gypsies," we may
be allowed to consider it as a happy omen.
This work, Czigany Nyehatan, or " The Gypsy Language," is the
result of many years' personal experience among the wanderers, as
well as of very extensive study of the " large literature " of " Eoman-
ology." Hungary is, par Eminence, the land of Gypsies, and the
Archduke is of all men the one best qualified to investigate them,
being not only passionately aficionado to the race, but, as a matter
of course, invested with that authority which is nowhere so loved
and respected, when kindly exerted, as in the country of the
Magyar.
That the Archduke is practically regarded as a living storehouse
of Gypsy lore, appears from an assurance in the Pester Lloyd that
when a Eom in Hungary is asked some question as to his race which
he cannot answer, he replies, " We don't understand that now— only
the Archduke can answer that." On the same authority we are told
that he employs Gypsies extensively on his estates, and, what no one
REVIEW OF THE ARCHDUKE JOSEF'S " CZIGANY NYELVATAN." 49
will doubt who knows how to get on with such folk, finds them
trustworthy and profitable.
It is remarkable, but we have the best authority for the state-
ment, that the Archduke, not being aware that scholars had preceded
him in the discovery, after having studied for some time several
Indian tongues, observed with some astonishment that Eomany had
a marked likeness to Hindustani. This was when he was quite
young. Since that time his reading has extended, as the book before
me indicates, to a thorough knowledge of almost the entire literature
of the subject. The work in question embraces a valuable grammar
and vocabularies of the Hungarian Gypsy dialects, compared with
ten or twelve Indian tongues. With this it gives a mass of historical
information, and a critical bibliography which will be fully appre-
ciated, not only by the Eomany Eye, but by every librarian. That
the erudition displayed in the work should be extensive, or even well
condensed and harmonised, is not so remarkable when we know that
the author has the largest special library on his subject in the world,
with learned professors to act as secretaries. But with all this there
is evident on every page the oculus magistri, while the genial freshness
and sagacity of what is manifestly original in the book show that
its writer was the right man in the right place for his work. In one
thing only is it to a certain degree wanting — the account of English
and American Gypsy literature, — several books of comparative im-
portance not being mentioned. But as French and German versions
of the Czigdny Nyelvatan are to appear, it is to be hoped that this
omission will be corrected in them.
It is a great merit in the Eomany grammar given in this work
that it is extremely clear and practical, giving few rules but many
examples. We see in it throughout the hand of the true philological
artist or scholar, and nowhere the weakness of the amateur. It will
be welcome news to the Eomany-lorists that the author is now
engaged on a Gypsy Dictionary, which, with its copious illustrations,
will extend to 1000 folio pages. CHARLES G. LELAND.
VOL. i. — NO. i.
50 NOTES AND QUERIES.
NOTES AND QUEKIES.
I.
I. EOMANI-CHAL.
1. Does Edmani signify Eoumanian ?
2. What does chal mean ?
3. In what countries is the term used by Gypsies ?
II. -ASAR.
As a cryptic ending this is often used by English Gypsies.
1. Is it the same as -isdr, which is so frequently added to gaujo words by
Danubian Gypsies to form verbs ?
2. Is it merely cryptic, or what is its force 1
III. -AMUS, -IMUS, -OMUS.
As a substantival cryptic ending this is very commonly used by English
Gypsies. It is also with them interchangeable with -open, -ipen, -open. It seems
common also with Danubian Gypsies. Is it a relic of -ismus, or what is its
etymology ?
H. T. CROFTON.
DYNAMITTERS.
In " A Charter of Edward the Third confirming and enlarging the Privileges of
St. Giles Fair, Winchester, A.D. 1349," edited by Dean Kitchin (London 1886),
occurs this passage: "And the Justiciaries and the Treasurer of the Bishop of
Wolvesey for the time being, and the Clerk of the Pleas, shall yearly receive four
basons and ewers, by way of fee (as they have received them of old time) from
those traders from foreign parts, called * Dynamitters,' who sell brazen vessels in
the Fair (de illis Mercatoribus Alienigenis vocatis Mercatoribus Dynamitters qui
vasa cenea in feria prcedida vendunt)." On which passage the learned Dean has
the following note : " These foreigners were sellers, we are told, of brazen vessels
of all kinds. The word may be connected with Dinant near Namur, where there
was a great manufacture of Dinanderie, i.e. metal- work (chiefly in copper). A
friend suggests Dinant-batteurs as the origin. Batteur was the proper title of
these workers in metal. See Commines n. i., * une marchandise de ces ceuvres de
cuivre, qu'on appelle Dinanderie, qui sont en effet pots et pesles.' " Students of
M. Bataillard's treatises will at once recognise the possible significance of both
passage and note. F. H. GROOME.
DR. SOLF ON THE GERMAN GYPSIES.
"Dr. Solf has communicated to the Orientalische Gesellschaft of Berlin an
interesting paper upon the peculiar organisation of the Gypsies in Germany, which
contains many facts hitherto unknown to the general public. It appears that the
Gypsies wandering through Germany are organised into three distinct ' tribes '-
NOTES AND QUERIES. 51
those of Old Prussia, New Prussia, and Hanover.1 In one or other of these tribes
each Gypsy is enrolled. Each tribe has its own banner and symbol. That of the
Old Prussian tribe is a fir-tree upon a black and white ground ; that of the New
Prussian tribe a birch-tree upon a green and white ground ; that of the Hanoverian
tribe is a mulberry-tree upon a gold, blue, and white ground. A ' captain ' pre-
sides over each tribe. He is elected for seven years. His powers are both regal
and sacerdotal. He marries, divorces, excommunicates and reconciles those who
have forfeited honours and privileges. He is also the keeper of the official seal,
upon which a hedgehog is engraved— a beast held as sacred by all the Gypsies. At
great festivals of the tribe the captain always wears a crown — a three-cornered hat,
ornamented with silver tassels— and a ribbon round his arm with the colours of the
tribe. Nearly all the marriages are celebrated on Whitsunday. Great care is
taken at present to avoid marriages between the degrees prohibited by the German
law, although they are otherwise allowable by Gypsy custom and tradition. Adultery
is exceedingly rare, and is punished with severity. The offending woman has her
nose cut, and the man is shot in the knee or the elbow. The German Gypsies have
a peculiar shyness of Protestantism. The children are baptized, and handsome
presents are always expected from the god-parents. If a child is born while they
are lodging near a village, they usually take him to the parish church for baptism.
They wear no mourning at a death. Dr. Solf describes the Gypsy as ' full of piety.'
The favourite colour, both with men and women, is green, which they regard as the
colour of honour."— Belfast Morning News, 24th May 1888.
GYPSIES IN TURKESTAN.
" A writer in a recent number of the JRussische Revue on the Syr Darya region,
states that among the inhabitants are two tribes of Gypsies, the Masang and Ljuli.
When and how they got into Central Asia is unknown, but it is believed that the
Masang migrated from Turkey and the Ljuli from India. Both tribes speak
Turkish and Persian, and are Mohammedans. The Masang are small traders and
pedlars, wandering from town to town, and settlement to settlement, while the
Ljuli lead a half-nomad life, living in winter in the settlements of other races, and
in summer moving in the cultivated oases, with their possessions, from place to
place. The children beg, dance, sing, and perform acrobatic feats ; the women tell
fortunes, treat sickness, and are given to small rogueries. The whole of the Gypsies
scattered over the region can scarcely number more than 500 or 600 families." —
Belfast News Letter, 21st May, 1888.
That these Ljuli, Luli, or Liiri have inhabited the Syr Darya region for many
generations, we know from an Arab writer (cited by Professor De Goeje), who
states that they were there " during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." The
Luli, or Liiri, first appear in history in the fifth century of the Christian era, at
which time a certain Indian king sent to the Persian monarch, Behram Gur, as
many as 12,000 minstrels, male and female, of the race of the Luri. This we are
told by Firdusi, in his Shah-Nama. At the present day the Persian Gypsies are
known as Luri or Luti, and are regarded as the descendants of those immigrants
i Siinson, in his History (p. 80), quotes a similar statement made by Dr. Wiessenburch, in the year
1727, who "notices that in Hungary (?) the gangs assumed their names from the countries which they
chiefly traversed, as the band of Upper Saxony, of Brandenburg, and so forth. They resented to
extremity any attempt on the part of other Gypsies to intrude on their province." This quite accords
with the accounts given by Simson and others with regard to the Gypsies of Scotland at that period ;
and we read how "Will Marshall," the celebrated chief of the Galloway Gypsies, when attempting to
extend his territory on the north-west, in the year 1712, was defeated by the tinkers of Argyle or Dum-
barton, after a tough battle, in which several lives were lost.
52 NOTES AND QUERIES.
of the fifth century. The Lull of the Syr Darya region, therefore, are clearly
descended from those of the same name inhabiting that district in the sixteenth
century, who presumably were an offshoot from the main body in Persia.
A SCOTTISH JOHN BUNYAN.
That John Bunyan was a Gypsy has never been clearly proved, but there is
no doubt that he was a tinker (which is often the same thing). And the recently
published warrant for his arrest, which describes him as " one John Bunnyon of
ye said Towne [Bedford], Tynker," seems to indicate plainly that he was by occu-
pation a tinker at the very period when he was engaged in preaching at Non-
conformist conventicles. A precisely similar case in Scotland, and in the same
century, is alluded to by Sir Walter Scott. In The Heart of Midlothian (ch.
xlvii.), old David Deans, reverting to the Covenanting worthies of the seventeenth
century, maintained " that many devout ministers and professors in times past had
enjoyed downright revelation, like the blessed Peden, and Lundie, and Cameron,
and Eenwick, and John Caird, the tinkler, wha entered into the secrets." In this
instance the preacher was not only admittedly a " tinkler " (the Scotch term still
applied to the nomadic caste), but his surname proves him to have come of a race
of tinklers. For " caird " (being the Gaelic ceard, an artificer), is, or was, an every-
day Scotch equivalent for " tinker " (which itself is the Cornish " tin-heard "). In
course of time it attached to certain families as a surname, like Smith, Weaver,
and a host of other names derived from special callings. In Scott's song, " Donald
Caird 's come again," we see it in a state of transition ; for although this particular
Donald receives the name as a surname, yet, as he was an undoubted caird, the
word may also be regarded as a nickname, signifying " Tinker Donald." In the
above case, however, this Covenanting tinker had evidently inherited " Caird " as
a surname, otherwise the addition of " the tinkler " would not have been re-
quired.
Is there anything further known regarding this man, — and what is the source
whence Scott drew his information ? D. MACRITCHIE.
"EGYPT" AS A EUROPEAN PLACE-NAME.
We know that as early as the fifteenth century the term " Egyptian " (now
represented by the English "Gypsy," the Modern Greek "Gyphtos," and the
Spanish "Gitano") was applied to the Eomane in various countries of Europe.
These people themselves also styled their leaders by such titles as Lord and Earl
of Egypt, or of Little Egypt. In addition to this, there is some reason to believe
that certain localities distinguished as favourite Gypsy haunts received the name
of " Egypt " on that account.
Only two instances of this place-name have come under my notice. But if
these " Egypts " have been so named because they were well-known Gypsy resorts,
then it is not unlikely that other European examples may be found.
Both of the places referred to are situated in Scotland. One of them forms a
part of the southern outskirts of Edinburgh, and is thus referred to by the late
James Grant in his description of the "District of the Burghmuir" (Old and New
NOTES AND QUERIES. 53
Edinburgh, vol. iii. ch. iv.) : "At the foot of Morningside the Powburn takes
the singular name of the Jordan as it flows through a farm named Egypt, and
other Scriptural names abound close by, such as Hebron Bank, Caanan Lodge, and
Caanan Lane. By some the origin of these names has been attributed to Puritan
times, by others to Gypsies, when the southern side of the Muir was open and
unenclosed."
Now it is almost quite certain that of all these " Scriptural names " that of
" Egypt " is the only one that has been attached to this locality for more than two
centuries, because whereas the farm of Egypt was so known in the title-deeds
of the estate on which it stood as far back as a charter of the year 1652, the
" Hebron Banks " are comparatively modern residences, certainly not of earlier
date than the Georgian era, and probably all built within this century. That they
were so named after the manner of Scott's Quaker, who transformed into " Mount
Sharon " the " Sharing Knowe " of more profane associations, is quite likely ;
but it may be safely affirmed that in the year 1652, when the farm bore the re-
cognised designation of " Egypt," there was not a single street or villa on the
adjoining portion of the Burgh Muir, then probably an " open and unenclosed "
common. Indeed we have quite a modern illustration of how the pre-existing
name of " Egypt " might suggest a host of similar names in later times, for
within the last few years the farm has been cut up into suburban streets and
villas, and over the site of the farmhouse itself runs the brand-new " Nile Grove."
Of course when a place is designated "Egypt" in a title-deed of 1652 the
presumption is that it had been so known for a considerable time before that date.
Lawyers do not readily accept a recent name — not to say a nickname — as the
correct designation of lands or heritages. But, in the absence of earlier documen-
tary evidence, we cannot take for granted that the name goes further back than
the seventeenth century.
In this connection it is interesting to remember the quotation in Mr. Groome's
In Gypsy Tents (p. 106) as to "how about 1623 Sir William Sinclair 'delivered
ane Egyptian from the gibbet in the Burrow Moore [Burgh Muir], ready to be
strangled, returning from Edinburgh to Roslin, upon which accoumpt the whole
body of gypsies were, of old, accustomed to gather in the stanks of Roslin every
year, where they acted seyerall plays, dureing the moneths of May and June.' "
But as many Scotch " Egyptians " were at that period condemned to the gallows,
and as a certain part of the Burghmuir was then " the Tyburn of Edinburgh," it
cannot be assumed that this Gypsy of the year 1623 was inevitably one of those
associated with this " Egypt."
Still more doubtful, but worth noting, is the reference made in an Edinburgh
trial of the year 1586 x to a certain Scotch lad who, "when about eight years of
age, was taken away by ane Egyptian into Egypt, . . . where he remained twelve
years, and then came home." But if the southern side of the Burgh Muir was
called " Egypt " in 1586, as it was in 1652, this may only mean that this boy was
kidnapped by some passing Gypsy, and that — like the contemporary " Scholar
Gypsy " of Oxford — he had lived among these people for several years.
Apart from such surmises, it seems tolerably clear that of these two traditions
the correct one is that which alleges that this particular place received the name
of " Egypt " because of its association with those " Egyptians " whom we now call
" Gypsies."
The other Scottish locality bearing the same name is situated in the parish of
Farnell, in Forfarshire. It also is a farm. But whether any local tradition con-
nects this " Egypt " with Gypsies, I do not know.
Are there, then, any other European " Egypts " besides these two in Scotland ?
Many instances could of course be furnished of places whose names announce
1 Quoted by Scott in Introduction to the " Tale of Tamlane."
54 NOTES AND QUERIES.
them as the haunts of Gypsies, Tinkers, etc. But the purpose of this note is to
learn whether there are other examples of places called Egypt in any of the
countries of Europe ; and if so, whether they are associated with Gypsies.
D. MAcRlTCHIE.
7-
A CORRECTION.
Two entries of^the year 1492, in the Accounts of the, Lord High Treasurer of
Scotland, have been quoted as possibly bearing reference to Gypsies, both by Mr.
Groome in his article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and also by Mr. Crofton
in his first essay on the early annals of the English Gypsies. These entries refer
to a King of " Kowmais " or " Eowmanis," whose messenger, bearing letters to and
from James IV. of Scotland, was in that country during the month of July 1492.
It has been clearly shown by Dr. Thomas Dickson, in his Preface to these
Accounts (vol. i., Edinburgh, 1877, pp. cxii-cxxvi), that the personage here
referred to was Maximilian, King of the Romans, with whom the King of Scotland
was then in close alliance, chiefly for the purpose of checkmating Henry VII. of
England by favouring the cause of Perkin Warbeck. Maximilian had been elected
King of the Romans in 1486, and that was his most important title in 1492,
although in the very next year he succeeded to the German empire through the
death of his father. It is quite evident from Dr. Dickson's citations that this was
the King of " Rowmanis " (as the Scotch spelling has it, or " Rowmais " in the
contracted form) who thus figures in these Accounts ; and Mr. Crofton has conse-
quently omitted him from his revised " Annals," now published in this number of
the Society's Journal.
8.
AN ANCIENT FUNERAL RITE.
" The death of the Gypsy Walter Cooper removes a well-known figure from the
pedestrian crowd usually accompanying a meet of the Queen's Staghounds. Cooper
is a frequent Gypsy name, and the clan, not too favourably known to the country
gentry, numbers several families. The body was removed last week from the
encampment on Datchet Common to the churchyard, being drawn on a car by a
favourite mare. The animal was afterwards sacrificed to his manes. Fanciful
Orientalists may perhaps be able to trace here a survival of the ancient Aryan
offering of the horse, of which there is frequent mention in the ancient Sanscrit
books."— World, June 6, 1888.
9-
THE LOWBETS.
In an article headed "The Native Races of Gambia," in the Archceological
Review (March 1887, p. 15), the seventh principal tribe is that of the Lowbeys,
whose name has some resemblance, perhaps accidental, to that of Luri, or Luli,
borne by the Gypsies in Persia, etc.
The description given is as follows : —
" This race may be described as the Gypsies of North- West Africa, It is almost
mpossible to get any certain information in regard to their history. They wander
NOTES AND QUERIES. 55
about from place to place, and none whom I have questioned have been able to tell
me the part of Africa whence they originally came. I am informed (not by a
Lowbey) that there is a tradition which assigns to them the land of Midian as their
original country, and that they were cursed by Jethro for stealing cattle, and
doomed to a wandering life. I am inclined, however, to regard this story as a
modern invention, seeing that I have not yet discovered a Lowbey who ever heard
of Jethro, Moses, or of the land of Midian.
" They are a decidedly handsome race, bearing a stronger resemblance to the
Foulahs than to any other people, though, as a rule, darker in colour. In all
probability they were descended from the Foulahs, but, if so, it is curious that
they should have completely changed their mode of life, the Foulahs being a
pastoral and agricultural people, while the Lowbeys almost exclusively confine
themselves to the making of the various wooden utensils in use by natives generally.
" They settle temporarily with any tribe, but never intermarry with another race,
thus preserving the type of feature which obviously separates them from their
human surroundings.
" In religion most of them are pagans, though a few profess the Mohammedan
faith. They have no laws of their own, but are guided by those of the people
amongst whom they are for the time being located. In case of war happening they
very sensibly remove at once into a district where there is peace. Their language
appears to be allied to the Foulah tongue, but they usually speak the language of
the tribe with whom they are staying. The Foulahs are a well-known African
race, and many travellers have noted their unusual lightness of complexion."
The next number of the Journal will contain a notice of the Gypsy articles
in the Ethnologische Mitleilungen aus Ungarn, edited by Professor Anthon
Herrmann.
NOTICE. — All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MACRITCHIE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh. A list of members, with addresses, will hereafter be opened, for
purposes of inter-correspondence.
JOUENAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY.
VOL. I. OCTOBER 1888. No. 2.
I.— THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BEAZIL.
BY chance I became possessor of two works lately published in
Eio de Janeiro, which furnished me with materials of the
dialect in question. Their author is the prolific Brazilian writer
Mello Moraes ; they have been published by B. L. Garcier, and bear
the titles : Cancioneiro dos Ciganos, poesia popular dos Ciganos da
Cidade Nova, 1885 ; Os Ciganos no Brazil, contribuiqao ethnographica,
1886. The author gives in the first-mentioned work a Portuguese
translation of a great number of Gypsy songs, and five stanzas in the
original tongue ; in the latter an historical and statistical sketch, a
number of translated songs, and a short glossary, which contains 253
vocables of the Brazil- Gypsy dialect.
My object being only to search into the linguistic materials, of
which the author gives but a scanty supply, I will, first of all,
examine his vocabulary with the view of pointing out the etymology
of the Brazilian-Gypsy words ; but in doing so I will confine my
examination to such words the etymology of which I can state
decidedly, for they will afford sufficient and certain materials on
which to base a disquisition on the concordance between the Brazil-
Gypsy and other dialects.
VOL. I.— NO. II. J£
58
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
VOCABULARY.
(A.) THE ORIGINAL SET OF WORDS which this Dialect has in common
with the older Dialects.
Acans, eyes ; Gr. yaka ; Sp. aguias ;
Basq. aca.
Acdva, this ; Gr. akavd ; from the same
base are formed Sp. acoi, acallo,
acalan; Basq. aca (cf. Ascoli Zig.
156).
A'gui, fire, sun ; Gr. yog ; Sp. yague ;
Basq. yac, -a.
Anal, name; Gr. nav, naf-, Sp. nao,
asnao.
Arachai, priest ; Gr. rashdi ; Sp. ara-
jai, erajai.
Aranin, lady ; Gr. rdnni ; Sp. erani.
Arens, eggs ; Gr. vandd, vanro, arno,
egg ; Sp. anro.
Aron, meal ; Gr. vanro, varo ; Sp. roi.
Aruvinhar, to weep ; Gr. rovava, ru-
vava ; Sp. orabar, orobiar.
Assanar, to laugh; Gr. asdva ; Sp.
asaselar.
Avinhar, to come ; Gr. avava ; Sp.
avillar, abillar, abillelar.
Bales, hairs ; Gr. bal, hair ; Sp. bal ;
Basq. balla, hairs.
Balivaz, lard : the elements of this word
are balo, hog ; and mas, meat, which
both occur in Gr., whilst the compo-
site itself is wanting ; but the Rm.
uses balimas, balevas, balavas ; Sp.
baleba ; Basq. balebas, balabas, -a.
Baque, fate ; Gr. bakht ; Sp. baji.
Bar, much : the true meaning may be
" large " ; Gr., Sp., Basq. baro.
Bengue, devil ; Gr. beng ; Sp. bengue,
Basq. bee, -a.
Boque, hunger ; Gr. bok ; Sp. boqui,
boque.
Bravaldo, rich ; Gr. baravalo, barvalo ;
Sp. balbalo.
Brichindin,T&m', Gr. brishin, brishindo;
Sp. brijinda ; Basq. birzindo.
Bui, posteriors ; Gr. vul, bul ; Sp. bul.
Buzecas, spurs; Gr. wanting; Hm.buzexa;
Sp. espusifia (cf. Pott D. Zig. ii. 429).
Cohen, food ; Gr. khabe ; Sp. jallipen.
Gabipe, falsehood ; Gr. khokhamnibe,
khokhaimbe ; Sp. jonjanipen.
Gachucon, deaf; Gr. kashukd, kasuko; Sp.
cajuco.
Caiar, to eat ; Gr. khdva ; Sp. jalar ;
Basq. galitia.
Caiardin, a black woman ; see the fol-
lowing.
Caiardon, a black man ; Gr. kaliardo,
kaliardi ; /. participle of kaliarava ;
Sp. gallardo.
Calin, gypsy woman (cf. calon).
Galon, gypsy man — i.e. "a black" ; Gr.
kalo (m.), kali (f.) ; Basq. talu, -a (m.).
Cambelin, pregnant ; Gr. kabni, kamni ;
Sp. cambri.
Camelar, to wish, to love ; Gr. kamdma ;
Sp. camelar, camblar ; Basq. acaba (?)
Candelar, to stink ; Gr. kdndava ; from
khan, kan and dava the verb is want-
ing in the Sp.-G. dictionaries : (cf.
Miklosich, M. W. vii. 78).
Gangrina, gaol. The word may be re-
ferred to the Gr. kangheri, church ;
Sp. cangari, cangri, the notion of a
solid edifice only having been retained.
Gasnin, hen ; Gr. kahni, kaghni ; Sp.
cani, canai ; Basq. kani.
Caximbra, inn ; Sp. cachima ; Eng.
kitchima.
Chavo, cousin (cf. chavon).
Chavina, girl ; has been lately formed
from chavon. The Gr. word is chdi,
chei ; the Sp. chabi, chavi, chai.
Chav6n, boy, son ; Gr. chavo, chav ; Sp.
chabo, chabal ; Basq. chabo.
Chibe, tongue ; Gr. chip, chib ; Sp. chipe.
Ghidar, to throw ; Gr. chidava, from
chiv + dava ; Sp. chibandar formed
from chib (f. chibar, chibelar) + dar.
Chor, thief ; Gr. chor ; Sp. choraro,
chorui ; Basq. shor, -a.
Ghoripen, theft ; Gr. choribe ; Sp.
choripen.
Chulon, thick, fat ; Gr. tulo ; Sp. chullo.
Chundar, to hear ; Gr. shunava ; Sp.
chunar.
Ghurdar, to rob ; Gr. chorava ; Sp.
chorar : I suppose that the word ought
to be spelled chordar (cf. above, chor,
choripen) ; the difference of the mean-
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
59
ing separates it from churdav, " to
throw," occurring in the Bohem.-G.
dialect.
Churin, knife ; Gr. churi, chori ; Sp.
churi ; Basq. churi, chutri.
Chuxans, breast ; Gr. chuchya ; Sp.
chuchai ; Basq. tichia.
Crivdo, godfather ; Gr. kirivo, kirvo,
kivro ; Sp. quiribo.
Crivin, godmother ; Gr. kirvi ; Sp.
quiribi.
Cucdles, bones ; Gr. kokhala ; Sp. cocaU.
Cucanin, liar (f.) ; Gr. kokhavni, kho-
khamni ; Sp., cf. the verb jojabar.
Dabans, dashes ; Gr., cf. tapdava,
tavdava, I strike ; Em. dab ; in the
Sp.-G. dictionaries the word is not
found.
Dai, mother ; Gr. dai, dei, tai ; Sp.
dai ; Basq. dai, -a, rai, -a.
Danes, teeth ; Gr. dand, tooth ; Sp.
dans, dani.
Daranon, fearful ; Gr. darano ; Sp.
Despandinhar, to open; cf. Gr. pan-
dava, I bind ; Sp. despandar, despan-
delar, to unbind.
Diclon, kerchief ; Gr., Sp. diklo.
Diclunes, shawl : seems to be the plural
of the former.
Dinhar, to give ; Gr. dava, ptcp. dino ;
Sp. dinar, dinelar ; Basq. deantsia.
Dinilon, stupid ; Gr. dinilo, dilino ;
Sp. dinelo, dililo ; Basq. dihilo.
Diquinhar, to see ; Gr. dikava, dikhava ;
Sp. dicar, dicabelar.
Dirachin, M. translates it by noite,
" night " ; but it must be taken as an
adverb, "this night"— a composite
consisting of a demonstrative element
cf. Hng., Bhin. ada, wanting in Gr.,
and rachin, night ; Gr. rat, night ;
aratti, this night, rather than "by
night " ; Sp. radii, night ; arachi,
night by night ; Basq. latsi.
Dron, way ; Gr. drom ; Sp. drun.
Duvel, God; Gr. devel; Sp. debel; Basq.
dubel.
Duvela, the Mother of God ; lately
formed from the form .
Estade, hat; Gr. stadik; Sp. estache.
Estardar, to catch; Gr. astarava; Sp.
estardar, estardelar, to incarcerate.
Estardipen, gaol, or rather imprisonment ;
Gr. astaribe, catching; Sp. estaribel,
estaripel; Basq. ostariben.
Estardon, prisoner; Gr. astardo; Sp.
estardo. The Gr. word is the par-
ticiple of astarava, but the Br. and Sp.
are not formed from estardar, but as
already formed words taken over from
an older form of the language.
Gade, shirt; Gr. gad; Sp. gate; Basq.
gate, gat, -a.
Gajab, non-Gypsy man; Gr. gajo; Sp.
gacho ; Basq. o-, gasho.
Gajin, non-Gypsy women ; Gr. gaji ; Sp.
gachi, cachi ; Basq. e-, gashi.
Garadar, to hide; Gr. geravava; Sp.
garabar, garabelar.
Grai, horse; Gr. grast, gra, grai; Sp.
grasto, gra; in Basq. there are krashni,
-a, mare ; and brastano, rider, derived
from a noun krasht or brast.
Gruvinin, cow ; Gr. guruvni, gurumni ;
Sp. gurni.
Guiadar, to sing; Gr. gildbava; Sp.
guillabar, guiabar ; Basq. kiliaotsia.
Guipen, M. doce, "sweet," but the word
means "sweetness," the u in guipen
is supposed to be pronounced; Gr.
gudlipe; in Sp. is found only gulo,
sweet.
Guldo, sugar, i.e. "sweet"; Gr. gudlo;
guglo ; Sp. gulo, gule.
Guru, bull; Gr. guruv ; Sp. gorui grui;
Basq. gurro, guru, -a,1 kari, -a.
Jalar, to go; Gr. Java; Sp. chalar;
Baudrimont gives sigo-shade = courir,
which seems to mean "they ran fast."
Ji,ndon, a wise man; Sp. chande, from
the following.
Janellar, to know ; Gr. janava ; Sp.
chanar, chanelar.
Jungalipen, ugliness ; in Gr. Paspati
(p. 229) writes djungdliovava, voy.
zungdlovava, but the latter is not
found in his dictionary ; Hng. jungalo ;
Bhm. jungalo. In the Sp.-G. diction-
aries I could not find the correspond-
ing word.
Juquer, dog; Gr. jukel, zhukel; Sp.
chuquel ; Basq. xakel, shukel.
.' Guru, -a, is supposed to mean "bull," not "cow," as Baudrimont writes.
60
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
Juvacanao, magician ; Gr. choveTchano,
phantom ; Sp. wanting in the diction-
aries.
Juvacanin, witch ; Gr. chovekhani,
phantom ; Sp. chuacani, chuanjani ;
Basq. choacani ; witch, not " magi-
cian," as Baudrimont states.
Juvinhar, to stay ; Gr. jivava, to live.
In Spanish the verb is wanting ; cf.
chibiben, life. I do not hesitate to
class juvinhar and jivava together, for
the labial v could cause the vowel i to
be changed into u.
Kambulin, sweetheart (cf. cambuWn).
Kirai, cheese ; Gr. leered ; Sp. quira ;
Basq. Jcial, -a.
Kralis, king, wanting in Gr. ; comes
from the Slavonian krali. This word
occurs in the most of the Gypsy
dialects ; thus, Sp. crally.
Krangrin, church (cf. cangrina).
Lachin, good (f.), the fern, of the follow-
ing.
Lachon, god (m.) ; Gr. lacho (m.), lachi
(f.) ; Sp. lacho ; Basq. lasho.
Lacrin, girl ; Gr. rakli ; Sp. lacroi.
Lacron, boy ; cf. the following.
Lacurron, boy ; Gr. raklo ; Sp. lacro.
Lajavo, ashamed (?) — M. explains it as
vergonha, " shame " ; Gr. lajavo ; cf.
Sp. lacha, laya, shame.
Lindre, sleep, slumber =Gr. lindr ; want-
ing in all othejr dialects except the
Horn., Hng., and Bhm.
Lon, salt ; Gr., Sp., Basq'. Ion.
Lubinin, whore ; Gr. lubni, lumni ; Sp.
lumi, lumica ; Basq. luni, -a.
Machon ) fish ; Gr. macho ; Sp. macho ;
Maxon, ] Basq. masho.
Manguinhar, to beg ; Gr. mangava ;
Sp. mangar, mangelar.
Mardador, murderer : a late formation
from a verb mardar, which is to be
referred to the Gr. marava, to beat ;
Sp. marar, to kill.
Marrdo, bread ; Gr. manro, marno,
maro ; Sp. manro ; Basq. mandro.
Maton, drunken ; Gr. matto ; Sp., Basq.
mato.
Maz, meal ; Gr. mas ; Sp. maas ; Basq.
-a.
Mensa, I, being the instrumental cause
of me. Cf. Gr. mdnja, by me ; the
Sp, uses the prepositional and accusa-
tive cases for the nom. viz. menda,
man.
Merindin, funeral (?) is to be referred to
the root mer ; cf. below.
Migeque, bad, angry ; wanting in
Gr. ; Bhm. mizhex ; Germ, mijax ;
Scand. tnigcik (cf. Pott D. Zig. ii.
459).
Merinhar, to die ; Gr. merava ; Sp.
merar.
Missaia, table ; Gr. mesali, handker-
chief ; Sp. mensalle ; even in Hng.
this word means " table."
Mistoes, very well, rather well ; Gr.
mishto, misto ; Sp. misto ; the Br.
word looks as an adverb.
Mor, wine ; Gr. mol ; the word is want-
ing in Sp. ; Miklosich M. W. viii. 17,
compares Sp. woZar, mole, amolelar,
molancia.
Mui, face ; Gr. mui, face, mouth ; Sp.
mui ; Basq. muil.
Muladar, to kill ; is apparently a new
formation, the base of which is mulon,
q.v.
Mulon, dead ; Gr. mulo, molo ; Sp.
mulo.
Mutrinhar, to make j water ; Gr. mu-
trava ; Sp. mutrar.
Nabasndo, cock; Gr. bashno, basno ; Sp.
basno ; in Brazil basndo is said to
mean " cup " or " saucer," perhaps by
an error of the compiler.
Nachaddo, poor, lost ; not formed from
the verb nachadar, but the Br. equi-
valent for the Gr. nashavdo ; Bhm.
nashado, which for their part are par-
ticiples of nashavava.
Nachadar, to become poor, to be lost ;
so explains M., but probably the verb
is transitive, and means "to lose"; Gr.
nashavava; Sp. nachabar, nachabelar,
to lose.
Nachinhar, to fly ; Gr. nashava ; Sp.
nachar, nacharar^to depart.
Nagualao, sick, ill; Gr. nasvalo, nas-
falo ; Sp. nasalo.
NaTci, ) nose ; Gr. naJc ; Sp. naqui,
Naque, ) nacri.
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
61
Paguerdar, to break ; Gr. pangava, but
Bohm. pagerav ; Germ, pager a? a ; in
Sp. the verb is not found.
Panin, water ; Gr. pani ; Sp. pani,
pani ; Basq. pani.
Papiris, paper ; Bohem. papiris, from
the German Papier.
Parnon, white ; Gr. parno.
Parrudar, to change ; Gr. paruvava,
Bohem. parudav ; Sp. purrubar, par-
ugar.
miss, young lady, that is
honourable (f.) ; Rm. pa-
Paxivalin, I t'ivalo, honest ; Sp.
Pachivalin, \ pachibalo (m.) from the
Gr. verb pakjava ; Sp.
pachibar.
Pelens, testicles ; Gr., Sp. pele.
Pendar, to say, to explain ; Gr. penava ;
Sp. penar, penelar.
Perin, pot ; Gr. piri ; Sp. pirri, pirria.
Perrengues,feet, M.; but the true mean-
ing of that word may be " trousers,"
a derivative from the unknown Br.
equivalent of the Gr., Sp. pindo, pinro.
Piar, to drink ; Gr. piava ; Sp. inyar.
Pla, brother ; Gr. pral, plal ; Sp. plal.
Puron, old ; Gr. puro, phuro ; Sp., Basq.
puro.
Puz, earth ; Gr. phuv ; Sp. pu.
Querdar, to make ; Gr. kerava ; Sp.
querar, querelar.
Quiligin, key ; Gr. klidi, kilidi ; Sp.
wanting.
Quiraz, cheese ; cf. kirai.
Raty, blood ; Gr. ratt ; Sp. arate, rati ;
Basq. lat, -a.
Requerdar, to speak ; Gr. vakerava,
vrakerava ; Sp. araquerar.
Requerdipen, eloquence ; Gr. vrakeribe,
word.
Roe, spoon ; Gr. roy ; Sp. rolli, roin.
Ron, man ; Gr. rom ; Sp. rom, ro.
Runin, woman ; Gr. romni ; Sp. romi.
Sastre, iron ; Gr. shastir, sastir ; Sp. sa ;
Basq. sast, -a.
Sillas, powers ; wanting in Gr. ; Sp.
sila ; from the Slavonian sila.
Sunacai, gold ; Gr. sovnakai, somnakai ;
Sp. sonacai, socanai.
Suvinhar, to sleep ; Gr, sovava ; Sp.
sobar, sobelar ; Basq. soaotsia.
Tirdques, shoes ; Gr. triak ; Germ.
tirax ; Sp. tirajai ; Basq. tiak.
Trup, body ; Rm. trupo ; Sp. trupo ;
from the Slavonian trupu.
Tunsa, thou ; cf. mensa ; Gr. tu ; Sp.
tun, tu, tut, tucue.
Urai, sir, king ; Gr. rai ; Sp. eray,
elay ; Basq. lay, -a.
Urdar, to clothe ; Gr. uriava ; Sp. not
found in the dictionaries.
Vdze-s, hands, fingers ; Gr. vast ; Sp.
bast ; Basq. bast, -a.
Xaron, dish, bowl ; Gr. charo, plate ;
Sp. wanting.
Xinorron, little, small ; Gr. tiknoro ;
chinorre, tizuino, tcino.
Xores, beard ; Gr. chor, jor ; Sp. chon.1
Xuti, milk ; Gr. tud ; Sp. chuti, sut ;
Basq. sut, -a.
(£.) The words which the Brazilian dialect has in common with the
Spanish dialect alone are not very numerous ; it will be sufficient
to give a few instances of them : —
Br. bata, mother ; Sp. bata.
Br. bato, father ; Sp. bato.
Br. buchardon, shooting, clap ;
bucharar, to throw, to shoot.
Br. busnon, black ; cf. Sp. busno, wild.
Br. cascando, poor ; Sp. carcani.
cf. Sp. Br. chinon, officer; Sp. chinobaro = G
baro, governor.
The Basque equivalents adjoined in the list (A) will show clearly,
I think, that there is no nearer connection between the Portuguese
cf. chore ro, barber ; all the Sp.-G. dictionaries write chon, not cfwr.
62 THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BEAZIL.
(Brazilian) and the Basque-Gypsy dialect than between this and
that of the Spanish Gypsies. Looking on that as a settled thing,
I shall go on to point out the peculiarities in phonology and forma-
tion of themes which are common to the Spanish and the Brazilian
Gypsy dialects (leaving aside the Basque), and which distinguish
them from all others; and those which, belonging only to one of
the two dialects, separate them from each other.
PHONOLOGY.
Moraes, in writing the Gypsy words, avails himself of the Portu-
guese alphabet, to which he adds Je, and the y, h, and / of which he
uses nowhere. Even the Spanish Gypsiologists apply the orthography
of their vernacular to the Eomany. I cannot decide if the Spanish
and Portuguese alphabets are quite fit to express the very sound of
the Gypsy words, but I suppose that they are, because the pronuncia-
tion of almost all the Gypsy dialects follows rather accurately that of
the vernacular of the country they are spoken in. Whether there is
a difference in the pronunciation of Moraes' ch and x, of his c and Jc,
k and qu, I am not able to decide. I have therefore thought it best
to retain in writing the manner of spelling adopted by him.
THE ACCENT.
Moraes marks out the accent only in a few words, viz. acdva,
baltinas, cabtn, caddns, clwripdn, chucd, cucdles, ddnes, estdde, gdde,
guipdn, jungalipdn, peUns, pi&gas, tirdques, vdzes, and the numerous
adjectives in 6n, in; all which instances prove that the rules of
accentuation are generally the same as in Portuguese. In the Spanish
dialect the original Gypsy nouns, even if they end in vowels, bear the
accent on the last syllable ; in the Brazilian dialect there are very few
nouns which end in a vowel, except such as affix an inorganic e, viz.
boqve, chibe, gdde, tongue, etc.
CONCORDANCES OF THE VOWELS.
Like the Spanish dialect, the Brazilian is fond of prefixing a vowel
to words whose first consonant is r. In the selection of the vowel
which precedes that consonant, the two dialects do not agree with
one another ; the Spanish using always a or e, the Brazilian a and
sometimes u. Thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
arachai arachai, erachai rashai
aranin , erani ranni
urai erai rai
THK DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL. 63
Sometimes one of the dialects has no prefixed vowel, where the
other has ; thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
anal nao nav
requerdas araquerar
As a general rule, in the Spanish and the Brazilian dialects, e is
prefixed to words commencing \vith st, according to the custom of the
Spanish and the Portuguese languages ; thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
estade estache stadik
estardar estardar astarava l
estardipe estaribel astaribe
estardon estardo astardo
The Br. dialect substitutes the older it o still retained in the Sp. by
e, u : thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
perin piri piri
perrengues pinro pinro
churdar chorar chorava
cucanin jojabar Jcholchavno
runin romi romni
a peculiarity resulting from the dull pronunciation of i, o in Portu-
guese, in unaccented syllables.
The labial v is of great influence to the preceding vowel, which
becomes in many instances u ; thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
duvel debel devel 2
aruvinhar orabar rovava
juvinhar hib jivava
sunacai sonacai sovnacai
That influence is sensible even in the Spanish dialect in such
instances as chuanjani, chuacani ; Br. juvacanin ; but Gr. choveJchani.
There are no prominent peculiarities in the vocalism which might
distinguish the Brazilian and Spanish dialects from the whole set of
the others.
CONCORDANCES OF THE CONSONANTS.
As in the Spanish dialect, there are no aspirates in the Brazilian —
at least these are not expressed in writing, and it is very probable
that they have disappeared in these as in so many other dialects.
Even the Greek dialect seldom retains the original aspirate, while in
1 The a of the first syllable being prefixed.
2 Even in the Basque and English Gypsy dialects, the form of this word is dubel,
doubelle ; duvel.
64 THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
the Hng. the aspirates freely interchange with the tenues. The only
Bhm. dialect is rather consequent in discerning the two series of con-
sonants, and therefore we must refer to it concerning the late tenues
of the Sp. and Br. dialects, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr. Bhm.
candelar ... Jcandava khandav
paguerdar ... pagerav phagerav
panguinha/r pandar pandava phandav
pendar penar penava phenav
puron puro puro, phuro phuro
puz pu phuv
Even the sound x, common to the older Gypsy dialects, though
non-original, is absent from the Br. dialect ; whilst the Sp., in con-
formity with the Spanish language itself, retains it in all instances.
The Br. dialect, as a rule, substitutes k, c, qu, thus : —
Br. cf. Sp. Gr.
cucanin jojabar khokhavni
caben jallipen khabe
cabipe jonjanipen khokhamnibe
baque baji bakht
and so on. Where the Spanish dialect has/ (x) instead of the old sh,
the Brazilian retains the latter : — Br. cachucon ; Sp. cajuco ; Gr.
kashuko.
Gr. seems to have been substituted for d in Br. panguinhar, to
bind ; Sp. pandar ; Gr. pandava (we might have expected pandinhar).
The consonant ch corresponds generally with Spanish ch, whether
this be original or peculiar only to the Spanish dialect, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
chuxans chuchai chuchia
chundar chunar shunava
arachai arachai rasliai
chulon chullo tulo
Br. ch corresponds with Sp. j, Gr. sh, in Br. cachucon ; Sp. cajuco ;
Gr. kashuko.
The consonant x corresponds with the Sp. ch in every case : —
Br-
Gr. Rm.
xaron (?) charo
xdres chon chor
xinorron chinorre tiknoro
xuti chuti tud
paxivalin pachibali pat'ivali
1 The Sanscritic equivalents being gandha, bhanj, bandh, bhan, vriddha, bhtimi.
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL. 65
The consonant j stands in lieu of an original j (df), the Spanish
equivalent of which is ch : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
jalar chalar Java
janellar chanelar janava
gajao gacho gajo
The consonant nh occurs very seldom ; Ih is never written.
The original d is often retained where the Spanish dialect has
changed it to t or ch : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
gade gate gad
estade estache stadik
The consonant n is in some instances the substitute of an original
(and Sp.) m. Thus :—
Br. Sp. Gr.
ron rom rom
runin romi romni
In one instance the m, even in the Spanish dialect, has undergone
this change : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
dron drun drom
Often the Br. n corresponds with Sp. n.
Br.
Sp.
Gr.
juvacanin
chuacani
chovekhani
aranin
erani
ranni
casnin
cani
kahni
daranon
daranoi
darano
balunas
balune
(wanting)
L and r in both dialects interchange sometimes with one another
thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
cambelin cambri kamli
juquer chuqud jukel
mdr mol mol
bravalao balbalo barvalo
and with I, r, of the older dialects : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
pla. plot. pral.
lacrdn lacro raklo
lacri lacroi rakli
66 THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
The softened Ih (T) is never met with, and the Sp. //, represented
merely by I, where it has not altogether disappeared, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr. Slavon.
Icralis crally ... krali
chulon chullo tulo
missaia inensalle mesali
guiadar guillabar gildbava
guipen (?) gudlipen
In some instances the Spanish dialect has //, where it is absent in
the older dialects, and even in the Brazilian, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
roe rolli roy
Peculiar to the Brazilian dialect is the final I in anal, name;
Sp. nao ; Gr. nav.
The z, occurring only in a few words, is mostly a mere com-
pendium scripturae for s ; thus, in balivaz and maz (cf. the list A).
The final z in puz, earth ; Sp. pu ; Gr. phuv ; and in quiraz, cheese ;
Sp. quira ; Gr. Jceral, is peculiar to the Brazilian dialect.
In the labial class there is a change between b and v to be observed,
the I prevailing in the Spanish, the v in the Brazilian dialect, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr. Rni.
vazes bast vast
paxivalin pachibali ... pat'ivali
balivaz baleba
barvaldo balbalo barvalo
crivao quiribo Jcirivo
debel
This difference in pronunciation is the same as that which is
found even between the Spanish and the Portuguese vernaculars.
On the whole, the Brazilian dialect has retained the original
vowels and consonants in some instances, where the Spanish dialect
has omitted, confused, or blended them together : such instances are : —
Br. Sp. Gr.
gurumnin gurni guruvni
guru grui guruv
juvacanin chuacani chovekhani
lubinin lumi lubni
naqualao nasalo nasfalo
aron roi varo
In a few others the Spanish has the more original form ; thus it
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
67
has retained the group nr, while not only the Brazilian but most of
the other dialects have it changed to r, thus : —
Br.
arens (pi.)
perrengues
o"
Sp.
anro
pinro
Gr.
vanro
pinro
The other dialects affording : Em. aro, ponro, piro ; Hng. yaro,pindro>
pro ; Bhm. yarro, pro ; Germ, yarro, plro ; Pol. Kuss. yarzho, piro, etc.
FORMATION OF THEMES.
The old themes of nouns formed in o masc., i fern., still preserved
in the Spanish, have undergone a change in the Brazilian dialect,
where they either —
( 1 ) lost their final vowel, as : —
Slavon.
Br.
bar
trup
naque, naki
Sp.
baro
trupo
naqui
Gr.
baro
nak
trupu
or (2) added an n to the vowel of the theme, as —
Br.
chulon
daranon
cachucdn
caldn
aranin
cambelin
lubinin
perin
Sp.
chullo
daranoi
cajuco
calo
erani
cambri
lumi
Gr.
tulo
darano
kashuko
calo
ranni
kamni
lubni
piri
as —
Sp.
nasalo
quiribo
balbalo
gacho
Gr.
nasfalo
kirivo
barvalo
9<*>jo
pima
or (3) the o changed into the nasal
Br.
naqualdo.
crivao
barvalao
gajao
A few feminine nouns have added the Portuguese theme suffix a,
as —
Br. Sp. Gr.
cangrina cangri kangeri
chavina chabi chai
duvela, from the masc. duvel
A number of themes, which in the older dialects end in a con-
sonant, in the Brazilian, as in the Spanish, end in e, thus —
Br.
boque
baque
chibe
Sp.
boque
baji
chipe
Gr.
bok
bakht
chib
68 THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
In the formation of verbal themes the Brazilian dialect dis-
plays its special characteristics ; they are for the most part formed
by the suffix inh, which in the older dialects is almost exclusively
joined to roots borrowed from European languages (cf. Miklosich M.
W. x. 1179 f.). Examples of these are :—
Br. Sp. Gr.
manguinkar mangar mangava
mutrinhar mutrar mutrava
aruvinhar orabar rovava
nachinhar nachar nashava
despandinhar despandar pandava
diquinhar dicar dikhava
dinhar dinar dava
merinhar merar merava
(2) In I or el, as in the Spanish dialect.
Br. Sp. Gr.
caiar, instead of calhar jalar Jchava
camelar camblar kamama
jalar chalar . Java
janellar chanelar janava
(3) Composites with da. These are more numerous than in any
other dialect, thus : —
Br. Sp. Gr. Bhm.
chidar chibar chidava chivav
chundar chunar shunava shunav
churdar chorar chorava chorav
estardar estardar astarava astarav
garadar garabar yeravava garuvav
guiadar guillabar giliavava gil'avav
paguerdar (?) ... pagerav
parrudar purrubar paruvava parudav
requerdar araquerar vakerava vakerav
and so on. Such forms as estardon, etc., are not participles formed
from estardar, etc., for they would be estardino, etc. ; but older parti-
ciples formed from the simple verbs, and taken over into the new
form of the dialect.
SPECIMENS AND OBSERVATIONS ON GRAMMAR.
As specimens of the Brazilian-Gypsy language, Moraes supplies a
few verses, with their translation, viz. : —
i. ii.
De nienga dae te jalaste . Quando, 6 dae, tu merinhaste
deste gau tao cachardin ! menga tambem merinhou,
manguella ao duvel por menga em tanto nachadipein
que simo tac nachadin. de menga tudo jalou.
THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BKAZIL. 69
III. IV.
0 bato, tu merinhaste Quern se cimar nachadon
tao chinurrao eu fiquei ! nao requerde cime dar
raanguella ao duvel por menga, que o ron quidon requerdando
que por tuga eu manguinhei ! . dinhao dabans a niardar.
v.
Te camellava runin
simando bar nachadon
s<5 o teu babanipen
me querdava bravalon.1
From these specimens it is evident that the Brazilian dialect, like
the Spanish, having lost the original declension and conjugation, uses
instead of it that of the vernacular. Whilst the Spanish dialect has
retained the old possessive pronouns, viz. : — minrio, my ; tiro, thy ;
desquero, his (cf. Gr. leskero), etc., that of Brazil uses de menpa, of
me ; thus :— de menga dde, my mother (i.) ; de menga tudo, all what is
mine (n.) ; and the Portuguese possessive pronoun, instead of the
Gypsy, occurs in o teu babanipen, thy beauty (v.). The Gypsy per-
sonal pronouns are in many instances (in these examples) supplanted
by the Portuguese words, thus : — te jalaste, tibi iisti [cf. in the Slovak-
Gypsy sub-dialect me mange phirava, ego mihi ibo, and ja tuke,
i tibi] (i.) ; quando 6 dde tu merinhaste, when thou diedst, 0 mother
(IT.) ; o bato, tu merinhaste, 0 father, thou diedst (m.) ; tao chinurrao
eu fiquei, so wretched I remained (ill.) ; te camellava runin, a woman
loved thee (v.) ; o teu babanipen me querdava bravaldn, thy beauty
may make me happy (v.), etc. Instances of verbal forms are —
jalaste, thou wentst (i.) ; manguSlla, pray ! (i.) ; simo [Moraes trans-
lates it by fiquei, " I remained." I am in doubt about the meaning of
that word] (i.) ; merinhaste, thou diedst (n.) ; merinhou, I died (n.) ;
jalou, I went (?) (n.) ; manguinhei, I prayed (in.) ; and so on. These
few instances will sufficiently prove what I said above about the
manner of conjugating.
1 The following is the translation of these verses : The first two, in which a daughter is
addressing her departed mother, may be Englished thus : " My mother, thou hast gone from
the world mournful ! Pray to God for me, who remain without a protector. When thou
diedst, 0 mother, I too died,— into such a forlorn condition have I wholly gone." The third
verse, of a similar nature, is spoken by a son to his departed father : " O father, thou diedst ;
I was left such a little child. Pray to God for me, for I have prayed for thee." The fourth
verse goes thus — " He who does not admit his ill-fortune fears that the unlucky man, when
he has admitted his bad luck, will be beaten to death " (or, according to a freer translation
given by Moraes, "will be regarded as beaten for ever"). The last verse is this: "I
desired thee, 0 woman, although I myself am ugly. I know thy beauty wr.uld make me
happy."
70 THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
KESULTS.
The Gypsy dialect of Brazil has a near connection with that ol
Spain, as is demonstrated by the following peculiarities which they
have in common : —
(a) They possess a set of vocables neither belonging to the other
Gypsy dialects, nor borrowed, as far as I can decide, from the
Spanish or Portuguese vernaculars.
(&) They are without aspirate consonants.
(c) They agree with one another in forming verbal themes in I
and el.
(d) They are both destitute of the original declensions of nouns
and verbs.
The Brazilian and the Spanish Gypsy dialects differ from one
another in, the following points : —
(a) The set of sounds is different in each of them, and the pro-
nunciation not less different than that of the Portuguese and the
Spanish languages themselves.
(&) The Brazilian dialect has in many cases preserved the more
original forms of words, whilst the Spanish dialect affords more
corrupted ones.
(c) The dialect of Brazil shows a preference for forming verbal
themes in ink or by composition with da, so that the themes formed
in this manner have nearly displaced all others.
As all the points of agreement between the Brazilian and Spanish
forms of Gypsy speech do not seem to be so important as to neces-
sitate us to declare that one of them must be a sub-dialect of the
other, they both are on the same degree of decay. They are spoken
in countries, the vernaculars of which are offsprings of one and the
same language, and have therefore influenced the speech of the
Gypsies in almost the same manner ; the usual frequent intercourse
of the Gypsies of neighbouring countries could bring their dialects
nearer to one another, and so on. On the other hand, the differences
of the Brazilian and the Spanish Gypsy forms of speech, particularly
those points of difference which I mentioned above (sub &), are suffi-
cient to justify us in claiming for the language of the Brazilian
Gypsies the rank of an independent dialect.
EUDOLF VON SOWA.
DOMS, JATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. 71
II.— POMS, JATS, AND THE OKIGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
[Extracted from the Indian Antiquary, 1886-87.]
ME. LELAND has made a happy suggestion that the original
Gypsies may have been Doms of India.1 He points out that
Romany is almost letter for letter the same as Domani, the plural of
Dom? Domani is the plural form in the Bhoj'purl dialect of the
Bihari language. It was originally a genitive plural; so that
Romany-Eye, " a Gypsy gentleman," may be well compared with the
Bhoj'puri Domani rdy (Skr. Domdndm rdjd), " a king of the Doms."
The Bhqfpuri-speaking Doms are a famous race, and they have many
points of resemblance with the Gypsies of Europe. Thus, they are
darker in complexion than the surrounding Biharis; are great thieves;
live by hunting, dancing, and telling fortunes ; their women have a
reputation for making love-philtres and medicines to procure abor-
tion ; they keep fowls (which no orthodox Hindu will do), and are
said to eat carrion. They are also great musicians and horsemen.
Mr. Fleet has drawn my attention to a South-Indian inscription
given in the Ind. Ant. vol. xi. p. 9 ff., in line 50 of which a certain
Domma is mentioned. On p. 10 of the same volume, Mr. Fleet says,
with reference to him, " In connection with him (Eudradeva), the first
record in this inscription is that he subdued a certain Domma, whose
strength evidently lay in his cavalry. No clue is given as to who
Domma was ; but as doma, domba, or dama, is the name of ' a
despised mixed caste/ he may have been the leader of some abori-
ginal tribe, which had not then lost all its power." If this conjecture
is true, it would show that the Doms extended over the greater part
of India, and in some places possessed considerable power.
But the resemblance of the Bhoj'puri and Gypsy dialects is not
confined to a similarity of name. The Gypsy grammar is closely
connected with Bhqj'puri, or with its original Apabhraihsa Magadhi
Prakrit, thus :—
Gypsy. Bhqj'puri. Magadhi Prakrit.
Nom. Rom Dom
Obi. Sing. Homes Dom Dornassa or^v
Domas Vj
( Doman D6inannam )
ObLPlur. Rom6n {
Nom. kalo, ' black ' kala
1 See Tlie Gypsies, Boston, 1882, pp. 333-335. Also The Original Gypsies and their
Language, Vienna, 1888.
2 This resemblance is not apparent to non-Orientalists, but the symbols d and r expressed
originally the same sound. — [ED.]
72
DOMS, JATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
Gypsy. Bhoj'pftri.
Obi kale1 kale
Genitive termina-
tion of Nouns
and Pronouns koro kar
3rd sing. pres. lela, ' he takes ' lela
3rd sing past lelas, ' he was taking ' lelas
1st sing. fut. jav, ' I will go ' jab (or jaba)
Past part. gelo, ' gone ' gel (or gela)
1st sing. fut. kama kerava, 'I will do' karab (or karaba)
Infinitive kerava, ' to do ' karab (or karaba)
These examples might be continued at great length, but the above
is sufficient to show the close grammatical connection between the two
languages. The vocabularies possess even more numerous points of
resemblance, which will be evident to any one comparing the two.
The following mongrel half-Gypsy, half-English rhyme, taken from
Borrow, will show the extraordinary similarity of the two voca-
bularies : —
Gypsy,
English,
BJwj'puri, .
. The Eye
squire
ray
he mores adrey the wesh
hunts within wood
mare andal bes' (Pers. besh)
Gypsy,
English,
Bhoj'puri, .
. The kaun-engro
ear-fellow (hare)
kan-wala
and
chiriclo
bird
chirain
Gypsy,
English,
BUfpQfft, .
. You sovs with
sleep
soe
leste
him
'drey
within
andal
the wesh
wood
bes'
Gypsy,
English,
Bhqj'puri, .
. And rigs for
carries
leste
him
the
gono
sack (game-bag)
gon
English,
Bhdfpuri, .
Gypsy,
English,
English,
Bhofptiri, .
Gypsy,
English,
Bhofpurf, .
Oprey
Above
upari
Are
Tuley
Below
Tale
Are
the rukh
adrey
the wesh
tree
within
wood
rukh
andal
bes'
chiriclo
and
chiricli
male-bird
female-bird
chirain
chirain
the rukh
adrey
the wesh
tree
within
wood
rukh
andal
bes'
pireno
lover
piyara
and
pireni
lady-love
piyari
The termination of abstract nouns in pen will at once suggest the
Indian Gaudian pan, which comes from the Skr. tva or (Vaidik) tvan,
DOMS, JATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. 73
through the Apabhrarhsa Prakrit -ppana (Hemachandra, iv. 437).
The Gypsy sign of the comparative is der, Skr. tar a, which can
become dara in Magadhi Prakrit (Hem. iv. 302). On the verb a
whole series of articles might be written. It will be sufficient to
point out here identities like the following : Skr. s'rindshi, Mag. Pr.
sunasi, Bihari sunas, Gypsy shrines, " thou hearest ; " Turkish Gypsy
jdld, English Gypsy jala, Bihari /d^, "he goes."
This last is in both Gypsy and Bihari a compound tense, and the
identity is specially remarkable. The compound is in India peculiar
to Bihari, and is only used in Bhoj'puri or the Dialect spoken ly
Magahiyd Doms, and in no other dialect.
The pronouns give rise to many suggestive considerations. The
word for " I " is m0, the Bihari m6n. But the plural men or mendi is
still more interesting. A reference to the Turkish Gypsy shows that
this was originally timen or timendi. Amen is the Bihari haman or
Jmmani, " we," but how are we to account for the form dmendi ? Here
again Bhoj'puri alone gives us the clue. Haman or liamani is really
an old genitive plural, the Prakrit amlidna "of us," and means
" (many) of us," hence simply " we." In time, however, the original
meaning became forgotten, and the word was considered a pure
nominative plural. But the genius of the Bihari language, differing
from that of the more Western Gaudians, seemed to demand that the
nominative plural of nouns should be in a genitive form, and so the
Bhoj'puri dialect, when the fact became forgotten that hamani was
really a genitive, tacked on to it again Jed, the sign of the genitive,
making hamanikd, which again means " (many) of us," " we." This
is a peculiarity of the Bhoj'puri dialect alone, and does not occur in
the other dialects. Now let us take the Gypsy amendi or mendi.
We have seen that the element amen is really a genitive. I believe
that di is also the sign of the genitive plural from the Mag. Pr. kadt
(Skr. kritas), just as the to in esto ij fiomkata (Apabhrarhsa, nom.
sing. katu).
The Jat theory of the origin of the Gypsies may be stated as
follows : — According to the Shdh-Ndma, the Persian monarch Bahrain
Gaur received in the fifth century from an Indian king 12,000
musicians who were known as Luris, and according to the Majmu'
au't-Tawdrikh, the Luris or Lulls (i.e. Gypsies) of modern Persia are
descendants of these. The historian Hamza Isfahani, who wrote half
a century before Ferdusi, the author of the Shdh Ndma, however, calls
these imported musicians Zutts, and the Arabic Dictionary Al Qdmds
has the following entry : " Zutt, arabicised from Jatt, a people of
VOL. I. — NO. II. F
74 J30MS, JATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
Indian origin." Another lexicon, the MtihM, gives the same informa-
tion, and adds that they are the people called Nawar in Syria, and
that they are musicians and dancers. Zott, as the author writes it, is
also a term of contempt. " You Zotti " is a term of abuse. Again,
according to Istakri and Ibn Haukal, Arabic geographers of the tenth
century, the fatherland of these people was the marshy lands of the
Indus between Al-Mansura and Makran.
In the course of years numbers of Zotts settled in Persia,
especially in the regions of the Lower Tigris, where in 820 A.D. they
had become a great body of robbers and pirates. Various attempts
were made to subdue them, which was not effected till 834 ; after
which they were conveyed away to Ainzarba, on the northern frontier
of Syria, In 855, according to Tdbari, the Byzantines attacked
Ainzarba, and carried off the Zott prisoners with them to their own
country. In this way we have the entry of the Gypsies into Europe
accounted for.
Now, though it is possible that the Gypsies of Europe are
descended from these Zotts who were imported into the Greek
Empire, and that they are the same as the Lurls or Persian Gypsies,
there appear to me to be two most important flaws in the chain by
which it is attempted to connect Gypsies with the Jats (or Jatts, as
they are always called there) of Sindh.
First, there is the point of language.
It is admitted by the advocates of the Jat theory that there is " a
great unlikeness between Roman! and Jataki " (the Jat dialect), but
they argue that " language does not form an infallible test of pedigree.
There are several Gypsy populations by whom the language of the
Roman! has been forgotten ; and everywhere the tendency among
Gypsies of the present day is to relinquish their ancestral speech "
(MacRitchie, Gypsies of India, p. 82).
To this the answer is not far to seek. In the first place, though
the language test may not be infallible, it is a very powerful one, and
throws much doubt on any theory to which it gives an unfavourable
reaction. The Gypsies of the present day undoubtedly speak an
Indian language, and that language is not, in any way, nearly con-
nected with Jataki, so that if we adopt the theory quoted above, we
must also adopt the utterly impossible assumption that the Jats left
India speaking Jataki, and in the course of their wanderings over
Asia and Europe, while they were being or had been scattered into
a number of independent tribes, gave up their own language, and
exchanged it, not for the languages of their new homes, but all of
J>OMS, JATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. 75
them for one certain definite language of India which they had left
centuries before.
We have not only to assume this, but that clans scattered over
Western Asia, and perhaps over Europe, all fortuitously agreed to
adopt the same Indian language, though all communication between
them was barred.
But, even admitting that the test of language when considered
alone is not in this case infallible, it becomes so if we consider the
circumstances which attended the importation from India of these
12,000 Zotts or Luris. Ferdusi says distinctly that they were 12,000
musicians of both sexes, and the author of the Mtihit adds that they
were dancers, and contemptible. I am at a loss to understand how so
large a number of degraded persons could be found amongst those
from whom were descended the brave defenders of Bharatpur. With
all due deference to the authors of the Arabic Dictionary above
referred to, it is impossible that these people can have been Jats.
The Jats are one of the highest castes of India. They claim to
be, after the Bajputs, one of the purest tribes of Kshattriyas (Monier
Williams, Hinduism, p. 161), and any one with the smallest acquaint-
ance with the Indian caste system can understand that a huge band
of professional singers and dancers, men and women, could never
have come from a Kshattriya tribe.
In spite, therefore, of the authority of Bott, of Trumpp, and of
De Goeje, I am unable to accept the theory that the descent of the
Gypsies from the Jats is proved, even if we admit that the former
are descended from the Zotts or Luris of Arabic and Bersian writers.
I am informed by Captain B. C. Temple that throughout India
the Jats or Jatts number five and a half millions, but there are Jats
and Jats, at any rate in the Banjab, and the Jatt of the Lower Indus,
Sindh, and the Derfijat district differs as widely as can well be
imagined from the Jilt of Bharatpur, and the Jatt of the ruling Sikh
families of the Banjab. In the latter cases he is a fine specimen of
humanity, but in the former exactly the reverse. All along the
Indus " Jatt " is a term of contempt, and implies roughly, any agri-
cultural Muhammedan tribe which is not of the Locally superior sort
— i.e. which is not Sayyid, Baloch, Bathan, or Quresh. This remark
applies more or less also to the Salt Bange District, the Lower Chinab
and Jhelam, and to Sindh itself. Ibbetson's Ethnography of the Panjdl,
§§ 420 to 440, is the best contribution to the subject; compare also
O'Brien's Settlement Report of the Muzaffargarh District. Captain
Temple thinks the above use of the term Jatt may possibly account
76 DOMS, JATS, AND THE ORTOIN OF THE GYPPTTS.
for the spread westwards of such a term as Zutts, to signify an
inferior class of foreigners, though it would argue nothing as to their
real racial origin.
I have already stated my opinion that the language test points to
an Indian tribe speaking a dialect derived from Magadhi, and not
from Sauraseni Prakrit, and that, therefore, it is in Eastern Hindustan
that we must look for their ancestors. I have further pointed out
the extreme probability of the criminal tribe known as the Magahiya
Doms (who, by the way, are great musicians, singers, and dancers),
being descended from the same stock as the Gypsies. I may note
here a word quoted by Mr. MacPdtchie from Mr. Leland, which lends
a singular confirmation to the theory. It is the Gypsy term for
bread, which is mdnro or manro. This is usually connected either with
the Gaudian mdnr, rice gruel, or with manrud, the millet (Eleusine
coracana). Neither of these agrees with the idea of bread, but in the
Magab! dialect of Biharl spoken south of the Ganges, in the native
land of these Magahiya Doms, there is a peculiar word mandd or
mdnrd, which means wheat (the change from mandd to mdnrd is
quite regular), whence the transition to the Gypsy mdnro, bread, is
eminently natural. G. A. GPJEESON.
Ill— THE CASCAEEOTS OF CIBOUEE.
(COMMUNICATED TO THE EDITORS BY THE EEV. WENTWORTH WEBSTEK.)
T CAN add very little to the information on the Gypsies in the
Pays Basque given by MM. Fr. Michel, Cenac-Moncaut, Baud-
rimont, and De Eochas. The following remarks are of value only
as independent confirmatory evidence of the same facts.
On November 24, 1870, I had a long conversation with M. and
Mde. Darramboure, former Mayor of Ciboure, a suburb of St. Jean
de Luz, on the subject of the Cascarrotac, the mingled Basque and
Gypsy population. The notes which I made at the time, writing
down in English the French of M. and Mde. Darramboure, are as
follows. I may add that M. Darramboure was then upwards of
eighty, but with all his mental faculties fully alive. Mde. Darram-
boure was slightly younger ; both are long since dead : —
The archives of the Mairie of Ciboure date only from 1763, con-
sequently they give no information respecting the arrival and estab-
lishment of the Casearrotac at Ciboure, M. Darramboure supposes
THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURK. 77
them to have come from Spain, and about two hundred years ago.
The priests formerly marked in the registers, in the margin, baptism
or marriage of a Cascarrot, or Bohemian, but do so no longer. The
population of Ciboure confounded them with the Agots (the Basque
equivalent of Cagots), though the Agots were fair, and the Cascarrots
dark. In the youth of M. and Mde. Darramboure they still preserved
some words of their own language (Delia, the sun ; mamlrun, bread ;
larraba, meat ; puro, old man ; Irambal, tempest, were remembered
by Mde. Darramboure) ; now they have almost entirely lost it. The
Hungarian Gypsies, who passed through St. Jean de Luz in 1868 and
1870, and the Cascarrots could not understand each other.1
They were once far more numerous at Ciboure than at present,
and inhabited the whole guartier of Bordegain. Some of the men are
horse-dealers, others make baskets and weave, but many are fisher-
men and sailors ; they fish more with the line than the others, and
from the shore. They are courageous, and more industrious than the
Basques. They intermarried first with the Spaniards, and afterwards
with the Basques of the neighbourhood, and are now quite mixed
with them. Occasionally in the mixed marriages the pure Gypsy type
occurs in individuals, even where the Basque parent is fair. They
used to live without religion ; if they had any of their own at their
first arrival, they had forgotten it; but little by little they have
become Catholics, and are now more fond of the services than the
other Basques. No missionary, or other person, is known as their
convertisseur. When the Basques buried in their churches (as they
did before the Revolution), the Cascarrots were always buried outside ;
at present both are buried together in the cemeteries.
Thus far M. Darramboure.
I have heard since, on good authority, that the late aged cure
of Ciboure -once had representations made to him by the Vicar-
General, on the part of a new Bishop of Bayonne, instigated by some
pious ladies, summer visitants to Ciboure, who were shocked by the
freedom of manner and the gay dressing of this part of his congrega-
tion at church, and at their fondness for dancing, etc. The old cure
listened without saying a word till the discourse was ended, then he
1 The late Dr. De "Rochas (who, it may be mentioned, was personally acquainted with Mr.
Webster, and who looked over the notes now published), admits that the Cascarrots have
still enough of their original language to prove their right to call themselves the descendants
of " Komanichels." His account was published in 1876. But he points out that, of the 352
" Basque-Gypsy " words collected by M. Baudrimont in 1858, partly from his own experience
and partly from the lists of Michel and others, a considerable number are repetitions, while
others are clearly Basque, Spanish, French, and slang. Nevertheless, most of the words are
genuine Romani. — ED.
78 THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE.
spoke deliberately to this effect : " 1 know my people well ; I go round
among them. These girls often marry well. I see their rooms are
kept neater and cleaner than the others ; they are furnished with
more taste, and have nice flowers in them. My visits are welcome.
They make their husbands happy, and glad to stay at home, and not
go to the cabarets (public-houses) ; and as long as I see they make
their husbands and homes happy, I will not speak to them about their
dress and dancing." The cure was not in very good odour at the
Eveche, afterwards, but no more representations were made to him.
My own observations on the above are, that the passage of the
Hungarian Gypsies, or Gypsies from Eastern Europe, alluded to by
M. Darramboure in 1868-70, is a recurring fact every two or three
years. I left St. Jean de Luz in 1881, but for some time before that
I had been ill, and a band may easily have passed without my being
aware of it; but there were at least two other bands between 1870
and 1880, one — I believe, in 1872. Their route seems to be, as far as
I have been able to trace it, vid Paris, Bordeaux, Bayonne, St. Jean
de Luz, Hendaye, through Spain quite to the south, and returning by
the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees, by Barcelona and Perpignan.
M. de Eochas appears to have met one of these bands at Perpignan,
in July 1875 (cf. Les Farias de France et d'JZspagne, par V. de Eochas,
p. 259; Hachette, Paris, 1876). These bands follow always the
same route, and encamp on the same spots. When at St. Jean de
Luz they make an apparently useless visit to Ascaiu, a village about
five miles off their road, returning to St. Jean de Luz. They are
evidently well off, with good carts, wagons, horses, and utensils ;
many of them wear silver ear-rings and ornaments. Their trade,
mending the copper vessels in the neighbourhood, seems to me to be
a mere pretence ; it cannot pay the expenses of the journey. What
is the reason of this migration ? Once I was standing with a Basque
fisherman, watching their arrival, when the chief of the band ad-
dressed him in Basque, and the conversation went on between them
in that language. When it had ceased, I asked the fisherman, whom
I knew well, how the man spoke Basque. The reply was curt : —
" He speaks it as well as I do." Afterwards I tried to draw out the
Gypsy, but he evaded my questions. " We pick up languages along
the road. He had never been in the neighbourhood before," etc.
These I believe to have been falsehoods. I must, however, add, that
I have known Basque scholars learn Magyar, and Hungarians Basque,
with unusual facility. Still the question remains : " What is the
object of these journeys ? "—a question for your Society to answer.
THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE. 79
The testimony of M. and Mde. Darramboure, and of the late cure
of Ciboure. all three Basques, to the good qualities of the Cascarrots
seems to me to be of great importance. No people surpass the
Basques in pride of race, and they would certainly not attribute
superior qualities to another people unless they really possessed
them. I have heard from others that the Cascarrots first introduced
line-fishing at St. Jean de Luz and Ciboure. I have also personally
remarked cases of the atavism mentioned ; one was very striking ; in
another case the Gypsy type appeared in one only of a family, not a
trace of it appearing in the others. The lower class of the Cascarrot
women are slovenly and dirty in their dress and person ordinarily ;
but show a sense of colour and taste on fete-days, etc. : they are
exceedingly voluble, use much gesture, sing at the top of their voices,
and are more fond of the Spanish fandango than of the Basque
dances. I never saw a man pass a more unpleasant quarter of an
hour than a Madrid footman, or upper servant, did in a third-class
railway carriage between St. Jean de Luz and Bayonne. Several
Cascarrot women and girls had come in at St. Jean de Luz with their
fish. As usual, they were talking loudly, singing, gesticulating, all in
high spirits, when the Spaniard remarked in Spanish (evidently think-
ing that he would not be understood by them) to his neighbour,
" What savages they are ! " The women and girls flew on him at
once, clambering over the seats, gesticulating wildly, shaking their
fists in his face, screaming out a torrent of abuse and cutting wit
against him, and his nation, and all his belongings, in four languages,
Basque, French, Spanish, and Gascoun, often jumbling two or more
in the same sentence, defiant of grammar of any kind, all shouting at
once, and without any intermission, till we arrived at Bayonne. The
man at first thought he would be thrown out of the carriage ; but the
spectators knew that the women would not really touch him, and
they laughed till they could laugh no longer. These Cascarrots and
the Basque fisherwomen, before the railway from Bayonne was made,
used to show wonderful speed and endurance in carrying their fish
on their heads to sell at Bayonne. Bare-footed and bare-legged, with
petticoats girt up, they went along with a kind of dancing run,1 and
1 This peculiar " dancing run " recalls the following statements by M. Michel (Le Pays
Basque, Paris 1857, pp. 138-9, note : "In Basque, the word Cascarrotac denotes, strictly
speaking, a class of mountebanks, or, at any rate, of young people who, in fetes, triumphal
processions, and escorts of honour, are chosen to lead the way, dancing as they go. . . .
When the Orleanist princes returned from Spain, their carriage was preceded by Cascarrots,
who leaped and danced all the road from Saint Jean de Luz to Bayonne. In 1660, when
Louis xiv., coming to his wedding, arrived at the first of these towns, a band of Crascabilairc
dancers, placing themselves in front of the king's horses, danced to the sound of small, round
80 THE CASCAllllOTS OF (J1BOURE.
covered the ground at an extraordinary rate. Biarritz is nine miles
from St. Jean de Luz by the most direct road, and few short cuts can
be made : in a wager between Englishmen some twenty years ago, a
Cascarrot woman delivered at Biarritz a written message a few
minutes within the hour after starting from St. Jean de Luz. The
woman was not aware of the bet ; but was told only that it was a
most urgent case, and that she must go as fast as possible. I do not
know that the Cascarrots much excelled the Basques in this ; the
latter are wonderful walkers ; but they certainly were not inferior.
It is allowed by all that they are now more zealous in keeping up
traditionary religious customs, such as those of Christmas, Epiphany,
Corpus Christi, St. John's Day, etc., than the Basques themselves.
bells and drams, and performed the national dance. . . . Lastly, in 1701, during the fetes
occasioned by the visit of Philip v. to Bayonne, great praise was given— according to the
municipal records cited by Bey lac (Nouvelle Chronique de Bayonne, p. 193)— to a troop of
Basque dancers, who, wearing a number of little bells and accompanied by the tambourine,
performed marvels, dancing and capering in an extraordinary manner."
A parallel instance to these is that of the English jester and mountebank Kemp, who, in
the year 1599, danced a morris from London to Norwich, a feat which it took him nine days
to accomplish. Kemp styled himself "head-master of Morrice-dauncers/' and, in the wood-
cut prefaced to his Nine Daies Wonder (London, 1600 ; reproduced by the Camden Society,
London, 1840), one sees that he wore the dress and bells of the Morris-dancer. Moreover,
that woodcut shows that "Thomas Slye my Taberer," who accompanied him, played upon
the small, one-handed drum, or tambour, and with the other hand manipulated the flageolet,
exactly in the fashion of the Juylars in the Eastern Pyrenees at the present day, which is
akin to the Basque fashion (although the " tambour " of the latter people is a six-stringed
instrument ; not a small drum, as in the other two instances). What Kemp danced was, of
course, the Morisco or Morris-dance ; and it is clear that this was the dance of the Cascarrots.
Indeed, the Morris-dance is understood to have come to England from Spain, and to be so
named because it was a dance of Moors, a term once applied to any dark-skinned people ;
and, indeed, applied to Gypsies of the fifteenth century by a Scottish writer.
Though Kemp is not stated to have been dark-skinned, either by nature or by art, we
learn through Douce (Illustrations of Shakespeare, vol. ii. pp. 434 et seq., London, 1807)
"that the Morris-dancers usually blackened their faces with soot, that they might the better
pass for Moors." Also that a sixteenth-century Frenchman, in describing the " uncorrupted
Morris-dance," "relates that in his youthful days it was the custom in good societies for a
boy to come into the hall, when supper was finished, with his face blackened, his forehead
bound with white or yellow taffeta, and bells tied to his legs. He then proceeded to dance
the Morisco, the whole length of the hall, backwards and forwards, to the great amusement
of the company." From which evidence it is clear that the "uncorrupted Morris-rfrmcers "
were people of a swarthy complexion.
Douce gives several fifteenth-century references to this dance. One of these states that
" at a splendid feast given by Gaston de Foix at Vendome in 1458, ' foure yong laddes and a
damosell attired like savages daunced (by good direction) an excellent Morisco, before the
assembly.' " He adds that " Coquillart, a French poet, who wrote about 1470, says that the
Swiss danced the Morisco to the beat of the drum." He also quotes these lines from Shake-
speare (2nd Pt. King Henry Sixth, in. 1) :—
" . . . I have seen him
Caper upright like a wild Morisco,
Shaking the bloody darts, as he his bells."
All these extracts tend to show that the original dance of the Cascarrots was the Morris,
or Moorish dance ; so called by other Europeans because it was the peculiar dance of a dark-
skinned people. Of course, the " dancing run " of the modern Cascarrot fishwomen must be
something less ornate and much more practical than that for which their forefathers were
distinguished. — ED.
THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE. 81
The neighbourhood of St. Jean de Luz has been the scene of move
than one epidemic of witchcraft, and I have heard many tales of
witches ; but in none do the Cascarrots figure. Two of the tales of
my Basque Legends (Griffith and Farran, 1879) were obtained from the
Cascarrots; i.e. Laurentine Kopena, a beggar woman, after she had
exhausted her own budget, went at my request and learned these
tales from the Cascarrots; they are Ass -skin (pp. 158-61), and the
one alluded to on pp. 191-2 ; both have evidently passed through the
French. One of the richest of the Cascarrots at Ciboure, since dead,
was popularly called the King of the Cascarrots. I knew him by
sight, but I doubt if he possessed any real authority whatever;
hospitable to the rest he certainly was. His property has since been
sold, and I have not heard of any successor to the pseudo-title. As
to the etymology or signification of the word Cascarrotac, I can give
no explanation. Dr. Guilbeau, Mayor of St. Jean de Luz, himself a
Basque, makes it equivalent to Cast' Agotac, meaning, I suppose, the
Cagot-caste or race ; but I should consider this doubtful.1
There is a strange story, which I have often been assured is
founded on fact, but of which I have not been able to procure an
original authentic narrative, alluded to by Dr. de Eochas (p. 251), and
of which a distorted literary version is given in tales iii. and iv. of the
anonymous Romancero du Pays Basque (Paris, 1859), written really
by Fr. Michel. It deals with a case of seduction, and a Gypsy, chief
of a band of smugglers, who afterwards turned hermit ; but the facts
are very obscure. The hillside at the foot of which the railway now
runs on both sides of the Biarritz station, above the small lakes
Brindos and Mouriscot, has been pointed out formerly to me as a
favourite camping-ground of Bohemiens, and the scene of many con-
flicts, with stones put up to mark the spots where victims had been
murdered. I have also found orders at the end of the last century
and beginning of this for the expulsion of these Bohemiens thence.
During the first Carlist war Gypsies are said to have attacked the
Carlist contrabandistas who were conveying treasure over the frontier ;
but they were easily repulsed. In general, they are accused rather of
petty pilfering than of open robbery with violence. Like Dr. de
Rochas, I have heard wonder expressed by the peasants as to where
the real Gypsies used to bury their dead.
In the Mascarades, still represented at Tardetz in La Soule, during
1 M. Bataillard, in his letter Sur les Origines des Bohemiens, Paris, 1875 (p. 7, note 2),
asks, with reference to this name, "Ought we to see in it a memory of Kaskar, that town
and province of earlier Asia where fhe deported Zotts made a long stay (see De Goeje,
pp. 8-11 and 13)? The thing is possible ; but I do not go so far as to assert it."— ED.
82 THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE.
the Carnival, among the animal and character dances, the Bouhame-
jaounac, the king of the Gypsies, and his company, are represented.
An excellent account of this Mascarade is given by Augustin Chaho,
a learned Basque, a native of Tardetz, in vol. ii. of his Biarritz, entre
les Pyrenees et I 'Ocean (Bayonne, n.d. ; 1850-60 ?). The king carries a
wooden sword, marked with charred stripes, and they have a tradi-
tional song, air, and dance to themselves. A wooden sword appears
also at the opposite extremity of the Basque territory, though without
any connection with the Gypsies. This singular ceremony is observed
at Vitoria ( Alava) at the election of a new Sindico, or Mayor. " After
he has taken the oath in the same way as the other municipal
councillors, he takes another very solemn one outside the Church of
St. Michael, on the spot where the cutlass of Vitoria (el machete
Vitoriano) is kept. In a little hollow in the wall at the back of the
church there is a wooden knife (cucliillo de madera), before which he
takes a fresh oath in presence of the whole population, and of the
newly elected municipal councillors. The oath contains the formula
that his head should be cut off with a knife, similar to the cutlass, if
he did not fulfil his obligations ; and after he had taken it, the pro-
curator, preceded by his servants, kissed the cutlass to the sound of
drums and trumpets. When this singular ceremony was ended, the
Secretary of the municipality stood up and read with a loud voice
the powers which the city granted to the Sindico for the defence of
its rights and privileges." (Historia de la Legislation de Espaiia, by
the Marquis de Montesa and Cayetano Maurique, vol. ii. p. 522 ;
Madrid, 1868). Prof. J. Ehys, in his Celtic Britain, p. 258
(S. P. C. K., 1882), speaks of a national devotion of the Irish to the
sword, which weapon they regarded as inspired and capable, among
other things, of giving the lie to the perjurer.
Perhaps this is wide of my subject, but your Society may possibly
like to investigate the question whether there is any connection
between this culte of the sword among these three peoples.
The Gypsies have also amalgamated with the Basques at St.
Palais (Basses Pyrenees), and, I believe, near Bilbao ; but I have no
information to give of these from personal inquiry.
[In a subsequent letter, Mr. Webster makes the following
remarks with regard to Cascarrot and Basque dances :—
" The subject of Dances in the Pays Basque and in Las Provincias
Vascongadas is a very important one. . . . The chief and all the most
characteristic of the Basque dances are danced by men only. Among
THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE. 83
the Cascarrots, it is the women and girls who dance more than
the men, either among themselves or with the men. This, I think,
marks a real distinction. In very few of the old Basque dances did
the women join: most were for men alone. In modern dances
learned from French or Spaniards both sexes join ; but I have never
seen, away from the influence of towns, any Basque girl, or girls,
dance the Fandango in public, as the Cascarrot girls are fond of
doing.
"The dance before Philip v. in 1701 (referred to in preceding
foot-note, p. 80) was probably the Pamperruque, the official dance of
Bayonne, which was danced as a kind of serenade before distin-
guished persons passing through Bayonne. There is a very odd and
distorted account of it in Madame d'Aulnoy's Memoirs." (From which
statement we may suggest that possibly the official dance of Bayonne
was identical with that known elsewhere as the Morisco. The little
bells, which accompanied the dances of 1660 and 1701, are specially
characteristic of the Morisco, or Morris-dance.)
Mr. Webster also adds these observations : —
"I can never form the least explanation to myself why the
Gypsies coalesce with the Basques rather than with other races, such
as Spaniards and Gascons ; but the fact is so. . . .
"It is, I think, only in the 8vo editions of Cenac-Moncaut's
Histoire des Pyrenees, etc. (4 vols., Paris, Amyot, 1853-55), that you will
find the vocabulary and songs of the Cascarrots of Ciboure. These
are omitted (and much else) in the subsequent 12mo editions of the
work. . . . There is somewhere in the Bulletin of the Soctite' Ramond
(Bagneres de Bigorre) a paper on the Gypsies of the Basses and
Hautes Pyrenees by the late M. E. Frossard, Pasteur. He deals
chiefly with the moral side of the question ; but he knew the Pyrenees
and the country well."
It is from M. Cenac-Moncaut's book that M. Michel has taken
several of the words in his Basque-Gypsy list; and the former
himself announces that he is indebted for his words and songs "to
the patient researches of M. Sansberro, who obtained them from the
Cascarrotac of Ciboure, a people of Gypsy origin, now blended with
the rest of the Basque population." Besides those words which he
procured from Ce"nac-Moncaut, Michel had copied the list given in
" Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, sect, des Mceurs et usages de la vie
civile, chap. Bohtmiens, mendiants, gueux, cours des miracles, fol. x."
None of Michel's words appear to have been collected by himself.
84 THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE.
Baudrimont, again (Vocdbulaire de la Langue des Bolitmiens
habitant Us pays basques fran$ais, Bordeaux, 1862), has added Michel's
list to his own, thus obtaining many of his words at fourth-hand ; but
the greater part of his list was made up by himself from Gypsies at
Saint-Palais.
These writers, with, of course, De Eochas, seem to be the only
ones who have specially studied the Basque Gypsies. Mr. Webster's
notes, taken incidentally while following up another subject, are
quite independent of any of these, and they. thus form an interesting
and instructive addition to the literature of this branch of Gypsy
study. — ED.].
IV. -TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
1.— TALE OF A FOOLISH BROTHER AND OF A WONDERFUL BUSH.
[This is one of a collection of Polish-Gypsy Tales and Songs made
by our distinguished fellow-member, Professor Kopernicki. Unfor-
tunately, this collection has had to await a publisher for many years,
though we trust to 'See it issued in book-form this winter. This
particular tale was dictated to Dr. Kopernicki by " a very intelligent
Gypsy, named John Coron (pronounced Tchoron, i.e. in Gypsy, thief or
pauper], then immured in the prison of Cracow."- -ED.]
rpHERE was once a poor peasant who had three sons ; two of them
-1_ wise and one foolish. One day the king gave a feast, to which
everybody was invited, rich and poor. These two wise brothers set
out for the feast like the rest, leaving the poor fool at home, crouching
over his stove.1 He thereupon besought his mother to allow him to
go after his brothers. But the mother answered, " Fool that thou art !
thy brothers go thither to tell tales,2 whilst thou, thou knowest nothing;
what then couldst thou tell ? " Still the fool continues to pray his
mother to let him go, but she still refuses. " Very well ! if thou wilt
not let me go there, with the help of God 3 I shall know what to do."
1 Every peasant's cottage in Poland is heated by an oveu for baking bread. On the flat-
roofed arch of this oven, which acts as a stove, the old, sick, and infirm members of the
family place themselves for warmth. — I. K.
2 It may be noted that this tacit recognition of these two brothers as professional tale-
tellers is more suggestive of their being Gypsies than ordinary "peasants." — ED.
3 With the help of God (or oj the good God), a phiase frequently occurring in our Gypsy's
narrative, is borrowed from the popular speech of Poland. — I. K.
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. 85
Well, one day the king contrived a certain tower; he then placed his
daughter on the second story, and issued a proclamation that whoever
should kiss his daughter there should have her in marriage. Well,
various princes and nobles hastened to the place . . . not one
of them could reach her. The king then decreed that the peasants
were to come. This order reached the house where dwelt the peasant
who had three sons, two wise and one foolish. The two wise brothers
arose and set out. The fool feigned to go in search of water, but
he went to a bush and struck it three times with a stick. Where-
upon a fairy appeared, who demanded, " What wouldst thou ? " "I
wish to have a horse of silver, garments of silver, and a sum of
money." After he had received all these things, he set out on his
way. Whom should he happen to overtake on the road but his two
wise brothers ! " Whither are you going ? " he asked of them. " We
are going to a king's palace — he who has contrived this tower — upon
the second story of which he has placed his daughter, and he has
proclaimed that whoever should kiss her there shall become her
husband." The fool got down from his horse, cut himself a cudgel,
and began to beat his two brothers ; and finally he gave them each
three ducats. The two brothers did not recognise him, and so he
went on by himself, unknown. When he had come to the king's
palace all the great lords looked with admiration at this prince,
mounted on a silver steed, and clad in garments of silver. He leapt
up with a great spring towards the princess, and almost attained near
enough to kiss her. He fell back again, and then, with the help of
the good God, he took his departure. These noblemen then asked of
each other : " What is the meaning of this ? He had scarcely arrived
when he nearly succeeded in kissing the princess." The fool then
returned home, and went to the bush, and struck it thrice. The
fairy again appeared, and asked of him : " What is thy will ? " He
commanded her to hide his horse and his clothes. He took his
buckets filled with water and went back into the house. " Where
hast thou been ? " asked his mother of him. " Mother, I have been
outside, and I stripped myself, and (pardon me for saying so) I have
been hunting lice in my shirt." " That is well ! " said his mother, and
she gave him some food. On the return of the two wise brothers,
their mother desired them to tell her what they had seen. " Mother,
we saw there a prince mounted on a silver steed, and himself clad in
silver. He had overtaken us by the way, and asked of us whither
\ve were going. We told him the truth : that we were going to the
palace of the king who had contrived this tower, on the second story
86 TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
of which he had placed his daughter, decreeing that whosoever should
attain near enough to give her a kiss should many her. The prince
dismounted, cut himself a cudgel, and gave us a sound beating, and
then gave us each three ducats." The mother was very well pleased
to get this money ; for she was poor, and she could now buy herself
something to eat.
Next day these two brothers again set out. The mother cried to
her foolish son : " Go and fetch me some water." He went out to get
the water, laid down his pails beside the well, and went to the bush ;
he struck it thrice, and the fairy appeared to him. " What is thy
will ? " "I wish to have a horse of gold, and golden garments." The
fairy brought him a horse of gold, golden garments, and a sum of
money. Off he set, and once more he overtook his brothers on the
road. This time he did not dismount, but holding a cudgel in his
hand, he charged upon his brothers, beat them severely, and gave
them ten ducats apiece. He then betook himself to the king. The
nobles gazed admiringly on him, seated on his horse of gold, himself
attired in a golden garb. With a single bound he reached the second
story, and gave the princess a kiss. Well, they wished to detain
him, but he sprang away, and fled like the wind, with the help of the
good God. He came back to his bush, out of which the fairy issued,
and asked of him, " What wilt thou ? " " Hide my horse and my
clothes." He dressed himself in his wretched clothes, and went into
the house again. " Where hast thou been ? " asked his mother. " I
have been sitting in the sun, and (excuse me for saying it) I have
been hunting lice in my shirt." She answered nothing, but gave
him some food. He went and squatted down behind the stove in
idiot fashion. The two wise brothers arrived. Their mother saw how
severely they had been beaten, and she asked of them, " Who has
maltreated you so terribly ? " " It was that prince, mother." " And
why have you not laid a complaint against him before the king ? "
" But he gave us ten ducats apiece." (' I will not send you any more
to the king," said the mother to them. " Mother, they have posted
sentinels all over the town in order to arrest him [the " prince "] ; for
he has already kissed the king's daughter, after doing which he took to
flight. Then the sentinels were posted. We are certain to catch this
prince." The fool then said to them : " How will you be able to seize
him, since he evidently knows several tricks 1 " " Thou art a fool,"
said the two wise brothers to him ; " we are bound to capture him."
" Capture away, with the help of the good God," replied the fool.
Three days later the two wise brothers set out, leaving the fool
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALKS. 87
cowering behind the stove. "Go and fetch some wood," called his
mother to him. He roused himself and went, with the good God. He
came to the bush, and struck it three times. The fairy issued out of
it and asked, " What dost thou demand ? " "I demand a horse of
diamonds, garments of diamonds, and some money." He arrayed
himself and set out ; he overtook his two brothers, but this time he
did not beat them, only he gave them each twenty ducats. He
reached the king's city, and the nobles tried to seize him. He sprang
up on to the second story, and, for the second time, he kissed the
princess, who gave him her gold ring. Well, they wished to take him,
but he said to them, " If you had all the wit in the world you could
not catch me." But they were determined to seize him. He fled away
like the wind. He came to the bush ; he struck it thrice ; the fairy
issued from it and came to him, and took his horse and his clothes.
He gathered some wood, and returned to the house ; his mother is
pleased with him and says, " There, now ! that is how thou shouldst
always behave ! " and she gave him something to eat. He went and
crouched behind the stove. His two brothers arrived ; the mother
questioned them. ..." Mother," they answered, " this prince could
not be taken." " And has he not given you a beating ? " " No,
mother ; on the contrary, he gave us each twenty ducats more."
" To-morrow," said the mother, " you shall not go there again." And
the two brothers answered, " No, we will go there no more." Aha !
so much the better.
This king gave yet another feast, and he decreed " that all the
princes, as many as there shall be of them, shall come to my palace
so that my daughter may identify her husband among them."
This feast lasted four days, but the husband of the princess was not
there. What did this king do? He ordained a third feast for
beggars and poor country-folk, and he decreed, " that every one
should come, be he blind or halt, let him not be ashamed, but
come." This feast lasted for a week, but the husband of the princess
was not there. What then did the king do ? He sent his servants
with the order to go from house to house, and to bring to him the
man upon whom should be found the princess's ring ; " Be he blind
or halt, let him be brought to me," said the king.
Well, the servants went from house to house for a week, and all
who were found in each house they called together, in order to make
the search. At last they came to this same house in which dwelt
the fool. As soon as the fool saw them he went and lay down upon
the stove. In came the king's servants, gathered the people of the
88 TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
house together, and asked of the fool, " What art thou doing there ? "
" What does that matter to you ? " replied the fool. And his mother
said to them, " Sirs, he is a fool." " No matter," said they, " fool or
blind man, we gather together all whom we see, for so the king has
commanded us." They make the fool come down from the stove ;
they look ; the gold ring is on his finger ! " So, then, it is thou who
art so clever ? " " It is I." He made ready, and set out with them.
He had nothing upon him, this fool, but a miserable shirt and a
cloak all tattered and torn. He came to the king, to whom the
servants said, " Sire, we bring him to you." " Is this really he ? "
" He himself." They show the ring. " Well ! this is he." The king
commanded that sumptuous garments be made for him as quickly as
possible. In these clothes he presented a very good appearance.
The king is well pleased ; the wedding comes off, and they live
happily, with the help of the good God.
Some time after, another king declared war against this one :
" Since thou hast not given thy daughter in marriage to my son, I
will make war against thee." But this king1 had two sons. The
fool also made preparations, and went to the war. His two brothers-
in-law went in advance, — the fool set out after them. He took a
short cut, and, having placed himself on their line of march, he sat
down on the margin of a pond and amused himself by hunting
frogs. These two wise brothers-in-law came up. " Just look at
him ; see what he is doing ! he is not thinking of the war, but only
amusing himself in hunting frogs." These two brothers went on,
and this fool mounted his horse, and went to his bush : he struck it
thrice, and the fairy appeared before him. "What demandest
thou ? " "I demand a magnificent horse and a sabre, with which
I may be able to exterminate the entire army ; and some of the most
beautiful clothes." He speedily dressed himself, he girded on this
sabre, he mounted his horse, and set forth with the help of God.
Having overtaken these two brothers-in-law by the way, he asked of
them, " Whither are you bound ? " " We are going to the war." " So
am I ; let us all three go together." He arrived at the field of battle ;
he cut all his enemies into pieces, not a single one of them escaped.
He returned home, this fool, with his horse and all the rest ; he hid
his horse and his sabre and all the rest, so that nobody would know
anything of them. These two brothers arrived after the fool had
returned. The king asked of them : " Were you at the war, my
children ? " " Yes, father, we were there, but thy son-in-law was
1 The one challenged.— T.K.
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. 80
not there." " And what was he about ? " " He ! he was amusing
himself hunting frogs ; but a prince came and cut the whole army
in pieces ; not a single man of them has escaped." Then the king
reproached his daughter thus : " What, then, hast thou done in marry-
ing a husband who amuses himself in catching frogs ? " " Is the
fault mine, father ? Even as God has given him to me, so will I
keep him." On the following day these two sons of the king did
not go to the war, but the king himself went there with his son-in-
law. But the fool mounted his horse the quickest and set out first ;
the king came after, not knowing where his son-in-law had gone.
The king arrived at the war, and he saw that his son-in-law had
already cut into pieces the whole of the enemy's army. And in con-
sequence of this the other king said to this one that henceforth he
would no more war against him. They shook hands with each
other, these two kings. The fool was wounded in his great toe. His
father-in-law saw this, he tore his own handkerchief and dressed the
wounded foot ; and this handkerchief was marked with the king's
name. The fool got home the quickest, before his father-in-law ; he
pulled off his boots and lay down to sleep, for his foot pained him.
The king came home, and his sons asked him, "Father, was our
brother-in-law at the war ? " " No, I have not seen him at all ; he
was not there ; but a prince was there who has exterminated the
whole army. Then this king and I shook hands in token that never
more should there be war between us." Then his daughter said,
" My husband has my father's handkerchief round his foot." The
king bounded forth, he looked at the handkerchief : it is his ! it bears
his name ! " So, then, it is thou who art so clever ? " " Yes, father,
it is I." The king is very joyful, so are his sons and the queen, and
the wife of this fool — all are filled with joy.
Well, they made the wedding over again, and they lived together
with the help of the good, golden God.
ISIDORE KOPERNICKI.
2. — THE PRINCESS AND THE FORESTER'S SON.
THE following story has been kindly communicated to me by our
esteemed colleague, Dr. Eudolf von Sowa. " I obtained the
original," he says in a letter, " from a Gypsy serving as a soldier at
Briinn. It offers some marked peculiarities characteristic of the
Moravian variety of the Bohemian- Gypsy dialect. That dialect is
VOL. I. — NO. n. G
00 TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
well known by P. Jesiua's Romani Chib (3rd ed. 1886), but in the
Moravian variety no texts have been hitherto published. My
German translation follows the original as closely as possible, but
there are several stumbling-blocks. In some passages I did not catch
the speaker's words correctly, and I had no chance of revising my
version with his assistance ; for some days after I made his acquaint-
ance my Gypsy was arrested for an abominable crime." To which I
need only add that in no collection, Gypsy or non-Gypsy, have I
hitherto met with this story. It offers, however, some striking
analogies with the Welsh-Gypsy story of " An Old King and his Three
Sons in England," which I got from John Eoberts, the Harper (In
Gypsy Tents, Edinb. 1880, pp. 299-317). That story is itself identical
with, though much superior to, " The Accursed Garden," on p. 304
of Vernaleken's In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria
and Bohemia (Lond. 1884).
SOMEWHERE or other there lived a forester. He ill-used his
wife and his children, and often got drunk. Then the mother said,
" My children, the father is always beating us, so we '11 get our things
together and leave him. We will wander out into the world, whither
our eyes lead us." They took their things, and followed the road
through a great forest. They journeyed two days and two nights
without reaching any place ; so the eldest son said to his mother,
" Mother, dear, night has come on us, let us sleep here." " My
children," said the mother, " pluck moss, make a resting-place, and
we will lie down here to sleep." The elder son said to his brother,
" Go for wood." They made a fire, and seated themselves by it.
Then said the elder son to his brother, " Now, you must keep watch,
for there are wild beasts about, so that we be not devoured. Do you
sleep first ; then you '11 get up, I lie down to sleep, then you will
watch again." So the younger brother lay down near his mother to
sleep ; the elder kept watch with his gun. Then he thought within
himself, and said, " Great God, wherever are we in these great forests ?
Surely we soon must perish ! " He climbed up a high tree, and
looked all around, till a light flashed in his eyes. When he saw the
light, he took his hat from his head, and let it drop.1 Then he
climbed down, and looked to see if his mother was all right [?]. From
the spot where his hat lay he walked straight forward for a good dis-
1 This at first puzzled me, but the sequel shows that he threw Lis hat in the direction of
the light, so that when he had descended, and could no longer discern the light, he might
know by the hat in what direction to find it. In no other folk-tale have I come across this
expedient.
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. 01
tance, a whole half-hour. Then he observed a fire. Who was there
but four-and-twenty robbers, cooking and drinking? He went through
the wood, keeping out of their sight, and loaded his gun ; and, just as
one of them was taking a drink of wine, he shot the jug right from
his lips, so that only the handle was left in his hand. And his gun
was so constructed that it made no report. Then the robber said to
his comrade, " Comrade, why won't you let me alone, but knock the
jug out of my mouth ? " " You fool, I never touched you." He took
a pull out of another jug, and the lad loaded again. He sat on a tree,
and again shot the jug, — shot it away from his mouth, so that the
handle remained in his hand. Then the first robber said, " Will you
leave me alone, else I '11 pay you out with this knife." But his
comrade stepped up to him, looking just like a fool ; at last he said,
" My good fellow, I am not touching you. See, it is twice that has
happened; may be it is some one in the forest. Take your gun, and
let 's go and look if there is not some one there." They went and
they hunted, searched every tree, and found him, the forester's son,
sitting on a tree, on the highest point. They said to him, " You
gnome [zemsko chrdiJcona, Czech zemsky certik, "earth -devil"], come
down. If you won't, we '11 shoot at you till you fall down from the
tree." But he would not come. Again they ordered him. What
was the poor fellow to do ? He had to come. When he was down,
they each seized him by an arm, and he thought to himself, " Things
look bad with me. I shall never see my mother and brother again.
They '11 either kill me, or tie me up to a tree." They brought him to
the fire, and asked him, " What are you ? are you a craftsman ? "
" I am one of your trade." " If you are of our trade, eat, drink, and
smoke as much as your heart desires." When he had eaten and
drunken, they said, " Since you are such a clever chap, and such a
good shot, there is a castle with a princess in it, whom we went after,
but could not come at her nohow, this princess. May be, as you are
so smart [feshakos] Austrian fesch], there's a big dog yonder that
made us run [?], but as you are such a good shot, and your gun
makes no report, you '11 kill this dog, and then we '11 make you our
captain." Then they broke up camp, took something to eat and to
drink, and came to the castle. When they reached the castle the
dog made a great noise. They lifted him up, the forester's son ; he
aimed his gun, and, as the dog sprang at him, he fired and hit him.
The dog made ten more paces, and fell to the earth. As he fell the
lad said to the robbers, " Comrades, the dog is dead." " Brave fellow,"
said they, " now you shall be our captain, for killing the dog; but one
92 TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
thing more you must do. We will make a hole for you in the wall.
When we have done that, then — you are so slender — you will creep
through the hole." They made the hole, and he crept through it.
Then the robbers said to him, " Here you, you have to go up a flight
of steps, and at the fourth flight you will come to a door. There is
one door, two doors, three doors." So through each door he passed ;
then he passed through the third, there were a quantity of swords.
He saw they were very fine swords, and took one of them. Then he
went to the fourth door, opened it slowly ; it did not stop him, for the
keys were there. Through the keyhole he saw a bed. Then he
opened it, and went in. There he saw a princess lying, quite naked,
but covered with a white ...[?]. At her feet stood a table, on
which lay a pair of golden scissors.
[" Then follows," says Dr. von Sowa, " a passage which contains
many strange words to me, many corrupted, etc., therefore I give it
in the original : — ' Has odoi sovnakaskere (golden) bolde, ehas prazki
(Czech, ' clasps '), he has odoi dui angrust'a (and there were two rings
there), has lakero laf chingel (chindo) andra angrusti, le (?) akakana
prala (?), te dikhel har has joi auka sovlas (sees her sleeping thus).
Phend'as peske (he thought), Ach baro devel (0 great god), te sht'i
tuha sovaf (? what if I lie with her). No peske phenda's, Ker mro
devel, har karnes (do, my God, as thou wilt). Akakana lie'as ada
chinibnangere (he took the scissors), har has oda sokora lachardi,
chind'as (cut) ale soflichkos (looks like, but is not, a Czech word), har
has lakri minch auka dui. Akakana dinas prek oda postela yek cheroi
(leg), pale h-aver shchastne. Akorat laha sut'as (lay with her) kai
nashti pes ani zbudinlas (she could not awake). Akakana shchastne
la kabnard'as, no akana peske so has odova savoro lelas ola vyetsi
(Czech, ' things ') kaithar lake ala flekos peske lelas oda yek angrust
h-akakana oda yek pantoflos ' (took to himself one of the rings and
one of the slippers)." The meaning, however, is pretty clear, and
the sequel makes it much clearer.]
Then he went out, taking the sword with him, and shutting the
door. As he passed through the fourth door he said to himself, " I
must open it carefully, so as not to waken her mother and father."
He got out safely, then he went through the courtyard to the robbers.
When he reached the hole he said to them, " My dear men, I know
where she is. Come, we'll soon have the princess, but you must
creep through the hole one after the other." Then he drew his
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. 93
sword, and as one came through after the other, he seized him by the
head, cut off his head, and cast him aside. When he had done so to
the twenty-fourth, he cast away the sword, and returned by the way
that he had come to his mother, where they had slept. (He had
thought never again to see his mother and his brother.) When he
came to his mother, he said, " Mother, how do you find yourself ? you
must be sleepy." His mother asked him, " My clear son, how have
you managed to do with so little sleep ?" His younger brother
said, " Why didn't you wake me up ? " " You were so sleepy,
I let you sleep." Then they made a fire, ate and drank, and
wandered on again through the forest. They arrived in a town,
and sought employment. The mother said to her eldest son,
" My son, we will stay at least a year here." She fortunately got
a place at a big house as cook, and the two lads went as servants to
an innkeeper. When they had been a year there, the mother said
to her two sons, " Just see how well off we were at home, and here
we have to work, and I an old body. You are young folk, and can
stick to it, but I am old, and can't stand it any longer. The father
ill-used us ; still, let us return home, if the Lord God gives us health
and strength to do so. So they made ready, the landlord paid them
their wages, and they set out. They went by the very way that he
had gone to the castle and killed the twenty-four robbers.
But how had they got on there since the year when he did that
to her ? The princess had borne a child, but she knew not who was the
father. She had a tavern built not far from the castle, and said to her
mother, " Mother, dear, see what has befallen me, and how I now am.
But I know not who the child is by. You have let me have the
tavern built. Whoever comes there I will entertain gratis, and ask
him what he has learned in the world— whether he has any story to
tell me, or whether he has had any strange experiences. Perhaps
the man will turn up by whom I had the child."
As luck would have it, the two brothers came through the village
where the tavern was. There was a large signboard, on which was
written, " Every man may eat and drink to his heart's desire, and
smoke, only he must relate his experiences that he has gone through
in the world." The elder lad said to his brother, "Brother dear,
where are we ? I don't know myself." But he knew right well whom
the tavern belonged to. They halted. Then he looked at the notice,
and said to his mother, " See, mother, dear, see what that is. See
there is written that the victuals and drink are gratis." " Let us go
in, my son ; we are very hungry anyhow. Sure, we '11 find some tiling
94 TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES.
to tell her, it' only she '11 give us to eat and to drink." They went
into the tavern. Straightway the hostess greeted them, and said,
"• Good day, where do you come from ? " " We come from a town out
yonder. We have been working there ; now we want to return home,
where my husband is." She said, " Good ! what might you drink,
what will you eat ? I will give you just what you want." " Ah, my
God ! " said she, " kind lady, if you would be so good as to give us
something. We know that you are a kind lady." So she said to her
women-servants, " Bring wine here, bring beer here, bring food here,
and for the two men bring something to smoke." When they brought
it, they ate and drank. " Now," said the princess — the seeming
hostess — (but they knew not that she was a princess ; only the elder
son knew it) — " oh ! if you only would tell me something ? Come,
you, old wife, what have you seen in your time ? " " Why, my good
lady, I have gone through plenty. When I was at home, my man
drank much, ran through my money. When he got drunk, he'd
come home, scold and knock me about, smash everything that came
to hand, and as for his children, he couldn't bear the sight of them.
He scolded and knocked them about till they didn't know where they
were. At last I said to my children, ' My children, since I can't get
on with my man, and he uses us so badly, let us take our few things,
and go off into the world.' " The hostess listened, brought the old
wife a mug of beer, and gave it her. When she had drunk, the
hostess said, " Speak on." " Well, we set off, and journeyed through
the great forests, where we must go on and on, two whole days, with-
out ever lighting on village or town. Never a peasant was to be
seen, and night," she said, " came upon us, when we could go no
further, and I was so weak that I could not take another step.
There, poor soul, I had to bide, lying in the great forest under a great
tree. It rained [a lacuna here] that we might not get wet. Forth-
with I gathered wood, made a big fire, plucked moss, and made a
resting-place for us. It was dark, and my sons said, ' We must mind
and not be eaten by wild beasts.' And my elder son said to his
brother, * I will think what must be done. You have also a couple of
guns, if anything attacks us you will shoot.' But he said to his elder
brother, ' Do you, my brother, sleep first, and when you have had your
sleep out, then you will watch again.' " [There is some confusion
here ; and from this point the son, not the mother, seems to become
the narrator.] " As they all slept, under that great tree, then he
thought to himself, ' I will sling my gun round my neck and climb a
tree.' He climbed a tree, reached its top, for he wondered whether he
TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. 95
might not see something — a village or a town or a light. As it was, he
saw a light. He took the hat from his head, and threw it in the
direction of the light." Then she said, " Ah ! hostess, believe him
not. Mark you, that is not true," said his mother. But she went
and brought them beer, and said, "Tell on." And he said, "I
climbed down from the tree to look where my hat was/' " Ah !
believe him not, hostess, believe him not ; mark you, that is not true."
" Nay, let him go on with his story. What was there ? " " Twenty-
four robbers. There was a bright light that dazzled my eyes. Not
far from them was a tree." [" At this point," says Dr. von Sowa,
" the story-teller forgot that the son is the narrator, so resumed the
third person, repeating his former words almost verbatim : — ' Chak
gel'as upre, akakana nabiyind'as peskri phurdini. Har yek pielas pal
lenge atar leskro mui odova phagl'as,' etc., till he came to the passage
where the robbers send the boy into the castle. It ends with : ' He
odoi savoro viskumineha (Czech, ' spy out '), he pale amenge aveha
te phenel te hi (?) manush soven.' " The story goes on.] Then said the
old mother to the hostess, " Believe him not, believe him not, for that
is not true that he tells you." " Let him proceed. What have you
then done ?" the hostess asked him. " I have done nothing." " You
must have done something." " Well then, I have lain with you. I
have taken away the ring. I have taken away half a golden cloth.
A slipper have I taken from you — that I carried off. But I
took me a sword, and went out, shut the door behind me. Then I
went to where the robbers were, called to them to step through the
hole one after another. As they came through the hole, I cut off
each one's head, and flung him aside." Then the hostess saw that it
was true. " Then you will be my man." And he drew the things out,
and showed them to her. And they straightway embraced and kissed
one another. And she went into the little room, fetched the boy.
" See, that is your child ; I am your wife." Forthwith she bids them
harness two horses to the carriage ; they drove to the castle. When
they reached it, she said to her father, " Father, dear, see, I have soon
found my husband." Forthwith they made a feast, invited everybody.
Forthwith the banns were proclaimed, and they were married. The
floor there was made of paper, and I came away hither.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
96
ORTHOGRAPHY AND ACCENT.
V.— ORTHOGRAPHY AND ACCENT.
IT appears very advisable that as far as possible some system of
orthography should be adopted by the Society. The want of a
system, when engaged on the Dialect of the English Gypsies (1875), led
to a modification of Mr. Ellis's glossic. Since then several Orientalists
have pointed out that vrl.li such an Oriental language as Romany it
would be convenient to assimilate the orthography more closely to
that adopted for transliterating Sanskrit, Hindustani, etc., known as
the " Jonesian," thus
Example.
bait ; French e
gnat
baa
caul, caw
as ai in bait ; French
beet ; French i
net
height
knit
coal
doll
feud
nut
foot
cool
foil
foul ; Gerni. faul
Jonesiau. Glossic.
e ai
& a
a aa
a au, aw
e e" final
1 i final, ee
e e
ai ei
i i
6 6
5 o
yu eu
a u
u oo (short)
u oo (long)
oi oi
au ou
g always hard, us in go
ch as in church
sh as in shirt
j as in judge
Kh for the guttural
Phonology is a study in itself, for which only those with fine
musical ears are really suited. I am personally unable to say that
the English or Welsh Gypsies have more than one guttural. They
have a very liquid o, which is almost a u, in the past tense, e.g.pendom,
"I said." This exact sound is in use amongst the Turkish Tchinghianes.
It is difficult for an inexpert phonologist to give the pronunciation of
the ending which is conveniently averaged by -8va, but which in the
Turkish Romany (and in most, if not all, the Continental dialects) is
written -ava, e.g. Pentfva, " I say " : Paspati, pendva. English is such a
notoriously ill-spelt language that it is highly requisite for the Society
to agree upon a system, and the foregoing is thrown out as a sugges-
tion with the hope that, while simple in itself, it will make it easier
THE GENITIVE IN GYPSY. !»7
t
for our friends on the Continent and in India to handle the materials
which our Journal is intended to garner.
Hardly less important is the accent. In the pure dialect this is
almost invariably on the last syllable if the word ends with a vowel,
and otherwise is on the first syllable of the inflection. In the corrupt,
or " posh and posh," dialect, the English system of accent is preferred.
The pronunciation varies amongst the English Gypsies so widely, and
the speakers are so totally unconscious of the subject, that I have
known a Gypsy puzzled by the word kister, " to ride," because he had
been accustomed to the form kester. The words were as entirely
different to him as the words blister and bluster. It is well to record
all forms. H. T. CROFTON.
VI.— THE GENITIVE IN GYPSY
Extracted from T/ie Indian Antiquary, 1887.]
THE form of the genitive is most interesting. It is in the singular
eskro, in the plural engro. These have varieties such as
meskro, mengro ; omeskro, omengro.
These genitive forms, as in the other Gaudian languages, were
originally adjectives.
The termination is really kro or gro, the es and en being respec-
tively the singular and plural oblique terminations of the nouns,
es-kro, en-kro (altered to gro for euphony). This any student of
Prakrit will at once be able to trace to its Magadhi Prakrit forms.
Kro, as seen from other Gypsy dialects, is a contraction from Ictirti which
is the same as the Bihari genitive termination kar(a). Kera is the
direct descendant of the Prakrit adjectival suffix Mrat which implies
possession, e.g. (Apabhrarhs'a Prakrit in Hemachandra, iv. 422) jasu
kerSm humkdradadm muhahum padamti srnidim, " on account of
whose roaring the grass falls from the mouths (of the deer)." Here
the first three words are literally in Sanskrit yasya kritena hum-
kdr&na, in which yasya kritena is pleonastic for simple yasya. Now
here two thing are to be noted, (a) that kSra is used adjectivally, and
(b) that the noun to which it is pleonastically attached is in the
genitive case. With these two facts, compare in Gypsy (a) that
these nouns in kro or gro form nouns denoting an agent or possessor,
the termination o being masculine and i (kri, gri) feminine or neuter,
98 THE GENITIVE IN GYPSY.
and (b) that the oblique bases es and en are originally genitives
singular and plural respectively. Es corresponds to the Magadhi
Prakrit gen. sing, term ass a (Hem. iv. 299), and en to the gen. pi.
term dnam or anha of the same dialect (Hem. iv. 300, and Lassen,
271, cf. Hem. iii. 123). Taking gaveskro, or gavengro, a policeman,
as typical examples, and tracing back to Sanskrit, we get (l)grdmasya
krita; Mag. Prak. gdmas's'a k6ra ; Apabhrams'a Prakrit gdnvass'a
kera (Hem. iv. 397); Turkish Gypsy gaves-k6r8 ; Engl. Gypsy gaves-
kro ; (2) Skr. grdmdndm kriia ; Mag. Pr. gdmanha Mr a ; 1 Turkish
G. gdven-goro ; Engl. G. gavengro.
We are now in a position to consider the other terminations given
above, viz. (6}meskro, (o)mengro. Examples —
Sastermeskro, blacksmith, from saster, iron.
Yogomeskro, gun, „ yog, fire.
Tattermengro, frying-pan, „ tatter, to heat.
Chinomengro, hatchet, „ chin, to cut.
The terminations kro and gro have been already disposed of. It
remains to consider the form (p)mes and (o)men. In the form mes
and men it will appear that the o has only dropped out in obedience
to the laws of euphony ; just as in the Bihari language the form
sastrawd has become sastrwd, a weapon.
It remains therefore to consider the fuller forms omes and
omen.
These correspond to what in Bihari grammar are called " long
forms," which are formed by adding the syllable 'wd or yd to any
noun. Thus sastr, or long-form sastrwd, a weapon ; dgi or agiyde, fire.
In Bihari a different termination is used for adjectives, so that the
long forms of tattd, hot, and chhinn, cut, are tatakkd and clihinakkd ;
but the Gypsy apparently retains the w for adjectives also, so that
we may substitute, for the sake of comparison, supposititious Bihari
words, tat'wa, a thing heated, and chhinn 'wa, a thing cut. Now
in Prakrit (Hem. iv. 397) m can be changed to v preceded by
anunasika, and though Hemachandra does not state the converse rule
that v can become m, it does so in Bihari. In vulgar Maithili, as
spoken by women, this long-form termination 'wd is commonly pro-
nounced 'wdn or 'md. Examples will be found on p. 20 of Grierson's
Maithil Chrestomathy, where we find a'gan'md for angan'wd, a court-
1 Hem. iii. 123 confines this form to numerals, but is regularly formed from
rfdniannam.
THK GENITIVE IN GYPSY. 99
yard, bisararimd for bisaran'wd, forgotten ; and again p. 22, where we
find asanarimd for asananwd, bathing.
In Gypsy, therefore, stistermes is the genitive singular of the long
form of sdster ; yugtimes the same of yog; and tattermen, gen. pi. of the
long form of tatter (? tatta), and chinomen the same of chin.
The long-form termination 'wd or 'mA is a relic of the Sanskrit
pleonastic termination ka, which was very common in Prakrit, in
which, as the /,' came between two vowels, it was elided. In the
modern Gaudians a w or y was then inserted to fill the hiatus. Thus,
Skr. s astro, or s'astraka, a weapon ; Mag. Prak. s'astra(k)a, gen. sing.
sastra-as's'a Mr a, Engl. G. sastermeskro.
Mag. Prak. gen. sing, s'astra-dka (Hem. iv. 299) kera, Bihari
sastr'wd bar, or vulgar sastr'md kar. To take another example, Skr.
tapta(ka) heated, Mag. Prak. gen. pi. tatta-anha kera, Engl. G. tatter-
mengro, Bihaii tattawanli kar, or vulgar tattamanh kar.
Besides eskro, etc., there are in the Engl. G. dialect, the termina-
tions csko and esto in common use both as gen. sing, and as adjectival
terminations.
Of these the ko in csko is again the Skr. krita, of which another
Prakrit form is Ida which becomes ko in Gypsy and ka in Bihari,
through an intermediate form Icya.
The to of esto is not so clear. I believe it is from the same krita,
which can again in Prakrit become kata (Hem. iv. 323). Thus take
the Gypsy m4esto (e.g. mdcsto kova, a looking-glass). This would be
Skr. mukhasya krita, Magahi Prakrit muhas'-s'a kata. If these two
were pronounced as one, thus muhas's'akata, the k would be liable to
elision as falling between two vowels, so that we should get muhassa-
ata, which might become in Gypsy mdesto. This derivation, which
would be otherwise rather hazardous, fits in with a similar explana-
tion of the Gypsy dative termination este, of which the te would
represent, if this theory is correct, the Skr. krite, a word often used to
signify " for," the original of the Bihaii dative suffix kaliun or Mil,
through the Prakrit katd and the Apabhrarhsa Prakrit kaahum or
kaahim (Hem. iv. 340, 347 ; Krarnadis'warn, as quoted in Lassen,
26). G. A. GRIERSON.
100 ORIGINAL POPULAR MELODIES OF TRANSYLVANIAN TENT-GYPSIES.
VII.— ORIGINAL POPULAR MELODIES OF THE
TRANSYLVANIAN TENT-GYPSIES.
(From the Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn> Part I.)
LENTO. 1. Mezoseg.
LARGO. 2. Mezosey.
ANDANTINO. 3. Mezosey.
poco rit.
ALLEGRO. 4. Mezoseg.
ORIGINAL POPULAR MELODIES OF TRANSYLVANIAN TENT-GYPSIES. 101
LARGO. 5. M.-Vdsdrhely.
1 mo 2 do
ALLEGRO. 6. Tovis.
-+-F
CON MOTO. 7. Bttrzenland.
MODERATO. 8. Burzenland.
ALLEGRETTO. 9. Bihar.
ANDANTINO. 10. Mezosdg.
rubato.
102 AXtJLO-ROMANY GLEANINGS.
VIII.— ANGLO-EOMANY GLEANINGS.
" T71TYMOLOGICON UNIVERSALE; or, UNIVERSAL ETYMOLOGICAL
J-^ DICTIONARY. On a new plan. In which it is shown that
consonants are alone to be regarded in discovering the affinities of
words, and that the vowels are to be wholly rejected ; that languages
contain the same fundamental idea ; and that they are derived from
the EAETH, and the operations, accidents, and properties belonging
to it. With illustrations drawn from various languages : The Teutonic
Dialects, English, Gothic, Saxon, German, Danish, etc. — Greek, Latin,
French, Italian, Spanish. — The Celtic Dialects, Gaelic, Irish, Welsh,
Bretagne, etc. — The dialects of the Sclavonic, Russian, etc. — The
Eastern Languages, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, Gipsey, Coptic,
etc." By the Eev. Walter Whiter, M.A., Eector of Hardingham, in
the county of Norfolk, and late Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. 3
vols., 1822-25.
The penultimate word in this wonderful title attracted my atten-
tion to this no less wonderful work. Its contents have not wholly
disappointed my expectations, for Mr. Whiter himself, or an informant
(? George Borrow), had clearly some knowledge of Romany, gained
independently and not from books. This the following extracts will
show : —
Vol. i. p. 128. "Gipsey okto, 'eight.'"
P. 222.— "Gipsey yeJc, 'one.'"
P. 312. — "In Gipsey se is 'is/ which answers to the Hindostan
ta, etc. ; and still more agrees in form with the Celtic terms si, so, etc.
In Gipsey, likewise, so — sa means ' how,' ' what ' ; as So se Romand.
1 What is it in Gipsey ? ' Sa shan Ria, Sa shan Raunta, ' How do
you do, sir ? ' ' How do you do, madam ? ' The Ria and Raunta
belong to Rex and ftegina (Lat.), Re (ItaL), Roi, Heine (Fr.), Rajah
(Hindoo), etc. The shan I conceive to be a compound of sha, a
variety of se, to denote the participle ' being,' and an, which may be
called the verb, corresponding with the Hindostan hona, ' to be.' "
P. 320. — " The Gipsey is acknowledged to be a Hindostan
dialect, or a dialect of the Sanscrit ; and the resemblance of the Latin
to the Sanscrit has afforded a subject of great astonishment. ' It will
perhaps be discovered by some future inquirer/ as I have ventured to
suggest, ' that from a horde of vagrant Gipseys once issued that band
of sturdy robbers, the companions of Eomulus and of Eemus, who laid
the foundations of the Eternal City on the banks of the Tibur.' We
now see that the Italian verb of being, so, se, and the Gipsey se, coincide
AN(!LO-ROMANY GLEANINGS. 10.3
with each other, it is curious, likewise, that some should have
observed the resemblance between the cloak or blanket, thrown over
the shoulders of the Gipseys, and the Roman Toga. I was not aware
that this resemblance had been noticed, when I ventured on the above
conjecture. Martinius, under the article Cingarus, has the following
passage : — ' Brodseus, lib. 8, Miscellan. cap. 1 7, ait ipsam Romanam
Togam eandem pene cum ea fuisse, qua, quos Galli Bohemos, Itali
Cingaros iiominant, amiciuntur.' This is, I think, exceedingly im-
pressive and singular. The mode in which the Gipseys wear the
cloak or blanket, which is thrown over their shoulders, is certainly
unlike any other mode of wearing a similar covering; and the
Romans, we all know, were so marked and distinguished from every
other people by the dress of their Toga or cloak, that they were called
the Gens Togata: —
' Romanes rerum dominos, Gentemque TOGATAM.' "
P. 339. " Gipsey sa, so, ki, ' how,' ' what,' ' where.' "
P. 508. " Gipsey efta, ' seven.' "
Vol. ii. p. 850. " Gipsey yog, ' fire.' "
P. 1004. " In the Gipsey dialect, Ri and JRaunenre titles of respect
for a ' gentleman ' and ' lady,' ' sir ' and ' madam/ "
P. 1223. "We cannot but observe that the name of the great
nation, the 'Romans, — ROMANI, belongs to our element RM, and
ROMANI is the name by which the Gipseys distinguish their own
tribe. This is certainly a very curious coincidence ; and I must
leave the reader to his own reflections respecting the cause of its
existence, on which I have ventured to offer a suggestion on a former
occasion (p. 320)." Both this passage and that are curiously
suggestive of George Borrow.
Vol. iii. p. 32. " In Gipsey Petal-engro is a ' farrier,' and Gre sko
Petalles is a ' horse-shoe.' The term Engro means ' in,' ' engaged in,'
' concerned in,' and is added to substantives for the purpose of
expressing the occupation of a person, as Cacave-Engro, a ' tinker,' i.e.
a person employed in kettles, etc., etc. The term Gre or Gri is a
' horse,' and sko is the post positive article denoting ' of.' "
P. 47. "In the dialect of the Gipseys Padal means ' after'; Besh,
1 down ' ; Beshte so kam, ' the sun is set,' or down ; Besh telse, ' sit
down ' ; OkMs scammin, Besh Poshe mandee, ' There 's a chair, sit down
by me ' ; where we see in besh and poshe the element used in different
forms to express congenial ideas expressed by the verb and adverb,
' sit ' and ' down.' Let us likewise note in okhis and scammin the
Greek ekei and the Latin scamnum. In Gipsey vassave means ' base'
104 ANGLO-KOMANY GLEANINGS.
or ' bad/ as vassave chib, a ' bad tongue ' or ' bad-spoken person,' and I
have already observed that in Sanscrit vasa deva is ' the Goddess of
the Earth/ where we are brought to the spot from which all these
terms are derived."
That I have unearthed the whole stock of Mr. Winter's Eomani
words I will not positively assert ; but, at least, I have collected
twenty-six, which I here arrange in their proper order : — Eesh, sit
(p. part, beshte); chib, tongue; efta, seven; gre or gri, horse (adj.
gresko); cacave-engro, tinker; kam, sun; ki, where; mandee, me; o,
the; okhis, there (rather okki se, here is); okto, eight; padal, after
(across); petalles, horse-shoe (accus.); petal-engro, farrier; poshe, near;
raunt, lady (voc. raunta); ri, gentleman (voc. ria); Eomani, Gypsy
(adv. Romane}-, sa, so, how (sar); shan, art; se, is; sea mmin, chair ;
so, what ; telse, down (? misprint for telae) ; vassave, bad ; yek, one ;
yog, fire. The general correctness of these words and forms is
remarkable. Indeed, Mr. Whiter could clearly, had he so chosen,
have given us a valuable Eomani vocabulary.
Oriental Fragments (Lond. 1834), by the author of The Hindu Pan-
theon (i.e. Major Moor, of Bealings, in Suffolk), is a work almost odder
than Mr. Whiter's. The following passages deal with the Gypsies : —
P. 141. "Our magnificent Coronation pall, which appears to be
also called dalmatica — (Dalmatia, the region of Gypsies ?) — spread as
above described over a ridge-pole, would form the body or sides, all
except the upright ends, of an Indian or Gypsy pall. What do
Gypsies call their palls ? I expect, in my next discourse with those
curious people, to find that pall is also their name."
Pp. 347-351. "The Gypsies ('gyptsl) are similarly seen all over
India as all over England — and nearly all over the intervening
regions. . . . Nor can any two races of men be much more unlike, bating
itinerancy, than the Vanjari and the wandering Zingari of India.
The latter word, as Zingar, means a ' saddler/ All leather- workers in
India are base. In the Mahratta countries saddle and bridle makers
must, with such an equestrian erratic people, have been much
employed, and of necessity also wanderers. I have forgotten the
appellations by which these wanderers are called in different parts of
India. Wherever I have been, I have, I think, seen gangs of them,
four or five or more in number, of males — women and children to
correspond — and have ever been reminded by them of the Gypsies of
England. Here they are mostly tinkers ; in India cobblers. . . .
Some years ago, I recollect, among other things, asking a black-eyed,
REVIEWS. 105
black-haired, black-skinned, white-toothed, handsome Gipsy woman,
what she called this ? showing her a knife. ' Clmry,' she said ;
exactly as half the inhabitants of the great Indian range would have
answered— from Indus to the Brahmaputra. I have forgotten the
rest of our colloquy. (I received the same answer to the same ques-
tion, from a like person, within a week of my writing this note — May
1833)."
This I may cap with an experience of my own. Some years ago
I was in a railway carriage with a sergeant and a private, who were
bringing back a deserter. The private's pipe had got choked, and
" Lend us your churi" he said to the sergeant. "Gypsies," I thought;
but no, they had simply lately returned from India, where they had
picked up the word. Whence, by the by, did Scott get chury, the
only true Eomany word in all his works? It occurs, not in Guy
Mannering, but in the Heart of Midlothian and the Fortunes of Nigel.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
EEVIEWS.
Ethnologisclie Mitteilungen aus Ungarn : Zeitschrift fur die Volks-
kunde der Bcivolmer Ungarns und seiner Nebenlander. Redigiert
und herausgegelen von Prof. Dr. ANTON HERRMANN. Budapest,
1887, 1888. (Ethnological Contributions from Hungary : A
Journal of Ethnology for Hungary and adjacent countries.
Edited and published by Prof. Dr. Anton Herrmann. Budapest :
1887, 1888.) Containing several articles relative to Gypsies,
with Gypsy Melodies.
GYPSY lore is a sister of Folk-lore, and both are daughters of Eth-
nology. The Austrian Empire, and especially Hungary, abounds far
more than any other country in Europe in varied, strange, and attrac-
tive races of people, including several branches of the best type of the
Komany ; and therefore it is not remarkable that the Ethnologisclie
Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, or Ethnological Contributions from Hungary,
as it is remarkably well edited, should contain much that would deeply
interest all our readers. This will appear from the following partial
list of its contents. Firstly, an excellent introduction by the pub-
lisher, Dr. Anton Herrmann. " General Characteristics of Magyar
VOL I. — NO. ii. H
106 HEV1EWS.
Folk-Lore," by Dr. L. Katona, a paper on the comparative examination
of German, Hungarian, and Gypsy popular songs, showing that many
have appeared through the ages in a great variety of versions. " Ma'r-
chenhort," an article in which it is pointed out that the folk-tale has
in all ages been in a way a gospel of consolation and hope to the poor,
and which is illustrated, or rather connected, with a comparison
between Hungarian Gypsy Tales and those of the Algonkin Indians
of America. This is followed by " The Moon in Hungarian Popular
Beliefs," and a paper " On the Origin of the Roumanian Language," by
Ladislaus Ee"thy, a tongue whose likeness to Latin is very much
exaggerated by the modern " Eoumans." " It cannot," observes the
critic, " be classed among the later Latin tongues, but rather ranks by
comparison with the Negro-French of the Isle of France," that is to
say, as a Latin " Pidgin." Next we have a full review of " Finnish
Legends," translated by Emmy Schreck, a subject deserving careful
study, as it presents innumerable points of resemblance to the tradi-
tions of the Eskimo and Eed Indians already mentioned. This is
followed by a critique of collections of Euthenian or Hungarian-
Eussian popular songs, and (in two parts) an extremely interesting
paper on "Magic Formulas and Incantations of the Transylvanian
and South Hungarian Gypsies," by Dr. Heinrich v. Wlislocki, who is
probably more practically familiar with Gypsy life and language in
every form than any scholar who ever lived. This series of articles
has also been published in book form, and I am now engaged in trans-
lating it into English, with additions drawn from other sources. It is
probable that many of these formulas are very ancient. About
.eighteen months ago I learned from a girl in Florence two magic
" conjurations," which are to be effectively found in the old Assyrian
spells of Lenormant. Very interesting indeed are the copious " Speci-
mens of Popular Ballads in German, Magyar, Eoumanian, Wendish,
Euthenian, Slovak, Servian, Bosnian, and other languages," with
German versions. Among these are two in the singular Spanish
dialect spoken by Sephardim Jews in Hungary, which are in the style
of the songs of Gil Vincente. Dr. Herrmann, who fortunately under-
stands music, gives the score of a number of Transylvanian Gypsy
airs. It is not generally known that there are many melodies which
Hungarian and Eussian Gypsies will on no account play before a
" Gajo." " Sveta Nedjelica " (Holy Sunday) is the partial translation
into German of a very interesting Bosnian poem. Allied to it is " The
Song of Gusinje," a Bosnian Mahometan epic, which illustrates the
incredible variety and richness of the folk-lore of Hungary. Prof.
REVIEWS. 107
Paul Huni'alvy contributes a paper " On the Hungarian Fisheries," in
which the etymology of a number of words peculiar to fishermen and
hunters is given. We have from Dr. Karl Papay a communication on
the inhabitants of the Hungarian Isle of Csepel, in the Danube, which
is believed to contain an immense hoard of prehistoric relics in graves,
which have been as yet very little explored. Some new and curious
narrations are given in " Contributions on Vampyrism in Servia," by
Ludwig von Thalloczy. " Hungarian Popular Tales," by Job Sebesi,
will interest any reader. In " Ungarischer Aberglauben " and " Eou-
manian Exorcisms against the Evil Eye," we have relics of the old
Shamanism already represented by the Gypsy spells. Yet again we
find many pages devoted to Austrian popular songs in many tongues —
a rich field, when it is remembered that there are fourteen languages
peculiar to the country, if we include Hungary. The editorial and
critical contributions to the Ethnologisclic Mitteilungen are copious and
creditable. The work is a folio pamphlet of 123 pages, appearing
every month, with the exception of July and August, which are
devoted by the editor to personal researches among Gypsies, Croats,
and all the people which supply him with subjects. The cost of each
number is two marks, that of the first five, five marks, or five shillings.
Address — Prof. Dr. Anton Herrmann, Budapest, I., Attila-utcza 49.
To conclude, I can say most sincerely that I know of no work in
which there is in a corresponding amount of " letter-press," so much
to deeply interest the ethnologist and folk-lorist, or the Komany Eye
and lover of literary curioscc in prose or verse.
CHARLES G. LELAND.
EVEN although the Mdrchenhort, above referred to, had no bearing
upon our special subject, it would still merit a fuller notice in this
Journal ; since it comes from the hand of a Gypsy brother — no other,
indeed, than our Sherengro himself. Bub it does actually deal,
although not exclusively, with one feature of Gypsyism. And, more-
over, it brings to light a new and most interesting question, which
(it is needless to say) here receives a broad, comprehensive, and
original treatment.
Mr. Leland begins by reminding us that the serious study of
what educated men, back to remote ages, have regarded as merely
silly tales, " vulgar " beliefs, and gross superstition — that which is now
known under the general title of Folk-Lore — is a study peculiar to
this century, almost to this generation. Even we, he adds, are not
108 KKVIEWS.
in a position to realise and understand, so well as our descendants
shall do, the important part that Folk-Lore — or, more precisely, the
Yolk- Tale — has played in directing the actions of men.
The Folk-Tale he divides into two grand classifications; under
its primary aspect as a matter of genuine, unquestioning belief ; and
again, as it appears when it has sunk into the position of a mere
nursery-tale, told for amusement, and tacitly regarded as quite
unworthy of serious consideration. The folk-tales of such countries
as Germany, Britain, France, and Scandinavia have, he points out,
long ago fallen into the second of these divisions. But there is one
European people that still implicitly accepts its legends as real and
true, and that is the Gypsy race — more definitely the Gypsies of
Hungary. These tales, or the ethics which they inculcate, constitute
the Hungarian Gypsy's religion. He may call himself a Christian,
but Christianity is only his holiday garb : the actual religion which
is his everyday attire, and which influences him in all the actions of
his life, is to be found in the legendary lore of his race. No matter
how incredible or impossible their statements may seem to modern
Europeans, to him they are deep-seated articles of belief. And what
they mainly teach him is to console himself for present suffering by
the expectation of " a good time coming." This is what Mr. Leland
finds, he tells us, to be the germ of the primitive folk-tale— the
Gospel of consolation ; and consolation which, as much as that of
Christianity, is offered to the poorest and meanest. In the folk-tale
it is not the rich and strong who are esteemed : the hero is nearly
always poor and unfriended— a helpless orphan, a poor man, the
youngest brother or the weakest child, a deformed hunchback — it is
to such as these that success and happiness come at last.
Although this exaltation of the still despised " children's stories "
is novel to most of us, the theme is well worthy of consideration.
For a man's religion is only that which he says it is, when it happens
that the professed belief actuates his daily life. It is not the
Christianity which the Hungarian Gypsy professes that comforts him
in distress (although no doubt that could do so too), but the memory
of many an ancient legend that showed him how the gods took pity
upon the friendless and unhappy. It is the application to his own
case of the moral conveyed in these stories, that brings him comfort.
This idea quite coincides with the suggestion made by a recent
writer that the " moral " appended to the tales of J^sop indicates that
these drew their origin, very remotely, perhaps, from some book of
Buddhist teaching. Assuming this theory to be correct, we have
REVIEWS. 109
thus in "^sop's Fables " a distinct counterpart to those Hungarian-
Gypsy tales : both representing a genuine faith, although in each
case the source of their inspiration has been lost, and each is viewed
by indifferent moderns as nothing better than a collection of nursery
tales. Nor, indeed, is it only by means of either of these collections
that religion has been taught. Mr. Leland has said that the religion
of the Gypsy folk-tale is like that of Christianity, in that it offers
comfort to the poor and outcast. But is this the only point of
resemblance ? Surely no religion was ever expounded more fully
through the medium of stories than Christianity itself. Whether
these were themselves Jewish folk-tales which had long been current,
or whether they were originated by the Teacher Himself, they were
the favourite and forcible exponents of the Christian religion.
One other instructive feature the Marchenlwrt presents. While
keeping in view the traditions of the Hungarian Gypsies, Mr. Leland
places quite as prominently those of another, and in some respects a
similar race. The folk-tales of the Algonquin Indians of North
America are, he finds, on precisely the same level as those of the
Gypsies. That is to say, they still constitute a religion, and are
firmly believed in by the Algonquins themselves, to whom they
present the same Gospel of comfort in distress.
But, while this forms their connection with the main argument of
the MdrckenJiort, every reader of Mr. Leland's Algonquin Legends of
New England l is aware of the fact which he again enforces in this
essay, that the Algonquin mythology bears a most unmistakable
likeness to that of ancient Scandinavia. Thor, Loki, the fairies and
the dwarfs, figure again and again, though in altered guise, in those
Transatlantic tales. How this has happened, we need not discuss
here. But again the Hungarian Gypsies come into prominence : for
they too have a mass of beliefs which, if not exactly those of Scan-
dinavia, are at least those of mediaeval Europe, and vividly recall the
incidents of the Nibelungen Lied. Here we stand upon much firmer
ground than we should, were we to speculate upon the way in which
the tales of Thor and Loki probably found their way across the
Atlantic. For not only do the Transylvanian Gypsies of to-day pos-
sess tales which suggest the Nibelungen Lied, but that Lied itself is
said by some to have been composed by a Transylvanian Gypsy.2
1 London, 1884.
2 King.sley, in his Saint's Tragedy, speaks of Klingsor. one of the reputed authors of the
Nibelungeu Lied, as " a Zingar wizard," and states that he was a famous astrologer, fortune-
teller, and necromancer, inhabiting Siebenbiirgen during the thirteenth century. Kingsley
draws his facts from Dietrich the Thuringian.
110 REVIEWS.
And certainly the caste which possesses such inherited beliefs in this
century presents itself as the most probable source of a thirteenth-
century epic, composed of such materials, and assigned to the same
locality. Unless it can be proved that there were no Gypsies in
Transylvania during the thirteenth century.
Of the rich store of Transylvanian- Gypsy lore which Drs. Von
Wlislocki and Herrmann have garnered for us in the Ethnologische
Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, we can only give an imperfect sketch in
these pages. Everything they give is fresh from the Gypsies them-
selves, the result of long and careful observation while dwelling among
them. Unquestionably the most interesting of all these communica-
tions is Von Wlislocki's pregnant article on the South-Hungarian
Gypsy Spells. These spells are employed in curing and in warding
off disease, whether of men or animals, in counteracting the Evil Eye
and all baneful influences, and in recovering lost property, or discover-
ing hidden treasure. The power to employ such charms is chiefly
vested in the female Gypsies, though not in all of them. To be a true
witch (cohdlyi), otherwise a " good " or " wise " woman (Idee romni or
gule romni), by right of birth, one must be the seventh of an uninter-
rupted series of girls. Such a girl is a born witch, though her super-
natural powers require cultivation, and she is eagerly sought after in
marriage by the young men of her tribe. The ninth boy of an un-
interrupted series of boys has also similar powers.1 But it is with
the " wise women " that the superior knowledge and skill chiefly rests.
And as, mingled with many ancient rites, there is a certain amount of
everyday medical learning discernible in their charms, it is easily
understood how those " wise women " are not only looked up to with
great respect by their fellow-Gypsies, but also by the neighbouring
country people, to whom they sell, at very high prices, various
miraculous salves against fever and other sicknesses.
Those women who have learned their, magic lore direct from the
unseen powers of Earth and Water are regarded as the greatest
witches of all. And as these powers are addressed in many of their
formulas, they may here be briefly referred to.
They consist mainly of the water-spirits, or kelpies, the gnomes,
or kobolds, and the " good fairies," all of whom were once firmly be-
lieved in by other European peoples. There is also the Slayer of
Flesh (Mdshurddlo, or more correctly Mdshmurddlo), who exactly cor-
responds with the giants of the "Jack the Giant-Killer" order. He
Three, seven, and nine are magic numbers among these people ; the last probably because
it is three times three. The first two numbers, as well as the seventh-daughter idea, are
regarded as " lucky " by other races.
REVIEWS. 1 1 1
lurks in desert places, on the outlook for men and beasts, whose flesh
(especially the former variety) he highly esteems. Yet he is so stupid
and gullible that he is often outwitted by men, who thus gain from
him his hoarded treasures. And he has this good point, that his huge
strength is always at the service of the man who may have helped
him when in difficulty.
But the Mdshurddlo is apparently seldom prayed to : only once,
indeed, in these examples — in a spell against fever. The other
" supernaturals" figure much more frequently. Of them, the good
fairies, or Urmcn, seem always favourable to man. And they are
the kindly protectors of the brutes also. So that the Gypsies, when
they see their children tormenting an animal, make them desist by
calling out to them, " Urme tute nd lied somndkune p$dldy ! " (" The
good fairies will not give you any golden apples.") However, although
the Urmcn are so favourably disposed towards man and beast, the
gnomes and kelpies appear almost invariably as their dreaded foes.
In illustration of this, take the following charm to keep away evil
from an unbaptized child. (For here, as in many other places, it is
believed that until a child is baptized it is not safe against the powers
of evil.) These Hungarian Gypsies, therefore, take the precaution of
lighting a fire before the tent of the " childing mother," and this fire
is not suffered to go out until the ceremony of baptism has taken
place. The women, who light and feed the fire, croon, as they do so,
the following chant —
Burn ye, burn ye fast, 0 Fire !
And guard the babe from wrathful ire
Of earthy Gnome and Water-Sprite,
Whom with thy dark smoke banish quite !
Kindly Fairies, hither fare,
And let the babe good-fortune share,
Let luck attend him ever here,
Throughout his life be luck aye near !
Twigs and branches now in store, ) .
And still of branches many more, )
Give we to thy flame, O Fire !
Burn ye, burn ye, fast and high,
Hear the little baby cry !
Again, it is the female-gnome, the " earth-woman," who is accused
of secretly suckling a baby when it refuses its own mother's milk.
And bitter are the curses (" Sickness devour thy body," " Let thy milk
become Jire," " May thou burn in the earth ") directed against her in
the incantation that helps to restore the baby to the breast. So, too,
in such complaints as those of the eye, or bleeding at the nose, the
112 REVIEWS.
sickness is not only conjured out of the patient, but given for ever to
the gnome. Similarly, a spell against fever transfers it into the
water (" / am no friend to thee ") ; by which the water-spirit, or
kelpie, is to be understood.
Yet, on the other hand, the abhorred water-being is sometimes
propitiated. As when a mother, to charm away convulsive crying in
her child, goes through the prescribed ceremonial in all its details,
of which the last is this appeal, as she casts a red thread into the
stream, "Take this thread, 0 Water-Spirit, and take with it the
crying of my child I If it gets well, I will bring thee apples and
eggs ! " The Kelpie again appears in a friendly character when a
man, in order to recover a stolen horse, takes his infant to a stream,
and, bending over the water, asks the invisible genius to indicate, by
means of the baby's hand, the direction in which the horse has been
taken. In these two instances, we seem to have a survival of the
worship of water and the watery powers, once common throughout
Europe.
It is the belief of these Gypsies that all sicknesses are caused by
demoniacal possession. And these evil spirits must not only be
conjured out of one's body, but into something else : it may be a hole
specially made in a tree (afterwards carefully plugged), or it may be
water, earth, or the powers dwelling therein. Some of the formulas
are curiously complicated. That against disease of the eyes first
conjures the sickness out of the eyes into the water, then out of the
water and into the saffron, from thence into the earth, and then out of
the earth into the earth-man — " There is thy home, thither go thou and
feast ! " This, too, is undoubtedly an ancient belief.
" The nearest running water " plays an important part in many of
these magic rites. And Dr. Von Wlislocki states that even yet no
tent-dwelling Gypsy (of this family) will cross a bridge without
spitting thrice over the parapet. (For expectoration itself has some
mystic meaning.) In addition to water, fire, and earth, there are
many other important accessories to these charms, such as trees and
plants of various kinds, black dogs, black hens, frogs, birds, red and
white wool, and so forth.
But, happily, he who wants to acquaint himself more particularly
with these Zauber- und Besprcchungsformeln der transsilvanischen und
sudungarischcn Zigeuner can now obtain the little book with very
little trouble and expense.
The Gypsy airs taken down by Dr. Herrmann, we are enabled by
his courtesy to reproduce in the present number of our Journal.
REVIEWS. 113
Two tales (The Squirrel and the Fish, and Who Loves Me?), as
well as a tragic ballad of Anrush and Rukui, and a love -song
(Ushci lelc, mre yalaniba /)— all Komani — are also included among
these very interesting " Contributions from Hungary."
DAVID MACKITCHIE.
MR. GROOME'S THEORY OF THK DIFFUSION OF FOLK-TALES
BY MEAN'S OF THE GYPSIES.
THE question of the diffusion of Folk-tales is one only less interest-
ing, and hardly less difficult than that of their origin ; and indeed it can
scarcely be said that the materials for its solution are yet in the pos-
session of the student, despite the wealth of collections from all parts
of the world which have issued from the press in such profusion during
the last decade. Much more might already have been done had the
editors of these always had a scientific grasp of the conditions of the
problem. But unfortunately the really important and trustworthy
collections are still so few that we have almost exhausted their
number when we have enumerated the names of Grimm, Von Halm,
Campbell, Asbjornsen, Ealston, Galloway, Gill, Pitre', Crane, Krauss,
Sebillot, Luzel, Leland, Temple, and Cosquin. Many editors also have
started with some scholar's preconceived theory, and instead of first
finding their facts, and then deducing a theory to account for these,
have contented themselves with casting about to find facts to bolster
up a theory already made. It is unnecessary here to do more than
allude to the theory that folk-tales are the detritus of old Aryan
myths, as it held possession of the field almost till yesterday, and
indeed is not yet by any means generally discredited. It was
consecrated by the august support of Grimm, and has been elo-
quently elucidated by Von Halm, Max Miiller, and Dasent, and with
much more zeal than discretion by Sir George Cox and De Guber-
natis. The next contribution of first importance to the question
was the masterly introduction of Benfey, to his translation of the
Pantchatantra (1859). This great scholar's contention was that
the popular tales of Europe were imported from India, and diffused
chiefly through literary channels, such as translations of Eastern
story-books and the like. Mr. Clouston and M. Cosquin follow
Benfey with greater or less modifications. M. Cosquin argues that
if the Aryan race, before its dispersion, preserved the myths only
in their earliest germinal form, after the separate branches had lost
114 REVIEWS.
touch of one another, it would have been impossible that the final
form of the myths — the household tales as we possess them now —
would have so closely resembled each other as they do ; and that there-
fore most of the folk-tales have spread all round the world from
people to people by way of borrowing, and that their ultimate source
is India — not in prehistoric times, but within the period of actual
history. Benfey contended that the essential ideas forming the
basis of our folk-tales were mainly features of Indian origin; and
Cosquin supplements by arguing that their formative ideas were
carried westwards within the historical period. Mr. Lang has weak-
ened this position considerably by bringing forward from widely
scattered savage races, awkward analogies and startling identities
apparently inconsistent with so comparatively narrow and recent an
origin, and apparently would make the spontaneous generation of simi-
lar ideas and incidents, under the same physical conditions, and at
parallel levels in culture, a much more important factor in the manu-
facture of folk-tales. Here the question at issue may be narrowed to
that of what constitutes the essential elements in such a story. No
doubt the ideas and situations are afloat everywhere wherever men
exist at the same stage of culture, but how far are independent parallel
or identical combinations possible ? That which makes a story, pro-
perly speaking, is not the ideas which enter into it, such as speaking
beasts, transformations, objects of magic, and the like, for these might
easily be generated in parallel sets, but rather the combination of the
same, which is usually a thing completely arbitrary. When we find
among the Iroquois or the Zulus, a certain story where adventures
succeed each other or combine, in the same manner, as in a certain
other European story, we can confidently affirm of that story, that
there has not been generation at an independent time and manner
among the Zulus or the Iroquois and among the Europeans, but that
there has been transmission by some means or other. The point
of departure of that transmission M. Cosquin seeks to point out
historically in India. We know already of diverse currents which
have carried into all directions several written collections, and it
seems as easy to suppose that oral Indian stories should also have
followed different routes, eastwards to Indo-China, northwards
to Tibet and Tartary, westwards to the Persians, thence to the
neighbouring peoples, and at last to Europe. It is admitted by
all that such borrowing has occurred; the only questions being as
to the extent and the medium employed, and how far it is possible
to believe that parallel combinations might be constructed through
REVIEWS. 115
the identical working of the human imagination. Mr. Lang admits
readily that the process of borrowing has also gone on, and that
stories once invented may have been carried on through the mists
of the past by such social accidents as the pilgrimage of hardy mer-
chants across land and sea, the seizure and sale of slaves, and marriage
by capture.
At this point comes the latest contributor to the question
with a pregnant suggestion that the Gypsies, in their restless and
incessant wanderings, may have had a large share in the diffusion of
these stories. This striking and original theory has been put forth by
Mr. Francis H. Groome in an article in The National Review for July
of this year. Mr. Groome dwells on the ubiquity of the Gypsy race,
on their continual journeyings, on the fact that in earlier ages they
were welcomed everywhere by kings and nobles, that their earliest
appearance in European countries gives ample time for the diffusion
of many stories, and further that many of Mr. Lang's survivals of dead
savagery are still living realities in Gypsy tents. Again, he points out
many things appearing as integral elements in the development of
the action in some widely-spread folk-tales, such as the existence of
priests and churches, portraits, playing-cards, letters, and the like,
as proving that not only the story-elements, but the combinations
of these have really been transmitted together, and that within
such comparatively recent historical periods as fit well with the
theory of transmission by Gypsies. Moreover many stories actu-
ally collected at the present time from Gypsies in Europe are
more perfect in literary form and detail than parallel stories
among non-Gypsy races, and this is merely what might have been
expected if the Gypsies were originally a professional story-telling
race. Mr. Groome tells us that as yet only 127 Gypsy stories
have been printed by Friedrich Miiller, Paspati, Miklosich, Constan-
tinescu, Von Wlislocki, and himself, and it must be admitted that the
case he makes out from such comparatively scanty materials is strong
indeed. His theory is very plausible, fits well with many of the facts,
and explains what must have prevailed to a large extent. It is an
attempt to fling a bridge across a hitherto almost unbridged gulf, and
the only question now to be considered is whether the structure will
bear the weight that must be put upon it. If an Indian origin is not-
claimed for all our folk-tales, Mr. Groome's contention may be taken
as already proved ; but we must not forget the claims of Egypt as the
cradle of much early human culture, and Benfey tells us that metem-
psychosis— an elemental idea in folk-tales — was itself carried to the
116 REVIEWS.
Ganges from the Nile. Sir Eichard Burton attributes the origination
of all art and culture to Egypt, but even this is by no means incon-
sistent with Mr. Groome's theory, for ideas may have been carried
thence to India, which there ripened into fruit, and were, scores of
generations after, re-carried to the West. It is to be hoped that
storiologists will work out this subject, and discover not only what
stories belong to the Gypsies, or have been transmitted by them, but
also what internal evidences of Gypsy origin there are in the stories
in non-Gypsy collections. Meantime folk-lorists have to thank Mr.
Groome for a most suggestive and interesting, as well as new and
plausible answer to the old Sphinx-like riddle of the diffusion of
nursery-tales. THOMAS DAVIDSON.
OUR GYPSY EECORD.
In addition to the articles in Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus
Ungarn, more fully referred to in the preceding pages, we have to
notice several other recent contributions to Gypsy Lore. Dr. von
Sowa favours us with the following memorandum which he has made
of the Gypsy publications coming under his notice during the past
year :—
" I have collected the following titles of treatises on the Gypsies,
published during the past year : — (1) JOHN A VERY, " Origin of the
Gypsies" (American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, ix. 192);
(2) E. GERARD, " Transylvanian Peoples " (Contemporary Review,
41, 327-46); (3) G. A. GRIERSON, "Arabic and Persian Eeferences to
Gypsies" (Indian Antiquary, xvi. 257-58); (4) " The Transylvanian
Tziganes" (Blackwood's Magazine, May 1887); (5) "Les Tziganes
chez les Slaves Meridionaux" (Revue Interned., Sept., Oct. 1887);
(6) H. v. WLISLOCKI, " Volkslieder der transsilv. Zigeuner" (Magazin
fur die Lit des In-und Auslandes, 1887, 131 f.) ; (7) v. WL. "Volks-
lieder der transs. Zig." (Zeitschr. d. d. morg. Ges. xli. 347-50) ; (8) v.
WL. "Beitrage zu Benfey's Pantschatantra " (ib. xlii. 113 ff.) ; (9) v.
WL. "Die Stam- u. Familienverhaltnisse der transs. Zeltzigeuner "
(Globus, liii. 183-89); (10) v. WL. " Gebrauche der transs. Zelt-
zigeuner, etc." (ib. li. 249 ff., 267 ff.) ; (11) v. WL. "Die Eagnar-
Lodbrokssage in Siebenblirgen " (G-ermania, xx. 362 ff.); (12) v. WL.
"Die Mausethurmsage in Siebenbiirgen " (ib. xx. 432-42); (13) v.
WL. "Von den drei Frauen " (ib. xx. 442-51); (14) v. WL. " Zur
REVIEWS. 117
vergleichendeu Volkslyrik," etc. (Zeitscli. fur. vgl. Literaturgesch. i.
245-54); (15) v. WL. " Zur Volkskunde der transs. Zig., Hamburg,
1887," 40 pages; (16) W. CROOKE, "Notes on the Gipsy Tribes of the
N.W. Provinces and Oudh" (Indian Antiq. xvii. 68-75) ; (17) "Erne
Zigeunerkonigin " (Gartenlaule 1887, 147); (18) A new edition of
BORROW'S Zincali, and (19) of JESINA'S Eomani Gib. [Jesina is pub-
lishing a work now : Slovnik ceslw-cikdnsky a cik. c. (Tchek-Gypsy and
G.-Tch. Dictionary)].
The Revue des Traditions Populaires, of July, contains (p. 386) the
words of a Eussian popular song, " Anastasia, Open the Door " ; and
the remark is added that " this song is sung to a very lively air, and
chiefly by the Gypsies." However, we cannot assume from this that
either the words or the music are of Gypsy origin ; though this may
be the case. In the August number of the same journal, M. Eugene
Hins gives two more of his Christian Legends of the Ukraine ; one of
which, " God, St. Peter, and the Gypsy " relates, as its title indicates,
the experiences of a certain " Tsygane." A foot-note informs us that
Gypsies, Jews, and Muscovites are the favourite objects of ridicule in
the popular tales of Little Eussia. Yet the Gypsy of this story comes
well out of all his adventures.
Vol. IV. of Kryptadia (Heilbronn : Henninger Gebriider, 1888)
begins with a Polish-Gypsy story of " A Foolish Young Woman " ;
translated into French from the Eomani original. Without contain-
ing anything worthy of remark, or distinctive of Gypsy life and
manners, it abounds in the coarse humour that formerly characterised
the " chap-book " literature of this country.
An article on " Gypsy Charms," contributed by Mr. Leland to the
St. James's Gazette of 2d August, is reproduced among our " Notes
and Queries." It will be observed that we are promised an amplifi-
cation of this subject from the same pen, based upon Dr. von
Wlislocki's little book. We have also the pleasure of announcing
that Mr. Leland is engaged on a collection of Hungarian and other
Gypsy Tales, or Gypsy Legends of Many Lands.
Contemporaneously with the autumn number of our Journal
appears a work by another fellow-member, Signore Adriano Colocci,
entitled Gli Zingari (The Gypsies). But we shall not have an
opportunity of referring particularly to it until our next number.
118 NOTES AND
NOTES AND QUEEIES.
I.
BENG.
Is it not possible that the word Beng in Gypsy had once two meanings, " frog "
as well as " devil," of which the former has disappeared ?
The Bihari (and Hindustani) for " frog " is Ung or beng. This is derived from
the Skr. vyanga, " having deformed limbs," and not from bheka, as most diction-
aries make out. The Gypsy word is evidently derived from the same word as is
shown by the Hungarian Gypsy byeng, "devil" (Miklosich, vii. 10). Curiously enough,
in some Gypsy dialects we find the word beng bearing the meaning of " dragon."
Thus, according to Miklosich, in a Beitrag zur rothvellischen Grammatik, we see
beng given as the German Gypsy for " drache, teufel." Again in Spanish Gypsy
benge means " dragon," and bengochi, " basilisk," but bengi, " devil." The meanings
of both "frog" and "devil" can well come from vyanga — indeed the first meaning
is given in the Skr. dictionaries.
The idea of the devil having deformed limbs is very old. It will be sufficient
here to allude to the fable of the Diable Boiteux. Paspati, though he goes wrong
in the derivation (connecting paiika, bheTca, and beng} hits on the same idea as that
to which I have come independently.
Talking of the Gypsies, he says (Tchinghianes, p. 169) : " The devil (8ia/3oXoj,
shaitdn of the Musalmans) was unknown to them ; but by means of the Christian
pictures (representing St. George on horseback overcoming the devil in the form of
a dragon) the devil became familiar to them in the form of a big frog. These
pictures, so common everywhere, and painted by clumsy artists, have perhaps more
than anything else contributed towards likening in their imaginations the devil to
a dragon or frog." G. A. GRIERSON.
2.
GYPSY CHARMS.
Heine has with pleasant plausibility traced the origin of one kind of fairy lore
to the associations and feelings which we form for familiar objects. A coin, a pen-
knife, a pebble, it seems, which has long been carried in the pocket or worn by any
one, becomes imbued with his or her personality. If it could speak, we should ex-
pect to hear from it an echo of the familiar voice of the wearer ; as happened,
indeed, in Thuringia in the year 1562, when a fair maid, Adelhait von Helbach,
was carried into captivity by certain ill-mannered persons. " Now her friends,
pursuing, knew not whither to go, when they heard her voice, albeit very small and
feeble, calling to them ; and, seeking, they found in the bush by the road a silver
image of the Virgin, which she had worn : and this image told them which road to
take. Following the direction, they recovered her ; the Raubritter who bore her
away being broken on the wheel, and the image hung up for the glory of the Virgin,
who had spoken by it, in the Church of our Lady of Kalbrunn." Again, these
objects have such strange ways of remaining with one that we end by suspecting
that they have a will of their own. With certain persons these small familiar
friends become at last fetishes, which bring luck, giving to those who firmly believe
in them great comfort and endurance in adversity.
Continental Gypsies are notable believers in amulets. Being in a camp of very
wild Cigany in Hungary somewhat less than two years ago, I asked them what they
wore for baU, or luck ; whereupon they all produced small sea-shells, which I was
assured were potent against ordinary misfortunes. But for a babe which was really
ill they had provided an " appreciable " dose in the form of three Maria Theresa
NOTES AND QUERIES. 119
silver dollars, which were hung round its neck, but hidden under its clothes. And
I may here remark that all through many lands, even into the heart of Africa, this
particular dollar is held in high esteem for magical purposes. From one to another
the notion has been transferred, and travellers and traders are often puzzled to
know why the savages will have no coin save this. From Eussia to the Cape it is
the same story, and one to be specially studied by those ethnologists who do not
believe in transmission, and hold that myths and legends are of local growth, and
accounted for by similar local conditions.
The Gypsies were very desirous to know what my charm was. Fortunately I
had in my purse a very fine fossil shark's tooth, which I had purchased in Whitby,
and this was greatly admired by the learned of the tribe. Mindful of good example,
I obtained for myself specimens of the mystic shells, foreseeing that they would
answer as passes and signs among the fraternity in Germany and elsewhere. Which
indeed came to pass a few days ago in the town of Homburg, when looking from my
window in the Schwedenpfad I saw two very honest-looking Gypsies go by. Walk-
ing forth, I joined them, and led them into a garden, where over beer and cigars we
discussed " the affairs of Egypt." These Romanys were from the Tyrol, and had
the frank bold manner of the mountain-men blended with the natural politeness
of the better class of Gypsy. I had taken with me in my pocket, foreseeing its use,
a small bag or purse, containing an assortment of objects such as would have
puzzled anybody except a Red Indian, a negro, or any believer in medaolin or
Voodoo, or my new acquaintance ; and after a conversation on durkepen (in
Anglo-Gypsy, dukkerin}, or fortune-telling, I asked the men what they were. They
wished to see my amulets first. So I produced the shells ; which were at once
recognised and greatly admired, especially one, which is something of a curiosity,
since in its natural markings is the word NAV very plainly inscribed : Nav, in
Gypsy, meaning " the name." The elder Gypsy said he had no charm ; he had
long been seeking a good one, but had not as yet met with the correct article. And
then he begged me — gracious powers, how he did beg ! — to bestow on him one of
my shells. I resolved to do so — but at another time.
The younger Gypsy, who was a pasche-paskero, a musician, and had with him a
rare old violin in a wonderfully carved wooden case at least two centuries old, was
" all right " on the fetish question. He had his shell, sewn up in a black leather bag,
which he wore by a cord round his neck. Then I exhibited my small museum.
Every object in it was carefully and seriously examined. My shark's tooth was
declared to be a very good fetish, a black pebble almost equal to the shell, and an
American Indian arrow-head of quartz passed muster as of possible though some-
what doubtful virtue. But an English sixpence with a hole in it was rejected as a
very petty and contemptible object. I offered it in vain as a present to my friends :
they would not accept it. Neither did they want money : my dross might perish
with me. It was the shell — the precious beautiful little shell on which the Romany
in search of a fetish had set his heart ; the shell which would bring him luck, and
cause him to be envied, and ensure him admiration in the tents of the wanderers
from Paris to Constantinople. He admitted that it was the very shell of shells — a
baro sereskeri skarkuni, or famous sea-snail. I believe the Gypsies would have
given me their fine old Stainer violin, and the carved case for it. Failing to get
the shell, he implored me to give him the black pebble. I resolved to give him
b»th in free gift the next time we met, or as a parting souvenir. Alas for the
Romany chal ! — we never met again. The police allow no Gypsies in Homburg,
and so they had to move on. I sought them that night and I sought them next
day ; but they were over the hills and far away. But I have no doubt that the
fame of the shell on which Nature has written the Name — the very logos of ma^ic
itself — will spread ere the summer be past even to the Carpathians. Something
tells me that it is not played out yet, and that I shall hear anon something regarding
it.— St. James's Gazette, August 2, 1888. CHARLES G. LELAND.
120 NOTES AND QUERIES.
3-
DZEKA.
What is the origin of the Gypsy word dzeJca, which signifies satisfaction, plea-
sure, delight 1 Quite unknown elsewhere, it is met with in several of the tales of
the Polish Gypsies. — Ex. : Oda leske pre dzeJca pelds •— that fell in agreement with
him (i.e. that pleased or delighted him). I. KOPERNICKI.
4-
"PEOPLE or TURKEY."
Who wrote this book, and what is the legend (recorded at pp. 158-168) taken
from the lips of a Gypsy regarding their origin ? H. T. CROFTON.
S
GYPSY STATISTICS.
These few notes, culled from various sources, may serve as a postscript to
Professor von Sowa's invaluable article on Statistics of the German Gypsies.
According to Behm und Wagner's Bevolkerung der Erde (vii., Gotha, 1882), Persia
in 1881 had 4600 families of Baluchis and Gypsies ; 52,000 families of Bachtiaris
and Luris — a somewhat unsatisfactory classification. The Almanack de Gotha for
1888 gives :— Eoumania, 200,000 Gypsies in 1876 ; Servia, "29,020 se servent de
la langue bohe"mienne," in 1884 ; Bulgaria, 37,600 in 1881 ; Eastern Koumelia,
27,190 on 13th January 1885 ; and Hungary, 79,393 on 31st December 1880.
Where and from whom may we look for articles on the Gypsies of Great Britain
and America like those of Dr. von Sowa ? F. H. GROOME.
6.
SUPERSTITIONS.
In reviewing Andrew Lang's Custom and Myth (London, 1885), in the Athenaeum
of 21st Feb. 1885 (p. 246), Mr. Theodore Watts says : — " Romani customs and
traditions he has ignored altogether, though assuredly something may be learnt
from the Romanis. A Romani girl, for instance, will tell you that the dark-blue
punctured rosettes at the corners of her mouth, ornamental as she considers them to
be, have something to do with luck as well as ornament. . . . Tattooed on the
breast of the South Papuan woman we find the same cross (or Sanscrit trisula),
which the Romanis believe to be the most powerful of all symbols — so powerful that
the rainbow will fade from the sky ' at the very sight of it.3 "
WE have the pleasure of announcing that M. Paul Bataillard will commence, in
our January Number, the reproduction — in an amended form — of his valuable
treatise De Vapparition et de la dispersion des BoJu'miens en Europe, originally pub-
lished in 1844.
OUR next number will also contain a list of the Society's members, with their
addresses.
NOTICE. — All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MACRITCHIE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh.
JOUENAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY.
VOL. I. JANUAEY 1889. No. 3
I.— A LETTER FROM HUNGARY.
BUDAPEST, Nov. 5, 1888.
HERE am I indeed in Gypsy Land — when I was at home I was
in no better place to make studies for our readers. But I
shall refrain from being "deep," though I have been in profound
conferences with Professor Herrmann, who is, as Romany Rye, nemini
secundus ; unless it be to our illustrious colleague the Archduke and
the Romany scholars Thewrewk and Wlislocki. Owing to the vast
wealth of material and the example set by his Imperial-Royal
Highness, Gypsyology is here in great honour, and I have realised
by very pleasant experience that, as member and representative of
our Society, I am not without honour.
My first experience was at Vienna, where on the second day after
arrival I visited the Cszardas Cafe in the Prater, where a Gypsy
band always plays of evenings. It was two years since I had been
there, and I supposed that I must be among the forgotten. But
aduro — far from it. When the head waiter entered he cried aloud,
" Pane Leland ! " [I always suspected that man of Croatism or
Moravianism or Bohemian or Pan-Slavonic heresy of some kind, and
pan6 proved it.] He was accompanied by a Romany who burst into
VOL. i. — NO. ill. I
122 A LETTER FROM HUNGARY.
a fervid torrent of Cingani welcome — in a minute I was seated at a
table with fourteen more of his kind ; where they came from, unless
they rose from the ground, I could not imagine — every man supplied
with a half litre of beer, and all beaming with bliss, at the arrival of
the Romdno mi. Kemember me — I should think so ! There sat by
me a good-natured, well-dressed Rom, who, being the leader of
another band, was present as a visitor. He hummed two English
airs. " Do you remember them ? " he asked ; " two years ago you
sang them to me." I had done so only once, and his band had
played them immediately, and manet alta mente. But this being " wax
to receive and marble to retain " is characteristic of the Hungarian
Gypsy. A few days ago, a Romany leader of an orchestra came to a
bookseller in a small town in Hungary, and said : " You have just
received the score of an opera from Vienna — how much does it cost ? "
" Twenty-four florins." The Gypsy looked grave. " That is a great
deal of money, and my men may not care to play it after all. Will
you allow me to bring them here to examine it." The bookseller
consented, the Gypsies came, and the leader, as the only one who
could read music, played it. " No, they did'nt like it — it would not
do." That evening the bookseller attended the Gypsy concert, and
heard the entire opera given with accuracy and feeling. Like the
Children of the Mist with cattle, the Gypsies have a far more
economical and speedy method of getting their music than by
paying for it.1
I arrived in Budapest at nearly ten o'clock, and went to a hotel.
The waiter, who was very polite, suggested that if I would go into
the dining-room I would find something which would be new to me
— something characteristic and interesting. " It is a Gypsy band,"
he said ; " strangers should always hear one." I quite agreed with
him, and he escorted me to the lighted hall, and led me up to the
pashopasJceri — and lo ! there was a cry of Latcho dfovus, rya ! from the
entire band — for there was one man whom I had known in Liszt's
selected band in Paris in 1878, and one again in Philadelphia, and
two in England, and all the rest somewhere. And they played for
me the Ckvriclcft ghiloi or " Bird's song " — which is never given twice
1 That this wonderful gift is characteristic of the Hungarian Gypsy is known to every one
who has listened to a Zigani orchestra. But it was also characteristic of English Gypsies
within this century. We have heard an Oxfordshire villager, in describing a band of Gypsies
who frequented his neighbourhood fifty years ago, state that every man of them was a
"deadly fine fiddler," and that they invariably played without the written score. Then-
leader, a certain Jasper Smith, styled "the King of the Fiddlers," spoke with the greatest
contempt of "them tadpoles," as he quaintly designated the crotchets and minims which are
a sine qua non to most modern musicians.— [Ec.]
A LETTER FROM HUNGARY. 123
alike, yet is always so wonderful and wild and sweet. Real Gypsy
music is to those who have once learned to love it, like opium or
haschish, deeply fascinating, strangely exciting, and more suggestive
of magic than any other influence. But as all fruit to be enjoyed in
perfection must be eaten in the land where it grows, so Gypsy music
never seems to be the same in London as in Austria or Hungary.
Gypsy Lore, owing to the abundance of material and the influence
of the Archduke Joseph, is taking a very prominent place in
Hungary. There is no country in Europe in which folk-lore is so
much of a living thing as here, where there are people to the manner
bom who speak, here or there, fourteen languages, and have in all of
them fairy tales, spells, and charms in which they really believe.
Therefore, the newly formed or forming Hungarian Folk-Lore Society
founded by our friend and fellow-member Professor Anton Herrmann,
will be on a scale hitherto "unliked." There will be a Madyar
committee, as also German, Bohemian, Croat, Wallach, Armenian,
Spanish, Serb, and last, not least, a Romany sub- division, of which the
Archduke Joseph — as he is the man most learned of all living in
Gypsy dialects, — will be the leader. An organ already exists in the
Ethnologische Mitteilungen, edited by Professor Herrmann, which, as I
have already stated, is really, as regards great variety and richness of
material and scholarly criticism, perhaps the best publication of the
kind in Europe. As representative of our Gypsy Lore Society I was
received, I am happy to say, with special kindness. A reception
was given me by the Ethnological Society, at which the venerable
Hunfalvy, the accomplished Pulsky, with Professors Hampel and
Thewrewk, and indeed all the learned of Budapest, were present,
and at which Professor Herrmann delivered a discourse chiefly on our
Society, in which he gave seriatim an account of every article which
has been published in the Gypsy Lore Journal.
I must do the learned men of Hungary the justice to state that
they feel and understand more than any whom I have ever met, the
real importance and value of Folk-Lore, of which Gypsy Lore is a
daughter. Now as Schiller has said of poetry,
To some she is a goddess great,
To some a milch-cow of the field,
Their science is to calculate
How many quarts she '11 yield ;
so there are people to whom Folk-Lore is a science, or the last great
branch of History, or the light which shows us its innermost life,
While to others it is only a fleeting fancy for literary or popular brie-
124 A LETTER FROM HUNGARY.
a-brac and odd trifles. But in Hungary an earnest pursuit of it may
be of national and political value, for here it cannot fail not only to
interest every man of any intelligence in the characteristics of his
race, but to cause a mutual rapprochement or union between the
writers of different races. Can we not see for ourselves how much
good literary and social and scientific congresses are doing every year
in making men acquainted with one another, in establishing personal
friendships and correspondence ? And because the more ignorant
mass of the public sees or knows nothing of all this, and of the
immense benefit which a country derives from thus benefiting its
scholars and thinkers, they cry out that these meetings are of no
practical use. So I have heard it asserted fifty times that the Socia
Science and similar congresses were " failures " ; but I do not believe
that any assembly in which intellectual men became mutually and
extensively acquainted was ever held which was not a success. And
as Folk-Lore is perhaps more generally interesting than any other
branch of learning, it may be destined in the future to exert far
higher social influences than any as yet dreamed of. And it is some-
thing in our own Gypsy Lore Society that it has united men of many
lands, and made us better acquainted; and I have realised with
a pleasure which I can hardly express how well the works of
my colleagues are known here, and how welcome they themselves
would be.
I am promised from several sources valuable contributions to my
work on Gypsy sorcery, charms, spells, and fortune- telling.
Professor Herrmann has made what may be considered as the only
collection ever gathered of real Gypsy airs and songs, and these we
propose to edit and jointly publish, his version to be in German and
mine in English. For, be it noted, it is not every air which is sold
by booksellers as Zingaro and Zigeuner and Gypsy which is anything
of the kind. I have been assured by Gypsies many and many a
time that they do not and will not under any consideration play
or sing for the gaji or gorgios what they play or sing for me. A
Hungarian gentleman who has been all his life devoted to Eomany
music had never so much as heard of some of their best loved heart
and home melodies. And of these latter Professor Herrmann has
made a noble collection. And so latchi rati !
CHARLES G. LELAND.
NOTES ON THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSIES. 125
II.— NOTES ON THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSIES.
OF all the dialects of the Gypsy language, which, it is well known,
yields so easily under the modifying influences of every local
tongue, the dialect of the Servian Gypsies is certainly the least
known. The only materials regarding it were published by Prof.
Fr. Miklosich (UT>. die Mundarten und Wanderungen der Zigeuner,
vi. pp. 22-56). They consist of three small vocabularies, collected
by H. Novakovich and others in Servia, and by Lukarich and Prof.
Fr. Miiller in Syrmia ; the latter interlaced with a certain number of
very brief phrases.
I hope, therefore, that my present notes upon the language of the
Bosnian Gypsies may not form a superfluous contribution to this
matter. They are drawn from the materials kindly offered to me by
the distinguished ethnologist Dr. Fr. I. Krauss, which were collected
by himself at Dervent (N.-E. of Bosnia), from the Gypsies settled
there in a distinct " Gypsy-suburb " (ciganska mahala).
They consist partly of several separate words for the vocabulary,
but chiefly of a series of translated Servian phrases, purposely con-
structed by Dr. Krauss, as examples of grammatical forms of the
Gypsy language, unknown to him before.
Though gathered very hastily in some few hours of his occasional
residence among Gypsies, these specimens, noted by an accomplished
linguist as carefully and exactly as possible, have proved valuable
enough to enable me to extract from them some characteristic out-
lines, which I venture to publish here as some slight supplementary
information for Gypsy -students.
In the Gypsy texts which I am about to give, I shall keep the
phonetic Croatian transcription of Dr. Krauss, as being nearest to
Miklosich's orthography, which ought to be universally adopted for
every Gypsy dialect.
(a) PHONETIC.
Very few valuable observations can be made upon the phonetic
peculiarities of this dialect from its written examples only.
1. The principal is the adopted Servian mute semi- vowel ^ (b)
instead of e and i of other Gypsy-dialects ; viz. br$ ( = ber§),
year ; prno ( = pirno or pinro), foot ; crde ( = cirde), draw, etc.
126 NOTES ON TIIK IMAM-XT OK TIIK BOSNIAN GYPSIKS.
The same has been noted also in Syrmia and Servia by all
previous observers (see Miklosich, op. tit.), in the words —
IrSn ( = bri*in), rain ; ckno ( = cikno), small; mnro ( = minro),
mine, etc.
2. Another phonetic peculiarity, proper, as it seems, to every
Gypsy dialect, is the frequent avoiding of the hiatus by the
elision of one of two concurring vowels ; viz. pekav kaX
( =pc 'kav, i.e. pe akav), upon this tree.
3. The terminal vowel o sounds sometimes as u, as among the
Polish Gypsies ; e.g. andu gav ( = ando or and' o yav), in the
village.
4. As to the consonants, some of them are now and then omitted
from the middle or from the end of words ; viz. — Sao ( — tavo),
child ; pliall ( =phrall), brother ; romi ( = romni), wife ; ka*
( = IsaM), tree ; ame ( = amen), we ; tumc ( = tumeri), you, etc.
And, on the contrary, euphonic consonants are added some-
times, as mrno ( = mro), mine; manglal ( = anglal), at first.
0. Lastly, we meet with hard consonants changed into soft ones
of the same order and vice versd', viz. rub ( = rup), silver;
bud ( = but), much ; rad ( = rat), night ; zulolo ( = zuralo or
zoralo), strong. K is also changed into £ or 6 in the words
va6erdan ( — vakerdan or vakerden), they talk ; 6er ( = khcr),
house;1 and the aspirate ph is changed into h, ex. hdbaj
(=phabaj), apple.
(&) MORPHOLOGY.
1. The articles — sing. m. o, fern, i, and plur. e are used more
rarely than in other Gypsy dialects.
2. The mode of declining the substantives by cases and numbers,
as may have been perceived from the few examples we have
cited, does not particularly diverge from the general rules.
3. The pronouns of the Bosnian-Gypsy, as our examples prove,
are, in an extraordinary degree, confused and erroneous.
This is undoubtedly owing to the innate flightiness and want
of reflection proper to the Gypsy mind in general. In fact,
the Gypsy scarcely discerns the very meaning of the person
expressed in a Polish, Servian, German, or other phrase ; and,
taking very often the 3d person for the 2d or 1st, he trans-
i This tendency has been noted by Fr. Miiller in Syrmia in the words: ccr (=kher)-
luZi (=buklii), labour, celel (=kheld), to dance, terel (=kerel), to work.
NOT MS ON THE DIALECT <>!• TIIK BOSNIAN GYPSIES. 127
lates it so in Gypsy. Therefore the personal pronouns in
the Bosnian-Gypsy dialect, as noted by Dr. Krauss, are —
sing. — 1. me ; 2. tu and te ; 3. vov or vo and me !
plur. — 1. ame or me ; 2. turne or tu ; tume or vov and ft??ie !
and possessive pronouns are :
sing. — 1. mrno ( = mro] ; 2. ciro( = tiro) ; 3. <?iro (for leskero1}.
plur. — 1. amaro ; 2. iwnraro ; 3. ^>aZe tumaro (for lengero).
Besides this, the dative of the possessive pronoun mrno
( = mro) is often irregular, as — mu, ma, and me; viz., vov
dija ( = dinia) he mu ujake Jiabaj, he gave to my uncle an
apple; ma ( = mre) dade$6i, to my father; me caorendr.
( = mre favorerende), to my little children.
4. The comparison of the adjectives among the Bosnian Gypsies,
as seen from the examples purposely constructed by Dr.
Krauss, is not formed with the terminal eder, as in many
other Gypsy dialects, but with the Italian and Roumanian
mai (more), having a double-accented for the comparative,
and long d for the superlative ; viz. — phuro, old ; maj phuro,
older ; mdj phuro, the oldest ; baro, great ; maj baro, greater ;
mdj baro, the greatest; Ia6ho ( — la£o), good; maj Ia6ho
(instead of J 'eder), better, etc.
•">. Of the numerals two only — 40 (sar&nda) and 50 (pinga=penda)
are uncommon ; all the others offer but few and slight devia-
tions from the general rule ; viz. : —
1. jek. 12. desuduj. 100. Set.
2. duj. 18. deSochM. 101. Seltajek.
3. trin. 19. desunja. 105. $elta p$inda.
4. Star. 20. bit. 106. totta, i to.
5. pandz. 30. tranda. 200. duj So.
H. So. 40. saranda. 300. trin taj $o.
7. eftb. 50. pinga. 400. Star taj So.
8. ochti* 60. SovardeS. 500. pandz taj So.
9. inja. 70. eftavardes. 600. So taj So.
10. deS. 80. ochto'vardeS. 1000. mUja.
11. deSujek. 90. njavardes. 1884. miljaochtoSo,ochtovarde$ taj Star.
N.B. — The absolutely false denominations of the numbers 300-600 (and of 800
in the last example) came evidently from the habitual inattention of the Gypsy
interrogated. Being already wearied with the prolonged and abstract numeration,
— after the number 106, Sel taj So, he kept these two last words in his mind and
applied them improperly again : taj instead of var (times) and £o (six) instead
of Sel (hundred).
1 Leskero is met sometimes in a modified form : lede or lelitc ; viz., me dikwi Ie6e dade
(=me dikl'om leskere dades) I saw his father; tu badardan lehde daha (=tu bakerd'an
leskere daha) thou talkedst with his mother. 2 ch as in German.
128 NOTES ON THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSIES.
6. With regard to the verbal forms very few hints are found in
Dr. Krauss's notes. The conjugation of the verb to be, given
in the present tense only, is extremely variable :—
sing.— 1. me sem and som. plur. — 1. me sem.
2. tu sen (for sal). 2. tume sen.
3. vo e and vo hi. 3. tume sen (for von hin}.
The same irregularity exists, it appears, with the personal
terminations of all other conjugated verbs ; viz. tu vaterdan
(for vafarctal), tu asundan (for asund'al), etc.
7. The most remarkable and important peculiarity of the conju-
gation in this dialect is the exclusively Servian form of the
future tense, which these Gypsies have adopted. Instead of
their own future terminations (1. ava\ 2. eha ; 3. ela, etc.),
the Bosnian Gypsies employ an equivalent for the Servian
auxiliary o6ut 6u (I will), and put their Gypsy kamav —
abbreviated ka — as prefix to the verb in every person of the
future tense, viz. : —
me kadobisara (for dobisarava) pismo, I will get a letter.
tu kacumide( = cumideha) ceja, Thou wilt kiss a girl.
vo kacinel (=cinela) vordona, He will buy a cart.
ame ka lehce osvetima ( = amen leske osvetimaha), We will revenge him.
tume kacere ( = tumen cerena), You will work.
vov kabicinel e graste (for e gras), They will sell the horse.
8. And likewise, the perfect tense is sometimes formed with the
Servian prefix vi, added to its regular form. Ex. vixaljtim
vipilj&m. We have eaten and drunk everything.
In order to explain the preceding notes more fully, I now reproduce
the exact materials from which they were compiled. These I shall
arrange as follows : — vocabulary, examples of grammar, separate
phrases, and some other specimens of the Gypsy language. The
Gypsy texts, although sometimes incorrect and obscure, are repro-
duced exactly, with necessary explanations and corrections added in
parentheses. The English versions, frequently at variance with the
Gypsy text, are literally translated from the Servian.
cereil, star. pori, handle.
e curi, knife. rom, man.
jagci, fire. romi\ wife.
has, tree, wood. Rabum (Turk), God.
oblak (Slav.), heaven. tover, axe.
paj, water. thud, milk.
patra, leaves. vac'ar, to speak.
NOTES ON THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSIES.
129
He praises himself because he is a
better hero than thou.
He is a better tradesman.
I am stronger than thou.
We were the most splashed.
Wine is dearer than brandy.
Who is stronger, this is right.
(Gypsy version : who is stronger, need
not seek the power of right.)
God is the strongest.
I am Peter's son.
Thou art Peter's daughter.
He is Francis' brother.
We are Luke's nephews.
You are good men.
They are good hosts.
I am going home.
Thou goest into the garden.
He goes on the place.
We go to the field.
You go to the village.
They go to the mountain.
I have seen the water.
Thou hast heard the call.
He broke his leg last year.
Of the banquet we have eaten and
drunk.
You have fought together then.
Those men have driven you then.
Vo hvalipe (=hvaliL pes), kaj tutar
maj laco ( =feder) junako.
Vov maj laco trgovco.
Me se maj (=me sem maj) zulolo tumenda
( = tumendar).
Me najgore cindziljem.
0 vino hi maj skupo rac'ijatar ( = rak-
hiatar).
Ko hima maj zuralo ( = kohi maj zuralo),
tana rodul ( = te na rodd) sile pravo.
maj
Oddel (=o Del, i.e.
zuralo.
Me som Petreko ca6.
Tu sen e Petreci 6ej ( = coy).
Vo e Franjoko phall.
Me ( = ame) sem e Lukxce pastorkuje.2
Tu mesen (=tume sen) lace manus.
Tu mesen lace gaz'dujra (=gazdora).
Me dzav cere ( = khere).
Me dzav ande basc'ave ( = basc'a).
Vov dzal po pijaco.
Von dzal andu mal.
Tu me ( = tume) dzan andu gar.
Tu, me dzan andu brdo.
Me dikljem ( = dikl'om) o paj.
Tu asundan( = asund'al) e vika.
Tu me phagen oprno ( = o pinro).
Me po pijeri 3 vixaljem, vipiljem.
Tu me ( = tume) marden tu me.
Tu mengo (=tumenge) sveto tradija.
I am the first in the range.
We were before the Court of Justice
with your neighbours.
On that tree are many green leaves.
I did not drink three years' black (red)
wine.
I offered to my father a knife.
Me som prvo ando redo.
Me pravdisailjem tumarem (tumare)
komsija'nca.
Pekav (pe akav) kas bud patra zeleni.
Men I (=me na) piljem trin brs o kalo
vino.
Me ma dadesci ( = mre dadeske) poklo-
nisardem ecuri ( = e curi).
Mo (=mro) dado mulja pedes (=pe des)
brs manglal ( = anglal).
Manglal e6er (=o kher) bajrilja (?)
velik kii-sa ( = baro brisind) rasti baricar
(=bareder) trava.4
1 The words in italic are adaptations from the Servian.
2 Corrupted Servian pastortad. 3 Corrupted Servian pir.
4 This Gypsy version is rendered very intricate by the arbitrary addition of the words :
manglal e rer (before the house) and by the unintelligible word bajrilja instead of pale
(after). The correct Gypsy translation should be : " Pal' u laro b, isiml rasti bared t r cur."
My father died three years ago.
After the great rain
greater.
the
grass grows
130
NOTES ON THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSIES.
The sun shone beautiful.
The moon shines as silver.
The thunder after thunder stroke.
I need to carry some bread for my
children.
At midnight are plenty of stars.
It will rain, the apes are leaping.
He whose leg aches may not set out in
the road.
Who is guilty, may be silent.
Make as it was ordered.
Do not strike, I have headache.
Drive wood from the forest.
Where it smokes, there is fire.
That is the stick, five spans long.
Who is timid, may not excite the dogs.
One man knows something, all men
know all.
Okham ( = 0 kham) sukardji djivisailja
lehce.i
Ocon ( = o con) osvani sar rub.
Sa (?) gromo pala gromeste parb.
Trobuj tecinav ( = te cinav) ar8 mec'do
vorendji (=me cavorende) sexan ( = te
xan) bokhale.2
Opasirad ( = pas e rat) perdudell ( =
pherdo full + dell ?) cerea .
Avella brsun, celenna (=kelen) e ma-
garcmo. (?) ( = magarci).
Kadiikall (=kaj dukhal) o prno, ta
nadjal ( — te na dzal) po drom.
Ko hi darano, nek suti.
Ucinimr sohi («=ucini sar so hi) zapo-
vedime.
Namar ( = na mar), dukall ma ( = man)
osoro ( — 0 sero).
Crde androvus ( — andro vus3) ekas ( = e
least}.
Go te kahi tu go te vijag.*
Gote (1) rovli pandz pedljira.
Ko daral, ta narodel ( = te na rodel)b
ducehn ( = dzukelen or dzuklen).
Jek insano saranel djanel sal)S'
A GYPSY CONGRATULATION.
God may give health to my Lord !
God (may give him) five thousand
ducats ; to his children health may
He make !
May he white-haired beget grandsons !
may have children born from chil-
dren !
Odd ( = o devel) sastipe me gospodine ta
(te) dell !
Odel pan (=pandz1) milje galbe ; lece
caori (= cavorende) sastipe tetherel
( = tekerel).
Tetherel unukov parnoball I tetherel!
caorell ( = cavoren) caorenda! ( = ca-
vorende).
That is good.
A DEFECTIVE FRAGMENT OF A SONG,
= odova hin) laco.
He rose for the work.
May give God.
May give.
Gifts of fortune may he have !
Godovahi (
Insano (??)
Ustilja pala o rado (=bukhi).
Te delle ( = te del) ode II (=o
Te delle.
Dunjaluko (turk ?) te avelle ! (
te avel).
1 Likewise added arbitrary the word lehce (to him).
2 The Gypsy version, thoroughly altered, means: "I need to buy some floiir for my
children, they may eat, hungry."
3 Version incorrect: andro vu§ signifies "into the forest."
* Thoroughly unintelligible version ; it should be : " Kaj hin thuv, odoj hin the jag."
5 Frequent Gypsy " aui pro quo " : rodel signifies " seeks," Servian trazi, used instead of
drazi (Serv.) i.e. "excites."
6 Absolutely unintelligible.
TRANSYLVANIAN GYPSY SONCs. 131
A BEGGING SPEECH.
Bijandija mandzi ( = mange) raoro ; pijanda ( = bijanda) mrli ( = mri) romni
/rora ( = cajora) lakona Zlata. Ineka kandz Jcathindi bokhali padselja nella
kathide kandz.
In its second part absolutely unintelligible, this appeal should mean : " A
child is bom unto me. My wife bore a child, named Zlata. But she has nothing
in the world. She is hungry."
ISIDORE KOPERNICKI.
Ill— TKANSYLVANIAN GYPSY SONGS.
[The following are three of the songs whose airs are given in the
specimens of "Original Popular Melodies of the Transylvanian Tent-
Gypsies," reproduced in our October number. They have been
supplied to us, along with a German translation, by Professor
Herrmann; and the English words now given form a tolerably
literal rendering of the original]
I.
Sung to Melody No. 4. Text and melody supplied by Wallachian Gypsies at
Marosvasarhely by Alb. Geiger, and revised by Dr. Herrmann.
Maru, Devla, kas kames, jaj ! Strike whom thou wilt, O God. Alas !
Ke man destul 1 phabares, man, Enough thy fires have scorched me.
Maru, Devla, koke bar, jaj ! Strike down, 0 God, this hedge — for, ah !
Kai nast'i l chut'ilom pordal. It cannot else surmounted be.
II.
Sung to Melody No. 8. From Anica (Jurar, a Wallachian Gypsy girl of twenty,
imprisoned at Brasso (Kronstadt), in 1886. The words written by Dr. Herr-
mann, and the melody noted by his companion, the musician Zoltan Heltay.
" De man mol la durul'asa, " Come, bring a jar of wine to me,
Ke me dau tut la brad'asa l ! " Or I '11 the cudgel deal to thee ! "
Sakade pend'e roma, So ever have the Gypsies said,
Ke has lenge but zulta ; When money they in plenty had ;
Kerel les la corimasa, 'Twas made by them in penury,
Tai pijel la barimasa. In lofty pride 'twas drunk away.
III.
Sung to Melody No. 9. From a Gypsy girl, Maria Prikulic, in the service of Herr
Herbst, Cseszora. She is able to read and write, and is sister to the first violin
in Belenyes (Bihar), her native place. The text revised by Dr. Herrmann ; the
air noted down by Z. Heltay.
Kel'e l caje romani 0 the many Gypsy maids
Sa has mange pirani, Who have been my lovers true,
Ke gend'ende,1 ke len lau, They believed that I 'd them wed ;
Da 1 me oda na kerau. That 's just what I did not do.
Ke vod'i man para1 rau,1 For my heart it pains me sore,
Kana ekha ca 2 dikhau ; If but one I chance to see ;
Ke e caje romani Like a slim and slender flower
Sar o salo 2 lulud'i. Is each gentle Eomani.
1 Borrowed from the Roumanian. - Borrowed from the Magyar.
132 GYPSYING BY THK ADRIATIC.
IV.— GYPSYING BY THE ADKIATIC.
AS the ordinary educated European does not gain an acquaintance-
ship with the ways and the language of the Komane without
stepping out of the smooth, macadamised road that Conventionality
loves, it seems to me that every Eoman Eai must naturally be
interested even in learning the most trifling details referring to
the manner of a brother's " conversion." It is under this belief
that I offer these few notes bearing upon my own experiences.
And I shall begin by relating the circumstances which led me
at length to learn the Gypsies' tongue.
In the year 1863, as I was walking along a side street leading
into one of the squares of Trieste, I observed a Gypsy woman, of
Hagar-like aspect, and with a little baby clinging to her shoulders,
who was being hooted at and abused by a number of noisy rowdies.
At the sight of this I interfered, and succeeded in shaming them into
leaving the woman in peace ; who, thus freed from her persecutors,
seated herself upon a neighbouring door-step, and relieved her injured
feelings by a flood of tears. At this, I approached her, soothed her
as best I could, adding a pecuniary trifle to help her, and finally I
asked her (continuing to speak in Italian), "What is your name ?"
" Maria," she replied, laying the accent upon the first syllable of the
word. Then, as nothing else remained to be done, except to say
farewell, I asked her, " How do you say Addio in your language ? "
Whereupon, with an air that seemed expressive (to my puzzled eyes)
of annoyance or anger, she arose, and with a haussement of her baby-
burthened shoulders, muttering the word D&ott, she made abruptly
off.
To my untutored ears it seemed that such passing kindness as I
had shown the woman had only resulted in my being consigned to
the devil (for I concluded that D6vel was no other than Diavolo), and
consequently my indignation against her rudeness and ingratitude
was great. And all that day I felt the sting of such treatment
received from one of those whom I had till then regarded as the very
refuse of mankind. However, this feeling of irritation seemed only
to result in the desire to learn more precisely what the woman meant;
and thus I was driven to obtain further knowledge from books. The
very next day I repaired to a German bookseller's, and from him I
demanded some work on the Gypsies. He had none on hand at the
time, but he gave me a catalogue, and out of this I selected Pott's
GYPSYING BY THE ADRIATIC. 133
two large volumes, which soon afterwards the post brought to me
from Leipsic. It was not until after some time and trouble that I
found out, among the intricacies of that precious but ill-arranged
vocabulary, the magic word Dfall, the cause of my soul's torment.
When I learned, as I then did, that it meant exactly the reverse of
what I had thought, poor Maria rose in my estimation with a bound.
And from that time I took such a liking to her language that I began
to practise it myself, and even that very year came out as an incipient
Gypsy-author. Maria herself figures in my Viaggio Sentimcntale, in
which I plead the Gypsies' cause before my fellow-men. And it is
Maria herself who has taught me much of the language and the lore
of her people.
To this, my earliest Gypsy experience, I shall add one of my most
recent. Two years ago I was staying at Gqritz, and one evening in
the course of my walk I descried, in a solitary field outside of the
town, some Gypsy women beside a cart. I of course went up to them,
and accosted them in Romani, which they understood and spoke
perfectly well. When I did so, I was quite unaware of the fact that
their men, in a state of semi-intoxication, were close at hand among
some bushes engaged in quarrelling over the sale of a half-starved
donkey ; but, at the sound of my voice they rushed out, and, hearing
that I was talking in their own tongue, they eagerly urged me to
accompany them to a neighbouring tavern, indifferent to the fact that
they were already drunk. They insisted that I must come and drink
with them, as I was a " Kalo" In the meanwhile, their young imps,
of both sexes, were trying to pick my pockets ; but this I soon
became aware of, and made them desist, with the admonition " Tute
na tshores ! " I also found it necessary to extricate myself from the
embraces of the drunkest of the men, who, while insisting upon my
being " a stray Gypsy " (an idea which my features rather bear out),
was busily engaged in exploring the breast-pocket of my coat. The
daylight was beginning to fade. Altogether, it seemed prudent to
sacrifice my linguistic inclinations to my personal safety ; and, assur-
ing my friend that I was no Gypsy but a mere gadsho and raker -
paskero, I called out to some peasants who were providentially passing
by, whereupon he loosened his grip, and thus allowed me to join my
deliverers. Pursued by many deep oaths, I went on, under the pro-
tection of my two " guardian angels," until we gained the main road
leading to town.
I had passed a mauvais quart d'heure. These men were looking so
wild at the time that an unpleasant apprehension of being not only
134 GYPSYING BY THE ADRIATIC.
assaulted, but perhaps murdered, got hold of me, and to such an
extent that I promised myself never more to go in search of Gypsies
unless escorted by at least one friend. In the secluded and unfre-
quented place to which they wanted to take me, I might have fallen
a monetary or a physical victim to my Gypsyologism.
In such circumstances, there was little I could learn from them.
The women, however, had told me they were from Carinthia, and
were then on their way back. Strange to say, the women were all
blondes, with the exception of one who had the real Indian features
and physique. The men were tall and portly ; and they too, instead of
being olive-coloured, were of a deep-red complexion. This, however,
may have been the result of much brandy. But they had the
regular Gypsy features ; oval face, low brow, ivory teeth, and jet-black
hair, which fell in curls at the temples.1 A red handkerchief tied
round the neck gave them much the air of brigands.
This is what I call my negative linguistic campaign. Had they
not been overdrunk and in a choleric mood, when I surprised them, I
dare say they would have behaved quite mannerly towards me. For
I almost invariably observe how sensibly kind they are to one who
addresses them in their own tongue.
These two instances of intercourse with Gypsies — in the first case
with a Zingara del I/ittorale, in the second with a Carinthian band —
I lay before my fellow- members as illustrative of the pursuit of
Gypsy-hunting in the neighbourhood of the Adriatic.
J. PlNCHERLE.
V.— A SUPPLEMENT TO THE STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF
THE GYPSIES IN THE GEEMAN EMPIEE.
"TTTIETEMBEEG.— In the district (Oberamtsbe&irk) of Bocknang
V V there is a Gypsy family of about twelve souls ; they possess a
house, but they wander about almost the whole year. In the district
of Ludwigsburg there are two Gypsy families settled ; to the
festival called Schaferlauf, which is held every year at Mark-
groeningen, a great number of Gypsies flock together. In the
district of Weinsberg there are some Germanised descendants of a
Gypsy family ; they are for the most part pedlars, and wander about
i This description of the Gypsy face coincides exactly with that given by Borrow. The
curls on either temple are mentioned by Swinburne in his description of Spanish Gypsies ;
and Mr. Groome has seen one old-fashioned English Gypsy thus adorned— a Buckland, at
Devizes fair, in 1872. — [ED.]
SUPPLEMENTARY STATISTICS OF THE GYPSIES IN GERMANY. 135
during the greater part of the year. In the district of Gmund there
is only one place in which there are settled Gypsies ; but even these
are never found at home in the community they belong to. In the
district of Oehringen there is one family of Gypsies, twenty-seven
souls ; these say that they lived formerly in Alsace. In the district
of Ehingen a small Gypsy colony is found, comprising eight families
(thirty-six souls), but they are seldom seen in their own district.
REUSS AELTERE LiNiE, LuBECK. There are no Gypsies in these
provinces. RUDOLF VON SOWA.
ERRATUM.
[In the " Statistical Account of the Gypsies in the German Empire," contributed
by Professor von Sowa to our July Journal, it is stated (p. 30) that some of the
Gypsies in Frankfurt and Coeslin keep shooting galleries. This, however, is the
result of an error in translation (for the learned author, being pressed for time at
the date when his article required to be sent in, did not himself render it into
English, which was done in Edinburgh). What Dr. von Sowa really stated was
that the Gypsies referred to were frequently rat-catchers. The German word used
by him is Kammerjager, literally " chamber-hunter." This word signifies either
" the servant of a prince," or a "rat-catcher" ; two occupations which at the first
glance seem totally disconnected, although it is likely that the one term included
the other in the days when " a rat behind the arras" was no uncommon pheno-
menon, even in the chamber of a prince. The idea that Jcammerjager denoted the
" sportsman " of a shooting-gallery (or chamber) was borne out by the fact that this
occupation is followed in England by a class of people, to some extent, of Gypsy
blood. However, this is not what was stated in Dr. von Sowa's article. — ED.]
VI.— CHRISTMAS CAROLS : THE THREE MAGI.
following Noel or Christmas Carol will serve to illustrate a
JL certain popular belief regarding Gypsies, existent in the middle
of the seventeenth century, but prevalent during many of the pre-
ceding centuries. It was composed by le Sieur Nicolas Saboly,
Be'ne'ficier et Maitre de Musique de 1'figlise de St. Pierre d' Avignon.
Saboly is perhaps the most renowned writer of Prove^al Noels. 1
find ten editions of his Eecue.il de Noels enumerated between 1670
and the present time. The edition I copy from is " Avignon, chez
Peyri, 1854." This Noel is also given in Voyage dans les Departe-
ments du Midi, by A. L. Millin, vol. iv. p. 163 (1811), with slight
variations, marking a difference of dialect. It has been translated at
136
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI.
least twice into English — the last time in The Anglican Church
Magazine, December 1887 : —
Sur
N'aoutrei sian tres Boumian
Que" dounan la bonou fourtunou.
N'aoutrei sian tres Boumian
Qu'arrapen pertout vounte sian :
Enfan eimable et tant doux,
Boutou, boute aqui la croux,
Et chascun te dira
Tout ce que t'arribara :
Coumengou, Janan, cependan
D£ li veir£ la man.
LXIX. NOEL.
Vair des Bohemien .
We are three Bohemians
Who tell good fortune.
We are three Bohemians
Who rob wherever we may be ;
Child, lovely and so sweet,
Place, place here, the cross,1
And each (of us) will tell thee
Everything that will happen to thee
Begin, Janan, however,
Give him the hand to see.
Tu sie"s, a ce qu4 vieou,
Egaou a Dieou,
Et sies soun Fis tout adourable :
Tu sies, a ce que~ vieou
Egaou a Dieou,
Nascu per yeou din lou ne"an :
L'amour t'a fach enfan
Per tout lou genre human :
Unou Viergeou es ta mayre,
Sie"s na sensou gis d6 payre ;
Aco se vei din ta man.
L'amour t'a fach enfan, etc.
L'ia encare un gran secret,
Que Janan n'a pas vougu-dire ;
L'ia encare un gran secret
Que fara ben leou soun efet :
Vene, vene, beou Messi,
Mettou, niettou, mette eici,
La pegou blanquou, ooussi
Per nous fayre rejoin :
Janan, parlara, beou Meina,
Boute aqui per dina.
Soutou tant de niouyen
L'ia quaouquaren
Per noste" ben de fort sinistre ;
Soutou tant de mouyen
L'ia quaouquaren,
Per noste ben, de rigouroux :
Se 1'y ves unou crous
Qu'es lou salut de tous.
Et si te 1'aouze dire,
Lou sujet de toun martyre"
Es qu£ sies ben amouroux.
Se 1'y ves unou crous, etc.
Thou art, from what I see,
Equal to God.
And thou art his Son all wonderful :
Thou art, from what I see,
Equal to God.
Born for me in the nothingness :
Love has made you a child
For all the human race :
A virgin is thy mother,
Thou art born without any Father ;
This I see in thy hand.
Love has made thee a child, etc.
There is still a great secret,
Which Janan has not wished to tell
There is still a great secret,
Which will have soon its effect :
Come, come, beauteous Messiah,
Place, place, place here,
The white piece (of money)
To make us rejoice :
Janan will tell, beauteous Messiah,
Give (it) here for dinner.
Under so many means
There is something
For our good very unhappy ;
Under so many means
There is something
For our good hard (to bear) :
One sees there a cross
That is the salvation of all.
And if I dare to tell it thee,
The cause of thy martyrdom
Is that thou art right loving.
One sees there a cross, etc.
1 As our English Gypsies say, "Cross my hand," etc.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI.
137
L'ai encarou quaouquaren
Oou bout d£ ta lignou vitalou :
L'ia encarou quaouquaren
Qu£ t£ yoou dire Magassen :
Vene", vene", beou german,
Dounou, dounou eici ta man,
Et t£ deVinaran
Quaouquaren d£ ben charman :
May vengu^ d'argen ou tan ben
Sensou, noun s6 fay ren.
Tu si^s Dieou et mourtaou,
Et coumou taou
Vieouras ben poou dessu la
terrou ;
Tu sies Dieou et mourtaou,
Et coumou taou
Saras ben poou din noste
e"ta;
May ta divinita
Es su 1'eternita :
Sie"s 1'Ooutour d£ la vidou,
Toun essence e"s infinidou,
N'as ren qu£ si<$ liraita.
May ta Divinita, etc.
Vos-ti pas qu£ diguen
Quaoquaren a sa santou May re ?
Vos-ti pas qu£ le" fen
Per lou men nost£ couuiplimen ?
Bellou Damou, ven6 eiga,
N'aoutrei couneissen deja
Qu£ din ta bellou man
L'ia un myste'ri ben gran.
Tu qu4 sie"s pouli, digou li
Quaouquaren de joli.
Tu sies doou sang rouyaou,
Et toun houstaou
Es dei pu haou d'aqueste mounde
Et toun houstaou
Es dei pu haou, a ce qu4 vieou ;
Toun Seignour e"s toun Fieou,
Et soun Payre lou Dieou:
Qu£ podes-ti may estre ?
Sies la Fiou d£ toun Mestre
Et la Mayre d£ toun Dieou.
Toun Seignour & toun Fieou, etc.
Et tu, bon Seigne-gran,
Qu6 sie"s oou cantoun d4 la crupi,
Et tu, bon Seigne-gran,
Vos-ti pas que ve"guen ta man ?
Digou, tu case's bessay
VOL I. — NO. III.
There is still something
At the end of the vital line :
There is still something
Which Magassen will tell thee :
Come, come, gentle brother,
Give, give here thy hand,
And I will divine for thee
Something very charming :
But let the silver come, or nevertheless
Without it we do nothing.
Thou art God and mortal,
And as such
Thou wilt live a very short time on the
earth ;
Thou art God and mortal,
And as such
Thou wilt be a very short time in our
condition :
But thy Divinity
Is for eternity :
Thou art the Author of life,
Thy essence is infinite,
Thou hast nothing that may be limited.
But thy Divinity, etc.
Wilt thou not that we tell
Something to thy holy mother ?
Wilt thou not that we make to her
At the least our compliments?
Fair Lady, come hither,
We others already know
That within thy fair hand
There is a mystery very great.
Thou who art polite, tell her
Something pretty.
Thou art of royal biood,
And thy house
!<* of the highest of this world :
And thy house
Is of the highest, from what I see
Thy Lord is thy Son,
And his Father is thy God :
What couldest thou be more?
Thou art the daughter of thy Master
And the Mother of thy God.
Thy Lord is thy Son, etc.
And thou, good old man,
Who art at the corner of the manger,
And thou, good old man,
Wilt thou not that we see thy hand ?
Say, thou fearest perhaps
K
138
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGL
Que noun rousen alquel ay
Qu'e's aqui destaca?
Koubarian pu-leou lou ga :
Me'te aqui dessu, beou Moussa,
N'aven pens-a begu.
That we should steal that ass
Which is tied up there ?
We would rather steal the child :
Place (something) here upon, fair sir,
We have scarcely drunk (to-day).
Yeou veze din ta man
Que sies ben gran,
Quo1 sies ben sant, quo" sies ben
juste,
Ye"ou veze" din ta man
Qu6 sies ben sant et ben ama :
Ah! divin marida,
As toujour counserva
Unou sante abstinengou ;
Tu gardes la Providengou,
N'en sie"s-ti pas ben garda?
Ah ! divin marida, etc.
I see within thy hand
That thou art very great,
That thou art very holy, that thou art
very just ;
I see in thy hand
That thou art very holy, and well loved :
Ah! divine husband,
Hast thou always preserved
A holy abstinence :
Thou guardest Providence ;
Art thou not well guarded I
Ah ! divine husband, etc.
N'aoutrei couneissen ben
Que sie"s vengu dedin lou moimde
N'aoutrei couneissen ben
Que tu sie"s vengu sense argen :
Bel enfan, n'en parlen plus,
Quan tu sies vengu tout nus,
Cregnies, a ce que vian,
Lou rescontre* dei Boumian ;
Que cregnie's, beou Fieou, in sies
Dieou ;
Escoutou, noste* a Dieou.
We others know well
That thou art come into the world ;
We others know well
That thou art come without money :
Fair child, let us not speak more of it,
Since thou art come quite naked,
Thou fearedst, from what we see,
Meeting with Bohemians ;
Why didst thou fear, fair Son?— thou art
God.
Listen to our farewell.
Si trop de liberta
Nous a pourta
A deVina toun aventourou :
Si trop de liberta
Nous a pourta
A t^ parla trop libramen,
Te pregan humblamen
De* fayre e"galamen
Nostou bonou fourtounou,
Et que" nous en donne"s unou
Qu6 dure e"ternelamen.
TC" pre"gan humblamen, etc.
If too much liberty
Has led us
To divine thy fortune :
If too much liberty
Has led us
To speak to thee too freely,
We pray thee humbly
To make equally
Our good fortune,
And that you give us one
Which may last eternally.
We pray thee humbly, etc.
No. 69 1 of " Poesias Populares colegidas por Don Tomas Seguro" ;
Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1862, p. 102 is entitled Villancicos que canton
los ninospara el dia de los Santos Eeyes ("Carols which the children
sing on the day of the Holy Kings ").2
No. 68 is a ballad, "El Gitano," of a Gypsy in prison for robbing a mule, and a Gypsy
girl telling fortunes.
2 Epiphany or Twelfth Day.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGJ.
139
Las Gitanas que son siempre
La alegrfa del portal,
Viendo llegar a los reyes
Un baile quier en formar.
ESTRIBILLO.
Prevenid castaiiuelas, Gitanas ;
Que al portal ban entrado tres reyes,
A ver el zagal ;
Chas, chas, chas.1
Castanetas, bandurria, sonajas
Ligeras tocad ; chas :
Y vaya de baile,
Y vaya de solas :
Ghis, chis, chis.
Chas, chas, chas.
Que al Rey Nino niudanzas alegran
Y hoy los reyes limosna daran ;
Chas, chas, chas.
Saltar y bullir
Volver y cruzar ; chas :
Y puestar en rueda
Ballad sin parar.
Gitanillas, alegres, festivas,
El buile alegrad
Que al portal han entrado tres reyes,
A ver al zagal.
Bailad sin parar;
Ghis, chis, chis,
Chas, chas, chas :
Saltar y bullir,
Volver y cruzar.
The Gypsy women, who are always
The joy of the town-gate,
Seeing the kings arrive
Wish to give them a dance.
CHORUS.
Get ready the castanets, Gypsies ;
The three kings have come in at the gate,
To see the young boy ;
Chas, chas, chas.1
Strike the castanets, the bandurine,
The joyous timbrels ; chas :
And go in the dance; [or, Here goes
the dance]
And go one by one :
Chis, chis, chis,
Chas, chas, chas.
How the changing movements will please
the child-king,
And to-day the kings will give us alms ;
Chas, chas, chas.
To dance and bustle about,
To turn and cross ; chas :
And, formed in a wheel,
Dance ye without stopping.
Gypsy-girls, gay and joyous,
Make the dance gay,
For the three kings have come in at the
gate.
To see the young boy.
Dance without stopping ;
Chis, chis, chis,
Chas, chas, chas :
To leap and bustle round,
To turn and to cross.
No. 70 is similar.
Bien venidos, Reyes,
Seais al portal ;
Que las gitanillas
Os desean y-a.
The first verse is,
Welcome, 0 kings,
Are ye at the gate ;
How the Gypsy-girls
Are already longing for you.
With a refrain at every fourth verse,
Chas, clias, chas: Chas, chas, chas:
Soltar y bullir To leap and bustle about,
Volver y cruzar To turn and to cross,
Y poneros en rueda And to make a wheel,
Bailad sin parar. Dance without stopping.
The chis, chas is meant to represent the snapping of the castanets.
1 40 CHRISTMAS CAROLS : THE THREE MAGI.
There are several Christmas carols in Spanish put into the mouth
of Gypsies. The most tender and beautiful with which I am
acquainted is "La Prediccion de la Gitana," given by Fernan
Gaballero in her Cuentos y Poesias populares Andaluces. The
quaintest one is the following, in the same volume :—
En el portal de Belen In the gate of Bethlehem
Gitanitos ban entrado, The little Gypsies have entered,
Y al nino recien nacido And the new-born child
Los paiiales le han quitado. Have robbed of his swaddling clothes.
; Picaros gitanos, Rascally Gypsies,
Caras de aceitunas, Faces of olives,
No han dejado al nino They have not left the child
Ropita ninguna ! One little rag !
I presume many of our members are familiar with the wonder-
fully cheap Coleccion de Oantcs Flamencos, the songs composed by
Gypsies in the Andalusian dialect, collected and annotated by
De'mofilo (S. Machado y Alvarez) Sevilla, 1851. Some few have been
translated in Spanish and Italian Folk-lore Songs by Alma Strettell
(Macmillan & Co.).
Some articles on the Gypsies (mostly a compilation) have
appeared in recent numbers of the Rivista Contemporanea (Madrid),
in a series of chapters on the etymologies of the last edition of the
Dictionary of the Spanish Academy, by D. A. Fernandez Merino ; in
conclusion, he says that he reserves fuller remarks and researches for
a special work which he has in preparation.
WENTWORTH WEBSTER.
Of the Andalusian Carol quoted above, it may be remarked that
it is substantially of old date. We are told by Ticknor, in his
History of Spanish Literature? that there is a manuscript poem in the
Escurial, of date 1250-60, which (although its title is " The Adoration
of the Three Holy Kings ") has as its chief subject " an arrest of the
Holy Family, during their flight to Egypt, by robbers." These
robbers, it is true, are not there styled " Gypsies." But a considera-
tion of the other very important and striking Carols will make it
evident that all of them illustrate the association of Gypsies with the
events of the Nativity — an association that was apparently recog-
nised throughout mediaeval Europe.
For the Noel itself is obviously a version of the miracle-play known
1 London, 1849, vol. i. p. 25.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI. HI
as " The Adoration of the Three Holy Kings," or " The Three Magi."
" The legend of The Three Kings, commonly described as the Three
Kings of Cologne, as that city was believed to have been their final
resting-place, was extremely popular in the Middle Ages," says
Wright in his edition of The Chester Plays ; x and one learns a good
deal about them from him, from Ticknor, and from Sandys. The last
named, in his Christmas Carols? states that " the Venerable Bede, in
the seventh century, is the first writer in this country who gives a
particular description of them, which he probably took from some
earlier tradition " ; and, again, that " Lebeuf mentions a Latin mystery
of the Three Kings as early as the time of Henry the First of France,
in the eleventh century." Wright makes mention 3 of a Latin play of
The Three Kings, " apparently of the twelfth century," which " was
found in a MS. at Orleans." The Chester Mysteries, says Sandys,4
" were produced in 1268," and this special subject appears to have been
a peculiar favourite at Chester, since it was the custom there to make
two plays of it, viz., " The Three Kings " and " The Oblation of the Three
Kings." Les Trois JRois was one of the spectacles exhibited at " the
fete which Philippe-le-Bel gave in 1313, on conferring knighthood on
his children."6 "This legend afforded the subject of one of the
Corpus Christi plays at Newcastle," says Sandys,6 and he adds that,
although acted in that town as early as 1426, " they are considered of
older date " there. And " when Henry the Sixth [of England] entered
Paris, in 1431, as King of France, he was met at the gate of St. Denis
by a dumb show representing [inter alia] the adoration of the Three
Kings." 7 Further north,'at Aberdeen, " the Three Kings of Cologne "
figured in the procession held on Candlemas Day (Purifin. of the
B.V.M.) " by the auld lovabile consuetud and ryt of the burgh " ; of
which there is mention in the years 1442, 1505, and 1510.8 And one
reads further that when Queen Margaret 9 made her entry into Aber-
deen in 1511, the procession in her honour included "the Orient
Kings Three," who were represented offering gold, incense, and myrrh
to the infant Christ.
But it is unnecessary to multiply instances showing how popular
this religious play has been, or how it has continued to be acted in
one part or another of Europe, down to the present day. What we
1 The Chester Plays, edited by T. Wright, London, 1843, p. 255.
2 London, 1833, Introduction, pp. Ixxxiii. and Ixxxviii. :
3 Op. cit. pp. v.-vii. 4 Op. cit. p. xvi., note.
5 Sandys, op. cit. p. xx., note. 6 Op. cit. p. Ixxxix. 7 Ibid.
8 In the Council Register of Aberdeen; quoted in Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen,
London, 1818, vol. i. p. 95.
s Wife of James IV. of Scotland, daughter of Henry vn. of England,-
142 CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI.
are here concerned with is the belief that these three kings or magi
were of the race of " Bohemians " (so-called).
That one, at least, of the three was a black man, is an old belief.
Bede, in the seventh century, describes one of them as " of a dark, or
black complexion, as a Moor." 1 And they were very commonly
represented thus. That is how they are represented to-day by the vil-
lagers of the Alps of Carinthia and Carniola ; perhaps the only modern
Europeans who still perform this old miracle-play. We are told by
a modern writer, describing " Christmas in a Slav village," that the
play of " The Three Holy Kings " is enacted there every Twelfth
Night. " The three appear in full costume — the one with his face
conscientiously Hacked — with holy water and censers filled with
burning incense." 2
But when Longfellow introduces the Wise Men of the East in a
miracle-play of the Nativity, supposed to be enacted at Strasburg in
mediaeval times, he says : " Three Gypsy Kings, Gaspar, Mekhior, and
Belshazzar, shall come in." Though this part of Longfellow's Golden
Legend does not seem to be derived from the Aurea Legenda, yet he
himself was so well versed in medievalism that it is evident he had
good reason to believe that all the Three were generally repre-
sented as Gypsies. And when one looks at the text of " The Obla-
tion," as played at Chester, one sees that although the Three Kings
do not there announce themselves to be " Bohemians," they succes-
sively foretell Christ's future in very similar terms to the three in
Saboly's Provencal Noel.
How and when did this belief originate ? Sandys, in referring to
the prediction in the tenth verse of the 72d Psalm, generally believed
to relate to the Three Kings, states that one version has it, " Kings
shall come out of the Moors' land to worship Christ." 3 To people
who thus understood the passage, the kings of this " Moors' land "
would naturally be themselves " Moors." Indeed, it is pretty certain
that the sign of an Augsburg hostelry, The Three Moors, testifies to
this identity. There is also an old inn at Newcastle, called The Three
Indian Kings, whose sign was very probably at one time a counterpart
of that of Augsburg. (This miracle-play, it may be observed, seems
long to have been a favourite at Newcastle, where it was acted in
1 426, and presumably long before. The latest date given by Sandys 4
1 Sandys, op. cit. p. Ixxxiii.
2 Saturday Review, 8th December 1888, " Christmas in the Alps." (It would be inter-
esting to learn the formula employed in this instance.)
3 Sandys, op. cit. p. Ixxxii.
4 Who refers for these particulars to Brand's History of Newcastle.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI. 143
in connection with Newcastle is 1536, but this play did not cease to
be acted in England until a much later period.) 1 That men who
were spoken of as " Indians " and " Moors " should be portrayed as of
dark complexion was ' very natural and reasonable. And as no
European people could have been more "Indian" like than the
Gypsies, it was equally natural that they should be regarded as the
representatives of the Eastern Magi.
There is no direct assertion made, in Wright's version of this
"mystery," that the Three Kings of the East were Gypsies. This
could be explained by the assumption that the fact, or belief, was so
generally admitted that it did not require to be asserted. In the
English version of the Legend, which Wright gives,2 there is indeed
something that may be construed into a tacit recognition of this con-
nection. The writer of that manuscript informs us that he had
gathered its statements out of the traditional books containing the
Legend, and from " hearing and sight also of sermons and homilies
that be drawn out of divers books." And he recounts the old tale,
how, from the time of Balaam's famous prophecy, a certain people of
the East had kept watch for the appearing of the Star, to which duty
they had ordained twelve of their best astronomers, whose number
was never allowed to lessen by death. These, for many centuries,
had watched on a chosen hill, until at length the expected light
appeared. Now, the chronicler — among many statements which are
obviously unreliable — says that this hill was called "the hill of
Vaws." And he adds that the progeny of Melchior, one of the three,
became, on this account, known as " the progeny of Vaws into this
day" Without attempting to regard the many odd statements of
this scribe as of historical value, one cannot fail to recognise from his
several allusions to "the progeny of Yaws," that he knew of a race of
people contemporary with himself, who were known by some such
title, and who were recognised as descendants of one of the Three
Kings. And, as the scribe's English has a smack of the "North
1 Among the names of inns that of The Three Spanish Gypsies in London in the
seventeenth century is worth noting. The same authority (Hone's Every-Day Book, London
1835, vol. i. p. 582 and 747) makes mention of a mystery of The Three Dons, performed
at Romans in Dauphine in 1509. As these " Dons" were martyrs, like the Three Kings of
mediaeval belief, one is apt to suspect that both of these terms relate to this play derived from
a Spanish source. The last act of Lope de Vega's Nacimiento de Christo ends, says Ticknor,
"with the appearance of the Three Kings preceded by dances of Gypsies and Negroes, and
with the worship and offerings brought by all to the new-born Saviour." Lope de Vega, it is
true, belongs to a later period than the play of The Three Dons, but he did no violence to the
belief of the previous century in associating, if not identifying, the Three Kings with Gypsies.
Indeed, it is quite likely that the Gypsy carols, with Castanet accompaniment, in Don Tomas
Seguro's collection, were current during the sixteenth century.
- At the end of vol. i. of the Chester Plays.
144 CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI.
Countrie," where (on both sides of the Borders) Gypsies were generi-
cally known as " Faws," it is not improbable that this really signified
his belief that " the progeny of Vaws," or of Melchior, were the
swarthy " Faws " whom he frequently saw. In his Legend he refers
to some of Melchior's descendants as " the princes of Vaws " ; and, as
a certain " Francis Heron, king of the Faws " was buried at Jarrow-
on-Tyne, so recently as the year 1756, whose forefathers, in Gypsy
fashion, had no doubt borne the same title, it is conceivable that a
half-educated monk of the North of England would have no difficulty
in reconciling the name of his Gypsy neighbours with the alleged
Gypsy lineage of one, at least, of the Three Kings.1
There are certainly hints of a special lineage in these mediaeval
representatives of the Magi. In the Chester Plays, one of the kings
refers to himself and his comrades as " We that be of Balaam's blood"
— " We kings of his kind" From the beginning of the Christian era
back to the days of Balaam of Aramaea is a long jump. Nevertheless
there is a certain consistency running through the theory. It is
undoubtedly an old belief, and one which received the support of
Origen, that the Three Kings came from the East to Bethlehem,
because Balaam, in the same neighbourhood, though long ages before,
had predicted the appearing of the Star. Now, Balaam himself was a
" Wise Man of the East." He is introduced to us as a professional
magus, or fortune-teller, living at Pethor, on the Euphrates ; and, in
his efforts to pronounce a curse against the Israelites, he employed
incantations in the first two instances. When he refers to his home
as in or near " the mountains of the East," he uses an expression that
applies equally well to the Three Magi; who were, not unlikely,
dwellers in Mesopotamia as he was. What is certainly worth noting
is that the term magus, assuming it to mean a high-priest of the arts
of divination and astrology, is equally applicable to the soothsayer of
Pethor, to the Three Magi, and to the " Gypsies " of a later day. Of
course, the last-named class only represents these arts in their latest
stage of degradation; but, in other times, when men's notions of
religion and of science differed greatly from ours, a magus was
prophet, priest, and king.
They have been well honoured, these Three Kings, whoever they
were. If the remains still preserved in Cologne Cathedral are really
theirs, one wonders what judgment a craniologist would pronounce
. i It ought to be added, however, that while this writer speaks of Jasper as a " black
Ethiop," and Bede ascribes that quality to Balthazar, Melchior, the ancestor of the " Vaws,"
does not seem to be anywhere so specified. (There are various names given to the kings, bu
the favourite are Jasper or Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.)
CHRISTMAS CAROLS: THE THREE MAGI. 145
upon them. How they got there has been often told; and never
more pleasantly than by Dr. Sebastian Evans, in the poem of which the
Three are the theme, wherein he relates their journey ings to and fro,
ending with their death as Christian martyrs. And how, thereafter,
" tlw Empress Helena gathered their bones,
And set them with gold and with ruby stones.
And treasured them up in a holy shrine
Of the church in the city of Constantine.
But when Godfrey ivas King of Jerusalem,
Bishop Eustace to Milan translated them,
And thence, with a nail of the Holy Cross,
They were stolen by Emperor Barbaross,
And Bishop Rene laid every bone
In the shrine of the Kings, in the Church of Cologne,
And there in rubies written in full,
Ye may read for a ducat on every skull
The names of the Three who followed the Star,
Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar.''
DAVID MAcRiTCHiE.
VII.— TALE OF A GIRL WHO WAS SOLD TO THE DEVIL,
AND OF HER BROTHER.1
ONCE upon a time there lived a countryman and his old wife :
he had three daughters, but he was very poor. One day he
and his young daughter went into the forest to gather mushrooms.
And there he met with a great lord. The old peasant bared his
head, 'and, being frightened at the sight of the nobleman, he said
apologetically : " I am not chopping off your honour's wood with
my hatchet, I am only gathering what is lying on the ground." " 1
would willingly give thee all this forest," replies the nobleman ;
and he then asks the peasant if that is his wife who is with him.
"No, my lord, she is my daughter/' "Wilt thou sell her to me?"
" Pray, my lord, do not mock and laugh at my daughter, since none
but a great lady is a fitting match for your lordship." " That matters
little to thee ; all thou hast to do is to sell her to me." As the
peasant did not name the price he asked for her, the nobleman
gave him two handfuls of ducats.
The peasant, quite enraptured, grasped the money, but instead
of going home to his wife, he went to a Jew's. He asked the Jew
to give him something to eat and drink, but the Jew refused, bein<>
1 The reciter of this tale was John (Won, the narrator of the Tale of a Foolish Brother,
given in the preceding number of our Journal,
TALE OF A GIRL SOLD TO THE DEVIL,
that he had no money to pay him with; however, as soon
is the peasant had shown him the large sum that he had, the
delighted Jew seated him at the table and gave him food and drink.
He made the old peasant drunk, and stole away all his money.
The peasant returned home to his wife. She asked of him where he
had left his daughter. " Wife, I have placed her in service with a
great lord." The wife asked him if he had brought anything to her.
He replied that he was himself hungry ; but that this nobleman had
said to him that he had taken one daughter, and that he would take
the two others also. His wife bade him take them away. He
went away with these two daughters, and one of them he sold to
another lord. This one gave him a hatful of ' money. Then the
peasant said to his remaining daughter : " Wait for me here in the
forest ; I will bring thee something to eat and drink, do not stray
from here." He went to the same Jew that had stolen his money
from him. This Jew again stole from him the money he had
received from the other lord. The peasant returned to his daughter,
to whom he brought some bread, which she ate with delight.
There came a third nobleman, who purchased this third girl.
" Do not go to the Jew," said this lord to the peasant, " but go
straight home to thy wife, and hand over thy money to her, so
that she may take charge of it; for this Jew will rob thee once
more." The peasant returned home to his wife, who was very
glad. . . . This great lord spoke thus to him : " There is, in a forest,
a beautiful castle covered with silver. Go to the town, buy some fine
horses and harness, engage some peasants for work, and rest thou
thyself; make the peasants do the work." ... He got into a carriage
he took his peasants, and they set out with the help of God. They
came, by a magnificent road, smooth as glass, into a great forest.
They met a beggar, who asked of this great lord (this peasant, once
poor, now become rich) where his daughters were ? Soon after,
these peasants discover that they are quite bewildered ; they find
themselves surrounded by deep ravines and insurmountable
obstacles, so that they cannot get out, for they have lost their
way. There came an old beggar who asked of them, "Why
do you remain here, why are you not going on ? " " Alas ! " they
answered, " we cannot get out of this, we had a beautiful road and
we have lost it." " Whip up your horses a little," said the old man
to them, " perhaps they will go on." A lad touched up the horses,
and all of a sudden the peasants see before them a magnificent
road. They wish to thank this mendicant, but he has already
AND OF HER BROTHER. 147
disappeared. The peasants fall to weeping, for, say they to them-
selves, " This was no mendicant ; more likely was it the good God
himself." They reach this castle : the peasant is in ecstasies with it.
The peasants work for him, and he and his wife take their ease.
Ten years rolled by. He had once three daughters, whom he
had already forgotten. " The good God," said he, " had given me
three daughters, but I have never yet had a son." One day the
good God so ordered it that this peasant woman was brought to
bed. She was. delivered (pray excuse me) of a boy. This boy grew
exceedingly, he was already three years old, he was very intelligent.
When he was twelve years old his father put him to school. He
was an apt scholar : he knew German, and could read anything !
One day, this boy, having returned home, asked of his father,
" How do you do, father ? " His mother gave him some food, and
sent him to bed. Next day he got up, and went to school. Two
little boys who passed along said, the one to the other, " There goes
the little boy whose father has sold his daughters to the devils."
This boy reached the school filled with anger ; he wrote his task
quickly, for he could not calm his angry feelings. .He went home
to his father as quickly as possible ; he took two pistols, and called on
his father to come to him. As soon as his father came into the
room, the boy locked the door on them both. " Now, father, tell
me the truth : had I ever any sisters ? If you do not confess the
truth to me, I will fire one of these pistols at you and the other at
myself." The father answered: "You have had three sisters, my
child, but I have sold them to I know not whom." He sent his
father to the town, and bade him, " Buy for me, father, an apple
weighing one pound." The father came back home, and gave
the apple to his son. The latter was delighted with it, and he
made preparations for going out into the world. He embraced
his father and mother. " The good God be with you," he said to
them, " for it may be I shall never see you more ; perchance I may
perish."
He came to a field, where he saw two boys fighting terribly. The
father of these two boys had, when dying, left to the one a cloak and
to the other a saddle. This little boy went up to these boys and
asked them, " What are you fighting about ? " " Excuse us, my
lord," replied the younger, " our parents are dead ; they have left to
one of us a cloak and to the other a saddle : my elder brother wants
to take both cloak and saddle, and does not wish to give me any-
thing." This little nobleman said to them, " Come now, T will put
TALE OF A GIRL SOLD TO THE DEVIL,
oil right : here is an apple, which I shall throw far out into this
leld ; and whichever of you gets up to it first shall have both of
these things." He flung away the apple, and while the boys were
running to get it, this little nobleman purloined both cloak and saddle.
He resumed his journey, and went away, with the help of God. He
came to a field, he stopped, he examined the cloak he had just
stolen, and to the saddle he cried : " Bear me away to where my
young sister lives ! " The saddle took hold of him, lifted him into
the air, and carried him to the dwelling of his young sister. He
cried to his young sister : " Let me in, sister ! " Her response was :
"I have been here for twenty years, I have never seen anybody
during that time ; and you — you will break my slumber." " Sister !
if you do not believe that I am your brother, here is a handkerchief
which will prove that I am." His sister read thereon the names of
her father, of her mother, and of her brother. Then she let him enter,
and fainted away. " Where am I to hide you now, brother ? for if
my husband comes he will devour you." "Have no fear on my
account," he replied ; " I have a cloak which makes me invisible
whenever I wear it." Her husband returned, she served some food to
him, and then, employing a little artifice, " Husband," she said, " I
dreamt that I had a brother." " Very good ! " " If he should come
here, you would not hurt him, would you, husband ? " " What harm
would I do to him ? I would give him something to eat and to
drink." At this she called out, " Brother, let my husband see you ! "
The young lad's brother-in-law saw him, and was greatly pleased with
his appearance ; he gave him food and something to drink. He went
out and called his brothers. They, well satisfied with the state of
things, entered, along with the boy's two other sisters. The latter
were brimming over with delight. A lovely lady also came, who
enchanted him. "Is this young lady married?" he asked of his
sister. " No," she replied, " she has no husband ; you can marry her,
if you like." They fell in love with each other ; they were married.
For ten years they lived there. At last this youth said to his
sister : " I must return home to my father ; mayhap he is dead by
this time ? " He got up next morning, his brothers-in-law gave
him large sums of gold and silver.
They drew near to the house, he and his wife. Not far from this
house there was a small wood through which they had to pass, and in
it they noticed a beautiful wand.1 " Let us take this wand," said his
wife to him, " it is very pretty, we shall plant it at home." He
* In the original it is " sukar kait," — I. K,
AND OF HER BROTHER. 149
obeyed her, and took this wand. He reached the house : the father
was very happy that his son was now married.
Five years passed away. The good God gave them a son. He
went to the town in order to invite godfathers After the baptism
they came back from church, they ate, they drank, and finally every-
body went away ; he remained alone with his wife. One day he
went to the town. When he came home, he saw that his wife was
no longer there, and that the sapling had also disappeared ! (This
was no sapling, but a demon.) He began to lament. " Why do you
lament ? " asked his father. " Do not make me angry, father," said
he, " for I am going out into the world."
He got ready for the road ; he set out. He came into a great
forest. As it was beginning to rain, he took shelter under an oak,
and in that very oak his wife was concealed. He slept for a little
while ; then he heard a child weeping. " Who is this that is
crying ? "• he asked of his wife. " It is your child." And he recog-
nised her and cried ; " Wife, hearken to what I am going to say to
you. Ask this dragon of yours where it is that he hides the key of
his house." " Very well," assented she. The dragon came back to
the house, she threw her arms round his neck, and said to him,
" Husband, tell me truly, where is the key of our house ? " " What
good would it do you if I told you ? " he replied : " well, then, listen.
In a certain forest there is a great cask ; inside this cask there is a
cow ; in this cow there is a calf ; in this calf a goose ; in this goose
a duck ; in this duck an egg ; and it is inside this egg that the key is
to be found." " Very good, that is one secret I know." She then
asked of him wherein lay his strength. The dragon owned this to
his wife : " When I am attired as a lord, I cannot be killed ; neither
could any one kill me when I am dressed as a king ; but it is only at
the moment I am putting on my boots that I may be killed." " Very
good, now I know both his secrets." — He smelt at his feather,1
and all his three brothers-in-law appeared beside him. They lay in
wait until the moment when the dragon was drawing on his boots,
and then they slew him. They betook themselves to that forest, they
1 The narrator had omitted to mention this before. In many Polish and Russniak
ales, one meets with a bird's feather or a horse-hair, possessing the magical power of making
anybody of whom one has need, however far off', to immediately appear beside one. One has
only to burn this feather (or horse-hair) a little, and then to smell it. In this Gypsy tale,
therefore, the hero's brothers-in-law had evidently given him such a feather, along with the
' large sums of gold and silver," at the time of his departure from their home. But the
narrator had forgotten to mention this in recounting the departure, though he remembered
the feather when he reached that point at which the hero had need of it to summon his
brothers-in-law to his aid, in order to kill the dragon.— I. K.
STRAY NOTES ON GEORGE BORROWS LIFE IN SPAIN.
lashed the cask, they killed the cow that was inside of it, they
dlled the goose that was inside the calf, then the duck that was
inside the goose, they broke open the egg, and out of it they drew the
key. He took this key, he came back to where his wife was, he
opened the oak, and he enabled his wife to come forth out of it.
" Now, my brothers-in-law, the good God be with you ; as for me, I
am setting out to follow my way of happiness ; — now I shall no more
encounter any evil thing."
He returned to his father's house with his wife. His father was
very glad to see him come back with his wife ; he gave them some-
thing to eat and drink, and he said to his son : " Hearken to me, my
child ; we are .old now, I and my wife ; thou must stay beside me."
And he answered him : " It is well, my father ; if thou sendest me
not away, I will dwell with thee."
ISIDORE KOPERNICKI.
VIII.— STRAY NOTES ON GEORGE BORROWS LIFE IN
SPAIN.
I WAS little more than a boy when I first heard George Borrow
spoken of at the annual dinner given by a connection of my
family to the deputation of the British and Foreign Bible Society
in a country town near London. These dinners were very dull
affairs to the younger guests, and the general conversation was most
oppressive to them. But our interest woke up at the mention of the
name of George Borrow ; and this is why I remember clearly even
now what I heard of him, while I have forgotten almost every
other circumstance of these anniversaries. I can distinctly recall
one of the secretaries telling of his first meeting with Borrow, whom
he found waiting at the offices of the Society one morning ; — how
puzzled he was by his appearance ; how, after he had read his letters
of introduction^ he wished to while away the time till a brother
secretary should arrive, and did not want to say anything to commit
himself to such a strange applicant ; so he began by politely hoping
that Borrow had slept well. " I am not aware that I fell asleep on
the road," was the reply ; " I have walked from Norwich to London."
(I forget now in how many hours, and when he started.) Then the
secretary stated, as I have heard from others, that Borrow said that
he had been stolen by Gypsies in his boyhood, had passed several
STRAY NOTES ON GEORGE SORROW'S LIFE IN SPAIN. 1 ."» 1
years with them, but had been recognised at a fair in Norfolk, and
brought home to his family by his uncle.
Of late years I have made the acquaintance of the Marquis de
Santa Coloma, who was Sorrow's companion on ship -board when he
was wrecked, and with whom he landed at Cadiz. According to the
expression of the Marquis, when they stepped on to the quay at
Cadiz, Borrow looked round, saw some Gitanos lounging there, said
something that the Marquis could not understand, and immediately
" that man became ' une grappe de Gitanos.' " They hung round his
neck, clung to his knees, seized his hands-, kissed his feet, so that the
Marquis hardly liked to join his comrade again after such close
embraces by so dirty a company. The Marquis de Sta. Coloma met
Borrow again at Seville. He had very great difficulty in finding him
out ; though he was aware of the street in which he resided, no one
knew him by name. At last by dint of inquiry and description, some
one exclaimed, " Oh ! you mean el Brujo " (the wizard), and he was
directed to the house. He] was admitted with great caution, and
conducted through a lot of passages and stairs, till at last he was
ushered into a handsomely furnished apartment in the " mirador,"
where Borrow was living with his wife and daughter. This last state-
ment of M. de Sta. Coloma had always somewhat puzzled me, until I
read Professor Knapp's pamphlet.1 It is evident now that, to his
Spanish friends at least, he thus called Mrs. Clarke and her daughter
Henrietta his wife and daughter ; and M. de Sta. Coloma evidently
believes that the young lady was Borrow's own daughter, and not his
step-daughter merely. At this time the roads from Seville to
Madrid were very unsafe. Sta. Coloma wished Borrow to join his
party, who were going well armed. Borrow said he would be safer
with his Gypsies. Both arrived without accident in Madrid; the
Marquis's party first. Borrow, on his arrival, told Sta. Coloma that his
Gypsy chief had led him by by-paths and mountains ; that they had
not slept in a village, nor seen a town the whole wray. In Madrid,
Borrow used to ride a fine black Andalusian horse, with a Russian
skin for a saddle, and without stirrups ; altogether making so con-
spicuous a figure that Sta. Coloma hesitated, and it needed all his
courage to be seen riding with him. At this period Borrow spent a
great deal of money, and lived very freely (i.e. luxuriously) in Spain.
From the point of view of the Marquis, a Spanish Roman Catholic,
Borrow was excessively bigoted, and fond of attacking Eoman
1 " George Borrow," by Professor W. J. Knapp, of Yale University ; extracted from The
Chautauquan, November 1887.
152 STRAY NOTES ON GEORGE SORROW'S LIFE IN SPAIN.
Catholics and Catholicism. He evidently, however, liked him as a
companion ; but he says that Borrow never, as far as he saw or could
learn, spoke of religion to his Gypsy friends, and that he soon noticed
his difference of attitude towards them. He was often going to the
British Embassy, and he thinks was considered a great bore there-
If any one knew the true history of what Borrow did in Spain, it
would be the late Lord Clarendon, then Mr. Villiers, and his attaches
and secretaries in Madrid.
Santa Coloma had been one of Zumalacarregui's aide-de-camps,
and agent for the Carlist party in England, and it was in returning
from one of these missions that he met Borrow on board ship. They
encountered one another again in the north of Spain. Borrow, in
addition to, or in lieu of, his work as agent for the Bible Society, was
acting as special correspondent to the Morning Herald. He organised
a system of runners or horsemen to Behobie, and thence of post-chaises
to Bayonne, so that the Morning Herald got his letters and despatches
sometimes before the Government got theirs. M. de Sta. Coloma is
very positive on the point that Sorrow's imprisonment in the citadel
of Pampeluna had nothing whatever to do with religion, but with his
conduct as war correspondent to the Morning Herald. Borrow had
written the truth, which was not to the praise of General Quesada.
Quesada got hold of him, and by an arbitrary act shut him up in the
citadel. Borrow found means to let Santa Coloma know where he
was ; and it was by the intercession and secret influence of Santa
Coloma and his Carlist friends, that, on application to Mr. Villiers
(Lord Clarendon), pressure was put on Quesada, and Borrow got
released.
Sta. Coloma tells me that Borrow told him that the Spanish
Gypsies were not nearly so pure in speech and blood as are the
English Gypsies.
Sorrow's knowledge of Basque seems to have been of the very
slightest ; nothing more than what any tourist with a facility for
language could pick up in a few weeks.
Another point explained to me by Dr. Knapp's pamphlet is that
Borrow was with the Gypsies in Kussia. Sta. Coloma had told me
this, but I could not understand how it could be.
There is no difficulty to any one who knows the history of the
first Carlist War, in understanding how, even when the English
Legion was fighting for the Christines, Borrow found it necessary to
apply to Carlist friends for their intercession to an English Liberal
Minister to get released from imprisonment by a Spanish Liberal
HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN KM.LISH HKLATING TO GYPSIES. i:>.'{
General. The Duke of Wellington gave the telescope which he used
at Waterloo to Zumalacarregui as a present, and Zumalacarregui was
slain by an English bullet. I find references to the letters in the
Morning Herald in Le Camp et la Cour de D. Carlos, by J. G.
Mitchell, Bayonne 1839 ; but with no indication of the author.
WENTWORTH WEBSTER.1
IX— HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING
TO GYPSIES. Compiled by H. T. CROFTON, 1888.
ACADEMY, THE, ....
ADAMS, W. MAURICE,
AINSWORTH, W. HARRISON,
ALEXANDER, FRANCESCA, .
ALLAN, LIFE OF JAMES,
ANCIENT AND MODERN BRITONS, .
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1784, .
ANSTEY, F.,
ANTHROPOLOGIA, 1875,
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1870,
ANTIQUARIAN CHRONICLE, No. 2,
ARCH^EOLOGIA, vol. vii., 1785, .
ARNOLD, MATTHEW, .
ASIATIC RESEARCHES, vol. vii.,
1784.
ASIATIC SOCIETY, ROYAL, of Great
Britain, vol. ii., 1830.
ATHENAEUM, THE,
AVERY, JOHN, ....
AYLWIN, .....
AXON, W. E. A.,
Various Reviews.
Wandering Tribes of Great Britain. Cassell's
Magazine, Nov. 1883, pp. 728-731.
Rookwood, 1839.
Roadside Songs of Tuscany. 1888.
By James Thompson. Newcastle, 1828.
Anon. : [D. MacRitehie]. 1884.
Bryant's Vocabulary and Marsden's Letter.
A Gipsy Fair in Surrey. Harper's Magazine,
March 1888.
Dr. Charnock on Roumanian Gypsies, and
Sim Dialect.
Mitra's Gipsies of Bengal.
Gipsy Kings.
Marsden's Letter and Bryant's Vocabulary.
The Scholar Gypsy.
Captain David Richardson.
Colonel J. S. Harriot.
Various Reviews.
Origin of the Gipsies. American Antiquarian
and Oriental Journal, vol. ix., p. 192.
An open air Romance for Poets, Painters, and
Gypsies, with a dedicatory Sonnet to the
beloved memory of George Borrow, the Great
High Priest of the Ungenteel. By Theodore
Watts. Still (Jan. 1889) unpublished.
Some Transylvanian Gipsy Songs. Manchester
Quarterly, No. 7, July 1883.
Stray Leaves. 1888. Gipsy Colour Names.
1 Professor Knapp, in a recent letter, makes the following interesting statement : " I
have a project of writing for the Journal a paper on 'The Sources of the Calo Literature in
Sorrow's Zincali, 1841.' I have all the original MSS. of those sources, and they are not in
George Sorrow's handwriting ; indeed they are much more correct than he prints them, with
sundry pieces he did not print at all, because a little ' strong' for a Bible Society man— a
Major6 Lil-engro Manush."
VOL. I. — NO. III. L
154 HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES.
B.> W., .
BAILEY, J. E.,
BAILY'S SPORTING MAGAZINE,
vol. xxi., Nov. and Dec. 1871 ;
Feb. 1872.
BAIRD, REV. JOHN,
>j 11 . . •
BAIRD, W.,
BARRIE, J. M., .
BEALE, ANNIE, ....
BIRKBECK, Miss A. M.,
BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, 1817,
„ 1866,
». 1887,
BOHEMIAN, THE,
BOMBAY LITERARY SOCIETY,
BONER, CHARLES,
BORDE, ANDREW,
BORROW, GEORGE,
BRAND'S POPULAR ANTIQUITIES,
BRIGHT, DR. EICHARD,
BRITISH ASSOCIATION at Leeds, 1858, Rev. T. W. Norwood.
„ „ „ 1861, Dr. B. C. Smart.
Gipsies and their Friends. Temple Bar Maga-
zine, May, 1876, pp. 65-76.
Les Tchinghianes. kOwens College Magazine.
Jan. 1871, pp. 85-93. [Review of Paspati's
book.]
Slang Terms and OrientaljRoots. By J. C. M.H.
Scottish Gypsy's Advocate. Edinburgh, 1839.
Report to Scottish Church Society, 1841.
Memoir of late Rev. John Baird, minister of
Yetholm. London.
Auld Licht Idylls, 1888, pp. 41-44 and 242, 243.
Among the Gypsies. Sunday Magazine, 1875.
Rural and Historical Gleanings from Eastern
Europe. 1854. [A chapter on Hungarian
Gypsies.]
Articles on Scottish Gypsies.
Sinison's History of the Gypsies.
Transylvanian Tsiganes.
Romancist and Novelist's Library. London,
1839.
Lieutenant Francis Irvine's Article. 1819.
Transylvania. London, 1865.
Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge.
1548.
Bible in Spain.
Zincali. 1841.
Lavengro. ^ Reprinted by
Romany Rye. Murray, 1888.
Wild Wales, 1862.
Romano Lavo-lil. 1874. J ,
Embeo e Majar6 Lucas. Badajoz, 1837.
Criscote e Majaro Lucas. Lundra, 1872.
Macmillan's Magazine, Jan. 1886.
Athenaeum, Sept. 1881. See Knapp, Prof.
Travels through Lower Hungary. 1818.
BROCKIE, WILLIAM, .
BRYANT, JACOB, . . .
5) II
BRUCE,
BURTON, SIR RICHARD F.,
Gypsies of Yetholm. 1884.
Archaeologia, vol. vii., 1785.
Annual Register, 1784.
The Court Cave ; or, The Hospitable Gypsies.
Edinburgh, 1816.
Sind, and the Races that inhabit that Valley.
London, 1851.
CANNING, ELIZABETH, Trial of, . By Henry Fielding. 1753.
CAREW, BAMPFYLDE MOORE, Ad- 1745.
ventures of.
CASSELL'S FAMILY MAGAZINE, Wandering Tribes of Great Britain, by Adams.
Nov. 1883.
CATHERWOOD, MARY H., . . The Gypsies (" Wide Awake," Boston, U.S.,
April 1885).
HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES. 155
CENTURY MAGAZINE, .
5) J)
CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPEDIA,
„ DR. ROBERT, .
„ MISCELLANY, vol. xvi.,
„ JOURNAL,
» 5> '
J) Jl •
CHARNOCK, DR., ....
CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN, 1812,
CHCRCH OF ENGLAND AND LAM-
BETH MAGAZINE, 1875.
CHURCHMAN'S SHILLING MAGAZINE,
CLARK, E. L.,
CLARKE, E. D., .
COBBOLD, REV. RICHARD, .
COLLECTANEA DE REBUS HIBER-
NICIS, vol. vi.
CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, vol. xli.,
COOKE, KENINGALE, .
COPSEY, DANIEL,
COPSON, H. J., .
CORNHILL MAGAZlXE,VOls. XXV1L,
xxviii., xxix., 1873.
COVERLEY, SIR ROGER DE, .
CRABB, JAMES, ....
CRAIG, A. R.,
CRAWFURD, J.,
CROFTON, H. T.,
CROOKE, W.,
CROSS, MRS.,
D'ANVERS, N., .
DEUTSCH, E.,
DIGHTON, ROBERT,
DRAKE, 0. $. T..
Visiting the Gypsies. April 18S3.
A Gypsy Beauty. 1886.
Article " Gypsies," by E. Deutsch, in 1st ed. ;
in 2d, by F. H. Groome.
Exploits, etc., of Scottish Gypsies. 1821
and 1886.
Account of the Gypsies. 1847.
Greek Gypsies at Liverpool. 1886.
Queen Esther Faa Blyth and the Yetholm
Gypsies. 18th Aug. 1883.
Ottoman Gypsies. 1878.
Roumanian Gypsies. Anthropologia, 1875.
On the Gypsy dialect called Sim. Anthropo-
logia, 1875.
See Hoyland, p. 189.
Rev. S. B. James.
See Drake.
Races of European Turkey. 1878.
Travels in various Countries. 1825.
John Steggall, the Suffolk Gypsy. 1856.
Dr. Charles Vallancey.
E. Gerard. Transylvanian Peoples.
Guitar Player, 1881. The Gypsies' Match.
Dialect and Manners of Gypsies. Monthly
Magazine, vol. xlvt, 1818.
The Gypsy's Warning, c. 1838.
Zelda's Fortune, by R. E. Francillon.
See Tom Taylor.
Gypsy's Advocate, 1831. «v4
Life of. See Rudall.
Condition of the Gypsies.
Book of the Hand. 1867.
The Origin of the Gypsies. (Read before the
Ethnological Society, 17th Feb. 1863).
Dialect of English Gypsies. See Smart.
Early Books on Gypsies. Antiquary, vol. i.
Gipsy Life in Lancashire and Cheshire. Man-
chester Literary Club, vol. iii., 1877.
Former Costume of the Gypsies. Manchester
Literary Club, vol. ii. 1876.
English Gypsies under the Tudors. Manchester
Literary Club, vol. vi., 1880.
Gipsy Folk-Tales. Manchester Quarterly, 1882.
Gypsy Tribes of N.-W. Provinces. Indian
Antiquary, vol. xvii.
The Spanish Gypsy. By "George Eliot." 1869.
House on Wheels. By De Stolz. 1875.
See Chambers's Encyclopedia.
Prints. " Gypsey's Prophecy." Dublin, 1780.
A Strange People and a Strange Language.
Churchman's Shilling Magazine, 1876.
156 HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES.
EDINBURGH REVIEW, 1878, .
EDWARDS, H. SUTHERLAND,
ELLIOTT, .
ELIOT, GEORGE, .
ELMENY, FRANK,
ENCYCLOPAEDIA, REES', 1819,
„ METROPOLITANA,
ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, vol. ii., .
FORTUNE TELLER,
FRANCILLON, R. E.,
GARVOCK, THE GYPSY, a Romance
of Fifty Years Ago.
GERARD, E.,
GIPSY CHIEF : A Novel,
GIPSIES, THE : A Tale,
GIPSY'S WARNING : A Tale, .
GOOD WORDS MAGAZINE, .
GRELLMANN, H. M. G.,
GRIERSON, G. A.,
GROOME, F. H., .
GYPSY LORE SOCIETY'S JOURNAL,
H., J. C. M., .
HAGGART, DAVID, Life of, .
HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGA-
ZINE, 1882.
„ „ 1888,
HARRIOT, COLONEL J. S., .
HELLIS, NELLIE,
HOOK, THEODORE,
HOTTEN, J. C., .
HOUSE ON WHEELS,
HOWITT, RICHARD,
HOYLAND, JOHN,
HUGO, VICTOR, .
Dictionary of Canting Crew. c. 1724.
Origin and Wanderings of the Gypsies.
The Russians at Home and Abroad. 1879.
Travels in Austria, Russia, and Turkey.
London, 1838.
See Cross.
Poor Janos ; a Tale of Hungarian Gipsy Life.
London, 1886.
s.v. " Gypsies."
,s.v. " Gypsies." See Groome.
s.v. "Gypsies." See Renouard.
Dr. B. C. Smart.
See Norwood Gipsy, True-telling Gypsy.
See Cornhill Magazine.
Glasgow Weekly Mail, 1866.
Transylvanian Peoples. Contemporary Review,
vol. xli.
1823.
Anon. 1842.
Anon.
Rambles with the Romany. By Irvine Mon-
tagu ; and see Ralston.
Dissertation on the Gipsies, 1787 and 1807.
English Gipsy Index. Indian Antiquary, 1 886.
Arabic and Persian References to Gipsies.
Indian Antiquary, vol. xvi.
In Gypsy Tents. 1880.
Gypsies. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed. ;
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, 2d ed.
Gypsy Folk-tales : A Missing Link. National
Review, 1888.
1888, etc.
Slang Terms and Oriental Roots. See Baily's
Sporting Magazine.
Written in Edinburgh Gaol, 1821.
Gypsy Dance, Spanish Vistas.
Anstey's Gypsy Fair in Surrey.
Observations on the Oriental Origin of the
Romanichal. Royal Asiatic Society of Great
Britain, vol. ii. London, 1830.
Gypsy Jan : A Tale. London, c. 1886.
Martha, the Gypsy ; or, The Fatal Curse : A
Tale. Johnson's Cheap Library, Leeds.
The Slang Dictionary. London, 1864.
See Stolz.
Gypsy King, and other Poems. 1840.
Historical Survey of the Customs, etc., of the
Gypsies. York, 1816.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Various
editions.
HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES. 157
HUNTER, WILLIAM,
ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS,
INDIAN ANTIQUARY, .
IRENE AND THE GIPSIES : A Tale,
IRVINE, LIEUT. F.,
JAMES, G. P. R., ...
„ REV. S. B., .
JANUS; or, the Edinburgh Literary
Almanack, 1826.
JAPP, A.,
JOHNSON, C.,
JONES, HANNAH MARIA,
Biggar and the House of Fleming, 1867,
chap. xix.
See Tom Taylor.
See Grierson, Crooke.
Children's Picture Annual, c. 1880.
Similitude between Gypsy and Hindi Lan-
guages. Literary Society of Bombay, 1819.
The Gipsy. London, 1835, and other editions.
English Gypsies ; a Monograph, in five chapters.
Church of England Magazine. London, 1875.
Song of the Gypsy King, from the German.
The Gypsies. Gentleman's Magazine, 1883.
Lives of Highwaymen, etc. 1736.
Gipsy Mother : A Tale. 1833.
Gipsy Girl ; or, The Heir of Hazel Dell.
c. 1833.
KENSINGTON, a Monthly Maga- Gipsy : A Tale. By B. L. A.
zine, 1879.
KERRIGAN, T. E.,
KETURA, THE GYPSY QUEEN,
KING, CHARLES, . . .
KNAPP, PROF. WILIAM T., .
LELAND, C. G., .
LESLIE, EMMA, ....
55 »•-•*•
LITERARY AND STATISTICAL MAGA-
ZINE FOR SCOTLAND, vols. i., ii.
LOGAN, W. H., .
LONDON SOCIETY, vol. xlvii.,
LOST SIR MASSINGBERD : A Novel,
LUCAS, JOSEPH, ....
A Gypsy Beauty. Century Magazine, 1886.
People's Pocket Story Books. London, c.
1875.
Romany Language of Coin. Notes and Queries,
1884.
"George Borrow," The Chautauquan. Nov.
1887. Life of Borrow [in preparation].
English Gipsy Songs. London, 1875.
English Gipsies. London, 1873.
Breitmann Ballads. London, 1872.
The Gypsies. London, 1882.
Johnston's Universal Cyclopaedia, vols. ii., iii.
New York, 1876-77. Arts. " Gypsies " and
" Rommany Language."
Russian Gipsies. Macmillan's Magazine, 1879.
Playbill of Zillah : a new romantic drama.
With Romany Song. 1879.
Visiting the Gipsies. Century Magazine, 1883.
Charlotte Cooper, a Gypsy Beauty. Century
Magazine, 1886.
Gypsy Charms. St. James's Gazette, 2d Aug.
1888.
The Original Gipsies. Holder ; Vienna, 1888.
The Gypsy Queen : A Tale. London.
See Leland ; A Gypsy Beauty.
A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads, pp. 139-141. 1869.
Our Gypsies and the Gypsy Children.
James Payn.
Yetholm History of the Gypsies. Kelso, 1882.
Petty Romany. Nineteenth Century Maga-
zine, 1880.
158 HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES.
MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE,
MACKENZIE AND IRBY,
MACRITCHIE, D.,
77 '/
MACTAGGART, JOHN, .
MAILLARD, ANNETTE MARIE,
MALEN, M. E. 0.,
MARSDEN, W., .
MARSTERS, T., .
MASON, .
MELVILLE, G. J. WHYTE, .
MITCHELL, THOMAS, .
MITRA, BABU E.,
MONTAGU, IRVINE,
MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 1818,
MORWOOD, VERNON S.,
MURRAY, R.,
Articles on George Borrow ; Russian Gypsies,
by Leland.
Travels in Sclavonic Provinces, 1877.
Ancient and Modern Britons. London, 1884.
Greek Gypsies at Liverpool. Chambers's Jour-
nal, vol. iii., 1886.
The Gypsies of India. London, 1886.
Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopaedia, 1824, pp.
66-70 and 142.
Zingra, the Gypsy : A Tale.
Naomi, the Gypsy Girl : A Tale.
See Archseologia, 1785.
See Annual Register, 1784.
Poetical Manual. 1833.
Border Tour.
Katerfelto, 1875; Black but Comely, 1879.
History of Thomas Mitchell, born and educated
among the Gypsies. 1816.
Gipsies of Bengal. Anthropological Society.
London, 1870.
Rambles with the Romany. See Good Words.
See D. Copsey.
Our Gypsies. 1885.
Gipsies in England. Victoria Magazine, 1867.
Clarissa, the Gypsy : A Tale.
The Gypsy Scare : A Tale.
The Gipsies of the Border. Galashiels, 1875.
NATIONAL REVIEW, 1888, .
NEVILL, L., ....
NEWBOLD,
NINETEENTH CENTURY MAGA-
ZINE, vol. viii.
NORMAND, HUGH DE, .
NORWOOD GYPSY; or, Universal
Dream Book, 1810.
NORWOOD, REV. T. W.,
NOTES AND QUERIES, .
See Groome.
A Romany Queen. London.
The Gipsies of Egypt. Royal Asiatic Society.
London, 1856.
Petty Romany. Joseph Lucas.
The Gipsy Queen. New York, 1882.
Race and Language of Gypsies.
ciation, Leeds, 1858.
Passim.
British
OLIVER,
OUSELY, W.,
PALMER, PROP. E. H.,
PASPATI, A. G., .
PAYN, JAMES, ....
PEOPLE OF TURKEY, pp. 158-168.
PHILLIPS, GEORGE S. ("January
Searle").
PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 1863,
PlNKERTON, W., ....
Rambles in the Border.
Travels in the East. London, 1823.
English Gipsy Songs. See Leland.
Memoir on Language of Gypsies in Turkish
Empire. New Haven, 1862.
Journal of American Oriental Society, vol. vii.
[Same Memoir.]
Lost Sir Massingberd.
The Gypsies otf the Danes' Dike. London,
1864.
See Dr. B. C. Smart.
Somersetshire Gypsy Vocabulary. 1780.
HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES. 1 ">!»
POTTER, H. T., .
POTTINGER, H., .
QUARTERLY REVIEW, .
. Dictionary of Cant, etc.
. Travels in Beloochistan and Scinde.
Various Reviews.
1816.
RAGGED UPROAR; or, Oxford 1760.
Roratory : A Dramatic Satire.
RALSTON, W. R. J., .
RANGER OP THE TOMB ; or, Gipsy'
Prophecy : A Romance.
RENODARD, REV. CECIL,
RICHARDSON, CAPTAIN D., .
>j »
ROBERTS, SAMUEL,
» » •
RUDALL, JOHN, .
RUTHERFORD,
SAINTSBURY, GEORGE,
SCOTT, SIR WALTER, .
SCOT, REGINALD,
SHELDON, ....
SIMS, G. R.,
SIMSON, WALTER,
SIMSON, JAMES, .
SMART, B. C.,
SMITH, GEORGE, .
„ „ of Coalville,
„ HUBERT,
SMITH, LAURA A.,
STANLEY, A. P., .
STEGGALL, JOHN,
STOOD ART, JANE T.,
STOLZ, DE, MADAME,
STRETTELL, ALMA,
STUART, CHARLES,
SYKES,
A Gipsies' Christmas Gathering. Good Words.
1868.
1847.
" Gypsy" : Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 1845.
Asiatic Researches, vol. vii. 1784.
Account of the Bazeegurs. 1812.
The Gypsies. 1836, and other editions.
Parallel Miracles. 1830.
Life of James Crabb. London, 1854.
Southern Counties Register.
See George Borrow, Macmillan's Magazine.
Guy Mannering and Quentin Durward.
Discovery of Witchcraft. 1651.
History of Berwick.
The Romany Rye : A Drama. 1882.
History of the Gypsies. 1865, and other
editions.
The Gipsies. 1875.
Social Emancipation of the Gypsies. 1884.
John Bunyan. 1880.
Scottish Churches and the Gipsies. 1881.
The Gipsies, etc. 1883.
Was John Bunyan a Gipsy 2 1882.
Dialect of the English Gipsies. English Philo-
logical Society, 1863.
Dialect of the English Gipsies. 1875 ; and see
Crofton, H. T.
British Association, Leeds. 1861.
Ethnological Society, vol. ii.
Incidents in a Gipsy's Life. 1886.
I 've been a Gypsy ing. 1883.
Gypsies and their Children. London Society,
18—.
Gipsy Life. 1880.
Tent Life in Norway with English Gipsies.
London, 1873.
Through Romany Song-Land (in preparation).
The Gipsies ; a Poem. Oxford, 1842.
See Cobbold.
In Cheviot's Glens. 1887.
House on Wheels. 1875.
Songs of Spanish Gipsies. 1887.
David Blythe, the Gipsy King. 1883.
Local Records of Durham, etc.. vol. i.
TATTERSHALL,
TAYLOR, TOM,
Tobias Smith, executed at Bedford.
Sir Roger de Coverley, 1 85 1 .
1792.
160 HAND-LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., IN ENGLISH RELATING TO GYPSIES.
TAYLOR, TOM,
TEMPLE BAR MAGAZINE, .
TIMES, THE,
THOMPSON, JAMES,
THOMSON, W.,
TRUE TELLING GIPSY ; or,
Fortune Teller.
TUCKEY, JANET, .
TURNER, C. J. KIBTON,
New
VALLANCEY, CHARLES,
VICTORIA MAGAZINE, .
WALKER, E. G.,
WATTS, THEODORE,
WEEKLY MISCELLANY, vol. xvi.,
WEYLLAND, JOHN M. .
WILSON, JOHN MACKAY,
WOODCOCK, HENRY,
WOTHERSPOON, ,
Gipsy Experiences of a Rouinany Kei. Illus-
trated London News, 1851.
Origin and History of the Gypsies. Illustrated
London News, 1856.
Bath, 1870.
Gipsies and their Friends. By W. B. 1876.
1872, Oct. 11, 17 ; p. 1, column 2.
Life of James Allan. Newcastle, 1828.
Mammuth. 1789.
1805, and other editions.
English Gipsy Songs. See Leland.
History of Vagrants and Vagrancy. 1887.
Language of Gipsies of Bohemia, etc. Collec-
tanea de Rebus Hibernicis. Dublin, 1786.
See Morwood, V. G.
The Fortune Teller; or, Heir of Hazelmore:
A Komantic Tale.
See Aylwin and Borrow (Athenaeum).
1779.
Round the Tower; or, The Story of the London
City Mission. 1875.
Tales of the Borders, 1835 : (a) The Faa's
Revenge ; (6) Judith the Egyptian ; (c) Pol-
warth on the Green ; (d) The Countess of
Cassilis; (e) The Hawick Spate; (/) The
Gipsy Lover.
The Gipsies. London, 1865.
A Word for the Romany Chals. Cheltenham
College Magazine, 1873.
ZANA, THE GIPSY, or, Heiress of London, c. 1877.
Glair Hall.
ZELDA'S FORTUNE,
ZlNGRA, THE GlPSY, .
ZINGARI, THE : A Poem, .
See Cornhill Magazine and Francillon.
By A. M. Maillard.
Bridgewater, 1841.
X._A VOCABULAKY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
BY E. VON SOWA.
AUTHORITIES.
M. — F. Miklosich, Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Zigeuner-Mundarten,
iv., Wien, 1878. In this work the author deals with — (1) a story
obtained by I. Kluch from the Carpathian Gypsies (i. a. p. 1 ff), —
and
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT. 161
*M. — (2) Eight stanzas collected by I. Rotarides at Drienovo.
The speech of the latter is, as I tried to prove in another place, a sub-
dialect of the Hungarian — not, like that of my own and Kluch's texts,
of the Bohemian — dialect.
M. W. — (3) Vocables occurring in the M. W. (see under " Abbre-
viations ") of the same author, and marked by him as Carpathian ;
the source of these vocables, which for the most part do not occur in
the text published by him, I do not know.
K — A. Kalina, La langue des Tziganes slovaques; Posen, 1880.
This author states that he collected his texts and vocables — (1) in
the environs of Pest'an (Postve'n), Nove Mesto (Vagh Ujhe'ly),
Trencin (Trencsdn), Zelin (solna), and St. Martin.
*K. — (2) This refers to that portion of the above work which
deals with fifteen stanzas collected by Dr. Kopernicki in the district
of Gomor (south-east border of the Slovak territory). The vocables
occurring in these stanzas belong to the Hungarian dialect.
S. — (1) The texts (nineteen tales and one song) collected by
myself, in the years 1884 and 1885, at Trencin — Teplice (Tapolcza),
a part of which has been published in the Zeitschrift der deutschen
morgenlandischen GfesellscTiaft, vol. xxxix., of 1885, p. 509 — ib., another
part in my Grammar of the Slovak-Gypsy Dialect (Die Mundart der
slovakischen Zigeuner\ Gottingen, 1887). The rest has not yet been
published.
(2) A set of sentences composed by myself, and translated by my
Gypsies into their language.
(3) A collection of words obtained by me in conversation with
them.
SPELLING.
The alphabet, which will be used in the Vocabulary is the follow-
ing :— a, d (Gr.1 a\ 0, ch (Gr., M. K., <T), d, d', dzt e, 6,ft g, h, x (Gr.,
M. ch- K. 70, i> i,j (Gr., M., K. d£)t k, kh, I, I' (M., K. often I), m, n,
ri (K., n or m), 0, o, p, ph, r, s, sh (Gr., M., K. s), t, th, t' (K. ti\ t'h, ts
(Gr., M., K. c), u, <&, v, y (Gr. M., K. j\ z, zh (Gr., M,, K. £).
ABBREVIATIONS.
Pa. — A. Paspati, Etudes sur les Tchinghiane's ou Bohemiens de
1'empire ottoman : Constantinople, 1870.
Ml. — F. Mailer, Beitrage zur Kentniss der Rornsprache, i. : Wieii,
1869 ; ii., ib. 1872.
1 My Grammar, quoted above.
162 A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
Jcs. — J. JeSina, Roman! <}ib, c,ili jazyk cikansky : 2d edit., Prague,
1883 ; whenever I quote the 3d edit. (Leipzig, 1886), I shall mark it
with Jes. 3.
M. W. — F. Miklosich, Die Mundarten und Wanderungen der
Zigeuner Europas (12 parts) : Wien, 1872-80.
Pit, — A. Pott, Die Zigeuner in Europa und Asien : Halle, 1844 ; ii.,
ib. 1845.
a. — Indicates a word once only once occurring in the materials out
of which my Vocabulary is composed, or a meaning of a word estab-
lished by only one sentence.
SI. — The sub-dialects (Mundarten) spoken by the Gypsies living
among Slovaks, and belonging for the one part to the Bohemian- and
for the other to the Hungarian- Gypsy dialects.
Gr. — The dialect of the Greek Gypsies.
Rm. „ „ Roumanian Gypsies.
Hng. „ „ Hungarian Gypsies.
Bhm. „ „ Bohemian Gypsies.
Mag. „ Magyar languaage.
Rum. „ Roumanian language.
Serv. „ Servian language,
Slavon.,, (Old) Slavonic language.
TchTc. „ Tchek language.
Slov. „ Slovak dialect of the latter.
A, a., K, intj., ah ! oh ! dwellest. Even the Tchk. and Slov.
Achau, M., S., achav ; K., vb. intr., pt. often use one and the same word for
pf. achlo. Gr., Hng., Bhm. ; in Gr " remaining " and " dwelling."
the pt. pf. is achilo. (1) To become
pale achle tovarisha — then they be
Achdri, a., M., S., f. ? (yachori ?), dim ;
cf. yakh. The form and the gender
came journeymen ; kstarachl'as kabtii must be concluded from the only
— by him she became pregnant. (2) instance : — leal' - achora, black eyes ;
To be ; akakanak ach mre sovnakune eye.
devleha — now be with my golden Ada, M., K., S., dem. pron., f., ada, pi.
god (farewell) ; cf. Slov. Bud' s ala ; K., but these forms are used in-
Bohom. T'ixo achenf — be silent! differently ; Gr., Bhm. wanting, Hng.
(3) To remain ; adai tro vod'i achla, =S1. (1) This, the mentioned, the
hie tut mro rom muddrla — here thy past ; amenge vareko ada rat savoro
soul will remain — see, my husband avri chord'as — somebody this night
will kill thee. (4) To continue ; a., has stolen all our goods ; No, pil'om
achellas o biyau ofta tsela borsh — the na hal'om ada tselo kurJco — I have
nuptials continued seven whole years, neither drunk nor eaten all this week.
M. W. (5) To dwell ; I'ijeha man K. (2) This, the following ; a., hem,
Mre Tee tute, kai tu aches — thou wilt dikena, so me ada rat kerava — why,
bear me home to thee where thou you will see, what I shall do this night.
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
163
Adadive, a., K., adv. of dives, Gr.
wanting, the Gr. correspondent being
avdives, avdies from another base ;
Hng. adadiy ; Bhm. adadives, to-day
(lit., this day). Ada divesdro, a.,
K., adv., dim. id. ; adal'inai, a.,
S., adv. ; Bhm., SI. : (cf. I'inai], this
year (lit., this summer).
Adai, M., K., S., yadai ; K. adv. ; Gr.
wanting ; Hng., Bhm. = SI. (1) here ;
adai tro vdd'i achla — here thy soul
will remain. (2) Hither ; so adai
avl'al? — why didst thou come hither ?
Adarde, M., W., S., adv. ; Gr. wanting ;
Bhm., it means " here " ; cf. in the
Moravian var. of the Bhm. d. karde,
" where." Hither : Yav adarde yekh
choneste — come here after a month.
Adava, M., K., S., dem. pron.,f. adaya ;
pi. adala K. ; Gr., Hng., Bhm. want-
ing ; Pol., Euss., Ital. = SI. ; this ;
of whom, or which is spoken ; le tri-
tonejeneha so kerd'an? — so kerd'am?
mangellas amendar the xal, ta lil'am
leske jakha ami. Ta adava som me.
oda terno krdlis auka phend'as — De
tertio quid fecistis? — quid fecimus?
petebat a nobis edere, turn sumsimus
ei oculos foras. Turn hie, sum ego ille
juvenis, rex ita dixit, M.
Adebor, a., S., adv., Gr. wanting ; there
is formed abor, Pa. 127, from another
base ; Hng., Bhm. wanting. So much ;
attributively used in the only instance
we have; kai you, aso gdjo dil'ino,
il'as adebor love ?— whence did he,
such a foolish peasant, take so much
money ?
Adeso, S., pron. dem., Gr. ; Hng., Bhm.
wanting ; Hng. corresponds aso, Bhm.
akadeso ; both from other bases ; Em.
= SI. Such ; ke rdt'i mange tri romni
mek th6vel he shufel dui adese homolki
— to-night thy wife may put and dry
two such whey-cheeses for me. The
meaning may be : such a food, which
is called whey-cheese. Kind'as peske
papiris adeso liar orndtos — he bought
for himself such a paper like pontifi-
cals ; Adeso bdro jukel—snch a large
dog; Mange aneha naifeder mol te
piyel h-adeso mas — thou wilt bring
me the best wine for drinking and
even (?) such meat.
Adetsi, a., M. W., adv. ; cf. M. W.
x. 131 ; Gr. wanting ; cf. atsi ; Hng.
wanting, Bhm. = 81, ; so much, so
many.
Agor. See Yagor.
Ax, read ay, S., interj. ; Slov. ach, ah !
oh ! alas !
Akada, M., $.,akado, a., K., pron. dem.,
Gr., Hng., Bhm. wanting ; cf. Bhm.
akadarde, " look there ! " from the
same base ; this, whom one can show,
or look at ; dava tumenge akada
shukdr id'a — I shall give you this fine
dress. (The speaker is bearing the
clothes on his shoulders.) So hi tut ?
hi akada bashno — what have you ? I
have this cock. (He is showing it.)
Akadai, a., M. W., adv. ; Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. wanting ; here.
Akadava, K., S., pron. dem., f. akadaya.
pi. akadala, K. ; Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting ; " this." The very meaning
cannot be stated. Kal. gives no
translation. My Gypsies confirmed
the existence of that word, but ex-
plained it incorrectly as " so, in this
very manner," Slov. takto. The only
two instances are : sako dives mosi te
xalas (sc. o drakos}, yekha manusMa.
Ax devla, so pes akadava kerla ? Ndne
mozhna vets,kaipes sako dives ole drak-
oske te del te xal — every day he, the
dragon, must eat a woman. Oh God !
what will be done ? It is impossible
that one can give food to the dragon
every day. Te na tu akadava chiveha.
akada rovl'i, uches and o neba — if thou
wilt not throw this stick highly into
the heavens. In both sentences the
use of akadava is not clear.
Akakanak, S., adv., Gr., Hng. wanting ;
cf. the following vocable ; Bhm. = SI.
(1). Now ; akakanak ach devleha, Idcho
shukdr phral — now, farewell, good and
beautiful brother! (2). Forthwith,
instantly (?) ; me tut akakanak pro-
bdl'inava —I instantly shall put thee
to the proof. Perhaps akakanak even
in this instance means " now."
Akana, S. adv., Gr. ; Bhm. = SI., and
Akanak, M., K., S., adv. ; Hng. akanak,
akanik, akdnek ; now then. Akana les
mind'ar muddrlas — then he killed him
immediately ; akanak mange phen,
soske tu ole bakren atsi xas — now tell
me why thou eatst the sheep so much.
164
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
Akarav, M., W., akard'as, vii. b. ;
akhdrav ; M. W. akerav ; K., vb. tr.,
Gr. akarava, akerava ; Bhm. akdrav;
"to groan ;" Hng. akyarav. Gypsies
confirmed the existence of the vocable,
but afterwards substituted for it vich-
inav q.v. To call ; akeren man pro biau
— they invite me to the wedding. K.
Akaso, M. W., pron. dem. Mikl. states
(M. W. xi. 22) that he has doubts about
the word, but he gives an instance of
of its use ; this ? such ? besh tuke pr-
oda grast, al'e the le akase le lukes-
tanentsa id'entsa — sit upon the horse,
but with these (such ?) soldiers' coats.
— M. W.
Akatar, K., prp., Gr.=Sl, but means
" hence " ; Hng., Bhm. wanting ;
around ; cf. katar.
Akauka, M., adv., Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting. So ; yek yekhatar akauka
pes phuchenas — una ab una ita se
interrogabant, M.
Akava, M. W., a. ; akavo, a. ; akova, a.,
K. pron. dem. ; pi. akala, M. W. ; the
form, akalo, a., K., given as a nom.
sing, seems to be an oblique form of
the same. Gr., Hng. = SI. ; Bhm.
wanting ; this, K.
Ake, S., adv., Gr., Hng., Bhm. wanting ;
there ; voici ; hem ake tut na has ani
yekh nevo — why, there thou hadst not
even one kreuzer ; he tut dava le ake
dui neve — and I shall give to thee the
two kreuzers here.
Akor, K. dkor, M. adv. ; Mag. akkor ;
" then " ; used as in Magyar.
Akurdt, S., adv., Slov. akurdt, from the
German ; (1) just entirely ; (2) but
now ; at that very moment ; (3) in-
deed ? used as in Slovak.
Akhor, a., K., s. m., Gr., Hng., Bhm.
= SI., and Gr., Hng. akor ; K.
translates, noisetier ; in the other d.
it means the nut only, and probably
even in this.
Al'e, S. ale, M. conj. ; Slov. ale ; "but,"
" though," used as in Slovak.
Ale'bo, S. conj. ; Slov. alebo ; " or," used
as in Slovak.
Amdro, M., K., S. poss. pron., Gr.amaro,
Hng., Bhm. = SI. ; our.
Ambri, S. ambro, M. W. s. f. ; pi.
ambre, S. yambri, M. W. ; Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. ambrol, f. ; pear, M. W. It is
said to mean also " apple." The form
of the word is proved by the sen-
tences : oda ambri nane gul'i — this
pear is not sweet, S. ; de mange oda
ambre — give me those pears, S.
Ambrdri a., S. s. f. (dim. of the former),
pear.
Amen, a., or. amen ? S. (Slov. amen),
amen, finishing a tale.
Amen, M., K., S., pron. Pers. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), we.
Amonis, M. W., S. s. m. (M. W.) ; Gr.
amuni ; f. Hng. amoni, mani, f.
Bhm. = SI. (The gender has not been
marked by Jes.), anvil.
Anau, M. W., S. ; anav, K. vb. tr. pi.
pf. ando (Gr. anava, Hng. Bhm. = SI.)
1. To bring ; akanak mosi t-anes so
me kamava te piyel he te xal — now
thou must bring me, what I shall wish,
to drink and to eat. 2. To bear;
PdM anes? dost thou bear water ?
3. Te offer (a., basaviben, to serenate),
K. ani susie, mri pirdni, basaviben.
4. To deprive, M. W. ; Man and' as
yepashe kral'osthar the mra rakl'atar
— he has deprived me of half my
kingdom and my daughter.
Anda (and) ande, M. K. S., ando
( = and-o) K., prp. (Gr. ande, ane ; Hng.
ande, seems to be wanted in Bhm.)
1. In. — Anda gono ehas o rashai — in
the sack was the priest ; you has and-o
sasikdno mdro — he was in military
service (lit. in the soldiers' bread). 2.
Into. — Java me yepash rat anda kos-
haris — at midnight I shall go into
the sheepfold. 3. To.— Auka chid'as
and-e phu imar zhi and-e men — so
he threw (him) into the earth up to
the neck.
Andal,M. S.,prp., Gr., Hng. = SI., Bhm.,
wanting ; out from; ta angoder andal
mri tarishna xaha — and first we will
eat from my sack, M.
Andar, a., M. W., prp. ; (cf. the fore-
going) : Uxt'el avri sar andar chikate —
he jumps out, like from mud.
Andral, M. W., prp. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.=
SI.), out from.
Andre, S., andro (=andr-o), K., adv.
prp. ; 1. in, into (adv.) avl'ais andre,
phend'as le rashaske — he went in (and)
said to the priest. 2. Into (prp.) ; andre
yek foros avle trin ase dromaskre
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
165
manusha — three travellers came into
a town.
And' el' is. S., s. in. (Slov. andel), angel.
Angal, M. W. K., S., angalo( = angal-o),
anglo (=angl-o), K, prp., Gr., Hng.
wanting, Bhm. = SI. 1 . Out of ; Leske
mind'ar e sviri pel'as angal o vast —
immediately the hammer fell out of
his hand. 2. Before ; Sakonake moxto
dinas angal o oltaris — for each (of
them) he gave (put) a coffin before
the altar ; angal odova, before that,
formerly, M. W. 3. In presence of ?
a., K., Angal tute tut Jcamav — in thy
presence, I love thee, K. ; angal dilos-
kero, M. W.
Angal'i. s. f. (the form is concluded from
the following ; Gr., Hng. angali, Bhm.
wanting), armful.
Angal' dri, M. W., s.f. (dim. of the fore-
going), armful.
Angar, s. m., concluded from the follow-
ing (Gr., Hng., Bhm. = Sl.)5 coal.
Angaroro, M. W., s. m. (dim. of the
foregoing), a piece of coal.
Angaruno, K., adj. of coal.
Anglal, M. W.,adv. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.=
SI.), formerly.
Angle (angl-o), a., k. prp. (Grch., Hng. =
SI.; Bhm. wanting), before.
Angluno, M., adj. (Gr., Hng. SI. ;
Bhm. wanting), first, former.
Angoder, M., K., S., adv., formerly,
before that ; ta angoder andal mri
tarishna xaha — and first we will eat
from my sack, i.e. before we take from
the others, M.
Angrusti, S., s.f. (Gr. angrusti,angrusht' ;
Hng. angrusti', Bhm. = SI.), ring,
finger-ring.
Angusht, S., angushto, M., K., S., s. m.,
(Gr. angust, angusht ; Hng., Bhm.,
angushto), finger.
Angutno, M. W., adj. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting ; Gr. corresponds anglutno
from another base), first, former.
Ani, M. W., S,, adv. conj., Slov. ani.
1. Nor ; 2. not even ; 3. only not ;
with the imperative mood ; used as in
Slovak.
Aproha, a., S., s. m., SI., Jes. 3.1 The
word is not found in any other Gypsy
dialect as far as I know : its gender I
concluded from the only sentence in
which the word occurs ; forge. Aol'as
ktre beshchas pal o aproha, Has te
kerel mind'ar oda kl'id'i — he came
home, sat behind the forge, began to
make the key.
Asav, M. W., vb. itr. (Gr. asava ; Hng.
=S1. ; Bhm. asav man, the correspond-
ing Tchk. vb. being reflexive), to
laugh.
Asavav, a., M. W., vb. itr. (Hng. = SI.),
id.
Asavo, a., S., pron. dem. (Gr. asavko ;
Hng. asavo, asevo-, Bhm. wanting),
such.
Aso, M., K., S., pron. dem. (Gr., Bhm.
wanting : in the latter being used
akadeso, from another base ; Hng. =
SI.). 1. Such ; 0 rom dinas te sivel
asa id'a har rashai — the Gypsy caused
to sew such a vestment like (the vest-
ment of) a priest ; So shai aso zasluz-
hinlas, so zakdntrinel duye vod'en ? —
what might deserve such a man, who
brings to ruin two souls ? trin ase
dromaskre manusha — three travellers
( = of such men travelling), K. 2. Often
it is used in the sense of very. Aso bdro
chiriklo, eagle, hawk, S. ; aso bdro bdlo,
hedgehog, a. s. on. 3. So? a., You
aso koshad'as les — he chided him so (in
such a manner).
Aspon, M. W., S., adv. (Slov. aspon),
at least ; used as in Slovak.
Asharau, ashdrau, a., S., vb. tr. (Gr.
wanting; Hng., Bhm. = SI.), to praise.
Ashdrau man, a., S., vb. refl., to
boast ; Chak pale pes kamle kere te
ashdrel, hoi yon muddrde — then they
would boast at home, that they had
killed (him).
Ashta, S., intj. (Gr. shta, ashta,
"attends," Pa. 494; Hng. wanting;
Bhm., Jes. = SI. ; cf. M. W. vii. 76),
a summons to give something ; Germ,
"her mit!" Ashta, daiko, oda pdrno
kosndro — Mother, give (me) the white
kerchief !
Atar, S., atxar, *M. (Gr., Hng. = SI. ;
Bhm. wanting, there being used
adatar from another base), from here,
1 P. Je§ina had detected this vocable in the dialect of the Bhm. Gypsies before 1 had
heard it from the SI. He was aware of its meaning, but not of its gender.
166
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
from there. Uzh me tut akanak
vim6zhinava atar — already I shall
help thee (to come out) from here.
Atoska, K., prp. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. want-
ing), after. Kana katar mande upre
ushches atoska tu pal amende meres —
when thou gettest up near me, thou
wilt die, after the other, K.
Atsi, S., at' si, M. W., adv. (Gr. only the
correlative Jceti is found, Pa. 24, with
atya, "here," to which Mikl.,M. W. vii.
12, puts it : it has in common but the
demonstrative element ; Hng. at'i,
at'hi ; Bhm. wanting, there being
found adetsi from another base), so
much, so many; so tu kames} hoi
mange atsi bersh adai solgarines? —
what dost thou claim for having
served to me so many years ? Atsi
ehas, azh la lopataha churdelas pr-e
verda — so much was there, that he
threw it with shovel upon the car ;
Soske tu ole bakren atsi xas? — why
dost thou eat the sheep so much ?
Auka, M., K., S., auke, a., K, adv. (Gr.
cf. avaka, "this"; Hng. avka, auka •
Bhm. avoka', but Morav. = Sl.) 1. So
(in comparisons) ; Auka has yon
barvale sar yekh raya — so rich they
were, like (some) gentlemen. 2. Then,
in this case (Germ, "so") in the con-
clusion following a conditional sen-
tence. Kana man na rakeha yekh
bersheha adai, auka pheneha — if thou
shalt not find me here after a year,
then thou mayst say. 3. So very, so
much ; Auka les mol'inlas pre mro
sovnakuno devel — he begged him so
much by my golden God. 4. Then,
consequently, therefore ; E romni
leske phend'as, hoi te den pre sluzh ba
duyen ole rdklen, o duyen te den pr-o
remeslos ; auka len diiias, le Yankos he
le Gashparis, te viuchinel — the wife
told him, that they may send two of
the boys to the service and dedicate
two to the trade (profession) ; there-
fore he apprenticed them, John and
Caspar.
Avau, M., S., avav, K., vb. itr., imp.
yav, pt.pf. avlo ; cf. ovav and shevav
(Gr. avava, Hng., Bhm. = SI.) 1. To
come ; Kana avri sikile, avle kere —
when they had served out their time,
they came home. 2. To go (with pal) ;
na phiryom pal late, avl'as yoi pal
mande — I did not follow her, (but)
she followed me. 3. To be (have) ; it
supplants the forms of som in the
future tense, rarely in the potential
mood (imperfect) : Man avla nisht
pash mande — I shall have nothing
(with me). 4. To become ; Pale
avavas tri romni — then (afterwards)
I would become thy wife, S. I can-
not fully explain the sense of avau
in the following sentence : Tu tre
meribnesthar aveha — thou wilt lose
thy life ; cf. German, Du wirst um
dein Leben kommen, M. W. 5. To
arise, a., S. ; Ole raklores avlas sov-
nakuni cherxen and o kol'in — to that
boy a golden star arose on the breast.
Aver, M. W., K, S., adj. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm., SI.) 1. Another : its use
with ordinal numbers is noteworthy :
Papales chak les aver trito zhebrdkos
stretn'ind'as — again another third
beggar met him (probably, another
b., viz. the third). 2. The second
(either there may be enumerated but
two or more) ; cf. the tale Kal. p. 104,
No. 39— Aver dives, S., to-morrow.
a., S., adj. (cf. jeno), another, not
differing from the simple aver. Aver-
jeno kind'as bakren — another (man)
bought sheep.
avreskero, K., etranger, being the
gen. of aver.
avrival, a.. S., avreval, M. W. (cf.
val-var), another time, the second
time.
Avgoder, augoder, M. W., adv. (cf. Gr.
avgo, " the first " ; Hng. wanting ;
Bhm. avgoder), formerly.
Avral, M. W., adv. (Gr. avryal, Hng.
avriyal, Bhm. wanting), from outside.
Avri, M. S., adv. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. = SI.),
out. It is frequently composed with
verbs, thus : jau avri, I go out ; sikl'o-
vav avri, I learn out, I serve out my
time ; Lau avri, I take out. In Tu
dai mri shukdr, hoi man avri ikerd'al,
the meaning of the verb (cf. ikerau) is
not clear.
Azh, S., conj. (Slov. az). 1. Till, until ;
2. so that ; its use being the same as
in Slovak.
REVIEWS. 167
REVIEWS.
Stray Chapters in Literature, Folk-lore, and Archccology. By W. E. A.
AXON. J. Hey wood, London, 1888. Pp. xii., 308.
The second chapter in this interesting volume is on " Colour-
names amongst the English Gypsies." It was read as a paper at the
Manchester Meeting of the British Association in 1887, and deals
with the development of the colour-sense. Mr. Axon, after a
statement of curious facts, arrives at the conclusion that " it is clear
that there is no relation between the colour perception and the
colour nomenclature of the English Gypsies." H. T. C.
English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages. By J. J. JUSSERAND.
Translated into English by Lucy Toulmin Smith. London : T.
Fisher Unwin, 1889.
The statement, on p. 176 of this book, that the Gypsy race
" remained entirely unknown in England till the fifteenth century,"
and that consequently " we have nothing to do with it here," precludes
us from making more than a passing reference to this admirable
edition of a very instructive work. Yet it is there acknowledged that
the Gypsies are specially the representatives of "the caste of
wanderers " in England, and the book has much to say of itinerant
fiddlers, jugglers, and mountebanks, all favourite Gypsy occupations.
The tinkers referred to on p. 232 must undoubtedly have been Gypsies,
but their date is subsequent to the above limit. However, since the
fifteenth century is as yet the earliest recorded date for the appear-
ance of Gypsies (under that name) in England, we must assume that
none of those mediaeval nomads were Gypsies.
THE QUARTER'S EECORD.
NOTHING connected with Gypsy study, during the past three
months, has been of such interest to this Society as the movement of
sympathy and affiliation evinced by various kindred associations.
"We have learned of the formation in Budapest of a Folk-Lore Society,
having " Gypsy Lore " as one of its special departments ; and nowhere
else can the subject be studied to greater advantage, or with more
zeal and scholarship. The deep interest in Gypsiology that is taken
by the savants of Budapest and throughout Austria-Hungary, is a
thing beyond question, as, indeed, our President's letter testifies.
168 KEVIEWS.
We hail with pleasure the appearance of this new Society, and espe-
cially the establishment of its " Gypsy " section. This latter, through
the medium of Professor Herrmann, invites the co-operation of mem-
bers of our own Society ; and there is every prospect that each will
prove of marked benefit to the other in their common study.
What we think may be regarded as a similar movement has been
initiated in France by M. Paul Se"billot, of the SocttU des Traditions
Populaires. In the December number of the Revue of that Society, he
calls the attention of his fellow-members to the existence of this
Association ; and he, very happily, gives them a " lead " with two
pages of his own Notes sur les JBohdmiens, which form an appreciable
addition to the sum of our knowledge.1 Now that the attention
of Trench folk-lorists has been drawn to the subject, there is good
reason for believing that this article is but the precursor of many
others of the kind. Although France seems now-a-days to be very
barren of Gypsies in its central and northern parts, it was not
always so, and much can yet be gleaned from popular references
and traditions respecting them. There must be many references to
Gypsies in local records, as well as in documents better known to
history ; and in many parts of France the race and its language can
be studied any day.
It is also encouraging to record that at last session of the Heal
Academia de la Historia in Madrid, the question of joining the mem-
bership of our Society was decided in the affirmative. Spain offers
so rich a field for the study of Gypsiology that we may already con-
gratulate ourselves on this decision of the Eoyal Academy.
Certainly not the least important of the quarter's events is the
connection established with the Folk-Lore Society, from which the
happiest results may be predicted. Our interchange with the Journal
of American Folk-Lore is also a matter for congratulation ; and we
cordially echo the wish, expressed in the last number of that Journal,
" that this Society may find many friends in the United States."
1 M. Sebillot gives several local terms for " Gypsy," of which the most frequent is
" Bohemien," variously modified. The Burgundian " Gyptien " is almost identical with the
English " Gyptian." In Languedoc, as in Roussillon, the Spanish "Gitano" is used. But
Jubecien, Caumaro, Catin, and Sairradin provoke further inquiry. The last may be only
a modification of Sarrasin, once a French term for a Gypsy. A caste of Charguerauds, who
form the population of a small village in the Roannais district, and who are alleged to be
of Gypsy descent, and to have the power of casting spells, would no doubt yield something
to an investigator. Another addition to the many legends connecting Gypsies with the
life of Christ is that which permits the Gypsies to steal five sous every day, " because a
Gypsy woman hid the child Jesus in her basket at the time of Herod's proscription." Several
popular proverbs and sayings relative to Gypsies are drawn from various parts of France, the
most striking of which is this one of the seventeenth centiiry : " The Gypsy woman tells the
fortune of other people, and the poor wretch doesn't know her own."
NOTES AND QUERIES. 169
NOTES AND QUEEIES.
i.
UNIFORMITY OF ORTHOGRAPHY.
We have been favoured by Dr. Kopernicki with the following remarks, in
answer to a request for his opinion upon this subject : —
" Uniformity of orthography in the transcription of Gypsy texts is beyond ques-
tion an urgent necessity, and of primary importance, in the study of the various
Gypsy dialects. I therefore warmly applaud the remarks of Mr. Crofton, who has
just raised this important question as one deserving immediate discussion. So far
as I myself am concerned, being nothing more than a faithful copyist of this
interesting language, and not having any scientific knowledge in linguistic matters,
I would never presume to speak as a leading authority in this question, so difficult
to solve, — although really only difficult in appearance. In my opinion, Miklosich's
orthography is the one which conforms best with all the dialects, and which would
only demand a few insignificant signs for the expression of purely local deviations
from the principal dialects."
Dr. Kopernicki then subjoins a list which clearly indicates " the orthography
adopted for my Polish-Gypsy texts, which is essentially that of Miklosich, with
certain additional modifications, rendered indispensable by the phonetic peculiarity
of this dialect." " These are all the sounds of the Polish dialect of Gypsy, and
apparently of all the others. There is absolutely nothing wanting for the most dis-
tinct and faithful expression of every special sound, without the least confusion or
ambiguity. I find it therefore completely adapted to this language." The total
number of the signs employed by Dr. Kopernicki is fifty. As Miklosich's system
is familiar to most of our members, it is unnecessary to reproduce his symbols
here. Moreover, there are obvious reasons against our employing a certain typo-
graphy, until we have ascertained that there are no serious objections to be urged
against it. The desirability of a uniform orthographical system, and the necessity
for fixing upon such a system at the earliest possible date, must be fully recognised
by all members. It is clear that the one to be adopted is that which combines
simplicity with exact orthoepy ; and no better form than Miklosich's has yet
been offered to us. Certain concessions must, in any case, be made by those who
have previously followed other principles ; but this offers no real obstacle to the
adoption of such an orthography as Miklosich's.
It is important that this question should be settled soon, as, until it is settled
we cannot print Romani text to any extent. We therefore invite other members
to favour us with their opinions on this question, before the issue of our April
number. — [Eo.]
ETYMOLOGY OF " GURKO."
Can any one assist me in ascertaining the etymology of the word " Gurko " ?
Pott and several other authors say that it is derived from the Greek kyrie, " Lord" ;
but this could only be positively admitted had the Gypsies been converted from
heathenism or Buddhism to the Greek orthodox Christian faith. And history
surely does not bear out this surmise.
In their migrations or exodus, had the Gypsies no other word for "holy-day"
except this Greek word just quoted ? Since they said, in their own language,
U Rai and Devel for " Lord " and " God," why should they not have expressed
" the Lord's Day " by o Raieskero or o Develeskero dives ?
A positive and convincing solution of the etymology of this word "Gurko" would
throw much light upon the question of the original religious belief of the Gypsies.
J. PlNCHERLE.
VOL. I. — NO. III. M
170 NOTES AND QUERIES.
3-
"SlMO."
In his interesting paper on the " Dialect of the Gypsies of Brazil," in the last
number of the Journal, Professor von Sowa says, on page 69, " Simo [Moraes
translates it by fiquei, ' I remained.' I am in doubt about the meaning of that
word.]" Is it not the Spanish Gypsy " Sinar, v. n. ' To be.' Ser, Estar " (Borrow,
The, Zincali, ii. 107)? This would give a good sense in both the verses in which
the word occurs. If so, fiquei should rather be sou or estou.
HERBERT W. GREENE.
4-
A PECULIARITY OF GYPSY UTTERANCE.
In The Zincali (Lond. 1841, vol. i.) Borrow quotes "Alonso" (the novel
" composed by the Doctor Geronimo de Alcala, native of the city of Segovia, who
flourished about the commencement of the seventeenth century"), and in this story
the hero, recounting his falling into the hands of the Gitanos, says (p. 88) : " Then
one of them, lisping a little, after the Gitdno fashion, told me that I must 'go with
them to their encampment to speak to my lord the Conde."
Is there any other writer who has any remark corroborating this " lisping a little,
after the Gitano fashion " ? DAVID MACRITCHIE.
GYPSIES OF OUDH.
The following extract is from a letter received from Archibald Constable, of the
Oude and Rohilkund Railway Company's service, dated Lucknow, 14th July
1888 :—
" I enclose a list showing how I have disposed of the " Gypsy Lore " prospectuses
you sent me. Seven is a lucky number with the Indian Gypsies, the Nats, or
Barnes, as they are called in Oudh. All this part of India is a happy hunting-ground
for these and other allied tribes, who, alas ! are ranked among the criminal tribes,
and under an Act of the Indian Legislature are compelled to ' move on,' and are
not allowed to camp for any length of time in one village. Many a pleasant hour I
have spent talking to these interesting people ; and if any of the members of the
Society come to these parts, I '11 put them in the way of collecting a good deal of
Gypsy lore, viva voce. Please send me seven copies more of the prospectus, and
I '11 do what I can to still further judiciously distribute them." . . . Further on in
the same letter — indeed at its twentieth page — my correspondent adds a postscript,
which begins thus : — " Twenty is an unlucky number with Indian Gypsies, so I go
on to add," etc., etc. ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE.
6.
MAYADDS.
The Civil and Military Gazette, January 1882, alludes to a wandering tribe
which had caused some curiosity in Madras, and which, it was thought, might
be identified with a singular class of Gypsies known by the name of Mayadds, who
visited Lahore in 1868, and a curious and interesting account of whom is published
in a memorandum written by Dr. Leitner, and printed by the Punjaub Government.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 171
" In that year a large crowd of them arrived on foot and in carts from Afghanistan,
and encamped for some little time in this place. They spoke a peculiar jargon
amongst themselves, though, when within earshot of Europeans and Indians, they
spoke Persian. At first it seems that there was a difficulty in identifying even
their place of abode, but officers from various parts of India affirmed that the noisy
and quarrelsome strangers were in the way of passing periodically between this
country [India] and Central Asia, and that they had an unpleasant habit of looting
villages on their route. The Mayadds were always armed on reaching the Indian
frontier, a fact for which they accounted by saying that they were Shiahs, whom, as
every one knows, their Sunni co-religionists sometimes manage to sell as slaves.
' When,' says Dr. Leitner, ' I visited their encampment, their frantic gesticulations,
and the hurling of children by one woman to another to emphasise her rage,
reminded me of a scene recorded in my account of the Gypsies of Turkey, . . . when
a case was decided in favour of that side in a tribal contention which could dance
most obscenely, and use the strongest expressions whilst advocating their own
cause.' Others of the same tribe appear to have visited Lahore in 1870. Their
Central Asiatic home is said to be Khorasan, and it seems that their journey from
one country to the other and back extends over many years. A partial vocabulary
of the dialect of thieves' Latin used by the Mayadds has, we believe, been compiled
by Dr. Leitner."
7-
AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ITEMS.
(a) GYPSIES OF THE AUSTRIAN ALPS.
(From the Saturday Review of 3d November 1888.)
The Alpine Gypsy also differs in many respects from all others, [i.e., beggars,
vagrants, etc.], but his is a case of degeneration rather than development. Formerly
large troops used to wander to and fro, and encamp before the various villages.
They were the best of tinkers and coppersmiths, and also made money by horse-
dealing, as well as by theft and fortune-telling. They were noted musicians, and
the villagers listened gladly and danced wildly to their strange tunes. That was
the golden age of Gypsy life in Austria : liberal institutions have done away with
it. In many provinces laws have been passed which exclude all Gypsies that
come from without. The few who have been born in the province or have a right
of dwelling within it are still allowed to wander about as they will ; but every
man's eye is upon and every man's hand against them, and they themselves have a
sharp eye and ready hand for the stray duck or chicken, though they prefer
badgers, otters, and game of all kinds. Perhaps their fingers sometimes grasp
property of greater value. They wander about in small bands, and do nothing
but play music, which is no longer what it was, or still is in Hungary and Spain.
Now and then a few bands meet ; then there is a little dancing, and perhaps an
acrobatic performance. But they always look cheerless and desolate. The glory
is departed, and they know it.
Yet even in this degraded condition the charm of the Gypsy girls asserts itself,
and stories are still told of men who have thrown up their positions and abandoned
alike their interests and their honour for the love of such women. It would be
wrong to give any of these, as persons still living might be hurt by the disclosure,
and, besides, it is difficult to verify them ; but here is one of an earlier date— the
events happened before 1848 — which we have from the lips of a person who was
intimate with all the non-Gypsy characters and present at the turning-point of the
story. The tale has also been told us by others, but in a more fragmentary form.
We omit names, for the reason already mentioned,
172 NOTES AND QUERIES.
The proprietor of a large estate and an important iron foundry was an elderly
man. His first wife had died without leaving him any children, and he married a
young girl of great beauty and amiability, but small fortune. By the marriage-
contract the survivor was to inherit the whole property in case there were no chil-
dren. A young man of the name of W was the overseer of the foundry, and
lived in the house. During an inundation the proprietor was engaged with every
one near in doing what could be done to save the lives and property of his neigh-
bours, when he unfortunately stepped upon a caving bank, which gave way beneath
him. He was drawn out of the brook almost at once, but not before a large log,
borne down by the torrent, had struck his head so heavily that he died almost
immediately, without recovering consciousness. The widow placed the whole
management of her affairs in W 's hands, and he executed the trust with the
greatest honesty, prudence, and skill. She was young and blonde ; he, dark, slender,
and of polished manners. He was very careful about his dress and the furniture
of his rooms, and spent what his neighbours thought a good deal of money upon
them ; but in other respects he was by no means extravagant. In a few years he
had gained the respect and confidence of the whole district, and everybody— the
widow included — thought that the business engagement would end in a marriage.
One day he was obliged to drive to a neighbouring village on business, and there
met several friends, among whom was *our informant. On their way to the inn
they stopped to watch the performance of a band of Gypsies, among whom there
was a very pretty girl, with curly black hair, a complexion remarkably clear and a
shade or two lighter than that of her companions, and jet black eyes that " flamed
and Simmered." Her form was perfectly rounded and fully developed, yet she
seemed to be very young. When they were in the inn, W took no part in the
conversation ; he laid his head on his hand, and only replied to questions in mono-
syllables. After a while he suddenly ordered his carriage and drove off. Those
who remained were struck by his manner, and questioned each other as to whether
anyone had offended him. On the following morning the Gypsies left for a neigh-
bouring town. W drove home, made up his accounts with the greatest accuracy,
and said he must go to the place which was the Gypsies' destination on the follow-
ing day. He neither drew his salary nor said anything about his furniture, but he
took a large chest with him. This he had unloaded next day at a small inn, sent
the carriage back, and never returned. After some days the widow became anxious
and made inquiries about him, but could only learn the facts above given, and it
was impossible to employ the police, as no crime had been committed. For some
time reports came that W had been seen acting with a Gypsy company in
various distant places. Three years after his flight a dead body was found in a
charcoal-burner's hut on the mountains, near the place where his first meeting with
the Gypsies occurred. The workmen said he had come to them in labourer's clothes,
and asked for work about half-a-year before ; he had done his work well and skil-
fully, but was very reserved, so that nothing was known about him. When the body
was brought down it was at once recognised as that of W , who was about thirty
years old at the date of his death.
If this story stood alone it would be hardly worth recording. But it does not
stand alone ; it is a typical Gypsy love-story, and the only one we have had an
opportunity of verifying. The sudden fascination, the ruthless desertion of comfort
and duty, the long wanderings, the sad return of the unfortunate hero to the neigh-
bourhood of a home over the threshold of which he has not courage to pass, and of a
forgiveness he does not venture to claim, the lonely death — all these recur in
hundreds of legends with an almost wearisome monotony. The above are the facts
on which such tales are founded. The expert tale-teller would of course alter them
to suit his purpose.
As to the cause of the strange fascination which the wandering tribe seems to
possess, it is difficult to form an opinion. Nobody will be inclined to deny that
NOTES AND nUKRIES. 173
at an early age some Gypsy girls possess very unusual attractions, and that both
their beauty and their grace are of a kind that is likely to exercise a strong influence
on imaginative men of a certain temperament. But, as a rule, the men of a camp are
far better looking than the women. Why do we rarely, if ever, hear of wives or
maidens, of whatever class, abandoning everything for the sake of such a man ?
Stories of children of both sexes being stolen are of course common enough, and in
the Danubian principalities a few legends are current of noble ladies who have left
their homes to join a troop, but in the latter case it is almost always an old woman
who lures the heroine away.
(6) OATH BY BREAD AND SALT.
In Pester Lloyd, 1st July, 1881, the following anecdote appeared : — In the
neighbourhood of Rakos Palota there was an interesting scene enacted yesterday
forenoon amongst a camp of Gypsies. A Gypsy who had lost his cash informed
his leader of the fact, who summoned the elders of the camp to a council, after
which he gave notice at the top of his voice that whoever had stolen the money
must at once restore it. As, however, his challenge had not the desired effect, the
chief took two poles which he bound together in the form of a cross, and fixed one
end in the ground. On the top of the cross he then fastened a piece of bread, and
sprinkled it with salt, and upon this those present were directed to swear one by
one that they had not committed the theft. One by one the members knelt before
the cross, and took the oath, till the last member of the band — an old woman — as
she was about to take the oath turned pale, put her hand in her pocket, and
brought out the stolen money. By way of punishment she was then and there
soundly beaten and kicked out.
(c) BARVAL^ ROMANE.
The Minister of the Interior, says the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Tele-
graph, has issued a decree in virtue of which the nomad life led by the Gypsies will
henceforth be subject to legal restrictions. Itinerant Gypsy bands will no longer
be permitted to go about from town to town and from village to village. In future,
wherever they turn up they will be called upon to give an account of themselves,
and should it be ascertained that they have come from the East they are to be
turned back under gendarme escort. On such occasions all expense entailed by
their transport is to be defrayed by themselves, and should they be insolvent their
live stock and chattels are to be sold by auction. The itinerant Gypsy of Austria
and Bohemia is of doubtful honesty, whereas his brother in Hungary is hardwork-
ing and inoffensive. A case recently came to my knowledge of a Hungarian Gypsy
horse-dealer employing an English governess for his daughters, who were receiving
an excellent education, while his son was an officer in the Roumanian army. —
Dundee Evening Telegraph, 29th Oct. 1888.
(d) Two FAMOUS GYPSY MUSICIANS.
On the afternoon of 30th October last, the Central Cemetery at Budapest was,
says a Moravian paper, the scene of a remarkable spectacle. " The Magnates' Club
had erected a monument to the Gypsy violinist Berkes, bearing the inscription
The Magnates' Club to its favourite leader,' which was this day unveiled. Many
hundred Gypsies, having their instruments with them, were present at the solemn
function. First of all, a venerable player (not himself a Gypsy, says another paper)
delivered an impressive oration, after which a chorale was sung by the choir of the
Volkstheater, and then the diverse bands of listening Gypsies simultaneously seized
their instruments and played Berkes' favourite air in a way which moved all to
tears. They then repaired to the neighbouring grave of Racz Pali, where they also
played in the most touching manner the melody he had most loved. In spite of
174 NOTES AND QUERIES.
the gathering dusk, and of the fact that they were quite unprepared, the concerted
playing of these many hundred musicians was most highly effective."
This ceremony has been noticed by many English journals, one of which (Man-
chester Guardian, 2d November) adds the information that Berkes Lajos died in
February 1885, at the age of 48 ; and that his son, " who conducts his father's
band, is the same Gypsy who played at Gorgeny Szent Imre, in Transylvania,
before the Crown Prince Rudolph and the Prince of Wales." The Newcastle
Daily Chronicle (2d November) devotes a leader to the affair, and makes the addi-
tional statement that Berkes Lajos was " the head or ' Primate ' of all the
Hungarian Zigeuners " (which perhaps is based on nothing more than a too-liberal
interpretation of " Primas ").
8.
AN AMERICAN GYPSY'S LETTER.
[Professor Knapp sends us the following letter,— a copy of one which he
received from a local Gypsy. The writer is a man of fair education, and had
replied, through the medium of the newspapers, to some remarks which Dr. Knapp
had just made, in a lecture on " The History of the Gypsies." This led to an inter-
view, and finally to the letter now given. The Romani sentences are in the
" broken dialect " commonly used by modern English Gypsies.]
" 201 GEORGE ST., NEW HAVEN,
30th Mar. '88.
" To Professor Knapp, etc., etc.
" DEAR SIR, — I leave the MS. of which I spoke, but with faint hope of its being
worth anything. [It was too gorgious]. Have you any influence with the ladies
or gentlemen who are organizing the Easter Carnival to be held at the State House
next week ? If you have, will you please say a kind Word for us in order that my
wife may have her tent there. (I see they advertise a ' Gypsy Camp ' as one of the
attractions). . . . Mandi'l kekka mong, uumdi's palala, mandi pooches for bootsey.
Mandi's trin chavers & rom [romni] are adrey de kare & kek lover to lell hobben.
It doesn't seem so hard to say this if I say it in Romanys, but now you will know
how glad and thankful I will be if she can get an engagement for next week.
" The Museum [where they had a tent] is kek cooshter, and the dearie Duvle
jins its too Tshill adres de tan for de chavers. I have done my best to lell bootsey,
but they'll kekka lell a Romany chal. — I am, Sir, yours truly, SIDNEY GRAY."
9-
CORONATION CEREMONY IN OHIO.
One of the most picturesque ceremonies of Gypsy life has just taken place near
Dayton, Ohio. This ceremony consisted of the coronation of Matilda n. as Queen
of the American Gypsies. The Gypsies in this country, says a Telegraph corre-
spondent, have been controlled for many years by four families, the Stanleys }
Coopers, Harrisons, and Jeffreys. These families came here from England in 1859.
Stanley, known as Sugar Stanley, the principal member of the first-mentioned
family, was made king of all the tribes. At his death his daughter Hagar became
Queen. Dying in 1874, she was succeeded by her sister, who was proclaimed
Matilda i., but she only lived to reign six years. The succession fell to Jeannette,
granddaughter of King Sugar, who is succeeded by Matilda, another granddaughter
NOTES AND QUERIES. 175
of King Sugar Stanley, whose succession is now being celebrated. She is only
seventeen years old, is 5 feet 7 inches in height, has a graceful figure, and is a very
interesting personage. At her coronation she wore a red silk dress ; her hair hung
down loosely behind, gathered in the centre with a crimson ribbon, which set off her
dark brown hair. Queen Matilda is the absolute ruler of all the Romany tribes in
America: her decrees must absolutely be obeyed without question. — Ayrshire
Argus, 2d Nov. 1888.
10.
" WORKING THE PLANET."
Under the above heading, the following paragraph appeared in a recent news-
paper. It only adds one more to the long list of examples of Gypsy htikaben. " A
domestic servant of Park Road, Hanipstead, was charged at the Marylebone Police
Court yesterday with stealing a gold watch, a chain, a brooch, etc., worth ^10, the
property of Miss Agnes Battenbury. The prosecutrix said that the prisoner had
been in the service of her sister, with whom she (the prosecutrix) was residing. On
Thursday last she missed her watch from her dressing-table. It was worth £3 or
.£4. On the following Saturday she missed a necklet set with jewels, a gold
brooch, and a ring. They were safe on the previous Sunday week. She went to
the police, and a detective came to the house and questioned the prisoner. She
said a Gypsy woman had come round five or six times, and she had given her her
own things, and then she had taken prosecutrix's and given them to the Gypsy.
Detective-Sergeant Fleming said he went to the house in Park Road and saw the
prisoner, who cried, and said her best friend had called on her on Wednesday last.
He asked who her friend was, and she replied the woman who goes about with a
caravan. The woman told her she could tell her fortune, so she (prisoner) gave her
a dress and petticoat. The Gypsy told her that that was not sufficient to work the
planet, and asked for something more valuable. She then gave her her mistress's
gold watch, necklet, and brooch, and the woman promised to return them when she
had shown them to the astronomer in Camden Town. The prisoner was remanded."
II.
A SCOTTISH GYPSY FRAY.
In Robert Wilson's Sketch of the History of Hawick (Hawick, 1825) the follow-
ing passage occurs on p. 74 : — " Another disgraceful affray took place at the Winter
Fair of this town, somewhere about eighty years ago. Two parties of Gypsies and
tinkers had pitched their tents on the Common Haugh, and were busy in mending
bellows, clouting caldrons, and drinking whisky. A dispute arose between two of
the men respecting the right of property to a frail sister, who had, it appears, con-
ferred favours on both. The high words of the disputants soon arranged the Loch-
mabenites and Yetholmites in array of battle. Words were succeeded by blows,
and male and female savages mingled with equal valour and ferocity in the fight ;
while the lady, who, like another Helen, had originated the strife, was taken and
retaken several times. The magistrates, with their officers and constables, at
length came upon the ground, and separated the rioters, but not before two of them
had been so cut and mauled that they died in the course of the evening. Three or
four of these wretches were put into the stocks in the old jail of the town, previous
to their being sent to Jedburgh, among whom were the fair Cyprian and one of her
paramours. On lodging the party in prison, one of the bailies, it is said, seemed
to feel much for the poor girl, and spake to her thus : ' My woman, it 's a pity ye
176 NOTES AND QUERIES.
shou'd follow sic a trade, or keep sic company ; ye hae a face and a form that might
grace ony honest man's table— and as I understand little thing can be brought against
you o' this day's mischief, I wad advise ye to leave thae tinkler loons, ane and a' o'
them, an' gang to service. There 's nae saying what a bonny face like yours^may
do for its owner.' The bailie was a believer in the story of Cinderella." — This is, of
course, the battle at Hawick Bridge in 1772 or 1773, of which a full account is given
in Mr. Simson's History of the Gypsies, pp. 189-93.
12.
SURREY GYPSIES.
CROYDON, May 29. — Thomas Cuffley was summoned before the Borough
Justices for not abating a nuisance in a yard belonging to him at Handcroft Koad.
Dr. Philpot had inspected the place for the Corporation, and found seven caravans
and two tents. The Sanitary Committee required the yard to be paved, and did
not wish to encourage the Gypsy people in the neighbourhood. The horses were
always walking about, being let loose in the morning and evening. The owner
explained that he could not get rid of the Gypsies, as he did not know where to
find them. They would not be back until the end of August, as they were away
for the fruit season. The case was adjourned till June 19th, to see if the owner
could get rid of his absentee tenants.— Croydon Gazette, June 2, 1888.
13.
A GYPSY HEIRLOOM.
To the Editor of the Examiner and Times.
SIR, — The enclosed is interesting, as you will see, and will help to clear up
some historical matters relating to Gypsy life, and it will also be of much value to
me in my work for the Gypsy and van children, and the pressing forward of the
bills I have in hand. With many thanks for past help, yours, etc.,
GEORGE SMITH, of Coalville.
The Cabin, Crick, Rugby, Nov. 23.
This is to certify that the small symbolical and mystical copper and brass box,
bearing the name " Eight Doar Lee," engraved and dated one thousand one hundred
and ninety-seven, I have in my possession — now sold to George Smith, of Coalville,
The Cabin, Crick, Rugby, for a nominal sum, as a token of goodwill for his long
efforts to improve our condition and educate our children, and also for the many
kindnesses received from him — is the heirloom of our family, Gypsy Lees, and was
handed to me by my father, Zachariah Lee, over thirty years ago, and which was
held by him from his father and ancestors back to the date shown on the mystical
box. As witness my hand this sixteenth day of November, one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-eight. DAVID LEE, his mark x
Witnesses to the above signature and supported by them : —
JAMES LEE, his mark x
WILLIAM LEE, his mark x
RANDALL LEE, his mark x
ALFRED LEE, his mark x
EDWARD LEE, his mark x
Manchester Examiner, 26th November 1888.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 177
14.
DOWRY OF AN ENGLISH-GYPSY BRIDE.
The following paragraph is taken from the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch of
18th October 1888 : — " A Gypsy wedding took place the other day at Fletton, near
Peterborough, which excited great interest in the neighbourhood, and the church
was densely crowded. The contracting parties were respectively twenty-two and
twenty-one years of age, and the bride's dot was £500 in cash, and a fully furnished
caravan to live in."
15-
How TO COOK A HEDGEHOG.
(Manchester City News, July 31 1886.)
BANKFIELD HOUSE, CONWAY VALLEY.
In answer to " C.A. J," who wants to know how hedgehogs are cooked, I was
reminded of the following incident that took place twenty-three years ago. At that
time I was staying at the Waterloo Hotel, Bettws-y-Coed. In the lane at the
back of the hotel (Beaver Bridge end) one afternoon, my little terrier killed a
hedgehog, not far from where a Gypsy tinker had his tent. It was a favourite
camping spot with that tribe. He came up after the fun was over, and in con-
versation said, " Hedgehogs are splendid eating baked in clay or mud. Clay is the
best, but is not always at hand. I'll just show you," said he, "how the thing is
done." With that he took out his pocket-knife and slit the hedgehog open, and
drew the inside from it. Afterwards he got over the wall into the potato field
opposite, and got several handfuls of soil, and with a little water mixed some road
gravel with it into a thick mud, and rolled the hedgehog up in it. The process
reminded me of the apple dumplings. He said, " It will take about an hour to
bake it thoroughly in a good fire of wood. Afterwards I crack it all over (same as
you do a hard boiled egg to get the shell off), the mud, quills, and skin coming off
in one mass, leaving the hedgepig beautifully clean. Will you stop and see me eat
it ? " I said " No," for sundry reasons. I've not the slightest doubt he ate it.
He was evidently a " man of mettle," and didn't believe in doing things by halves.
With him it was : " The whole hog or none." JOHN TAYLOR.
16.
A SPANISH GYPSY VOCABULARY.
The following brief vocabulary was taken down from a Gypsy model at Granada,
in 1876. The words are spelt phonetically, according to the Spanish pronunciation
of the letters. All the peasantry thereabouts constantly transpose r and I.
Prajo, tobacco. Jamar (?), to eat.
Llagui, match. Llacrai, eyes.
Ondever, God. Mui, mouth.
Chuchelli, breast. Nacri, nose.
Varon, dollar. Ambea, face.
Uguaripen, pretty (?). Vales, hair.
LlurOj mule. Embastes, hands.
Jer, donkey. Nicaba I get out !
Marron, bread. Nicaba el posh, take away life.
178 NOTES AND QUERIES.
Caiji, Gypsy girl. Cangri, church.
Camela, like, desire. Chorro, thief (plur. chorris).
Tay to. Chuguela, female thief.
Piar, drink. Martuvillo, lazy.
Colo, male Gypsy (plur. caler). Tasintenga, mutter. (It is part of a
Rumia, Gypsy wife. hideous curse.)
•Sajij go (imperative). Chinicro, handkerchief.
Alubias, beans. Jalleris, money.
Relaoras, potatoes. Caler, quartos (a coin).
Mor, wine. Bruji, real (do.).
Repani, handy. Lua, peseta (do.).
Estachi, hat. Varril, onza (do.).
Ran, stick. Oallardo, negro.
Gandi, shirt. Chaborocillo, baby.
Jalunis, breeches. Lacro, Spaniard.
Chapires, shoes. Lumnia, harlot.
Ambea, jacket. Quer, house.
Churi, knife. Crucilla girl.
Chinjarar, a fight. (^we chunga ! how ugly !
Mulo, corpse. Malpucaro (?)
Tirive, prison. Pujcro (?)
A. R. S. A.
17.
SPANISH GYPSIES AND BRITISH TOURISTS.
(From the Edinburgh Scotsman.)
MADRID, April 28, 1888.
SIR, — I have received here the Scotsman of the 20th inst., containing a report
of the trial of Dr. Middle ton at Cordova for shooting a Gypsy there. Having
twice visited Cordova lately, I may state, for the information of tourists, that the
town is as quiet as a provincial Scottish town, and that we neither saw nor were
bothered by any Gypsies. That some still do offer their services as guides to
tourists, however, I learnt when there ; for an English couple were followed by
one until the superintendent of police suddenly appeared, and the Gypsy at once
took to his heels. The said superintendent warned the tourists on no account to
take a Gypsy as their guide, which they assured him they had no intention of doing.
As to the Spanish Gypsies, they form a class apart, looked down upon by the
Spanish population. They dwell in quarters of their own, and have trades of their
own. We saw a great deal of them at the recent Seville Fair and at Granada.
They are a dark, handsome race, and the women, however old, carry themselves as
straight as arrows. At Granada, to which all tourists go to see the Alhambra, they
are inveterate beggars. They spoil the tourist's pleasure by their ceaseless pursuit
of him. We visited the caves in which they dwell, and found the interiors tidy
and the Gypsies decently clad. Then we turned to the Moorish quarter of Granada,
where Gypsies also congregate, and found ourselves escorted by two policemen, each
armed with sword and revolver. This escort was owing to a recent fracas which
occurred here between an American gentleman and Gypsies, who assaulted and
wounded him. The American drew his revolver, and there might have been
another Dr. Middleton case had his wife not induced him not to fire. All this
shows that, so far as Spanish Gypsies are concerned, they are not a safe class to
have anything to do with, but, except at Granada, we were never troubled by
them ; and I would counsel tourists not to allow the thought of them to interfere
with their visit to Spain, a country which is one of the most interesting and curious
in Europe.— I am, &c., R. R.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 179
18.
SCOTCH " EGYPTIANS " OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
The following passages are extracted from the recently published and very
entertaining Auld Licht Idylls ; a book descriptive of provincial life in an eastern
county of Scotland. We are informed, on excellent authority, that, although the
book does not profess to be historical, the " Claypits beggars " here mentioned are
described much as they actually were, and that their names also are real. Fifty
years ago, these people called themselves, and were frequently styled by others,
" Gypsies," and still more commonly " the Egyptians." These extracts, too brief as
they are, form a slight supplement to Mr. Simson's descriptions of the Scottish
Gypsies ; and it is interesting to note that they testify once more to the priestly
power vested in a Gypsy king, of which there are several examples in Simson's
pages, and that the supreme ruler of this petty tribe was its lawgiver as well as its
pope and autocrat. Miserable in the extreme was this paltry " kingship," but it
forms one of the latest witnesses to the former Gypsy system of Scotland, — if not
of Europe,— and, indeed, it represents an exceedingly ancient and primitive form
of government. These Claypits " Egyptians " are thus amusingly described : —
" Storm-stead shows used to emphasize the severity of a Thrums winter. As
the name indicates, these were gatherings of travelling booths in the winter time.
Half a century ago the country was overrun by itinerant showmen. ... To the
storm-stead shows came the Gypsies in great numbers. Claypots (which is a cor-
ruption of Claypits) was their headquarters, near Thrums, and it is still sacred to
their memory. It was a clachan of miserable little huts, built entirely of clay from
the dreary and sticky pit in which they had been flung together. A shapeless hole
on one side was the doorway, and a little hole, stuffed with straw in winter, the
window. Some of the remnants of these hovels still stand. Their occupants,
though they went by the name of Gypsies among themselves, were known to the
weavers as the Claypots beggars ; and their king was Jimmy Pawse. His regal
dignity gave Jimmy the right to seek alms first when he chose to do so ; thus he
got the cream of a place before his subjects set to work. He was rather foppish in
his dress, generally affecting a suit of grey cloth with showy metal bottons on it,
and a broad blue bonnet. His wife was a little body like himself ; and when they
went a-begging, Jimmy with a meal-bag for alms on his back, she always took her
husband's arm. Jimmy was the legal adviser of his subjects ; his decision was
considered final on all questions, and he guided them in their courtships as well as
on their death-beds. He christened their children, and officiated at their weddings,
marrying them over the tongs."
" There is little doubt," says the same writer, on a later page, " that it was a fit
of sarcasm that induced Tammas [a neighbouring villager] to marry a Gypsy lassie.
Mr. Byars [the local minister] would not join them, so Tammas had himself married
by Jimmy Pawse, the gay little Gypsy king, and after that the minister re-married
them. The marriage over the tongs is a thing to scandalise any well-brought up
person, for before he joined the couple's hands, Jimmy jumped about in a startling
way, uttering wild gibberish, and after the ceremony was over there was rough
work, wi.th incantations and blowing on pipes."
One is disposed to speculate as to whether this " wild gibberish " was actual
Romanes, or that Shelta which Mr. Leland has introduced to the notice of Gypsi-
ologists, and which is a mixture of Romanes and Gaelic. Pure Romani speech
seems to have decayed at a much earlier period in Scotland than in England,
although a broken dialect still survives.
Marrying over the tongs, or over a broomstick, is well known in Scotland as
a " tinkler " ceremony ; and divorce is said to be effected, or at least symbolised, by
the partners standing on either side of this stick or tongs, back to back, and jump-
ing away from it, " Marrying over the sword," a practice that appears to have
been kept up among British soldiers until a comparatively recent period, has
evidently a like origin.
180 NOTES AND QUERIES.
IP-
GYPSY MUSICIANS IN WALES.
[The particulars here quoted (from a long account in the Wrexham Advertiser of
September 1876) were furnished to the contributor by John Roberts, the well-
known Gypsy harper of Wales, of whom one reads in Mr. Groome's In Gypsy
Tents.]
« gIRj — Respecting the modern harpers of Wales and a few of the old ones, I
have the pleasure of forwarding the following particulars, furnished to me by one of
the tawny tribe. I may also be permitted to say that the Welsh harp is not likely
to die out just yet, for the veteran and venerable minstrel who gave me the following
notes has only twelve sons and a daughter, who daily play the triple-stringed
nstrument, and the Eisteddvod ought to honour him with an invitation.
" J. CEIRIOG HUGHES.
" * Mr. John Parry, of Ruabon (a blind man), harper to Sir Watkin W. Wynn,
Bart., taught William Williams of Penmorfa (a blind man), who became afterwards
Welsh harper to the ancient family of the Hughes's of Frecib, near Llandolo, Car-
marthenshire. William Williams taught the celebrated Richard Roberts, of Car-
narvon (also a blind man), who had the honour of performing upon different
occasions before the Royal family. Mr. Roberts taught the following pupils : —
Archelaus Wood, an Egyptian, who became harper to the Maedock family, Tremadoc
and Tregynter, Breckonshire ; John Wood Jones, an Egyptian, formerly of Brecon,
came to be harper to the Right Hon. Lady Llanover ; John Robertson, of Bangor,
Carnarvonshire (he was another pupil of Richard Roberts, and died about twenty
years ago) ; Hugh Pugh, of Dolgelley, Welsh harper to the Cymreigyddion Society,
London ; the late Mr. Ellis Roberts, harpist to his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales. All the above gained silver harps. '
" A short account of the Egyptians who first came to Wales, where some of them
came to be very noted players upon the Welsh harp, and continue to the
present day :—
" ' About 200 years ago came an old man, of the name of Abraham Wood, his
wife, three sons, and a daughter. He brought with him a violin, and he is sup-
posed to be the first one that ever played upon one in Wales. The eldest of his
three sons, Valentine Wood, did very early take to the harp, but was not considered
much of a player. The second son, William, was considered a sweet violin player.
He was father to Archelaus Wood, aforementioned, who was the first pupil to the
celebrated Mr. Roberts, of Carnarvon. Third, Solomon Wood. Valentine Wood
had three sons — first was Adam, a good harper. He was the father of John Wood
Jones, which was the second pupil of Mr. Roberts, of Carnarvon, and harpist to the
Right Hon. Lady Llanover. Old Tom Wood, who was a very fine player on the
violin. Jeremiah Wood Jones, who became to be harper for fifty-one years to the
ancient family of Gogerddan, had three sons, Jeremiah, Theophilus, and John. The
first was a good player, second middling, third, John ; had he been placed in good
hands, he would have been, in his day, one of the best harpers in Wales. Thomas,
the second son to Valentine Wood, had twelve sons, out of which two of them be-
came good harpers — the first, Adam, the second, Robert, who used to very often
visit Colonel Gwynne, of Glanbran, considered a very good player. Benjamin
Wood Jones, of Carmarthen, was also a good player. All these harpers were after
the school of blind Parry, of Ruabon.' "
M. BATAILLARD having had too little leisure for the complete revision of his
treatise De I'apparition, etc., its appearance in our Journal has necessarily been
postponed till April.
NOTICE. — All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MACRITCHIE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh.
GYPSY LORE SOCIETY
1st January 1889.
PRESIDENT.
CHARLES GODFREY LELAND.
VICE-PRESIDEN T.
HENRY T. CROFTON.
EDITORS OF THE JOURNAL.
DAVID MACRITCHIE.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
MEMBERS.
H.I.H. THE ARCHDUKE JOSEPH OF AUSTRIA - HUNGARY, Alcsuth,
Budapest.
Hon. John Abercromby, 21 Chapel Street, Bel grave Square, London.
Miss Alger, 6 Brimmer Street, Boston, United States.
W. E. A. Axon, Murray Street, Higher Broughton, Manchester, Great
Britain.
PAUL BATAILLARD, Rue de I'Od^on 12, Paris.
Royal Library of Bavaria, Munich.
Berlin Royal Library.
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Boston (United States) Public Library.
Sir Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G., Athenseum Club, Pall Mall, London.
RICHARD C. CHRISTIE, Glenwood, Virginia Water, near Staines,
Middlesex, Great Britain.
182 LIST OF MEMBERS.
Edward Clodd, 19 Carleton Koad, Tufnell Park, London.
Edmund T. Coleman, 1 Ingestre Eoad, Dartmouth Park Hill, London.
Adriano Colocci, Jesi (Marche), Italy.
Archibald Constable, 11 Thistle Street, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
Cornish Brothers, 37 New Street, Birmingham, Great Britain.
Miss Marian Eoalfe Cox, Claverton, Streatham Hill, London.
Rev. Addison Crofton, Reddish Green, near Stockpoit, Manchester,
Great Britain.
Henry T. Crofton, 36 Brazenose Street, Manchester, Great Britain.
THOMAS DAVIDSON, 339 High Street, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
PROFESSOR JOHN FERGUSON, The University, Glasgow, Great Britain.
R. E. Francillon, 21 Regent's Park Terrace, Gloucester Gate, London.
HERBERT W. GREENE, Magdalen College, Oxford, Great Britain.
G. A. Grierson, B.C.S., Gaya Behar, Bengal Presidency, India.
Francis Hindes Groome, 339 High Street, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.
Rev. James J. Hazell, Convent Lodge, East Finchley, London.
Professor Dr. Anton Herrmann, I., Attila-utcza 47, Budapest.
H. H. Howorth, M.P., Eccles, Manchester, Great Britain.
W. J. IBBETSON, 2 Iverson Road, Brondesbury, London.
SURGEON-MAJOR W. JOHNSTON, South Camp, Aldershot, Great Britain.
PROFESSOR W. J. KNAPP, Ph.D., Yale University, New Haven, United
States.
Franz Ko6s, Brass6, Kronstadt, Austria-Hungary.
Professor Dr. I. Kopernicki, Cracow University, Galicia, Austria-
Hungary.
Professor Dr. Ernst Kuhn, 32 Hess-Strasse, Munich, Germany.
MRS. LECKIE, 4 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
Leyden University Library.
Charles G. Leland, Savile Club, Piccadilly, London.
Dr. J. Paul Lergetporer, Leopoldstrasse 14/1, Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria-
Hungary.
LIST OF MEMBERS. 183
MADRID KOYAL ACADEMY OF HISTORY.
Manchester Public Free Library.
David P. Masson, Alliance Bank, Kawal Pindi, Punjab, India.
Professor Dr. Franz von Miklosich, viii. Josefstadter Strasse 11, Vienna.
Justin H. McCarthy, M.P., 20 Cheyne Gardens, Chelsea Embankment,
London.
Miss MacEitchie, 4 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
Miss MacRitchie, 4 Archibald Place, „ „
Miss E. E. MacEitchie, „ „ },
David MacEitchie, „ „
John MacEitchie, Beaumont, Kansas, United States.
William MacEitchie, Manchester, Virginia, United States.
OWENS COLLEGE LIBRARY, Manchester.
DR. ALEXANDER G. PASPATI, Eue Valaorites, Athens.
Mrs. Pennell, 16 North Street, Westminster, London.
Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth (Great Britain).
J. Pincherle, Libreria Levi, Via S. Spiridione 4, Trieste.
D. FEARON EANKING, LL.D., Eockville, Merchiston, Edinburgh, Great
Britain.
JOHN SAMPSON, 9 Low Hill, Liverpool, Great Britain.
W. W. Scarborough, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.
J. Shearman, 126 Fellows Eoad, South Hampstead, London.
Signet Library, Edinburgh.
Professor Dr. E. von Sowa, Carlsglacis 1, Briinn, Austria-Hungary.
CAPTAIN E. C. TEMPLE, B.C.S., Mandalay, Upper Burma.
Professor Dr. Emil Thewrewk de Ponor, Tarnok-utcza 12, Budapest.
MILWARD VALENTINE, 8 Seton Place, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
THEODORE WATTS, The Pines, Putney Hill, Putney, London.
Eev. Alexander Webster, 1 Hartington Gardens, Edinburgh, Great Britain.
Eev. Wentworth Webster, Sare, par St. Jean de Luz, Basses Pyre"ne"es,
France.
Dr. Heinrich von Wlislocki, Szaszsebes, Muhlbach, Siebenbiirgen, Austria-
Hungary.
Worcester (United States) Free Public Library.
184 LIST OF MEMBERS.
PUBLICATIONS WITH WHICH THE SOCIETY'S "JOURNAL"
IS EXCHANGED.
Ethnologische Mitteilungen am Ungarn.
Revue des Traditions Populates.
The Folk-Lore Record.
The Journal of American Folk-Lore.
The Antiquary.
Honorary Secretary and Treasurer,
DAVID MACRITCHIE,
4 ARCHIBALD PLACE, EDINBURGH.
MEMBERS are requested to bring the Gypsy Lore Society under the notice of
any of their friends who are interested in this or kindred studies. An increased
membership is necessary in order to carry out fully the aims of the Society, as the
present income is not large enough to warrant such outlay as that involved in
the reproduction of photographs, or other illustrations, and of music. These are
two very attractive departments of Gypsy Lore, and they are not less instructive
than the others ; but neither of them can be gone into until the income of the
Society is considerably larger than at present.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY. •
Vor, I. APKIL 1889. No. 4
I._BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES
INTO WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
INTRODUCTION.
THE editors of the Journal had asked my permission simply to
reproduce, in English, the work which I published in 1844
in the BiUiotheque de rficolc des Chartes l under the title " De V appari-
tion et de la dispersion des Bohdmiens en Europe" A portion only of that
work will be found here — the portion which was already the most ex-
tensive, and which is now considerably enlarged. It, therefore, does
not appear to me superfluous to inform the reader what this former
memoir was, as also another which I published five years later in the
same collection,2 and which was the very needful complement of
the preceding one. I will also explain why I now eliminate certain
parts of the memoir of 1844, and content myself with referring to the
1 Fifth year or fifth volume of this collection. The memoir appeared in two articles (5th
and 6th parts of this vol.), which were united and printed separately from the collection,
forming 59 pages, in large 8vo, including four pages of titles. This has been out of print for
the last thirty years.
2 ' ' NouveMes recherches sur Vnpparition des Bohemiens en Europe," in the Jiifiliu-
thtque de VEcole des C/iartes, vol. i. of the 3d series, 1st part, October 1849. The reprint,
to which I made some additions in the Note additionnelle, which fills the last ten pngos,
forms 48 pages, in large 8vo. My references are generally to the reprints (iirages d part)
of my writings.
VOL. I.— NO. IV. N
186 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
publication of 1849, and I will point out the principal improvements
I have introduced into the present article.
When first I took up this subject forty-five years ago, the ideas of
Grellmann1 were in full favour. Now, Grellmann, who connected the
Gypsies with the caste of Sudras, and who attributed their emigra-
tion from India to the invasions of Timur into that country (A.D.
1408 and 1409), fixed their arrival in Europe at the year 1417 ;2
he thus maintained that the Gypsies, after having wandered in Asia
Minor and Egypt, had entered the south-east of Europe the very
year in which one of their detachments appeared on the shores of
the North Sea.3 He thought it so certain that no Gypsies had ever
been seen int Europe before 1417,4 that he went so far as to rectify
the statement of two western chroniclers who had signalised their
presence in Hesse in 1414 and in Meissen in 1416.5
On closer examination — that is to say, in collecting the original
documents for my work, published in 1844 — I was therefore much
surprised not to meet with a single one relating to the advent of the
Gypsies in any country whatever of eastern Europe, and particularly
in the south-east of Europe, either in 1417 or at any other date.
1 Historischer Versuch iiber die Zigeuner, 2d edit., Gottingen, 1787, in small 8vo., of
xvi. and 368 pages. The first edition is that of Dessau and Leipzig, 1783. The French trans-
lation, by M. J., Paris, 1810, in 8vo, unfortunately bears upon its title-page that it was
made " from the second edition," which misled me at a period when I was not in possession
of the latter ; in reality it was made from the first.
2 It is now proved that all these assertions are erroneous. But in saying this I would
not wish to be thought unjust or ungrateful towards Grellmann : his book, now a hundred
years old, still forms a rich repertory of facts and bibliographical information indispensable
to every student of the Gypsies, and it is there, as [ have taken cave to say at the be-
ginning of my memoir of 1844, that I found the first foundation of valuable indications for
my work.
3 Grellmann even thought that he had found a confirmation of this pretended fact in the
sayings of the Gypsies at Bologna in 1422 (Grell. pp. 205-207 ; Fr. tr., pp. 207-210). But
I have shown (De V apparition, etc., pp. 13-14 of the reprint) the weakness of this
argument.
4 It must be said that several of his predecessors had gone before him in this direction.
I will content myself with quoting George Pray, who must have been a great authority for
Grellmann at a time when those authors of Eastern Europe who had not written either in
Latin or in German were generally unknown in the West. G. Pray, author of Annales
regum Hungarice, in 5 vols. in fol. 1764-1770, and of several other great collections, was,
indeed, one of the most learned Hungarians of his time. Now he had written (in the above-
named work, part iv., p. 275): — " Certe primum omnium in Moldavia. Valachia ac Hun-
garia, circiter annum 1417, visi sunt, isthincque in alias Europae ditiones propagati." Not-
withstanding the circiter which destroyed a little of the precision of the date, the Roumanian
documents, in the absence at that time of any very positive Hungarian documents, have
since furnished an absolute contradiction to Pray. Grellmann would have done better to
abide by the opinion of another learned historian of Eastern Europe— the Moldavian Prince
Demetrius Cantemir — whom he also quotes further on, and who declares that, in Moldavia,
nothing was known concerning the period at which the Gypsies had arrived in that
country.
5 Grellmann, note of p. 206 : Fr. tn p. 209. — I had myself accepted these two pretended
rectifications in 1844, pp. 18-19, and pp. 25-26 ; but, so early as 1849 (Nouvelles recherches,
p. 37), I expressed well-founded doubts on the subject.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE Fl ETEENTH CENTURY. 187
As it was, however, clear that the Gypsies had come to us from
the south-east of. Europe, or ~by the south-east of Europe,1 I was
obliged, on remarking the absence of all positive information respecting
their first appearance in this region, to propose the three following
alternatives, which I examined successively : Either the Gypsies had
existed in the south-east of Europe for a longer or shorter time before
1417; or they had spread there at the same time as they appeared
in the west, that is to say towards 1417 (the date which I accepted
for the west, arid which I still accept, whilst making certain important
reservations, as will be seen hereafter) ; or those who had appeared
suddenly in the west2 in 1417 had simply crossed the south-east of
Europe, whilst the mass of them spread themselves there only
successively and at a later date, as they did in the west.
These three alternatives are given in chronological order, and
likewise in the order of their probability ; for it is hardly neces-
sary to say that the first appeared to me by far the most probable.
But I could then find no decisive document in its favour, and I
prudently left the question in suspense.
What I have just summed up (with the exception of a short
passage on p. 4, which I will take up when I come to my present First
period, and a tradition on p. 17, which would be curious if I could
guarantee its authenticity) fills sixteen pages of my first memoir (p.
3-18), which it would be all the more useless to reproduce here, as
I have discussed the question with more success in the second memoir
(Nouvelles recherches, etc., 1849), of which I have now to speak.
Since 1844 I became acquainted with three new and reliable
documents which decided the question in the way I had foreseen, —
namely, a twofold Bourn anian document (two confirmations dating
from 1386 and 1387), of a donation made about 1370 by a Prince of
Wallachia,3 of forty Salachi (families) of Atsigani, which proves that
1 I devoted some pages (pp. 6-9 and 12-13) of my first memoir to establish that this
point was beyond doubt ; I more especially, in a long note, quoted a certain number of
ancient authors, remarking that their errors or their uncertainties respecting the date of the
arrival of the Gypsies in Europe do not weaken the agreement of their testimony respect-
ing the previous habitation of those who spread over the West. This origin is, however,
so universally acknowledged at the present day that it is useless to insist upon it.
2 They were not very numerous from 1417 up to 1438, as I established at the outset
(p. 4), and as will be seen further on.
3 In briefly summing up in my memoir of 1849 (p. 20), these two documents, which I
had intended speaking of anew (see the same, note 3), I unfortunately made a confusion
between the names of the Wallachian princes concerned in this donation. I rectified this
confusion in my Lettre d la Revue critique of 1875, p. 14, note 2 (it is, however, necessary to
suppress [line 14 of this note] a " non" which is a fresh lapsus), and again more succinctly,
in Etat de la Question, p. 8. In short, the document of 1386, which raises some chrono-
logical difficulties and adds nothing to that of 1387, may be put aside. By the latter, the
original of which (in Slavonic, as are all the official Roumanian documents of this period)
188 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
at this period (1370) the Gypsies were already slaves in Koumania :
Secondly, a passage in the relation of a journey made by Symon
Simeonis,1 who, visiting the island of Crete in 13222, found there a
race of people which he does not name, but of whom he gives a
description that can only apply to the Gypsies. Finally, a line in
the Chronique de Ghypre (then unpublished) of Florio Bustrou, which
proves that the Cingctni existed in Cyprus towards the year 146<s,
and paid a tax to the royal treasury.3
Armed with these documents, which lent each other a mutual
support, and which proved not only that the Gypsies were scattered
over the south-east of Europe in the fourteenth century, but also that
very probably they were not even new-comers there, I took up the
far less clear documents that I had already examined in my first
memoir : I added several others, and I applied fresh and improved
tests to them.
In short, the thirty-six first pages of my Nouvelles rccltc-rcln's
(1849) resolved an important question which had not been seriously
mooted before 1844, and which opened a road leading further than 1
could then foresee, for we can now go back with a certainty which 1
think incontestable to the beginning of the ninth century.4 Wo
cannot even consider this date as final — nor any other — as M. Mik-
losich himself remarks.5 1 have since then, indeed, carried the
exists in the archives of Bncharest, and which has been published, together with a Roumanian
translation, in the Archiva istorica of Mr. Hajdeu, vol. iii., Bucuresci, 1867, in 4to, pp.
191-194, Mircea I. voivode of Wallachia, confirms, amongst other liberalities, a donation of
forty Salachi of Atsigani made to the monastery of Saint Antony of Voditza by his uncle
Vladislav, who reigned about 1370 or 1372.
1 Symon Simeonis or Simon Symeonis (for the name is written in both ways) belonged
to the order of Minorites, as likewise his fellow-traveller, who died before reaching the
Holy Land. It appears that he was a Spaniard, and not an "Englishman" as I wrote
p. 35.
2 And not " the island of Cyprus in 1332," as I wrote, p. 12, and passim in my Nouvelles
recherches. But this double error is not to be imputed to me, for I then took care to say
that I quoted this valuable passage after Bryant, not having been able to find the original
work. I was only able to rectify it (and incorrectly in Les derniers travaitx, p. 72) after
having the rare opportunity of purchasing the volume : Itineraria Symonis Simeonis, etc.
Cantab. 1778, in large 8vo. of xvi and 396 pp. , with intercalation of eight supplementary pages,
numbered from 77 to 84 with an asterisk. The passage which interests us is to be found
p. 17. The error of date bearing upon ten years only was not of great consequence, but the
error of place, more serious in itself, led me in my Nouvclles recherches into " TCJ>/I rnr/tc-
ments" which would demand rectification.
3 These two documents relative to the islands of the eastern Mediterranean gave addi-
tional interest to evidences furnished by the sixteenth century concerning these regions,
which I have reproduced on account of their retrospective value.
4 I think one might say to the seventh century (see Mat de la question, more amply
indicated lower on, p. 33-40) ; but I give the date admitted by M. Miklosich in order to avoid
entering here into the discussion raised by this important point.
5 See Etat de la, question de Vcinciennete des Tsiganes en Europe. Extract from the
Account of the Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology, viii. session, Buda-
pest, 1876 ; Paris, 1877; in 8vo of 62 pp., and two pages of Errata, that I have added to this
tirage-a-part, the printing of the "Account" having been very badly executed at Pest. It
WKSTEHX EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 1 SO
question further than any one else has done; for 1 now think not
only, as did some of my predecessors, that the Gypsies had already
ancestors in the south-east of Europe and in Asia Minor in the days
of Herodotus and even Homer, but that these ancestors (from whom,
however, I do not pretend that all the Gypsies now scattered over
the world descend) have contributed to the propagation of primitive
metallurgy in certain countries. l
Hut I will not now mix up these disputable questions with purely
historical studies. I only warn the reader who has recourse to the
writings in which I expound these new ideas that, since the publication
of my long Lettre it la Revue (-ritiqiic of 1875, on the Oriyine* <!<•*
Bohvmiem and of some of the writings which followed, I have seen the
insufficiency of the etymological comparisons (rapprochement* <f/f//n<>-
logiques) which had at first seemed conclusive to me, and by which I
thought it possible, temporarily, to supply the place of the unavoidably
long and complex statement of the considerations, and the historical,
ethnological, and archaeological congruities which, I think, will render
my theory very plausible. Want of time has always obliged me to
defer this statement, and my advanced age may now, perhaps, prevent
me from ever accomplishing it. I request the reader will also believe
that I am not ignorant of the philological objections which have been
opposed to my theory, and that I take account of them in the measure
in which they are certain ; but I remain convinced, with an eminent
ludianist 2 who was also a most competent Gypsiologist, that
is this writing which may now temporarily take the place of the first thirty-six pages of my
Nouvelles rechcrchcs of 1849, and I beg to refer the reader to it, asking him at the same
time not to forget that it is only a general sketch, and that for details even the memoir of
1849 may still furnish some useful elements.
1 At the end (pp. 13-14 of the tiraffe-d-parf) of a lirst communication made to the
Society of Anthropology, Nov. 18th, 1875, on presenting my Lettre d la Revue Critique, Sur
les Origines des fiohemiens, I had already said a few words on the probable part taken by
the Gypsies in primitive metallurgy. I took up the idea anew (pp. 15-28) in a communica-
tion made on the 2d Dec. following (Les Tsiganes, de V&ge de bronze), which was united to
the preceding in the same pamphlet.
2 GUSTAVE GARREZ, who died suddenly at Paris, where he resided, on the 3d Dec. 1888, at
the age of 54 years. His death is a very great loss to science, greater still to all the scholars
who had dealings with him ; irreparable to me, for he was my light in all Gypsy questions con-
cerning India and the East in general, and it was impossible to find one more abundant and
more sure. He was at the same time untiring in kindness, and the most excellent of men.
He was little known, because he had not published much ; but two eminent members of the
Asiatic Society to which M. Garrez lent his assiduous co-operation, MM. Earth and Senart,
have revealed to the world of learning the immense loss it has sustained. They have
published on their friend and colleague two very interesting articles, of which the mic
appeared in the Revue critique of the 28th of January 1889, the other in the Journal
(isiatique, in the number for Nov. -Dec. 1888. Both explain very well why Garrez pub-
lished so little, and even wrote so little : it was because his learning was so extensive
and his criticism so penetrating that he never succeeded in satisfying himself. But, amongst
an accumulation of learning admirably co-ordinated in his powerful brain, his two
biographers have forgotten the subject of the Gypsies and their language, which he had
studied very seriously, considering them as a necessary complement to his Indian studies.
190 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
philology alone cannot decide these very complex questions, and that
if one arrives by different roads at conclusions equally certain or
equally probable, means will necessarily be found to reconcile what
may appear contradictory. But I was then so far from the ideas
I have just mentioned, that I scarcely dreamt of going back beyond
the thirteenth century.1
At the same time, however, whilst my Nouvelles recherches were
already in the press, my attention was drawn by the learned Arabic
scholar, M. Eeinaud, to several Oriental documents which appeared
to open up some entirely new perspectives in regard to the origin of
the Gypsies ; and although the question of origin was foreign to the
subject to which my actual study was devoted, I naturally hastened
to take advantage of such a discovery. Hence the Note additionnelle
which fills the ten last pages (pp. 3 9-48) 2 of my Nouvelles recherches?
The subject of which I there treat is precisely that which forms the
It was M. Garrez who, consulted by the directors of the Revue critique, at the time of the
publication of my Lettre of 1875 concerning les Oriyines des Bohemiens, pointed out the in-
sufficiency of my arguments in favour of the antiquity of the Gypsies in Europe, and it was
on this occasion that I made his acquaintance without then divining all the value of this
meeting. But he nevertheless always encouraged me to pursue my researches in the historical
road which I was the only one to follow ; and it is he also who, later on, one day said to me :
" I really think that the discovery of the Indian origin of the Gypsy tongue has injured
more than it has served in the discovery of the origin of the Gypsies, because it has pre-
vented from searching for it." This is exactly what I thought, but I should not perhaps
have dared to say it ; and this opinion has a very different weight in the mouth of such an
Indianist from what it would have had in mine.
In speaking of this esteemed friend it is impossible not to think of another loss, less
recent and much less unexpected, but which has been also much felt by me, that of POTT,
the eminent Sanscrit scholar and philologist of Halle, the greatest etymologist of our times,
who died in July 1887, at the age of more than 84 years. He was the worthy patriarch
of the Gypsiologists. His Zigeuner in Europa und Asien (2 vols. 8vo, 1844-45) ap-
peared when the Neo-Aryan tongues of India were nearly unknown ; his age and his infir-
mities did not permit him in the last days of his life to follow the progress of Indian
philology like Garrez. But this great work, to say nothing of Pott's later contributions
to Gypsy studies, is none the less a monument of erudition and a valuable repertory,
which seems to me too much neglected at the present time. Pott also was not one of those
exclusive Gysiologists who are of opinion that the tongue of the Gypsies is the sole source
from which we can learn anything concerning their origin and their history, more or less
ancient. As the present is the first publication made by me since his death, I wish to express
in it my very grateful remembrance for the particular kindness with which he always wel-
comed my modest writings.
1 See Nouv. recherches, 1849, p. 35. Cf. p. 19, where the eleventh century already ap-
peared a very early date to me, and p. 36, where I consider as improbable the hypothesis
of Dr. Hasse, who discovers the Gypsies on the banks of the Danube in the times of
Herodotus— a hypothesis which I fully admit now.
2 Between p. 36 of this memoir of 1849, to which my preceding analysis is confined,
and p. 39, which begins the Note additionnelle, three pages are devoted to the Additions et
corrections to my memoir of 1844. I mark out there the ne\v divisions of the subject which
are the necessary consequence of the undoubtedly correcter notions we had recently acquired,
and I there point out documents concerning the Gypsies in the West which had come to
my knowledge since 1844.
3 The same Note additionnelle, in the same small type, occupies but eight pages in the
Bibliotheque de VEcole des Charles, because I made additions in the reprint (tiraye d
part) .
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTKKXTII CKNTUl.'Y. 101
memoir which M. de Goeje, the learned Arabic scholar of Leyden,
published in 1875 (in Dutch), under the title Contribution a I'histoire
des Tziganes (25 pages in 8vo.), and of which an English transla-
tion has been given in the volume entitled The Gypsies of lndl«
by Mr. David MacPdtchie (London, 1886). This last circumstance
renders unnecessary any long explanation in these pages. M. de
Goeje was not acquainted with my work of 1849 when he published
his memoir, and I am glad he was not, for, had he not thought
the subject entirely new, he would not perhaps have discussed
it. Now his work is naturally superior to mine ; it has, above all,
the great advantage of following the transportations of Djatts and
other Indians as far as the territory of the Byzantine Empire,
towards the year 855, whilst the documents pointed out or furnished
me by M. Reinaud go no further, so far as regards these trans-
portations, than Anazarbe (Ainzarba) on the confines of Syria and
Asia Minor towards 835. But the basis and the subject of these
two studies were so identical that I was obliged to claim my right
of priority.1 It is well to add that, if I was then anxious to establish
it, and if I am still anxious to do so at the present day, it is, above all,
because it appears to me to give me more authority for reducing to
its true value a theory which was mine so far back as 1849, and
which I then found seductive, but of which I had acknowledged
the insufficiency long before 1875.
I think now, as I did in 1875, that the Djatts and other Indians
transported at divers periods from India to more western regions, and
finally, towards 855, to the territory of the Byzantine Empire,
may probably have fused with the Gpysy race,2 especially if the
Gypsies already existed, as I am persuaded they did, in these parts,
but that they could not have been the stock of the Gypsy race for two
principal reasons : " It is unlikely that the five hundred thousand
Gypsies, at least, who now exist in the south-east of Europe, to speak
only of this region, should descend from a few thousand Djatts trans-
ported there in 855 ; and, moreover, it is impossible that these Djatts,
1 I did so by a long letter piiblished in The Academy of the 5th of June 1875, and also at
the commencement of my Lettre d la Revue critique : sur les Origines des BoJieiniens (Sept.
and Oct. 1875). This right of priority was graciously acknowledged by M. de Goeje in a
correspondence exchanged between us on the subject. I only regret that he did not
remember publicly to acknowledge it in the English translation of 1886, which was revised
by him (without his having made, however, the slightest change on his work of 1875).
2 I have even produced in support of this probability a small new contribution which has
its value by giving, perhaps indiscreetly, in my Lettre d la Revue critique of 1875 (pp. 10-11),
an unpublished communication of M. Paspati concerning the Gypsies of Hariupol, near
Tchorlu (seventy miles to the north-west of Constantinople), who are rearers <>f lnijf'<t.l»,:<.
This communication will be found, as fifth paragraph, in the notes published by M. 1'asputi,
under the title of Turkish (jypsies, in the first number of the present Journal (July, 1888).
192 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
rearers of buffaloes, or given to other occupations foreign to the
generality of Gypsies, should have been the forefathers of a race
distinguished by three principal occupations, the working of metals,
divination, and music, and which — more especially in the working
of metals — employs with great skill primitive methods dating
certainly from a remote antiquity." l
However that may be, I had not waited for the new views opened
out in my Note additionnellc, to discern that the question of the firnt-
appearance of the Gypsies in the south-east of Europe was becoming
quite distinct from that of their first appearance in the west ; and
although I did not then think the former question insoluble, as I now
ponsider it, I at once separated it distinctly by adopting a new
division of the subject (Nouv. rcch., p. 7 and pp. 36-38); that is to say,
by placing in a first Part — " Les Bohemiens dans I' Europe Orientale
et Septentrionale " — the countries where their advent remained un-
known, and by reserving for the Second Part, " Les BoMmiens en Occi-
dent" all that we know of their first appearance in this part of Europe.
1 traced at the same time, as far as possible, the line of demarca-
tion between the two zones — that of the known and that of the
unknown ; saying (Ibid., p. 6) that it might be represented by " drawing
a nearly straight line from the southern extremity of the Baltic Sea,
near the mouth of the Oder, to the Adriatic near Venice or Trieste."
It was to be well understood that I did not pretend to apply to
the immense European zone placed to the east of this line, the new
ideas that we had just acquired for the south-east of Europe. Here —
I mean to say in the Balkan Peninsula (including the eastern part
of the Mediterranean) and in the Danubian regions — we then knew
with certainty that the Gypsies had existed long before 1417. From
what time had they existed ? I then thought that, some day or other,
we should come to know it ; I now think, though I may be mistaken,
that it will never be known. We may, no doubt, discover that at
such or such a period new immigrations of Gypsies took place in these
countries,2 but I think that we shall never know when the first took
1 The quoted passage is copied from p. 4 of the pamphlet (tirage d part], in which I
have, under the title of Snr les origines des Bohemiens : Les Tziganes a V&ye de bronze,
united the two communications of November and December 1875 made by me to the Anthro-
pological Society. I sum up there, much more briefly than in the two writings indicated in
the last note but one, my objections against the theory in question. It must be remarked
also (ibid., note to p. 5) that I had then in my hands a complete translation into French
of M. de Goeje's memoir, which conlirmed the estimate contained in my two preceding
writings, published before I could become perfectly acquainted with M. de Goeje's work.
It is well to support my refutation on ethnographical considerations of M. de Goeje's too
exclusive theory, by the philological arguments of M. Miklosich (vi., 1876, pp. 63-64).
2 It is here, as I have said above, that the theory of M. de Goeje (which was also mine
so far back as 1849), reduced to its true value, might find a legitimate place. Other migra-
•\VKSTKKN EUKOPK IX TIIK F1KTKKXTII CKNTUUY. 193
place, because they are lost in the night of ages. I therefore blot out
from my programme their advent in the south-east of Europe.
But, in the great eastern and northern zone, as it is traced
above, there are other countries which may demand fresh lino <>f
demarcation, according as the Gypsies have existed there at periods
more or less anterior to 1417, or have spread themselves there towards
this date, or have arrived there later, perhaps even much later (which
appears also to have been the case in some distant countries of Western
Europe). There is here, without doubt, matter for discussing certain
dates, generally rather recent, which have been attributed of late to
the earliest appearance of the Gypsies in some of these countries,
But I doubt whether any of these dates would appear decisive to me,1
and I cannot stay to examine them here. Moreover, I could not do
so without reproducing certain parts of my memoir of 1849, which,
even in these questions retain a certain value ; it is simpler to refer
the reader to them.
Thus, the two zones, that of the known and that of the unknown,
have varied little during the last forty years. As to the line of demarca-
tion which I had traced between them, I need scarcely say that in my
opinion then, as also in my opinion now, it can nowhere be absolutely
determined. It is necessarily an uncertain line, destined to receive
divers inflexions according to reliable information on one side or the
other. It will also be necessary to remark that the western side repre-
sents, not only the known, but also the immigration commenced in 1417,
and that, consequently, it would be needful to add to it the countries
of the eastern zone where the immigration of the Gypsies would
have come in from the west, and would thus have been a consecutive
fact with the immigration in the west. We are far from having any
such precise information. I think that all we have learned that is
new and certain on this point during the last forty years is, on the
contrary, that Bohemia, which was, so to say, cut in two by the line
tions from the Balkan Peninsula into the region of the Danube, probably also from Asia.
and perhaps even from Africa into Europe, at the begim.ing and during the whole course of
the fifteenth century, are so probable that I do not now hesitate to make them intervene
in the explanation of certain facts belonging to the first period (1417-1438) of the immigration
into the West, as will be seen further on.
1 I persist in thinking, for example, that the existence of the Gypsies in Poland, and
perhaps even in Northern Lithuania, is more remote than is generally admitted. As t<>
Russia, since it extends from Lapland and Nova Zembla to the Caucasus, and from the Haiti''
Sea to the Ural Mountains, to say nothing of Siberia and of the other Asiatic possessions, it
is not easy to throw any light upon a question like that of the presence of the Gypsies
before, during, and even after the fifteenth century ; and what one could learn of any value
concerning their earliest appearance in one of the great provinces, so different from each
other, in this immense empire, would be strictly limited to this province. Here again philo-
logy alone is not sufficient.
194 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
in question, appears decidedly to belong to the eastern zone.1 It may
be asked, too, whether it would not be right to include Moravia and
Silesia in the same.2 It is presumable that this zone will even be
extended in the direction of Venice and Trieste,3 where I have placed
the termination of a temporary line, and also by a sort of projection
on the side of eastern Italy, which is so near the old Gypsy station of
Corfu.4
But it is time to return to that part of my first memoir (1844)
which concerns the immigration of the Gypsies into Western Europe
in the fifteenth century, and to confine ourselves to it. As we are
about to speak of a work which is to pass under the reader's eyes, I
shall happily be able to be much more brief.
At the same time that I discovered the absence of all documents
relative to the appearance of the Gypsies in Eastern Europe, I made,
at the outset of my researches, another discovery of less consequence
but still highly interesting. Our most numerous and most important
documents, as I have remarked, are confined to the time comprised
between 1417 and about 1438. Up to the time of rny discovery it
had always been supposed that the facts revealed by them denoted
the real immigration of the Gypsies into the west (and even into
Europe) ; so much so that, as soon as a few Gypsies had been signal-
ised in a country, it was concluded that the race had from that time
taken root there. The examination and the comparing of documents
had convinced me, on the contrary, that, from 1417 up to about 1438,
the west was only travelled over by a small number of Gypsy bands
who explored this new region, and who had all, or mostly all, close
connection with each other, obeying the same chiefs, separating or
1 " The annals written in the Bohemian tongue speak, under the year 1416, of the appear-
ance (auftreten) of Gypsies in Bohemia, without designating them as a people never before
seen : ' That same year (1416) the Gypsies (Cikani) wandered about the land of Bohemia
and deceived the people.'— Sc-riptores rerum bohem., in. Prague, 1829, p. 30." I extract this
quotation from the memoirs of Miklosich (Ueber die Mundarten und die Wander ungen
der Zigeuner JSuropas, in. Wien, 1873, pp. 22-23), taking notice that, according to his own
remark, the word appearance is not that which appears to be suitable. The original phrase
which I have put between single inverted commas, is given by Miklosich in the Bohemian
tongue, as extracted from the Annals he has just quoted.
a " It is probable that they appeared for the first time in Moravia and Silesia towards
the year 1416 . . . "—Miklosich, ibid. p. 23. Was it really for the first time ? See in Nouv.
rtr/tnrhes, pp. 29-31, the double document of 1344 and 1394, which has, perhaps, a greater
value than I formerly attributed to it.
3 I have always thought that Venice, which was in such close relation with the east
during the times which here interest us, must contain in its archives documents that would
be very precious to us. In consequence of these relations she may even have early drawn
into her orbit some groups of Gypsies (this is what I have already remarked in Etat de la
question, p. 22). A question almost analogous may be asked concerning the south of Spain
and Portugal (see my communication Les Gilanos d'Espagne et les Ciganos du Portugal,
Congress of Lisbon of 1880, pp. 497-510, pp. 17-30 of the tiraye apart}.
* See Etat de la question, . . . 1876, pp. 20-22.
\VKSTK I! N KCUOl'K L\ TIIK I'l 1-TKKNTH CKNTUUY. 195
joining again at various places evidently fixed upon beforehand for
the great journey. It is from 1438 only that the Gypsy race begins
to spread, little by little, in succeeding waves, over the various
countries of the west.1
From thence, the separation into two periods of the immigration
of the Gypsies in the west: the first comprising the years 1417-1438,
the second2 beginning towards 1438 and continuing up to a period
which it seems to me impossible to fix with any precision, but which
certainly encroaches on the sixteenth century.
The immigration of the Gypsies in the west presented, especially
at the outset, an extremely singular character, which rendered its
history so much the more curious. They gave themselves out as
penitents and pilgrims come from Egypt, and brought accordingly
letters of recommendation from the Emperor, and afterwards from the
Pope. They presented themselves with these letters before the local
authorities asking for aid, and, far from hiding themselves as much as
possible, as might have been expected, they made themselves highly
conspicuous. It is to this circumstance that we owe the valuable
documents of the first period, which enable us in some degree to
follow the wanderings of these strange travellers.
It is evidently this part of my memoir of 1844 that the editors of
the present Journal had more especially in view when they asked me
to reproduce the memoir itself ; for, unlike that which preceded it,
this part (from p. 18) has lost nothing from age. Several authors
have drawn largely from it, as they have besides from several other
of my Gypsy writings, and too often without properly acknowledging
the source from which they drew ; but no one has recommenced it ;
and as the first part at least (1417-1438), which is the only one
which is seriously examined in it, is essentially composed of docu-
ments arranged in chronological order, which is the only proper one,
no one could recommence it without bringing a mass of new docu-
ments, which would change its disposition — a very improbable case,
and which I need scarcely say has not presented itself. It has
happened, on the contrary, that the authors who wished to appear
1 See my memoir of 1844, pp. 4, 44-47, and that of 1849, pp. 36, 37.
2 I must add here to what J have already said (p. 14) of the divisions of my subject into
two periods, that these two periods perfectly established in my memoir of 1844 were then
the second and the third— the first being reserved for any certain information that might be
obtained concerning the first appearance of the Gypsies in Western Europe ; but they had
become the first and second so early as 1849 (as they still are), for Eastern Europe forms in
future a first part totally distinct from the second, which is devoted to the west. When 1
now speak of the first and second periods, I consequently refer to the second and third of
my memoir of 1844, where alone I have treated of them formerly (excepting a few additions
and corrections, pp. 37-39 in my Nouv. recherches, 1849).
196 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
to have treated the subject as though they were the first to do so,
and as though they drew directly from the original sources, have
not brought forward any really new document belonging to this
important period of 1417 to 1438.
But if this part could with difficulty be re-cast, it could and
would necessarily increase, become more complete and more perfect,
in proportion as fresh documents were discovered. Some have,
indeed, come to light, of which those who contented themselves
with pilfering me were wholly unaware, and of which I now take
advantage for improving my present work, taking care to point out
the authors to whom I owe the discovery. Those who will take the
trouble to compare my old memoir with the present one will see
that they are sufficiently numerous ; Holland, in particular, which
has been better explored in this respect than any other country, has
furnished a considerable number. But as the matter extends to all the
countries in the west, where so many different collections have been
published, I am no doubt unacquainted with many documents, even
those which have been printed, to say nothing of those which lie
still buried in the Archives,1 and which are probably more numerous
than those that have been published. I should be very grateful to
such of my readers as may be acquainted with any documents of
this kind, if they would point them out to me with precision.2
This First Period of the immigration of the Gypsies into the
west being the principal object of my present work, like that of
1844, I should add that I have not confined myself to enriching it
with new documents ; I have taken still more care than before to
reproduce exactly and entirely those which are contemporary and
original. I have also given more space to the interpretation
of these documents, modifying often the form, to render it more
exact, and sometimes the sense of what I wrote forty years
since. I have even added, at the beginning of the First Period, a
commentary explaining, so far as it is possible to explain, the
strange facts contained in it. This addition appeared the more
useful to me as some persons had formerly3 reproached me with
not enabling the reader to steer his way through the mixture of
1 As will be remarked in reading my work, it is more especially the municipal accounts
which are to be explored.
a My present address is 12 Rue de 1'Odeon, Paris. Those who may forget it have only
to remember that I am " Archiviste de la Faculte de Medecine." The smallest document
anterior to 1440 has a particular value, especially if it bears a precise date, but those of the
succeeding years may also contain precious information. Even amongst those of much
more recent date there are certainly some of great interest.
3 See Nouvelles recherches, pp. 38-39.
WKSTKIJX KUIJOl'K IX TI1K FIFTEENTH OENTTKY. 1(.)7
facts and fiction. This commentary and certain critical discussions,
such as those concerning the Gypsies in Switzerland, certainly make
my narrative heavy, and this defect is rendered still more sensible
by the unavoidable partitioning of my work in several numbers of
this Journal. But if, as I think, this fault has its utility, I trust the
serious student will easily forgive it.
As to the Second ./V/-/W/, that which begins towards 1438, and
which ought to contain the immigration of the mass of the Gypsies in
the west — that is to say what is in reality the true immigration — it
would be very difficult to fill up the outline properly. I had already
made this remark of old, and I will explain it when 1 come to speak
of this part of my subject. I confined myself in 1844 (in what
was then the Third Period, pp. 47-56) to collecting and arranging
chronologically, or nearly so, the scattered facts, beginning with
1438, which had come to my knowledge, including on one side some
unpublished French documents (to which it will now suffice to refer
the reader), and on the other the notions more or less uncertain which
it was possible to entertain concerning the first appearance of the
Gypsies, not only in countries such as England and probably Spain,
where the immigration of the Gypsies is a consecutive fact of their
immigration in the west, but also in countries of the north and the
east, such as Sweden and Russia and even Poland, which then
belonged l and still belong to the unknown zone, as I have remarked
above. All this was a little confused, and this part of my old memoir
scarcely merits to be reproduced at the present time ; but, having
been obliged to devote to the essential part of the present work
(First Period) all the time of which I have been able to dispose since
this publication was asked for, I have not even had leisure seriously
to consider what I should put in its place. At all events, as I have
entitled the present publication Beginning of the Immigration of the
Gypsies into Western Europe in the Fifteenth Century, the reader will
not expect to find in it more than it contains.
The present work is, therefore, new in many respects ; but I beg
the reader will not forget that it is also old, very old ; for I should
be sorry that any one should remember having found, under another
name than mine, things that are contained in this publication, and
think me the plagiarist of the authors who have pilfered from me.
I have as yet said nothing of a preliminary part which I think
necessary to introduce before the First Period of the immigration into
1 See also Nouvelles rec/ierches, 1819, pp. 25-34. and in the Additions and corrections
p. 38.
198 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
the west. But, as this new chapter will follow immediately, I shall
the more willingly place in it the considerations which explain and
justify it, as I have not, up to the present time, many certain and
very conclusive documents to produce in it.
ANTECEDENTS AND PRELUDES.
Whatever future discoveries may bring to light, the immigration
of the Gypsies into the west, which began officially, so to speak, in
1417, remains a well-authenticated fact and a predominating feature
of the history of the race in our countries. I say officially, because
they then presented themselves with letters from the Emperor, and
a little later, in 1422, with letters from the Pope, and, instead of
shunning observation, they courted attention by every means in
their power.
But, since it is known that the Gypsies certainly existed in the
south-east of Europe at far earlier periods, at a date which it is
impossible to fix, it is natural to ask whether none had ever come
westward before 1417. I think that no one, even a priori, could
seriously reply to this question in the negative. But, a posteriori,
after examination of the facts and of the documents (even those of
later date than 1417, and some still more recent) now in our pos-
session, one remains convinced that not only Gypsies may have
come into these same parts long before 1417, but that they must
have done so. At the same time it is easy to understand the diffi-
culty, if not the impossibility, of finding undeniable historical traces
of these curious episodes of the history of the Gypsies.
I have already devoted a special paragraph to this new question
in $tat de la question . . . 1876 (§ iv. pp. 48-50),1 but there I chiefly
alluded to ancient times, of which I cannot speak here. I have,
besides, in different parts of the same treatise,2 made observations
explaining the absence or the extreme scarceness of more or less
ancient documents, which observations are equally applicable here.
I will now sum them up and complete them, for I am obliged to
commence by negative proofs, not only because I cannot produce
many others, but also because these already possess considerable
significance.
First. In the countries where the Gypsies were best known, the
historians of the country formerly disdained to speak of them ; indeed,
See also pp. 5, 6, a passage which particularly points to the period preceding the
earliest recorded appearance of the Gypsies in the west.
See pp. 30-33. Cp. p. 40.
\VESTKRN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CKNTUUY. 199
we should have heard nothing of the existence of the Gypsies in
Roumania in the fourteenth century, had they not already been
reduced to bondage there, and become in consequence the object of
important donations ; nor in Corfu and the island of Cyprus at the
same period, if in these two islands they had not been submitted to
conditions equally special; nor in Crete so far back as 1322, nor in
the Peloponnesus, a little later, if foreign travellers had not passed
that way. We should not have heard of their travelling in the
twelfth century over Austria and the "world," according to the
expression of an Austrian monk of the period, if he had not had
the strange idea of introducing them and describing them in a metrical
translation of the book of Genesis. We should be quite ignorant
of their existence in the Byzantine empire ever since the seventh
century (or, according to M. Miklosich, the beginning of the ninth
century) up to the thirteenth, if they had not been more or less mixed
up with a sect of heretics of low degree, under the name of Athingans.
In a word, we should know nothing of the existence of the Gypsies in
the south-east of Europe before 1417, if it had not been for purely
accidental circumstances, and if, in the greater number of the places
I have just named, they had not been in conditions absolutely
different from their normal state, and which were the cause of the
documents that have come down to us.
But I proceed to make a statement which is very applicable in
the present case, for it proves that the Gypsies, even when new-comers
in a country, might pass there unperceived — a statement as simple as
it is important — and one which has but recently come under my notice,
for I produce it here for the first time. It obliges me to enter into
some preliminary explanations.
In support of my theory concerning the antiquity of the Gypsies
in the south-east of Europe, after having sought confirmation in my
preceding remark for explaining the absence or extreme paucity of
documents relative to their presence there in ancient times (and I do
not doubt but that they were well known there), I remarked, in $tat
de la question (pp. 31-33), that it was on the contrary impossible that
their appearance or their first arrival should not have been signalised
in these countries if it had occurred in times more or less modern ;
for it is absolutely unlikely that the Gypsies, numbering several
hundreds of thousands in this region, should have crossed the Bos-
porus under the walls of Byzantium, and in the light of historical
times, without any annalist having made mention of the circumstance.
To this very significant absence of documents concerning so consider-
200 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
able a fact, I opposed (p. 31) the relative abundance of those which
mention the appearance of the Gypsies in the west in the fifteenth
century, although they were much less numerous, because they were
new-comers there. The first part of this demonstration retains a certain
value on account of the enormous number of Gypsies who, or at least
the majority of whom, must have crossed a region so limited and so
anciently civilised as that bordering on the Bosporus : but I perceive
that the second part is very weak, not to say ineffective, for, if we are
tolerably well informed respecting the immigration of the Gypsies into
the west in the fifteenth century, it is owing to very peculiar cir-
cumstances which are quite foreign to the normal condition of
this people.
The documents which make us acquainted with the Gypsies in
the first period of their immigration into the west (1417-1438), when
there were but few of them, are exclusively of two sorts : several
passages in Chronicles, and a still more considerable number of
entries in Municipal Accounts, attesting the gifts made to such or
such a duke, earl, or lord of Little Egypt and his band, who invari-
ably presented themselves as penitents and pilgrims banished from
their homes, and who generally exhibited in support of their state-
ments and demands for subsidies, letters of recommendation at first
from the Emperor and, later, from the Pope. This certainly is not what
may be called the common way in which the Gypsies present them-
selves, and it is to this exceptional circumstance that we are indebted
for all the entries in Town Accounts by which the presence of
these new-comers into the west during the period extending from
1417 to 1438, and long afterwards, is made known. As for the
passages in Chronicles, which are the only source of information for
the first period that can be added to the preceding, I doubt whether
we should have had a single one, had it not been for a concurrence of
similar exceptional circumstances ; that is to say, if the Gypsies,
especially at the commencement of the immigration, instead of
shunning observation and dispersing themselves, as one might have
expected, over the country, and introducing themselves in small
numbers at a time and more or less furtively into the towns, had
not on the contrary made a point of presenting themselves in cities
with a sort of ostentation, drawing all eyes to them. What is quite
certain is that we should not otherwise have had the important
narratives furnished by the chronicler of Flanders (Tournai, 1422),
nor by the Bourgeois de Paris, 1427, nor many others.
It is even very probable, as may be said in passing, that this
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 201
entirely new statement may help to explain why the beginnings of
the Gypsies in England have remained so obscure. I have some
grounds for thinking, indeed, that it is because (for reasons that I
shall, perhaps, examine in their time and place) they did not pre-
sent themselves there in the same manner as on the Continent, but
introduced themselves more or less furtively.
Second. Even in the countries where the Gypsies are well known
(in the east and in the west) a multitude of different names have been,
and still are given to them, under which they are often not easily
recognised. It would require a long chapter to enumerate and
explain all those with which we are acquainted. Add to this list the
names which we do not know, i.e. those which may have been in use
at periods more or less ancient, and which may have fallen into dis-
use even before 1417, the date at which the Gypsies began themselves
to make themselves well known in the west ; add also the names of
a vulgar kind, such as vagabond, beggar, foreigner, etc., under which
the Gypsies may have been designated separately, or along with other
people of the same sort ; and it will be understood that documents
concerning the Gypsies in the west before 1417 may exist, which
leave us very uncertain as to whether or not the Gypsies are there
referred to.
As complement to this new observation, it must be remarked that
the names given to the Gypsies frequently depend upon those which
they give themselves ostensibly,1 but that this, in general, is only a
fresh source of error or confusion. Indeed, even in the countries to
which they are well accustomed, and where they are aware that they
are well known, they avoid designating themselves by the names
which are in use there ; still more do they conceal these names in
other countries. It is thus that they called themselves Egyptians, or
more exactly people of Little Egypt, when they spread over the west ;
it is thus that the Gypsy blacksmiths, who have travelled over Europe
during the last twenty years, coming from Hungary or the neighbour-
ing lands, say that they are Hungarians, or attribute to themselves
some other nationality ; from which it has resulted (and the detail is
noteworthy) that, in a country like France, where the Gypsies have
now been known for nearly five centuries, but where they are not
numerous, provincial journalists, who have noticed their passage, have
not at first recognised them for Gypsies. I could also mention the
Greek Gypsies who landed at Liverpool in 1886; but I shall return
1 I say ostensibly, because they have among themselves secret names, which we have
only begun to know since the race has been studied.
VOL I. — NO. IV. 0
202 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
by and by to these strange travellers, as well as to the Gypsy black-
smiths from Hungary.
After the preceding observations, it will necessarily be admitted
that Gypsies may have come into the west at divers periods anterior
to 1417, without its being easy or even possible to find any historical
confirmation of the fact ; and if so, when it is question of a race so
addicted to travelling, why not admit at the same time that such must
often have been the case ?
I know very well that, in general, nomads remain within the
bounds of the countries they are accustomed to wander over, and that
the Gypsies themselves, who have not the same reasons as pastoral
nomads for confining themselves to these limits, generally remain in
the countries to which they have grown accustomed. It requires
extraordinary circumstances to induce them to emigrate en masse ;
and it is for this reason, no doubt, that the great immigration (very
partial nevertheless) of the Gypsies into the west only took place
centuries after they had fixed their seat in the east. But this obser-
vation is applicable only to the masses; and all those who are
acquainted with the Gypsies know that there are some amongst them,
belonging to whatsoever category, who travel over new countries,
and that there are even families of Gypsies who emigrate to distant
lands. There is besides a class peculiar to the Gypsies — a remarkable
class, and which I suspect to have been much more numerous
formerly — whose habit it is to make trading circuits more or less
extensive : I mean the blacksmiths, who have now their principal seat
in Hungary and in the Banat of Temesvar.
It is precisely these Gypsy blacksmiths who are described to us
at the beginning of the twelfth century, by an Austrian monk, as
" travelling far over the world'' 1 and it is the same Gypsy Caldarari
(as they are called in the districts of Roumania where they are
accustomed to journey) who have recommenced in our own days,
throughout the whole of the west, circuits which have led them some-
times as far as England, as far as Norway, and sometimes, by way
of France and Spain, as far as Corsica and Algeria. France was, dur-
ing a certain time, " infested " by them, to quote the newspapers of
the day, whilst I was rejoicing in the good luck which had thrown
them in my way. How can we doubt that the great circuits which
they appear to have made in the twelfth century, which we have our-
selves seen them make, especially since 1866, and which seem to have
1 I have already made allusion to this document ; but I refer the reader anew to Etat de
la question, pp. 23-29.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 203
nearly ceased during the last few years,1 have not since the twelfth
century, at any rate, had various alternations,2 and that Gypsies, con-
sequently, have travelled over the west at many periods, which
it is all the more difficult, if not impossible, to determine, as these
circuits were intermittent, and must often have been made in different
directions ?
These exotic Gypsy blacksmiths generally return to the country
whence they came, and consequently are not immigrants ; they may,
however, very well figure in the antecedents of the immigration into
the west.
As to the other, and much more numerous, Gypsies of the east, it
may have happened amongst them, as it happens at the present time
amongst the Gypsies of every country, that some individuals, or even
some families, take to travelling merely to see foreign parts, and that
their adventurous disposition may thus have led them into the west
without, perhaps, their having settled there. It is among them,
however, that there may and that there must have been real immi-
grants into the west long before 1417; for independently of the
genera] circumstances which determine a great movement of migra-
tion among the Gypsies, such as that of the fifteenth century, there
are always particular and local circumstances which may engage a
group of families to adventure themselves into new countries with
the hope of finding there easier means of living. Those of my
readers who bear in mind the observations I advanced above,
will understand that, even if these immigrations into the west were
of frequent occurrence during the Middle Ages, that is to say, in dis-
turbed times, when there were in our countries so many wayfarers and
1 I am much less well informed in this respect during the last few years than I was for-
merly. I should be very grateful to those who would inform me as exactly as possible of
the passage of these Gypsy blacksmiths from Hungary. They travel sometimes in rather
large numbers in waggons, which have no resemblance to the houses upon wheels of our
Gypsies, and wherever they stop they set up large, terts, where each waggon finds its place.
The men have generally long hair, and clothes more or less foreign, often ornamented with
very large silver buttons, and the chiefs carry a large stick with a silver head. It is easy to
recognise them at a glance by these signs, and by their trade. The first information to be
gathered, as far as possible, is respecting their own numbers, the number of their horses,
and of their tents and waggons, the dates of their arrival and of their departure, the direction
they follow, the names of the chiefs, etc. Question them, if one can, on the extent and
duration of their journey, on the number of Gypsies of the same profession as themselves, on
the countries w,hich they and their fellows have now the habit of frequenting. Articles from
newspapers concerning them would be welcome, but if any such are sent as cuttings, the date
and the name of the newspaper are requested.
2 The journeys of these Gypsy blacksmiths had already been remarked in Germany and
Italy long before 1866, as I have noted in Etat de la question, p. 56. On the other hand,
the Edict of Ferdinand and Isabella, published at Medina del Campo, in 1499, mentions the
"Calderos estranyeros," who might well be Gypsies (see my Gitanos d'JSspagne, Congress
of Lisbon, 1880, tire apart, 1884, p. 509). 1 could quote other documents of the same kind
as this, but none more precise.
204 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
beggars, so many vagabonds more dangerous than most of the Gyp-
sies, they may not have left any historical traces, especially if such
immigrations were made, as is probable, by small groups, and without
noise, and if the new-comers did not too much abuse the patience of
the natives.
But to make this more evident, I will take a recent example,
placing it hypothetically in an unknown past. Every one knows
in England how, in July 1886, a band of about a hundred
Gypsies coming from the south-east of Europe landed at Liverpool ;
they intended taking passage to America, where they hoped to find
an easier life; but various obstacles having prevented them from
carrying out their intention, they at last remained in England,
where they dispersed themselves more or less, and where they appear
to be already quite forgotten.1 In a country like England, where the
Gypsies are so well known, it was easily guessed what they were, and
when it was known through the Greek Consul at Liverpool, whose
protection they invoked, tthat most of them came from Corfu,2 they
were immediately designated by the name of Greek Gypsies. They
had besides no reason for not saying themselves whence they
came ; but they obstinately refused, as they invariably do, to confess
themselves Gypsies, and there might have remained some doubts
on this subject, if Gypsiologists, as expert as Mr. Crofton and Mr.
MacEitchie, had not paid them a visit.
It is clear that perfectly analogous facts may and must have
occurred before 1417 as well as in our own times. I say analo-
gous, and not identical, because the causes which occasion emigra-
tion may differ according to the cases, and also because in olden
times the object — more or less vaguely had in view — could not have
1 Although as well informed as possible by Mr. Crofton, who knew that this Gypsy epi-
sode would particularly interest me, and who sent me with his usual great obligingness all
that he could collect in newspaper articles concerning them, I was able to know only up to
May 1887, and very imperfectly, what had become of one or two of their detachments, and
since then I have remained entirely without information respecting them. Here, again, I
should be truly grateful to any one who could give me tidings of these strangers since May
1887 — or even add any information anterior to this date. Another interesting point
would be to know exactly what causes had influenced their emigration from Corfu, and pro-
bably the emigration of those who had preceded them in Corsica (see the following note).
But this is a question which probably only could be elucidated in Corfu, where I can scarcely
hope that our Journal will find any one disposed to make this little inquiry.
2 Corfu is precisely the seat of a Gypsy colony, of which Hopf (Die einwanderung der
Zigeuner, Gotha, 1870, pp. 17-22) has sketched the history since 1346 up to our days (I have
summed it up in Mat de la question, pp. 20, 21). I must observe that already, in July 1881,
a band of Gypsy blacksmiths from Corfu, much less numerous than those which arrived in
Liverpool, had landed in Corsica after having travelled over Italy. But I cannot enlarge
here on the sad adventure that happened to it in Corsica. I will only remark that, although
blacksmiths, they did not, any more than the Gypsies who disembarked at Liverpool,^ belong
to the class of great Gypsy travellers, who have their principal seat in Hungary and in the
Banat, and who are not, habitually at least, emigrants.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 205
been America. But these are secondary circumstances. It is not less
clear that, if the fact I have just recalled to mind had taken place
a few centuries or only a few years before 1417, it would remain
perfectly unknown to us ; for, supposing what is already very doubt-
ful, that some English annalist had recorded the advent at Liverpool
of these singular strangers, it would be impossible for us to know
that they were Gypsies. And yet the circumstances in which this
little Gypsy immigration into England was accomplished render
it much more striking than those which must have taken place
from one country to another on the Continent by a sort of infil-
tration— this is what I wished to put in evidence.
There must have been thus small migrations into the west at all
periods posterior to the unknown time of the first establishment of
the Gypsies in the south-east of Europe, and particularly, no doubt,
at epochs almost equally unknown to-day, where Gypsy population
has received new recruits, or has displaced itself in these countries ; 1
and this is what I call the antecedents of the immigration of the
fifteenth century, comprising therein the great trading circuits of the
Gypsy blacksmiths. But this immigration of the fifteenth century
itself may have had some forerunners, as it has certainly had some
loiterers ; I mean to say that groups of Gypsies, urged no doubt by
the same causes which produced this general movement so singu-
larly inaugurated in 1417 and in the following years, may before
this date have spread themselves in some countries of the west, and
remained more or less unperceived because they slid in without
noisy demonstrations. This is what I call the preludes.
Among the few documents that I have now to make known,
the two first seem to belong to this last kind of facts. I would not
affirm it, however, because, details being wanting, one cannot be
certain whether such of these facts may not have had its root in
an older past, and be independent of tne causes that produced the
immigration whose official beginning dates from 1417.
Wilhelm Dilich (whose real name is Wil. Schaefer) tells us, in his
Hessian Chronicle,2 that some Zigeuners came into this country
in 1414 ; here is all he says under the head of the above-named
year : — " Then (zu der zeit) came for the first time into this country
the thieving, malicious, and wizard beggars (Bettelvolk) the Zi-
1 It is natural indeed to suppose that, in a population which has so little cohesion, a move-
ment of migration, even partial and limited, may not stop exactly where the principal mass
takes up its new abode. Once in movement some go further, and may go very far.
2 Hessische Chronick, Cassel, 1617, in fol., p. 229.
206 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
'Another very trustworthy chronicler, G. Fabricius, gives us —
in terms also too concise — a piece of information relating to Meissen ,
in 1416, but which, although by two years posterior to the preceding,
appears to have a little more importance; under the date A°. 1416,
" By order," he says, " of Prince Frederick, l the Zingani, a sort of
wandering, mischievous people, are driven out of the country on
account of their pilferings, their stellionates, 2 and their disorderly
life." 3 But these Gypsies (whose number is nowhere named), since
what date were they in Meissen ? It seems likely that if their arrival
there had been quite recent, Fabricius might have known it, and
would have mentioned it. We have here, however, only a slight
presumption of their more or less ancient sojourn in the country.
As I have already said (p. 186), various authors have attempted
to rectify the dates furnished by these two documents ; and I myself,
in my memoir of 1847 (pp. 18, 19, and pp. 25, 26), had accepted
these rectifications ; but I now reject them (as already in 1849, p.
37), and this time very decidedly. It was Calvisius who, referring
in his Opus chronologicum (Frankfort, edit. 1650, in fol., p. 873) to
the passage in Fabricius, substituted the date of 1418 and changed
the sense.4 He gives, of course, no explanation. Grellrnann after-
wards adopts this pretended rectification, and inflicts a perfectly similar
one upon the passage from Dilich, giving as sole reason that the
date of 1414 is impossible, because no other author speaks of the
Gypsies before 1417.5 But this is a poor reason, and Calvisius had
certainly no other for rectifying Fabricius. It has been previously
seen whither this criterion had led Grellmann in speaking of the
east: it is not more certain here. Without doubt the chroniclers
are not infallible, especially when they are not contemporary with
the fact they relate and date. We shall see this with regard to the
Gypsies in Switzerland in 1418 ; but we must, nevertheless, rely on
the chroniclers, and believe that they had some reliable document
1 Frederick the Warlike, Margrave of Meissen, a prince jealous of his sovereignty, and
n bad terms with the Emperor Sigismund.
2 A stellionate consists in selling as one's own a thing belonging to another person — a
stolen horse, for example.
3 A. 1416 : " Zigaui. genus hominum erroneum et maleficum, ex ea ditione, propter furta,
stellionatum et libidines, exterminantur, mandate Frederic! pi-incipis," Georg. Fabricii
Chemnicensis Rerum Misnic.arum Libri viii., Lipsiae, without date, in 4to.— G. Fabricius, a
Latin poet and an exact and esteemed historian, was born at Chemnitz (Electorate, subse-
quently Kingdom of Saxony) in 1516. He only published his Res Misnicce in 1560, in 4to,
two years before his death.
4 Here is the passage of the Opus chronologicum of Calvisius indicated above : "Tartar!,
vulgo Zigeuner, genus erroneum et maleficum, primum in his regionibus visum ; et propter
furta et libidiues ex Misnia exterminantur — FAB."
5 Grellmann, 1787, pp. 206, 207 ; Fr. trans, of 1810, p. 209.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 207
under their eyes, when we have not some good reason for rectifying
them ; and here I perceive none whatever.
I now come to a document which must be anterior to the year
1400, and which has been published1 without any commentary by
Professor Dr. Eeuss of Wiirtzburg, under the title : " Proclamation
against Gypsies (Verordnung gegeu Zigeuner)." But the point is
to be absolutely sure that it jeally concerns the Gypsies, and this I
make no pretension to decide. I will only offer some observations
which render this ascription more likely in my eyes than it first
appeared to me. Here is the whole passage from Dr. Eeuss : —
" The book of Statutes (Statutenbuch) of the prince-bishop of
Wiirtzburg, Gerhard de Schwartzburg (elected in 1373, died in 1400),
a manuscript on parchment belonging to the historical society (Histor.
Verein) of Wiirtzburg . . . contains at fol. (? Bl.) 34, the following
. proclamation : —
" Concerning those who lodge and harbour the people belonging
to the nation of the Bemische. — It is also our will and we order all
our subjects, as well priests as laymen, ecclesiastics and seculars, poor
and rich, established in our state of Wirczburg, and also all inn-
keepers, concerning the foreigners called Bemische, that they wholly
abstain from giving them to eat and drink, from lodging them or
from receiving them into their houses. Whoever infringes this order
will be punished by a fine of one florin."
This ordinance does not contain anything that might not very
well be applied to the Gypsies, but it does not describe them in a
way to make them clearly recognisable. It remains then to know
what were " these foreigners called Bemische"
Now, amongst the entries concerning the Gypsies which Dr. G. L.
Kriegk, archivist of the town of Frankfort-on-the-Main, has extracted
either from the Books of Accounts, or from the Books of the Bur-
gomasters of the said town, and published in his work Deutsches
1 In Anzeiger fur Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit, vol L, year 1855 (first published at
Niirnbei-g in 1863), col. 83, 84. The article contains, besides, nothing in addition to what
I translate above, but a short notice of a deliberation of the Council of the town of Wurtz-
burg concerning a Gypsy woman (Zigeunerin) in 1494. — In the year 1856, same vol. i. of
the same collection, is to be found, col. 173, 174, an article signed "Aug. Stober," where it
is sought to establish that Gypsies existed in Alsace towards the year 1270 ; but the demon-
stration leaves much to be desired, and I content myself with referring to it the reader who
would wish to go deeper into the question. To conclude, the year 1857 (vol. ii. of the
same collection, published also at Niirnberg in 1863), contains, col. 369-371, an article
upon " The Zigeuner in Westphalia, by Frederick Woeste, of Iserlohn," which tends to
prove that the Gypsies existed in Westphalia before the end of the fourteenth century, on
one hand, under various names, especially under the Latin name offoculatrices, serving to
designate the Gypsy women ; and, on the other hand, under the name of Gaiuierschen. But
here, neither, do I find anything conclusive, nor even sufficiently plausible to induce me to
stop to examine it.
208 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
Burgerthum im Mittelalter (vol. i.), Frankfort-a-M., 1868, in Svo, I
remark in note 133,1 p. 541, the following mention, under the date
of 1495 : " Those who call themselves Bemisclien are to go away, other-
wise the council will have them put in prison." This entry occurs in
the midst of many others which incontestably concern the Gypsies,
designated under various names and under various forms of the name
Zigeuner, which have their interest, and M. Kriegk does not ex-
press the slightest doubt but that this entry equally concerns them.
Now, although M. Kriegk does not explain the name Bemische,2 a
German archivist of the town to which these documents relate
appears better situated than ourselves to appreciate a case of this
kind, and the identification which he accepts between the people who
bore this name and the Gypsies has probably some value.
I think I might find other examples of the name Bemische
applied elsewhere, in Holland for example, to the Gypsies in the
fifteenth century, if I had time to seek them.
But here is a very strange document which brings us back to
the principality of Wiirtzburg, where we have found this name
Bemische given before the end of the fourteenth century, to
"strangers" whom the prince-bishop forbids his subjects to lodge
or feed — a document calculated to make one presume that Gypsies
must in reality have existed from early times in this little state.
There is a Chronique de Flandre, containing a passage, as clear
as it is interesting, concerning the Gypsies at Tournai, towards
the month of May 1422,3 of which I shall make use in my First
Period. The author of this Chronicle, who is a contemporary, and
who has certainly seen the " Egyptians" of whom he speaks, ends the
description he gives of them by the following remark : " And folks
1 Containing extracts from the Biirgermeisterbiicher of the town of Frankfort.
2 One can scarcely think this word has any connection with that of Bohmen, which I
meet with under the date of 1480 in the extracts drawn from the Stadtischen Rechenbucher
of the town of Frankfort (in the same vol. of M. Kriegk, p. 150), because this name of
Bohmen (no doubt Bohemien, as in France), which has nothing surprising in 1480, would
with difficulty be explained if applied to the Gypsies of a period anterior to 1400, when the
name of Bemische was already in use. I remark, by the way, that M. Kriegk, who, p. 149,
quotes this name of " Bohmen (Beheimen) " amongst those given at Frankfort to the Gypsies
in the sixteenth century, thinks, p. 150, that the Bohmen of the document of 1480 mentioned
above, "do not appear to have been Gypsies, because they had not been simply sent away
or driven from the town, but they had been conducted to ... the forge called Waldschmide,
near Nidda, in Upper Hesse." But this detail appears to me, on the contrary, to indicate
that they were probably Gypsy blacksmiths, upon whom it was sought to impose regular
work.
3 Recueil des Chroniques de Flandre, published under the direction of the Royal Com-
mission of History by J. J. de Smet, in 4to, vol. iii., Brussels, 1856, p. 372 and following.
All this curious passage has been reproduced in Extraits des anciens registres des Consaux
de la Ville de Tournai, published by H. Vanderbroeck, archivist of the town, in 8vo., vol. i.,
Tournai, 1861, pp. 236-238.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 209
gossiped about the allegation made by these people that they came
from Egypt, but they were only, as hath since been known, from a
town in Germany named in Latin Epipolensis, and in common parlance
Mahone,1 situate between the town of ' Wilsenacque ' and ' Komme,'
at six days' journey from the said ' Vilsenacque/ and they abide
there by tribute and servitude."
The way in which it has pleased the Flemish chronicler to indicate
the geographical position of the town which he calls in Latin Epipo-
lensis, between the town of " Wilsenacque " (which must be Wilsnach,
a small town of the Marquisate of Brandenburg ) 2 and " Komme " (?)
.... seems a sort of enigma made on purpose to embarrass the
reader; but yet the important place, which the chronicler desig-
nates by a Latin adjective more or less inaccurate, Epipolensis, can
be none other than Wurtzburg, in Latin Herbipolis.3 It is then
finally from Wurtzburg that the chronicler makes the pretended
Egyptians come. Certainly it is not thence that all those came
who spread over the west, and we have good reasons for thinking
that neither did the band which appeared at Tournai in 1422 come
from thence; but that this chronicler, who was, moreover, a very
intelligent man, should have had such an idea, he must have learnt
soon after the passage of the band which came to Tournai in May
1422, that Wurtzburg, or rather Fran coma, of which the larger part
formed the state of the prince-bishop, contained a certain number of
people of the same sort who " abode there by tribute and servitude."
Now this is not a condition to which, before 1422, the Gypsies of the
immigration commenced in 1417 could have been reduced; it is a
condition more or less analogous to those in which we have found the
Gypsies in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in various countries
of the east, to which they appear to have been subjected for a
long time ; it could only have been established in the bishopric of
Wurtzburg over Gypsies who had arrived there successively by
families, or in very small groups, who had tried their chance in the
west, and who, not well knowing what to do, had accommodated
themselves to the sort of semi-servitude offered them, in return, no
doubt, for some advantages, and above all for their being tolerated in
this principality.
From these considerations, I am strongly disposed to believe
1 M. Vanderbroeck writes here Mahode : is this a correction ?
2 See the Diction. Geogr. of Baudrand, Paris, 1705, in fol., at the word Wilsmac/i',
Wilsnach.
3 See the same at the word Wiirtdnirg. It remains to be learnt if this town has
been sometimes called, "in common parlance," by a name approaching to MaJwne or
Mahode.
210 BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
that the Bemische who occasioned the ordinance issued at a date
necessarily comprised between 1373 and 1400, by Gerhard de
Schwarzburg, prince-bishop of Wiirtzburg, were really Gypsies. In
support of the detail supplied by the chronicler of Flanders that " they
abode there by tribute and servitude," that is to say that they were
tolerated there under certain conditions by which the bishop probably
profited, one may remark that this prince did not drive them out of
his principality as the Margrave of Meissen did at a later date, but
that he only prohibited his subjects from lodging them or feeding
them under penalty of a fine, a radical measure which he may have
taken in the interest of those it affected in order to prevent the
Bemische from being any longer a burden to them.
It must be well understood that I do not offer these conjectures
for certainties, but they appear to me highly plausible. This probable
state of things still existed, it appears, in 1422, and it may have
lasted some time longer. But, first of all, some of the Gypsy families,
those least amenable, to discipline, may have shaken off the yoke
before this period, although to all appearance it was not very heavy,
and may have passed into Meissen, for example, whence they were
to be expelled in 1416, or into Hesse, where the presence of
Gypsies is signalised as early as 1414. Besides, it is probable that
the spectacle of the benefits the immigrants of 1417 and of the
following years derived from their frauds may have tempted the
Gypsies of Franconia, that the example of the independence of these
new-comers may at least have been an inducement to emancipate
themselves, and that they mixed themselves little by little with the
other Gypsies of the west.
However that may be, it will be remarked that the foregoing
facts, and others which some writers have pretended to establish,
but which I neglected as being still less certain than those to which
I have drawn attention, concern the western region of Germany.
This is easily explained. The diversity of the languages spoken in
different countries is an obstacle that the Gypsies know very well
how to surmount when they have any reason for venturing into new
countries ; but it is an obstacle which naturally stops them under
ordinary circumstances, whilst on the contrary they are naturally, so
to speak, induced to pursue their course wherever a language with
which they are already familiar is spoken ; for their true frontiers are
not the political ones, but those traced by language, and it is thus
that the great Gypsy groups which exist in Europe have been formed,
and the dialects of the Gypsy tongue, which correspond at the same
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 211
time to these groups and to the geographical distribution of the
various languages. Now the German language, with which the
Gypsies of the south-east must have familiarised themselves in the
archduchy of Austria and elsewhere, had long before 1417 been ex-
tended (with dialectic differences which were not sufficient to arrest
them) as far as the North Sea, Alsace, and certain Swiss cantons.
It is, then, in this direction that Gypsy families of an adventurous
disposition would prefer turning their steps,1 and it is in these parts
more especially that we may hope to make some discoveries. As the
Italian language had extended itself before the end of the middle
ages over several isles of the eastern waters of the Mediterranean,
this circumstance must have been an additional reason 2 for early
attracting the eastern Gypsies to Italy.
I must add two final remarks.
It will now be easily understood why I have changed the
original title of my work: De V apparition et de la dispersion des
Bohemiens en Europe. Besides its being no longer a question of the
whole of Europe, the apparition of the Gypsies, even in the west in
the fifteenth century, has not now in my eyes any other than a
relative meaning, and, so to say, official, as I have already pointed out.
As to the word dispersion, it has never been satisfactory, and I
should have changed it even in 1844 to diffusion, had it not
been objected, and very justly, that in French this word, when
used in the sense of "spreading," is little employed except in
physics, and can scarcely be applied correctly, even by extension,
otherwise than to things such as light, riches, etc. Both are advan-
tageously superseded by immigration, which, besides, lends itself to
the modifications that the division of the subject into various periods
admits of.
Secondly, several of the chroniclers whom I shall have to
quote in the First Period add, in recording the presence of
Gypsies in such or such a place, or even country, that it was the
first time that they had been seen there. I am always careful to
reproduce this statement, which may have its interest ; but I wish to
add that I do not attach more importance to it than it merits.
Without speaking of what may have occurred at periods placed by
me under the head of Antecedents and Preludes, and without going
further back than the First Period, such a statement may be subject
1 It was, perhaps, the same motive that contributed to decide the first Gypsies of the
immigration of 1417 to go first to the Hanseatic Towns, and to commence by travelling over
the countries where the German tongue is spoken.
2 See above, p. 194.
212 IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
to revision. A chronicler, even contemporary, may be mistaken in
this respect, especially if he extends his remark to the whole of a
country. But it must be observed that it is generally writers who
are not contemporary who add this statement to the fact revealed
to them by such or such a document : it is the first they are
acquainted with, but it may not in reality have the signification
they attribute to it. We have already seen (p. 206) that Calvisius,
not satisfied with changing the date given by Fabricius, also
impairs the sense of it by adding these words : " primum in his
regionibus visum." Others may have erred more innocently. We
shall meet with several proofs or several tokens of errors of this
kind. But, even there, where motives for rectification or suspicion
are wanting, the expression for the first time should never be con-
sidered as infallible. I have here spoken only of the Chronicles,
because the Town Accounts, always confining themselves with much
precision to the actual fact, never employ such a form ; but, if it be
a document of this nature which has served as guide to a chronicler,
he may all the more easily have taken for a first mention such or such
an entry in these accounts which may perhaps have been preceded,
at a date more or less distant, by one or two other entries which have
escaped his notice.
In concluding this preliminary chapter, I acknowledge that it is
not rich in facts; but in speaking, in 1844, of that which concerned
the Gypsies in Eastern Europe, I remarked (De I' apparition, etc.,
p. 5) that it was an outline but slightly filled in. It has already
gained something since then ; and I hope it will gain still more.
Conclusive documents will be still more difficult to discover and
discern, as I have shown superabundantly and perhaps tediously ; but
time, and the labour of scholars more learned than myself, will, no
doubt, do their work, and perhaps my successors will give a thought
to him who has opened up these two questions.
PAUL BATAILLAED.
II.— AN ITALIAN GYPSY SONG.
T OBTAINED the following song from a woman in Florence who is
a fortune-teller. She assured me that it is actually a Gypsy
lyric, and in fact the realism in it is very striking. There are very
few ballads in existence which are so simply descriptive of hard
life, and with so little conventional " poetry " in them. A remark-
AN ITALIAN GYPSY SONG.
213
able feature in this ballad is its resemblance and almost identity with
old Spanish songs of a similar type.
CANZONE BELLA ZINGARA. TRANSLATION.
lo son Zingara che passegio
I villagi e la citta,
Con del ferri che io vendo
Per la calza lavora'.
E lavoro delle calze
E un lavoro poveretto,
Peverina io lo sraetto
Non avendo da mangiar.
Questi ferri e proccaciato
Per andare a dispensare,
Per un un soldo guardonare,
Per pigliarlo un' po' di pan.
Neppur questo non mi giova,
La nriseria e sempre grande,
Si un organetto posso farmi
Quello andero suonar.
Sotto le finestre dei Signori,
E dei principi, dei conti,
E dei marchesi,
Fin che questi un soldarello
Me lo passino a me buttar.
E allor sempre ripetando,
" 0 di ferri a dispensar ! "
Chi lo sa, un biondetto
0 un inoretto, purche sia,
Non si possa inamorar.
E allor' sempre cantaro :
Ha la la la — ra la la,
E de' ferri non vo, piu,
Io dispensar — ra la la !
I'm a Gypsy girl who wanders
By the villages or town,
Selling iron-ware, knitting stockings,
Walking, working up and down.
But this ever knitting stockings
Does me very little good,
Poor me ! I 'd so gladly leave it,
For I often want for food.
And the iron ware I purchase
Just to make a little trade,
Just to get a penny profit,
And to buy a bit of bread.
But I 've very little pleasure,
Suffering 's always in my way,
Could I buy a small hand organ,
Then I 'd go about and play,
Neath the windows of the nobles,
Counts and lords — whate'er they be,
Till some marquis from the window
Throws a penny out to me.
Then you 'd always hear me singing :
" Iron ware I 'd let it be ! "
Who knows but some fair young fellow-
Or a dark — may follow me !
Then I always would be singing :
Ra la la la — ra la la.
Then adieu to all the iron,
With a lal lal lal de ra!
It is almost needless to say that I have given the song verbatim
as it was sung, and have made no attempt to correct the Italian.
The air accompanying it is very pretty, simple and original.
CHARLES G. LELAND.
FLORENCE, Feb. 25, 1889.
III.— THE GYPSIES IN THE MARCHES OF ANCONA
DURING THE 16TH, HTH, AND 18TH CENTURIES.
THE eminent Professor Antonio Gianandrea has lately discovered
among the municipal archives of Senigaglia (Marches of An-
cona), ten documents relating to the Gypsies, of which the earliest
bears the date of 1550 and the most recent that of 1742. These are
214 THE GYPSIES IN THE MARCHES OF ANCONA
of considerable importance in the history of the Italian Gypsies, and
I believe that I shall be giving pleasure to the readers of our Journal
in now bringing under their notice these hitherto unpublished
documents.
Senigaglia is a small town of The Marches, built upon the shores
of the Adriatic, and is the birth-place of the late Pope Pius the Ninth.
At the date of the first of the following documents — that is to say in
1550 this town was under the rule of the Dukes of Urbino, powerful
feudal nobles, who there retained a Lieutenant (Luogotenente). But,
besides this representative of the ducal government, the town main-
tained its municipal powers, like all the other free towns of Italy at
that period.
The two first of these documents relate to a decree of expulsion
against the Gypsies, who are ordered to quit the territory within four
days, under pain of suffering forthwith, three tratti di corda,1 after
which they were to be sent to the galleys, their goods falling to any
of the citizens who chose to appropriate them.
Eiform. 1550-57, c. 7. verso.
1550, 5 August. Consiglio, etc.
II luogotenente ducale D. Hieronymus Egidius — Presentavit litteras
ducales d.no locumtenenti directas ad instantiam hujus Comunitatis de
propellendis omnibus Egiptiacis seu Zingaris, et quod nullus Zingarus
valeat in futurum morari in curte Senogalliae. Et sic expeditum con-
silium.
Decreti, Lib. A, c. 75 e Lib. E, c. 85.
1552. 10 April. A tergo: Locumtenenti nostro civitatis Senogal-
liae. Inius :
II Duca d'UrUno — Luogotenente, Per liberare i nostri sudditi dai
continui latrocinii, che fanno i Zingari nel nostro stato prohibirete per
pubblico bando nei luoghi soliti, che in termine di quattro giorni se par-
tano con le loro famiglie e robbe dal nostro Stato sotto pena de tre
tratti de corda da darseli immediate, si verranno in potere de' nostri
offitiali, e di essere mandati alia galera a nostro beneplacito : Concedendo
che a ciascuno sia lecito svaligiarli, se vi saranno trovati da quel in poi :
non obstante alcuna cosa in contrario. E farete registrare la presente a
perpetua memoria, notificandola a tutti i luoghi della vostra giurisdi-
tione et medesimamente al Vicariato.2 Di Pesaro il di xd'Aprile 1552.
In the third document, that of 19th July 1553, the Duke of
Urbino orders his Lieutenant at Senigaglia again to expel the Gypsies
1 The tratto di corda may be thus described : "The victim's hands were tied behind his
back, and fastened to a rope running through a pulley fixed overhead. He was then hoisted
by means of this pulley to a height of six or eight feet from the ground, so that, the
whole weight of his body hanging from his wrists thus tied, all the articulations of the
shoulders were thereby dislocated or broken. A prisoner was sentenced to undergo this
torture three, four or five times — even often er — after which he was unbound."
2 The Vicarage of Mondavio.
DURING THE 16TH, 17TH, AND 18TH CENTURIES. 215
from that territory, under pain of being despoiled and sent to the
gallows. It would seem, however, from this document, that the
Duke had granted a patent to several Gypsies, allowing them a per-
manent residence, probably on the condition that they would change
their way of living and forsake the Gypsy dress. This decree of
banishment, therefore, did not strike at those Gypsies who possessed
this patent. They, however, were notified that they must live
honestly, without giving cause for complaint; otherwise they for-
feited this privilege, and if any one of these sedentary Gypsies abused
this favour, the Lieutenant was authorised to have him arrested and
punished. The text is as follows : —
Ibid. Lib. E. c. 87 et Lib. A. cc. 76, verso 77.
1553. 19 July. A tergo: Locumtenenti nostro, etc. Intus:
II Duca d'Urbino — Luogotenente, Farete per publico bando notificare
a tutti i luochi solliti, et prohibirete che nisciun zingano di qualsivoglia
sorte, che non habbia patente, possi o debba stare o praticare nel nostro
Stato sotto pena de esser svaligiati et della forca, et quelli che non
havessero patente, e non le presentino e gli monerete (sic) debbano viver
bene e di maniera che non se ne senta querela alcuna, che alia prima se
gli revocheranno ; e quando vi constara o constasse al presente che le
havessero abusato, subbito provvederete alia loro retentione, et avisarete
che vi si ordinara il gastigo che se gli havera a dare. Di Urbino il di
19 de Luglio 1553.
STEPHANUS de mandato Ill.mi.
Salvator
Vincentius.
Eleven years later, the citizens lament anew their woes and
sufferings through the annoyances and thefts of the Gypsies, who
are again expelled and are ordered to go away with God, and never
again to set foot in the Duchy, under the penalty of the galleys and
the gibbet. The licences, in the exceptional case referred to previously,
were to be presented and renewed, and any not thus confirmed afresh
or found to be of past date, would be held to have become null and
void :
Decreti, Lib. A. c. 182.
1564. 29 July. A tergo : ut s. Intus:
II Duca d'Urbino — Luogotenente, I continui richiami e querele, che ne
sormo fatte da' nostri popoli degli insoportabili danni e latrocinj, che
fanno continuamente i zingari e loro famiglie nel nostro Stato n' han
fatto risolvere de non gli tollerare piu in modo alcuno. Per6 al havuta
de questa farete per publico bando bandire in tutti i luoghi solliti, che
senza interporvi tempo alcuno in mezzo se vadino con Dio, et che piu
non ardischino starvi, tornarvi e praticarvi senza nuova nostra deter-
minatione, alia pena della galera e della forca, come a Noi parera, e, pub-
blicato che sia tal bando, lo farete registrare : Notificando, che se alcun
216 THE GYPSIES IN THE MARCHES OF ANCONA
pretende haver licenza per nostra patente, data sotto 11 presente anno, di
starvi, che subbito venghino a presentarla all' udientia, che non mostrando
confirmatione o nuova concessione, non intendemo habbia piii luogo.
D'Urbino li 29 de Luglio 1564.
JACOBUS mandate IlLmi.
1564. 3 August — Bando che i zingani non ardischino stare, praticare
o passare in Senigaglia et suo territorio, ut infra,
Per parte e commessione del Mag. Sig. Luogotenenti per ordine di
S. E. si fa publico bando, et expressamente se prohibisce e comanda, che
per 1' avvenire non sia zingaro alcuno, tanto in compagnia quanto solo, o
sotto alcun altro quesito colore o sotto pretesto de licenza o patente
ch' havessino havuto avanti il presente bando da S. E. che non ardiscano
praticare, stare o passare per la citta de Senigaglia o suo territorio e
distretto, senza nuova determinatione di sua Eccellenza 111. ma et Ecc.ma
sotto pena della galera o forca ad arbitrio di sua Eccellenza. Notificando,
che se alcuni de essi pretende haver licentia o patente da sua Eccellenza,
data sotto il presente anno 1564, di potervi stare, che subbito la debbano
presentare in odientia, che non mostrando confirmatione o nuova con-
cessione, non s' intendera habbino piii luogo, et non gli se menera buona.
— Die 3 August! 1564. (Here follows the declaration, in Latin, of the public
proscriber, certifying that he had published this decree of banishment.)
There is no further mention of Gypsies during the next sixteen
years. But in 1580 Duke Francesco-Maria issues a new decree.
From this it would appear that the Gypsies increased in number and
in audacity — no longer confined themselves to petty thefts committed
in country districts, but entered the citizens' houses by force during
the night-time, bound them, robbed them, and dishonoured their
women. By this decree the Gypsies are expelled without distinction,
whether or not they possess those patents, which are hereby abolished
and revoked, and without caring whether or not they have relin-
quished the Gypsy dress. Those who resist are doomed to the gallows,
with forfeiture of their goods. The sbirri and the citizens, as soon as
they see a Gypsy, male or female, are charged to call him to a halt,
to fall upon him, and to try every means to take him alive. And if
the fugitive faces round and resists, he may be killed with impunity.
Decreti. Lib. A. c. 328.
1580. 20 July.
Francesco Maria Feltrio della Eovere IL, duca vi. d'Urbino, Signer di
Pesaro et di Senigaglia, conte di Montefeltro e di Durante, Prefetto
di Roma.
Se bene da' nostri Antecessori sono state fatte provision! penali,
perche li zingari non habbino pratica di sorte alcuna nel stato nostro,
Nondimeno, essendo cresciuta tanto la malignita loro, che ardiscono non
solo di commettere furti et rubberie, ma di andare anco la notte alle case
d' alcuni, ligarli et torglili con violenza la robba et 1' honore ; Habbiamo
determinato di accrescere li freni ancora et i Remedij. Per6 prohibiamo
a tutti li zingari, maschi et femine, che per 1' avenire non ardischino anco,
DURING THE 1 6TH, 17TH, AND 18TH CKNTURIKS. 217
con pretesto di licenza o concessioni per 1' addietro ottenute, quali tutte
revochiamo o d' haver lasciato 1' abito zingaresco et essercitio o d' altro
qual si sia colore, andare, stare, conversare, passare o in altro modo
praticare in luogo alcuno dello stato nostro, sotto pena della forca et
confiscationi de' beni ; Commandando a ciascun nostro suddito, alia pena
imposta da nostri Decreti, a quelli che ne perseguitano H Banditi capital-
inente, che vedra zingaro o zingara nel nostro Stato, che li debba levar
la grida et rumore dietro, et fare ogni opera d' haverli vivi nelle mani per
poterli dare il debito castigo, volendo che a ciascun sia lecito di svali-
giarli, et guadagnera tutti li beni che li levera, non si trovando li padroni,
et trovandosi guadagni quella recognitione dalli padroni, che sara giudi-
cata honesta da' nostri uditori ; et quando li zingari facessero resistenza
in modo che non si potessero haver vivi, voliamo che sia lecito a ciascuno,
perche non fuggano, ammazzarli senza incorso de pena alcuna. Di Pesaro
li xx. di Luglio 1580. (Proscribes declaration, ax in former instance, <l«ted
llth August.)
From the era of the preceding document to that of the following
there is a lapse of about eighty years. The town of Senigaglia no
longer finds itself under the dominion of the Dukes of Urbino. The
power of the Roman Pontiffs has stretched throughout the Marches
of Ancona. The Pontifical authority is represented by a Cardinal-
Legate, who also has his Lieutenant. But the manners and the time
have now become more humane; the gibbet and mob-law are no
longer spoken off, but merely the prison.
Lettere d' udienza, vol 7, c. 169.
1659. 26 June.
// Cardinal Dolci legato di Sinigaglia — Luogotenente, Vi trasmetto
memoriale di Gio. Maria Beliardi di codesta citta con ordine che quando
haverete notitia, che si trovino o capitino costi zingari, facciate loro in-
tendere che se ne partino subito, et essendo negligent! ad ubbedire li
facciate carcerare, e me ne diate poi avviso in conformita di che dispongono
i Bandi generali in questo proposito. Urbino, 26 Giugno 1659.
II GARBLE. DOLCI.
During the eighteenth century the plague of the Gypsies con-
tinued to afflict the Italian littoral. In 1720 some measures are
taken against this scourge : —
Ibidem, vol. 76, c. 246.
1720. 26 November.
Alamanno Salviati, Presidente — Luogotenente, Per discacciare i zingari,
che vanno infestando estesto territorio e sue vicinanze, secondo il nostro
avviso voi procederete contro di essi giusta la disposizione espressa nella
Collettanea Astelli a carte 215 ; al qual fine ve F intenderete con i giudici
vicini per havere il braccio della loro Corte, e credendo necessaria in
tempo proprio quella ancora di campagna, datecene il rincontro, che ve
la manderemo, acci6 sia rimosso tale inconveniente e resti provveduto
opportunamente alia quiete di cotesti Popoli. Tanto esequirete. Pesaro,
26 Novembre 1720.
V. Santichi. A. SALVIATI, Presidente.
VOL. I. — NO. IV. P
218 THE GYPSIES IN THE MARCHES OF ANCONA
But, twenty- two years later the public peace is seriously menaced
by the Gypsies. The ninth document is a detailed petition of the
citizens of Senigaglia, Scapezzano, Roncitelli, Tomba, Brugnetto,
Vallone, and other localities, demanding the support of the authorities
against a troop of 200 Gypsies, divided into several companies, who
scour the country, making havoc, robbing, and burning the crops.
According to this petition, these Gypsies imposed themselves by force
on a village, claiming the right to remain there for some weeks.
They camped at the side of churches or under the verandas of houses,
and publicly committed all kinds of filthiness, indecencies, and
offences. They prowled about the country threatening to burn and
plunder the peasants' houses. They made forced requisitions of straw
and forage for their horses and other animals. They stole poultry
and animals, and, entering houses while the peasants were working
in the fields, they stole rings, clothes, linen, and household effects.
Then they cooked and ate the stolen fowls, living like Sardanapalus.
With them* were some like-minded rogues, who feasted and
regaled themselves with them. Other people, even of decent con-
dition, came about the Gypsies, for the purpose of buying at a very
cheap rate, fowls, rings, buckles, corals, clothes, and other stolen goods,
giving in exchange oil, vinegar, salt, and other things, which the
Gypsies required in cooking. Others among these protectors or
adherents also gave the Gypsies blankets or mattresses, or allowed
them a lodging, so as to be in their good graces. And if, at times,
the poor Italian peasants sought to resent this brigandage and resisted
the Gypsies, the local justices, corrupted by gifts from the Gypsies,
upheld them and punished the peasants. If one band took up its
departure, another immediately came into into its place.
Accordingly, the petitioners besought the Archbishop, with tears
in their eyes, to send soldiers and to make the tocsin sound throughout
the parishes, calling upon the people to fall upon the Gypsies and free
their lands and their fields from these brigands.
Eccellenza, Li popoli del territorio di Senigallia, di Scapezzano,
Roncitelli, Tomba, Brugnetto, Vallone et d' altri Eistretti (sic), servi e
sudditi umilissimi di V. E. con ogni ossequio Le rappresentano, die nelli
Territori suddetti si ritrova una ciurma di quasi duecento zingari tra
Uomini, Donne e Ragazzi, divisi in piu compagnie, che vanno ora in un
luogo ora nell' altro, facendo notabilissimi danni e Rubbarie, insino a
dar fuoco a pagliari, per lo che piu d' una volta sono incolpati e castigati
ingiustamente li vicini o innocenti Passagieri, volendo stare nelli sud.1
Luoghi per forza, non solamente per un giorno solo, m.a per piu giorni et
intere settimane, prendendo luogo vicino alle Chiese e nelle Loggie delle
med.mfc o nelle Loggie delle case, et in Luoghi piu publici, e nelli Borghi
DURING THE 1 6TH, 17TH, AND 18TII CENTURIES. 219
medesimi delli sud.1 Peasi, et ivi commettendo publicamente sporcizie,
indecenze e scandali, nel qual tempo girando per le campagne vogliono
per forza, perch6 con minacce di abrugiare e svaligiare le case vogliono,
replicasi, Paglia per dorrnirvi e Strami e Fieni per li loro Bestiami,
rubando polli, animali, et anco arivando nelle case campestri, trovatele
sproviste dagli abitatori, die stanno alia coltura delle campagne, rubbano
anelli, habiti, biancherie e massarizie, facendo cosi piangere e stridere piu
poveretti e contadini, osservandosi poi condur una vita da Sardanapali
in cucinare e mangiare polli rubbati a poveri villain, e, quel che piu e
da notarsi, si ritrovano delli sudd.1 Luoghi gentaglie, che facendo con
essi loro compagnia, mangiano e bevono con essi loro in publico e private,
godendo insieme la robba rubata, e ritrovandosi ancora altre genti, anco
benestanti, che tirati dal vil mercato comprano da loro polli, anelli, fibbie,
coralli, abiti et altre cose, che hanno rubbato in altri luoghi, e di piu
soministrando per il proprio interesse aceto, oglio, sale, massarizie et
altro che li bisogna per cucinare, che non praticarebbero e non pratti-
cano con li veri Poveri di Giesu Christo, dandoli ancora piu d'una volta
1' alogio nelle proprie case, o irnprestandoli stuore o coperte da riparare
il freddo ; dovendo li poveri supplicant! sogiacere a continui danni, senza
poterli discacciare, mentre se talvolta per riparare i furti e custodire la
robba propria gli fanno fuga, o in qualche maniera mossi dal furore gli
oltraggiano, sono subito castigati da' giudici locali e penati (sic) mentre
talluni di questi, e specialmente li sbirri piu tosto proteggono li sud.1
zingari per 1' interesse di qualche vantaggio e regalo, che da essi ne ripor-
tano ; e perche non possono gli oratori piu sofrire tanti incommodi e danni,
mentre, partendo da un luogo una compagnia, subito ne giunge un' altra,
in modo che quasi continuamente sono da quelli molestati et oppressi,
perci6 con lagrime agli occhi supplicano la Bonta e Giustizia di. V. E.
a darvi 1' opportune remedio o con farli discacciare dallo Stato o ordinare
che in tutti li Luoghi vi sia una compagnia de soldati, che abbiano a
discacciarli con suonar le campane all' armi ; o che siano fatti prigioni
per dargli un continuo esilio, e che non possa somministrarsegli il vitto,
se non che per passaggio, e non si possa da loro comprar robba rubata
sotto qualche pena, o come parera e piacera alia somma prudenza di V.E.
— Che della gratia, qua Deus ecc.
(VERSO : Scribalur. ex Opp°. Locumtenenti Senogalliae ad mentem domini
Advocati Fiscalis.)
The Archbishop then writes to his Lieutenant, transmitting to
him the said petition.
But it becomes evident that the Pontifical authorities were afraid
of the Gypsies, and were not provided with sufficient means to make
them respect the law. For in this letter the Archbishop recommends
the Lieutenant not to compromise the small detachment of sbirri, and
counsels him rather to act with prudence, addressing himself politely
to the chiefs of the Gypsies, and begging them to go elsewhere,
hinting to them the danger of a military expedition being sent against
them if they did not go away peaceably.
220 GYPSIES IN THE MAKCHES OF ANCONA.
Lettere d'Udienza. Vol. 101, c. 95.
Federico Lanti, Preside. — Luogotenente, Dal memoriale, che vi acclu-
diamo, sentirete li gravi inconvenient!, disturbi e pregiudizi, che appor-
tano li zingari, li quali vanno vagando per codeste vicinanze. E pero
quando realmente vi siano, per non porre in pericolo codesta squadra de'
Birri si poco numerosa, con buona maniera farete intendere a' capi de'
medesimi Zingari, che, se quanti egli siano di Uomini e Donne non par-
tiranno e slontanaranno da codesti contorni, li nmndarete contro li
soldati, e farete dar la campana all' armi per farli inseguire, carcerare e
punire, conforme richiedera il dovere : Regolandovi con tale maniera e
prudenza che serva per incuterli timore, accio si slontanino ; e che in-
sieme non possa apportare maggiori disordini. Tanto eseguirete. —
Pesaro, 15 Decembre 1742.
V. Agostini. F. ARCIV. di. . . . 1
These documents, found by Professor Gianandrea, throw a curious
light upon Italian provincial life in former times ; and I hope to find
other such documents in the municipal archives of The Marches,
which, of all the provinces of Italy, is the one best adapted for the
study of the Gypsy migrations.
ADBIANO COLOCCI.
D
IV.— CENTRAL AFRICAN GYPSIES.
20 ALVA STREET, EDINBURGH, Feb. 15, 1889.
EAR MR. MACRITCHIE, — I will at last try and fulfil my pro-
mise to write you a short note on the few Gypsies I met
with in Central Africa, or, perhaps I should more correctly say, in
Darfur and Kordofan. The note will not be as long as I at first hoped,
for a notebook containing my entries concerning them is apparently
lost. I have, therefore, to trust greatly to memory.
As is well known, Gypsies are fairly numerous in the Nile
Delta, where they follow their usual occupations as pedlars, menders
of pots and pans, horse-dealers, the young women as dancers, and the
older women as fortune-tellers. I understand that it is considered
probable that these Gypsies came to Egypt from West Africa. It is
strange, therefore, to remark that they are only met with in diminish-
ing numbers the further one goes south ; and, to the best of my belief,
Dara in Darfur may be said to be the apex of a triangle of Gypsy
distribution in the Egyptian Soudan. But it should be noticed that
Dara forms as well the apex of a triangle of a westerly distribution
of Gypsies towards Wadai and Bornu ; where the base of this triangle
CENTRAL AFRICAN GYPSIES. 221
is I have failed to ascertain, but it probably extends from Tripolis to
Lake Chad.
As in Cairo, so in Kordofan and Darfur, the Gypsies apparently
exercise the same callings as elsewhere, but as far as I could make
out, they appear to keep themselves more isolated the more southerly
and limited the area of their rovings. They seem, too, to avoid
conflicts, and in times of disturbances they decamp to a peaceful
locality. They are noted as being sharp dealers, but I cannot say
that they have the reputation of being light-fingered. They appear
to be on friendly terms with the natives of the country, and, curiously
enough, they are said to have introduced the art of filigree work and
gold-beating into Darfur.
It is impossible to say how many Gypsies are to be found in
Darfur. I was told that they were very numerous at El Fascher ; at
Dara I saw some thirty or forty ; at Obeid there were some sixty or
seventy, and when travelling between these two places I passed by two
Gypsy villages and met one small Gypsy caravan wending its way
to the south. The Gypsies I met with formed a marked contrast to
the natives, both Arabs and Negroes. They were tall, agile, muscular,
but thin. They were well proportioned ; their hair was black, not
very coarse, and, when uncultivated, straight. The heads were
dolichocephalic, the faces long and oval, with prominent cheekbones,
the foreheads high and narrow, the noses low and straight, and, as a
rule, slightly prognathous. The black flashing Gypsy eye was well
marked ; the eyebrows and long eye-lashes were black and beautiful.
Though much lighter in colour than the natives of Darfur, they were
yet deeply bronzed by exposure. Their hands were shapely, and, I
thought, smaller than those of the Arabs ; but what struck me most
were the very shapely leg and foot, which I probably noticed more
than I might have done, on account of the ungainly Negro leg to
which I had so long been accustomed.
With regard to dress, the Gypsies seem to adapt themselves to
native costume. The men wore the ordinary fez, sometimes with a
turban, the " tob " or sheet, as worn so commonly in Darfur, or the
Kuftan, i.e. long shirt, with waist-belt of coloured cotton, while short
white pants and sandals completed their attire. The women, as a
rule, dressed simply, either in a long white or dark blue shift, or else
partially veiled by the " tob " of white or blue, gracefully draped over
the shoulders, or tightly wound under the armpits. Some of the
young girls wore little else than " Eahad," a waist-belt of leather with
a deep fringe of leathern thongs — the common dress of Soudanese
222 CENTRAL AFRICAN GYPSIES.
unmarried girls. I fancy the married women do not wear this. On
festive occasions the women and dancing-girls are finely decked out
in variously coloured garments, their ears (and noses sometimes),
being hung with gaudy rings, whilst around their necks, arms, and
ankles jingle numerous bangles of beads, silver, or copper- wire. The
women never wear veils. Many were tattooed with blue punctiform
patterns on the chin and forehead, and the nails were sometimes
stained ; this I noticed especially on the younger dancing-girls. As
above mentioned, their hair was straight when undressed, but I often
saw it dressed in a peculiar way. In a photo of a reputed Gypsy
taken at Khartoum (before me as I write), the hair is firmly and
closely plaited over the vertex, but ends in a bushy mass of consider-
able dimensions. Much oil or butter is used in dressing the hair, as
I have good reason to remember, for on one occasion, when witnessing
a performance given at a Pasha's house, the following custom was
observed ; whether original or adopted from the Soudanese I do not
know. After dancing, and if expecting a handsome backsheesh, the
girl dances up to a guest, and makes a deep obeisance. If, however,
a stranger is present whom she thinks the host wishes especially to
honour, she makes a spring forward towards him, and suddenly strikes
him on the chest with her mass of hair. This leaves an oily mark
and smell, which may be pleasant to some, but which I did not care
to experience twice.
The Arabs in Darfur call the Gypsies "Ghajar," which term
includes them all, but the fortune-tellers they call " Fehemi," and the
dancers " Gewhassi." They appear to welcome them to their feasts,
and to employ them freely in doing odd jobs. As elsewhere, the men
profess great knowledge of horses, mules, donkeys and camels,- and
are, I understand, of some repute as dealers and horse-doctors. I did
not see any of their performances in Darfur, nor have I any notes
of their dialect. I heard them speak an unknown jargon, but their
Arabic did not seem to me to differ from the Soudan dialect.
The married women have a very high character for chastity, in
marked contrast to that of the unmarried dancing Gypsy girls. The
music sung by the Gypsies is very weird but pleasant ; they employ
harps, flutes, and drums to accompany their songs and dances. Many
of the dances are graceful, but they have adopted some of the doubt-
ful dances common to the Soudan.
If I should ever find my notes, I will write to you again on this
subject. They contained a few stories, and some account of two or
three conversations I had with Gypsies in Darfur.
E. W. FELKIN.
THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. 223
V.— THE OPJGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
A CTING upon a suggestion made by our fellow-member, Captain
•*-*- R. C. Temple, who is at present on duty in Upper Burma, I
have been looking up a passage in the Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency
referring to the probable origin of the European Gypsies, and the
course of their early migrations. This passage occurs as a note to an
Article on the early Indian settlements in Eastern Africa (vol. xm.
part ii. Thana District, foot-note on pp. 711-715). It contains so
much that is entirely novel to me, and will, I have no doubt, prove
so interesting to all our members, that I have ventured to reproduce
it verbatim for the Journal, with all the sub-notes and references to
authorities.
According to Captain Temple, the Article is due to the learned
editor of the Gazetteer, Dr. James Campbell, whose great reputation
is an ample guarantee of the authenticity of the facts, and the reason-
ableness of the deductions drawn from them. W. J. IBBETSON.
"Another section of the people of Africa whose language un-
doubtedly points to an Indian origin are the Gypsy tribes of Egypt.1
In 1799 (As. Res. in. 7) Sir William Jones suggested that the famous
pirates, the Sanghtirs or Sanganians of Sindh, Cutch and Kathidwar,
had settled on the shores of the Eed Sea and passed through Egypt
into South-Eastern Europe as the Zingani or Zingari — that is, the
Gypsies. There are two difficulties in the way of this theory. The
present Gypsies of Egypt seem to have no trace (Newbold in Journ.
E. As. S. xvi. 285-300) of the word Sanghar or Zingari, and, except
the Helebi who may have come from Yemen, their language points
to a passage from India through Persia, Turkey, and Arabia. The
second difficulty is that, though the earliest form of the name by
which the Gypsies were known in Europe, At-sykanoi or Asikanoi,
seems connected with Sanghar, the form Tchingani or Zingeneh is
known in Turkey, Syria, and Persia, and may have passed from Asia
Minor into Greece.2 In spite of these difficulties the following evi^
1 Among English Gypsies the words for water, fire, hair, and eye, are pani, yog, bal,
yak ; among Norwegian Gypsies pdni, jag, bal, jak ; among Persian Gypsies pdni, aik, bal,
aki ; and among Egyptian Gypsies pdni, dg, bal, ankhi. The corresponding Gujarat! words
sxepdni, dg, vdl, dnkh.
2 The chief modern forms of the name are in Spain Zincali, in Italy Zingari, in Germany
Zigeuner, in Russia Ziganeh, in Turkey Tchinghian, in Syria Jinganih, and in Persia Zingar.
In the fifteenth century the name appears as Sekanae in Germany, and in the thirteenth and
perhaps as early as the ninth in Turkey in Europe and in Greece as Asigkanoi or At-Sigkanoi.
Between the tenth and eleventh centuries they appear in Persia as Sagan. Besides from the
Sanganians or Sanghars these names may have been derived from the Changars, a Panjab
tribe (Trumpp in Edin. Rev. CXLVIII. 142 ; from Sakan, that is Skythian, Rawlinson Proc.
R. G. S. I. 40; from Zang (Persian) negro, Burton in Academy, 27th March 1875: from
224 THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
dence may be offered in support of Sir William Jones' suggestion
that part of the Gypsies passed west by sea through Egypt to Europe.
" The Sanghars are still widely spread in India. Besides in Gutch
and Kathiawar, under the names of Sangar and Singhar, they seem
to occur to the south-east of Agra, in Uinarkot, the Gangetic pro-
vinces, and Eastern India (Elliot's Races, N.-W. Provinces, I. 332;
Elliot's Supplementary Glossary, 51 ; Bombay Gazetteer, v. 95, 96,
Cutch). Perhaps also they are the same as the Changars, a low-class
Panjab tribe, whose similarity in habits has already led to their pro-
posed identification with the Zingari or Gypsies (Trumpp in Edin.
Rev. CXLVIII. 142). So famous were the Sanghars or Sanganians in
the seventeenth century that in Ogilby's Atlas (1670) Cutch is
referred to (p. 293) as Sanga. Sanghars or Sengars appear in the list
of Rajput tribes, but according to Tod (Rdjasthdn, Madras ed. I. 75-
107) they were never famous. Ibn Batuta (1340), Marco Polo (1290),
and Masudi (920) mention Sokotra as a centre of Hindu piracy
(Masudi's Prairies d'Or, m. 37 ; Yule's Marco Polo, u. 328, 344, 345).
That the Sokotra pirates were the Sanghars, Jats or Jats, and Kerks
who from Sindh, Cutch and Kathiawar ruled the Indian seas, is made
probable by Masudi's statement (in. 37) that Sokotra was a station
for the Indian lawdrijt a name which Al Baruni (1020) applies to the
pirates of Cutch and Somnath, and which he derives from lair a or
bera, the name of their boat. (Al Biruni, in Elliot and Dowson, I. 65,
539.) It curiously supports the connection between the Sanghars
and the Zingari or Gypsies that bera, the name for the Cutch pirate
craft, is also the Eomani or Gypsy word for boat (Encyc. Brit 9th ed.,
x. 614; Sorrow's Romany Word Book, 22). In the eighth century
the Sanghars seem to appear as the Tangameras or Sangameras, whom
the Arab writers associate in piracy with the Meds, Kerks, and Jats
(Elliot and Dowson, i. 376, 508). According to Arab writers, these
tribes, taking their wives and children, went in mighty fleets, moving
long distances as far as Jidda on the Eed Sea, and occasionally
settling in great strength.3 In the sixth century their piracies and
Zang (Persian) rust (or ruddy), Captain King ; from Zingar, a saddler, Captain Newbold
Jouru. R. As. S. xvi. 310; from the Kurd tribe Zengeneh, Balfour's Cyclopaedia n. 324;
and from two Gypsy words, chen moon, and kam sun, by Leland The Gypsies, p. 341.
3 Their settlements and raids on the Persian Gulf in the eighth and ninth centuries were
on so great a scale that the whole strength of the Khalifs was brought against them, and
when defeated they were transported to Asia Minor (Rawlinson in Proc. R. O. S. I. 40 ;
Encyc. Brit. x. 617). According to Ibn:al-Atir (A.D. 768) the Kerks made descents as far up
the Red Sea as Jidda (Remand's Memoires sur I'lnde, 181, note 3). The resemblance be-
tween some of Masudi's Abyssinian tribes and these associated pirates, the Zagawah with
the Sanghars, the Karkarah with the Kerks or Karaks, the Medideh with the Meds, and the
Maris with the Mers, seems worthy of notice (compare Prairies d'Or, m. 38, and Elliot and
Dowson, I. 506, 530).
TIIK ORIGIN OF THE KYl'SIES. 22.')
raids are said to have made Naushirvau the Sassanian insist on the
cession of the Beluchistan coast (Ind. Antiq. vin. 335). In much
earlier times the Sanghars perhaps again appear in the Sangadas or
Sangaras whom Alexander's Greeks (B.C. 325) found to the West of
the Indus, and between its Eastern and Western mouths (M'Crindle's
Commerce and Navigation of the Erythrccan Sea, 177 : Vincent's Com-
merce of the Ancients, I. 198). Apart from this doubtful mention in
Alexander's times, the evidence seems sufficient to support Sir William
Jones' suggestion that from early times the Sanghars or Sanganians of
Cutch and Kathiawar were in a position to make settlements on the
shores of the Eed Sea. Sir W. Jones' theory that the Gypsies of
Europe passed from India through Egypt seems to have been accepted
for a time. A fuller knowledge of the Eomani or European Gypsy
tongue proved the correctness of his main contention that the Gypsies
came from North-west India. At the same time the traces of
Persian and Armenian in Eomani and the absence of traces of Coptic
or Arabic discredited the view that the Gypsies entered Europe from
Egypt.
" That some, perhaps most, European Gypsies passed west through
Persia and Asia Minor to Eastern Europe seems beyond doubt.
Besides the evidence of language, within the last 2000 years there
are traces or records of at least six westerly movements among the
frontier tribes of North-west India which may be included under
the general term Jat.1 The last movement seems to have been
caused by Taimur's conquests (1398-1420), and the wanderers seem
to have picked up and carried with them into Europe a number of
the earlier Indian settlers in Persia and Western Asia. At the same
time, it seems probable that under the name of At Sigkanoi or Asi-
kani an earlier horde entered Europe from Egypt. The argument
that because Eomani has no Coptic or Arabic words the Gypsies
never passed through Egypt loses its force when it is remembered
that there is no trace of Arabic, Syrian, or Turkish in Eomani,
though some of the Gypsies are known to have settled in Asia Minor
on their way westward (Edin. Rev. GXLViii. 144). Therefore, even
1 These six movements are — (1) a doubtful transplanting of Kerks, Sindis, Kolis, Meds,
and other West Indian tribes some time before the Christian era (Elliot and Dowson, I.
509-512) ; (2) the bringing of the Luris or Indian musicians to Persia by Behram Gor about
A.D. 450, and their subsequent dispersion (Rawlinson in Proc. R.G.S. I. 40); (3) the de-
porting of Kerks, Sanghars, and Jats in the eighth and ninth centuries from the Persian
Gulf to Asia Minor (Rawlinson in Proc. R.G.S. i. 40; and Encyc. Brit. x. 617); (4) a
doubtful migration of Jats westward after their defeat in India by Mahmud of Ghazni in
1025 ; (5) a displacement of the Indian element in Persia and Asia Minor during the con-
quests of the Seljuki (twelfth century) and Osmanli Turks (fourteenth century) ; (6) a final
westward motion at the close of the fourteenth century, the result of Taimur's ravages.
226 THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES.
though it left no trace in their language, the Asikani or Singani may
have passed through Egypt on their way to Europe. But is it the
-case that there are no traces of Egypt in the Romani tongue ? The
earliest Greek form of their name At Sigkanoi, and a later form
Asigani, suggest that the initial At or A is the Arabic Al 'the,' and
that the Al was changed into At because, like the modern Turkish,
the old Arab form of the name was Tchingani. Next to Sangani or
Zingari, the best known name for the Gypsies is Eorn. Eom, besides
a Gypsy, means in their speech a man and a husband, and Rom also
means a man and a husband in modern Coptic (Edin. Rev. cxLVin.
140). Again the Gypsies use 'Guphtos' (Edin. Rev. CXLVIII. 142),
apparently Egyptian or Copt, as a term of reproach. That they came
from Egypt to Europe is supported by the fact that the At Sigkanoi
are first noticed (fourteenth century) in Crete, the part of Europe
nearest Egypt, and that they are there described as of the race of
Ham (Emyc. Brit. Sth ed. x. 612). In the beginning of the fifteenth
century (1417-1438), when they seem to have been joined by a
second horde from Armenia and Asia Minor, the Secanee, Zingari,
or Sanghars stated that they came from Egypt, and their statement
was accepted all over Europe. Besides the name of Egyptian, which
has been shortened into Guphtos in Greece, Gitano in Spain, and
Gypsy in England, the Sekanse or Zingari were in Cyprus, and per-
haps also in Austria, called Agariens, or the children of Hagar,
Nubians in some parts, Farawni in Turkey, and Pharaoh-nepek, or
children of Pharaoh, in Magyar or Hungary. A curious trace of the
belief in the Gypsy connection with Egypt remained till lately in
the oath administered to Gypsies in Hungarian courts of justice : —
' As King Pharaoh was engulfed in the Red Sea, may I be if I
speak not the truth' (Edin. Rev. CXLVIII. 120, 121, 122; Emyc. Brit.,
x. 612). Again their leaders' titles mark the first Gypsies as belong-
ing to South-eastern Europe and Egypt. In 1417 the first band of
Secanse who appeared in Germany were led by the duke of Little
Egypt, and in Scotland in 1500 the 'Egyptians' were led by the
earls of Cyprus and Greece, and by the count of Little Egypt (Emyc.
Brit. x. 612; Edin. Rev. CXLVIII. 117). Some of the earliest bands
(1420) knew that they originally came from India (Emyc. Brit. x.
613), and others of the same horde seem (the passage is doubtful) to
have said that they came from India through Ethiopia (Edin. Rev.
CXLVIII. 121). Their knowledge of their Indian origin seems a reason
for holding that the Sicanae or Sanghars were correct in stating that
they were settled in Egypt before they came to Europe. Whether
THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. L'1'7
any of the Sanghars or Zingari passed along North Africa to Spain
is doubtful. Gypsies were very early in Spain (1447), but the pre-
sence of Greek in the Spanish Romani seems to show that they came
overland from Eastern Europe (Encyc. Brit. x. 613-615). Of the
Gypsies of North Africa, some were deported from the South of
France in 1802 (Encyc. Brit. x. 613), others have apparently come
from Spain, and a third doubtful element seems to be passing west
across Africa."
VI.— TALE OF A WISE YOUNG JEW AND A
GOLDEN HEN.1
THERE was once a rich nobleman who had lived with his wife for
ten years without having any children. One time he dreamt
that he would have a very warlike son. Another night he dreamt
again that a Jewess was going to be confined on the same day as his
lady. (This was true !) Next morning this lord arose and said to l^s
wife, " Wife, I have dreamt that we are going to have a child." " That
may really come to pass," replied she. He further told her of the
Jewess : he said to her that she should be brought to bed at the same
hour as her ladyship.
The good God ordained that she should be delivered of a child :
the good God gave them a son. The boy's father was very joyful, as
were also the mother and that Jewess, who was brought to bed at the
very same hour as this lady. The nobleman said to his wife, " My
lady, we must go to this Jewess, in order that our child may be
brought up with hers." " Very well, husband." They brought thither
the Jewess, and she made her home there, near this nobleman's
dwelling.
He begins to grow up, this son of the nobleman : he is very wise ;
yet the son of the Jewess is still wiser. He is now ten years old, and
he is eager to go to school ; he learns there to perfection. His father
and mother are filled with delight.
One time the Jew boy said to the lord's son, " Look here, now,
why not request your father to have some beautiful baths made
for you in the fields ? " The nobleman's son approached his father,
kissed his hand, as also his mother's. " Father," said he, " I beg that
you will build me some fine baths in the fields." .... Who should
it happen to be that set themselves to this work ? Two old retainers.
They had seen in a town, on a former occasion, a very lovely princess.
1 This also was narrated by John Coron, the Gypsy prisoner of Cracow.
228 TALE OF A WISE YOUXG JKW
Well, what have they gone and done, these two servitors ? They
have caused the portrait of this princess to be painted upon the walls
. of the baths. These two servants came back and announced to their
lord, " We have done everything we were ordered to do." " Very
good ; how much now do you ask for that ? " " We shall be satisfied
with whatever your grace deigns to give us." The nobleman gave
them four thousand florins. They accorded to their lord their best
thanks.
Then the Jew boy called to the nobleman's son, " Come ! the baths
are now built, let us see what there is to be seen ! " They went
thither, but this young Jew was always wiser than the nobleman's
son. They entered the first hall, there they saw painted upon the
walls various kinds of birds, wolves, — all which delighted the son
of the lord. Then, all by himself, he enters the other apartment, and
what does he behold there? The portrait of this lovely princess
painted upon one of the walls. He gazes at the likeness of the
princess, and he is so greatly enchanted with it that he swoons away.1
The young Jew sees him (faint), he resuscitates him with vinegar,'2
and he asks the nobleman's son, " What is the matter with you ? "
" 0 brother ! if I do not have this princess to wife I will kill my-
self." " Hush ! for the love of God," replied the young Jew, " do not
cry so loud, for you shall perhaps have her indeed, although not so
speedily as you wish." He returned home very sick, this nobleman's
son. " What ails him ? " asks his father ; but the young Jew was
ashamed to avow what had happened. Orders were given to fetch
doctors with all speed ; various remedies 3 are given to him, but he has
nothing the matter with him, for he is quite well, only he is quite
overcome 4 on account of this princess. " What 's to be made of him ? "
asks this lord of himself. He sends the mother in order that she may
question her son, and that he may reveal to her what it is that has
happened. The mother comes to him, "What is the matter, my
child ? Do not be ashamed to tell it all to me." " Ah, mother ! " he
responded, " even when I had told you all you would not be able to give
me any advice." " On the contrary, my son, I will give you very good
advice." Then he said to her, " Mother, I have seen the likeness of
a beautiful princess in these fine baths ; if I do not have her to wife,
I will kill myself." The mother hears this with delight. " That is
1 (menglisaiVas.) The heroes of Gypsy tales frequently fall into a swoon. This strongly
recalls the scenes of the Pantchatantra.— i. K.
2 The Gypsy having for the moment forgotten the proper word (fiut), improvised very
cleverly, as usual, the name for vinegar: Zutii pani, i.e. acrid water.— i. K.
3 The Gypsy word for remedy, or medicine, is drab, i.e. grass.— I. K.
4 The Gypsy verb is very expressive : Xukiarel pes, i.e. he withers away.- J. K.
AND A GOLDEN HEN. 229
well, my son. In the meantime, where am I to find her 1 " But the
Jew lad said to the nobleman, " My lord, I will go with him to seek
the princess : I make myself responsible for his person, and if any
harm befalls him let me be punished." " Very well, then, get ready,
and set out with the help of God." They set out and, on the further
side of a large town, the young Jew saw a beautiful wand on the road
and a little key beside it. " I shall dismount and pick up that wand,"
said he. But the nobleman's son said to him, " What good will that
wand do to you? You can buy yourself a fine sword in any town."
But the young Jew replied, " I do not want a sword ; I wish to take
that wand." Well, he got down from his horse, he picked up this
wand and the little key. He got into the saddle again, and they
went on their way with the help of God.
They came to a great forest, where night surprised them. They
saw a light shining in this forest. " See ! " said the lord's son,
" there 's a light shining over there." They came up to this light ;
they went into the room ; there was no one within. There they see
a beautiful bed, but unoccupied. They see that there is food for
them. There is. a golden goblet on the side next to the nobleman's
son; and beside the young Jew there is a goblet of silver. The
nobleman's son would have seated himself beside the silver goblet,
but the young Jew said to him, "Listen to me, brother: you are
the son of a wealthy sire, and I am a poor man's son; the place
for you, therefore, is beside the goblet of gold, and I shall seat myself
beside the silver goblet." Thereafter, he disrobed him deftly, and
made him lie down on the couch. " Come you to bed, brother," said
the nobleman's son. " I do not feel sleepy," replied the young Jew.
" Well, I 'm going to sleep, at any rate." He placed himself beside
the table, this young Jew, and pretended to fall asleep. Two ladies
approached the young Jew; but they were not really ladies — they
were fairies.1 These ladies spoke thus to one another : " Oh ! this
young Jew and this nobleman's son are going to a capital, where they
wish to carry away the king's daughter. But," said they, " the young
Jew did well to pick up that wand with the little key ; for there will
be a door of iron which, with that key, he will be able to open."
These ladies went away with the help of God. The young Jew un-
dressed himself and went to bed. They arose next morning : they
came to that iron door : the young Jew dismounted and opened it.
They see that this is the capital, wherein dwells the princess.
They went into this town : they see a gentleman passing. The
1 The (rypsy word is worthy of note : rasani, i.e. priestess. — I. K.
230 TALE OF A WISE YOUNG JEW
young Jew asks of him, "Where is there a first-rate inn in this place ? "
The gentleman indicated such a one to them, and guided them to it.
He paid him for his trouble. They ate until they were satisfied.
The nobleman's son remained in the inn, and the young Jew sallied
out into the town. He saw a gentleman passing. " Stay, sir, I have
something to ask of you." This gentleman stopped, and the young
Jew asked of him: "Where is the principal goldsmith's in this
town ? " He directed him there. The young Jew went to this gold-
smith. " Will you make me an old hen and her chickens of gold ?
The old hen must have eyes of diamonds and the young chickens
also." " Very well." " But I further stipulate that she be alive."
The goldsmith, who was a great wizard, replied, " Very well, sir, I
will do that if you will pay me." " I will pay you as much as ten
thousand." Three days later, he returned to get what he had ordered.
He chose a Sunday, at the time when the princess was going to
church. It was then that he proposed exhibiting this golden hen
and her chickens, in such a way that the princess should see them.
Well ! he went to the goldsmith's : he took the golden hen with her
young chickens. On the following Sunday he went near to the
church, this young Jew : he placed a table there, and on it he
exposed his golden hen with the young chicks. Nobody who passed
that way cared more about going to church, but all stopped to gaze
with wonder at this golden hen with her young chickens. A throng
of people from all parts of the town is gathered to see this hen and
her chickens. Even the priest does not go into the church, but stops
before the hen and her chickens: he looks at them so greedily
that his eyes are nearly starting out of his head. At last the king's
daughter comes to the church. She looks to see what is going on
there. A crowd of people, gentle and simple, all gathered together.
She had four lackeys with her. " Go," she said to one of them,
"see what is going on there." He went thither, and did not
return. She sent a second one ; no more did he come back, so much
was he enchanted.1 She despatched a third ; neither did that one
return, — he was charmed. She sent the fourth, and he returned not
either, being enchanted like the others. " What can it be that has
happened there?" she asked of herself, — "Is there somebody killed?"
She sent her maid, who made her way with difficulty among the
1 The phrases here italicised (and also that on p. 228 ante, line 17) illustrate the Polish-Gypsy
use of the word dzeka, to which I have drawn attention in our Notes and Queries, vol. i. No.
2, p. 120. In the present tale, the word occurs thus : po les andre dzekapeVa ; pn leske pre
dzekapel'as ; po lake pre dzeka pel' as, etc. The "enchantment" referred to was, of course,
nothing more than intense delight at the spectacle. — I. K.
AND A GOLDEN HEN. 231
people, but she too came not back, so much did this golden hen
delight her. Another was sent, who with great difficulty forced a
passage through the crowd, but she too returned not, so charmed was
she. . She despatched her third maid-servant, who also penetrated the
throng, but, being charmed, did not return. Finally she said to the
fourth one : " I am sending you to see what it is that is happening
there ; but if you do not come back to tell me, I will have you put
to death." This one also went. She forced her way, after much
difficulty, through the crowd, but she came not back out of it, so
greatly had that golden hen charmed her. The princess then said
to herself — "What can it be that is going on there ? Here are eight
persons that I have sent, and not one of them has come back to tell
me what the matter is ! " Then she went herself to see what had
happened. Peasants and gentlemen gave way before her. She
draws near and sees — a golden hen with her young chickens. The
Jew lad perceives her, and he asks of her : " Does this give pleasure
to your royal highness?" "Greatly though it pleases me, sir,"
replied she, " you will not give it to me." He took this hen and
presented it to the princess ; and then, with the help of the good
God, he went away. But the princess called after him, and invited
him to dine at her father's. The young Jew returned to the inn,
where the nobleman's son was asleep. He knew nothing of what the
young Jew had done. The king sent a very fine carriage to convey
the young Jew to him ; he got into it and drove off. The princess
was amusing herself with the hen and its young golden chickens.
The king proposed to him that he should live with his daughter.1
"Very well," said the young Jew to him, "I will live with her."
Well, they eat, they drink, and at length towards night the young
Jew sent some one to fetch the nobleman's son. When he arrived,
the whole three went out to walk in the garden. Then the young
Jew said to the princess, " Will you go away with us from here ? "
" Yes, I will go away," she replied. They set out with her and
hurried away, with the help of the good God. The father of the
princess knew not where she had gone to ; neither did he know from
whence the young Jew and the noble man's son had come. The
nobleman's son arrived at his father's house. The father and mother
are well satisfied that he has been so successful in bringing home the
princess. " And now, my son," said his father to him, " you must
marry her." So he married her, and they live together with the help
of God. The young Jew has also married a wife, and they live
together with the help of God. ISIDORE KOPERNICKI.
1 That is, after having married her. — I.K.
232 BRAZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES.
VII.— BEAZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES.
r] EOEGE BOEEOW, in The Zincali, or Gypsies of Spain (1841),
stated that Gypsy " tents are alike pitched on the heaths of Brazil
and the ridges of the Himalayan Hills," but one may question whether
he could have verified either statement. How little was known in
1844 of the existence of Gypsies in any part of the New World may
be gathered from the foot-note on p. 55 of Pott's Zigeuner. Indeed, I
believe the first certain indication of their presence in South America
was pointed out by myself in an article contributed to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica (vol. x., 1879), where I referred to a passage in Koster's
Travels in Brazil, as clearly establishing the fact that Ciganos in
Brazil were nothing new in 1816. And now we have Os Ciganos no
Brazil: contribuiqao ethnograpJiica (Eio de Janeiro, 1886) of Mello
Moraes, — a work already partly utilised by our esteemed colleague,
Dr. von Sowa (G-ypsy Lore Journal, Oct. 1888). To his linguistic
study I would add a few historical jottings, such as scant leisure
and a very imperfect knowledge of Portuguese have allowed me to
glean from Sr. Moraes' pages.
The present Brazilian Gypsies seem to be the descendants of
Gypsies transported from Portugal towards the close of the seventeenth
and the commencement of the eighteenth century. Thus, by a decree
of 27th August 1685, the transportation of the Gypsies was commuted
from Africa to Maranhao; and in 1718, by a decree of llth April,
the Gypsies were banished from the kingdom to the city of Bahia,
special orders being issued to the Governor to be diligent in the pro-
hibition of the language and ' cant ' (jyiria), not permitting them to
teach it to their children, that so it might become extinct. It was
about this time, according to "Sr. Pinto Noites, an estimable and
venerable Gypsy of 89 years," that his ancestors and kinsfolk arrived
at Eio de Janeiro — nine families transported hither by reason of a
robbery ascribed to the Gypsies. The heads of these nine families
were Joao da Costa Eamos, surnamed Joao do Eeino, with his son,
Fernando da Costa Eamos, and his wife, Dona Eugenia ; Luis Eabello
de Aragao ; one Eicardo Frago, who went to Minas ; Antonio Lac,o,
with his wife, Jacintha Laqo ; the count of Cantanhede; Manoel
Cabral and Antonio Curto, who settled in Bahia, accompanied by
daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, as well as by wife
and sons. They applied themselves to metallurgy — were tinkers,
farriers, braziers, and goldsmiths : the women gave charms to avert
the evil eye, and read fortunes. In the first half of the present
BRAZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES. 233
century, the Brazilian Gypsies seem to have been great slave-dealers,
just as their brethren on this side of the Atlantic have always been
great doctors in horses and asses. We read, on p. 40, of "M . . .,
afterwards Marquis of B . . ., belonging to the Bohemian race,
whose immense fortune proceeded from his acting as middleman in
the purchase of slaves for Minas." There are several more indica-
tions, scattered through the work, that the Brazilian nation, from
highest to lowest, must be strongly tinctured with E6mani blood;
but I hope to have said enough to direct the attention of some of
our members, better furnished than myself in the knowledge of Portu-
guese, to this interesting little volume. Or might not Dr. Luiz de
Castro, to whom it is dedicated, and who, it seems, has translated
several English works into Portuguese, be prevailed on to furnish us
with first-hand information ?
'Tis a far cry from Brazil to the Shetland Isles ; of Gypsies in
Shetland (a most unlikely place for them) even less is known than
of Brazilian Ciganos. But on p. 117 of The Orkneys and Shetland
(London, 1883), by Mr. John Tudor, I have come on the following
interesting passage : —
" On Earl Patrick's imprisonment, Bishop Law, for a short time,
held sway in the islands, not only in his episcopal capacity, but also
as holding the King's commission as Sheriff, and held his first court
at Scalloway on the 22d day of August 1612, at which many acts for
' good neighbourhood,' as they were long termed in Shetland, were
passed, which acts in the main were similar to those we have
already seen as having been in force in Orkney. At this court
'Johne Faw elder callit mekill [great] Joline Faw, Johne Faw
younger calit Littill Johne Faw, Katherin Faw, spous to umquhill
[the late] Murdo Brown, Agnes Faw, sister to the said Litill Johne,
were indicted ' for the murder of the said Murdo Brown, and Littill
Johne for incest with his wife's sister and her daughter, and for
adultery with Katherin Faw, and all for theft, sorcery, and fortune-
telling, ' and that they can help or hinder in the proffeit of the milk
of bestiale.' Katherin, who pleaded guilty to having slain her hus-
band with ' a lang braig knife,' was sentenced ' to be tane [taken] to
the bulwark and cassen [cast] over the same in the sey, to be droonit
to the death, and dome [sentence] given thairupone, and decerns the
remanent persones to bequyt [acquitted] of thecrymes abouewritten.'
Walter Eitchie, who seems to have appeared as counsel for the
accused, pleaded that it was not usual to take cognisance of murder
amongst the Egyptians. This clearly proved them to have been
VOL. I. — NO. iv. Q
234 BRAZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES.
Gypsies, and the name to have been, probably, Fea [Faa]. Query :
" Can the Orcadian Teas have been of Gypsy descent?" On p. 466,
we are further informed that " the pier [of Blackness, Scalloway] is
said to be built over the bulwark from which Katherine Faw was
1 cassen in the sey.' " Now, at the risk of seeming paradoxical, it is
worth while pointing out that in this passage we, perhaps, have an
explanation of a standing puzzle of antiquaries — the discovery of
Cufic coins in Orkney, in Sweden, and in Lancashire. In March
1858, in the links of Skaill, Sandwick parish, Orkney, a boy found a
hoard — personal ornaments (brooches, neck rings, and arm rings, all
of silver), ingots of silver, and a few coins — the aggregate weight 16
Ibs. avoird. One of the coins was a St. Peter's penny, struck at
York in the 10th century; one was a penny of King Athelstan,
struck at Leicester in 926 ; and the rest were Asiatic, of the time
when the sect of the Mohammedan Caliphate was at Cufa or Bagdad.
Three of these Cufic coins belong to the Abbaside Caliphs, and seven
to the Sassanian dynasty. They range in date between 887 and 945 ;
and the places of mintage, still legible, are Al-shash, Bagdad, and
Samarcand. Upwards of 20,000 Cufic coins and 15,000 Anglo-
Saxon coins have been enumerated from hoards of this period in
Sweden alone; and in 1840 Cufic coins were discovered near Preston,
in Lancashire, seemingly of a date subsequent to the 10th century
(Dr. Joseph Anderson's Scotland in Pagan Times: The Iron Age,
Edinb. 1883, pp. 78, seq.) Now, till 1883 nothing was known of
the Faws' visit to Shetland, 271 years before; it is at least not im-
possible that six centuries before that date there may have been a
similarly unknown visit to Orkney of a Gypsy silversmith, who, coming
from the East, brought with him Eastern coins. One thing, at least,
is shown by the presence of these Cufic coins, that there has been
communication between Orkney and the East — whether through
Gypsies or not is another matter — within the historic period. Yet
Mr. Lang has declared it "most unlikely that folk-tales which originated
in India could have reached the Hebrides by oral tradition, and
within the historical period." Where coins could come, so too could
folk-tales.
Lastly, to end this very discursive paper, what is the ultimate
decision of our Orientalists as to the presence or the absence of
Arabic words in Eomani ? According to Prof, de Goeje there are ten
such words; according to Dr. Miklosich there are none. Neither,
however, of the two scholars seems to me to have perceived the
possible importance of the presence or the absence (especially the
I'.i; AZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES. .235
absence) of Arabic elements. Roman! undoubtedly contains Persian
words ; would it not have certainly contained also Arabic words if
the ancestors of our modern European Gypsies had sojourned in
Persia, or even passed through Persia, at a date later than the Arab
conquest of Persia. If Dr. Miklosich is right in his contention that
there are no Arabic words in Roman!, does it not follow almost
inevitably that the Gypsies must have passed through Persia on
their way to Europe at some date prior to the middle of the seventh
century A.D. For, surely, since that conquest no Gypsy could tarry
for any period in Persia without picking up some Arabic words.
This is a point on which I am very anxious for information.
FRANCIS HINDES GIIOOME.
VIII.— A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK- GYPSY DIALECT.
BY R. VON SOWA.
(Continued.)
ERRATA
In the " A " portion of this vocabulary (ante, No. 3),
P. 161, line 12, instead of "solna," read "Zsolna."
P. 162, line 8, instead of " once only once occurring," read "occurring only once.
P. 164, line 4 a, instead of akyarav, read akydrav.
„ line 49 a, instead of ale'bo, read al'ebo.
„ line 24 b, instead of ani susie, etc., read ani tuke, mri pirdni, basaviben
n-anavas — I should not even serenade thee, my beloved. K.
„ line 52 b, instead of avl'ais, read avl'as.
P. 165, line 16 a, before M. W. insert " forenoon."
P. 166, line 30 b, insert averjeno before "a., S., adj."
B.
Baba, S., s. f. (Slov. baba}, old woman. Bakhrano, M. W., adj. (prob. bakrdno ;
Babo, *K., s. m. (Gr. bobi ; Hng. 6060 ; Gr., Hng. = SI., Bhm. not found in
Bhm. wanting), bean. my materials), of or belonging to a
Bachas, S., s. in. (Slov. baca), shepherd. sheep.
Baxt, M. W. S., basht • *K., s. f. (Gr. Bed, M. W., K., s. m. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
Bhm. = SI. Hng. bast), fortune. =SL), hair ; cf. s. zhuto.
Bai, S., s. f. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.=SL), Bali, M. W., s. f. (Gr., SI. ; Hng. not
sleeve. found in my materials ; Bhm. bdli),
Bakri, M. W., S., bakhri, M. S., s. f. sow, hog.
(Gr., Bhm., Hng. bakri), sheep. Bdlo, S., balo, M. W., s . (Gr., Hng.,
Bakro, S., s. m. (Gr., Bhm. = SI., Hng. balo ; Hng., Bhm, bdlo), boar. Bdro
bakhro and bakro), wether. bdlo, S., is said to mean "hedge-
Bnkrdri, S., s. f. (dim. of bakri), sheep. hog." 1
1 It is worth noting that the Slovak Gypsies have no original word in their dialect for
"hedgehog" ; cf. what Mr. MacRitchie (p. 44 of this volume of the Journal) notes regarding
the dialect of the Catalonian Gypsies.
236
A VOCAI'.ULAKY <>]• TIIF. BLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
, K. haloro, M. W., s. ni. (dim. of
the former), swine.
haloro, *K., s. in. (dim. of bal), hair.
Bdlos, S., s. m. (Slov. bdl), ball (a
festival).
Balovas, a., S., ZwtZeww, M. W., *K. (a
compound of balo and mas, q. v. ; cf.
M. W., vii. 15), bacon. The vocable
is proved by the only instance : De
man panje garashcnge balovas—givo
me five groschens' worth of bacon,
G.
Balval, *M., *K., S., bavlal, M. W. (Gr.,
Hng. balval ; Bhm. barval), wind.
Banda, *S., s. f. (Slov. banda, from the
Germ. Bande, Musikbande), band of
musicians.
Banknota, a., *S., s. f. (Slov. banknota,
from the Germ. Banknote), bank bill,
bank-note.
Bar, S., bar, bdr, M. W., s. f. (Gr. bari,
l>«ri, Pa. 162 ; Hng., Bhm. bar),
garden. It is said to mean ;ilso hedge,
enclosure, as in the Gr.
Bar, K., S., bdr, M. W., s. m. (Gr.,
Hng., Bhm. = SI., Hng. bdr), stone,
rock. M. W. even renders it cavern ;
par K., stone wall. My Gypsies said
that it means also gravel. Pr-oda isto
bar, kai has o drakos — upon that rock,
where was (lived) the dragon.
Baravav man, a., M. W., vb. refl. (prob.
bary&rau man, cf. Gr. baryarava,
Hng. bardrav, to make great ; Hng.
bardl'av, to boast), to be proud,
to boast (prop, to magnify one's
self).
Bdrkai, S., adv. (the first part of the
compound is supposed to be the Slov.
bdr, used even in Slov., indefinite adv.
e.g. bdrkedy vlg. ; cf. varekai), any
where, somewhere. So diknas bdrkai,
odova has lengro — what they saw any
where, that was theirs.
Bdrkana, S. barl-ann, K., adv. (a com-
pound with the same element, cf,
varekana), ever, at any time.
rn'trl'«uo, S., pron. ind. (with the same,
cf. varekdno), any one, whosoever,
some. Mro dcvel leske phend'ax, hoi
i.-iii peske te kedcl bdrkana love — my
God said to him, that he might take
(i.e. pocket) some money.
linrlco, S., pron. ind. (of the same, o£
vareko), somebody.
Bdro, S., K., bharo, M., baro, *K., adj.
(Gr., Hng. bare ; Hng., Bhm. bdro),
grand, great. Particular expressions
with bdro are : bdre love, bank-bills ;
bdro rai, gentleman ; bdri rani, lady ;
Ix'rro bdlo, hedgehog ; bdro chiriklo,
ca.uk: ; hdro xas, plough, etc. Bdri
I'indra means a deep sleep. Bdro
drom is the long, endless road of the
Gypsy nomad. . Ach mre dcvlcha, u
me jau bdre dromeha — farewell, and I
(shall) go the long way ( = to continue
my wandering). The superlative often
marks the chief, the supreme. A vie kie
peskro rai, naibdreder hadnad'i* />«
lende — they came to their master,
the chieftain (over them). Bhdre-
yakhengero, having large eyes.
l><'nr,x, S., very much. " You igen bare*
rovl'drlas pal pesko phraldro" — he
wept very much for his brother.
Baronos, S., s. in. (Slov. baron, from the
Germ, baron), baron.
Barori, K. ; bardri, M. W. ; baloro,
M. W. (incorrect), s. f. (dim. of bar, f.),
hedge, garden, stone wall, K.
Barovau, a., S., bfbdrovav, M. W., vb.
itr. (Gr. baryovava ; Hng, baryovav ;
Bhm. -bdrovav), to become greater, to
increase (itr.) Ola chdvo ehi tikno,
nl'f bdrola — the boy is little, but he
will grow bigger.
Bdrso, S., pron. ind. (with the Slov.
bdr, cf. vareso), something, what-
ever.
Baruno, a., S., bariino, M. W. (Gr., Hng.
wanting, Bhm. bartino), made of stone,
stony.
Barvalo, S., adj. (Gr. baravalo • Gr.,
Hng. = SI., Bhm. biti-rnlo), rich. You
hi barvalo kere — his family is a rich
one (lit. he is rich at home).
Basinav, M. W., vb. tr., to execrate, to
curse.
Bashau, S., vb. itr. (Gr. bashava means
only "to cry," "to bark" ; Hng. baaltar,
" to bark " ; Bhm. wanting), to play,
to sound (an instrument). Shiikt'trc*
baahava pr-6 lavuta — I shall play well
on the lute.
Bashavau, M. W., S., vb. itr., (Gr.,
bashavava ; Hng., P>hm., ba&havav),
to play, to sound (an instrument).
Shukdres mange bashavna — they will
play well for me.
A VOCABULARY OF TIIK SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
237
llii.-ifmrl.hfii, M. \V., S., lmx«t-ih<-,i ; K.,
s. in. (Gr. wauling, Hng. bashavipe,
Nun. bashaviben), music, cf. vichinau.
I in. <h int, M. \\'., S., s. in. (Gr., Bhm.,=
SI. Gr. basno, ling, wanting), cock.
I :>i.<h i) ran, M. W., S., (Gr., Hng., want-
ing, cf. bashau ; Bhm. bashovav), to
bark, to bay.
Bavinav, a.,M. W., vb. tr.,(Slov. bin-it'
t<> amuse.
/•Y/'r/Vx, a., S., s. in. (Germ. Befehl),
petition, memorial. Kana dikhle o
x(f.si/,v(m; TVfT/^., (//y*r. /a'-o sawo kisaris
bi-fd'is, hoi nashchi oda phuro sasos
sluxhbn. tr :.axtnvinel — when the mili-
tary otticers .saw (that) they sent a
memorial to the emperor himself, that
the old soldier is not able to discharge
his duties.
limy, M. W., K., S., (Gr., Hng., JJhm.
= 81. Hng. bcngo) devil. It may be
remarked, that in the 81. G. folk-lore
(lie devil is only once spoken of, vi/.,
in the tale 0 Drakos, where it is said
that the wanderer's dog would scuffle
even with the devil (he le bengeha pes
xudinahas). All the other passages
refer to several devils ; in the tale E
trin rdkld, three devils take the three
princesses to hell ; in the tale 0 Phuro
Sasos God orders the devils to catch
the old soldier, to dilacerate and to fry
him.
Bereno, a., S., adj. (Slov. vereny, pt. pf.
of verit' " to thrust ; " regarding the
change of v and b cf. 81. bildgos, vild-
gos), committed ; tfluzhba mange has
bereno — the service was committed to
me. The speaker himself translated
the sentence thus : sluzba mne bola
verend.
Berse ? a., S. The word must have been
heard badly ; Akanak in chi auka,
har me chid'om. 0 rom xudel berse,
.nulinas, kana hi loki kashtuni rnr-
I'ori. I cannot translate this passn^c.
Ikrsh, S., bb'rsh, M., s. m., pi. bersh ;
S. borsh, M. bersha, S. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. bersh), year ; borsh bb'rshestar,
from year to year, M.W. The pi. is
proved by mhdrlas dui bersh — he
waited two years. Me somas bish
bersha lukesto — I was five years a
soldier.
Beshau -mange,, S., bcshav, K., vb. reft.
(Gr. beahava ; Hng., Bhm. bcshav), to
down ; Me mange odoi beshava — I
shall sit down there ; Som beshto—l
.mi silting ; tfomas beshchi pash t .'/".'/
— I was seated near the fire, K.
Bharvalipen, a., M. W. (Gr. baravalipe ;
Hng. barvalipe ; Bhm. barvalipen),
richness.
Bi- K., 8., prefix. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. =
81., Hng., even usi-ii separately. M.W.,
vii. 20), without. This particle can
be prefixed to almost all substantive -s.
My materials afford : bidandengero,
without teeth, S. ; bidiloskcro, w.
dinner, M. W. ; bimanresko (?), w.
bread, M. W. ; bvyakhengero, blind (w.
eyes), M. W. ; and even bilcngero,
alone (without them), M. W.
Bibold'i, M. W., s. f. (cf. the following),
Jewess.
Biboldo, M. W. ; biboldo, M. W., s. m.
Gr., Hng., Bhm. = 81., (Gr. it is used
as an adjective, " not baptized "), Jew.
Bichav, K., vb. tr. (Gr., Bhm. wanting ;
Hng. bichhav), to send.
Bichavau, 8. ; bichavav, K., vb. tr. (Gr.
bicltavava ; Hng. bichhavav ; Bhm.
bichavav}, to send.
Biknau, M. W., S., vb. tr. imp. ; bikin,
pi. pf., bikindo (Gr. biknava ; Hng.
biknav ; Bhm. bikenav), to sell.
Bildcho, a., S., adj. (Gr., Hng. wanting ;
Bhm., but meaning "bad"), unlucky.
The meaning of the word is proved by:
Bildchi rdkl'i, te tu (man) shuneha mre
lava — unlucky girl, if thou wilt hear
ray words. So says the witch to the
ravished girl in the tale 0 Tchvra.
(Jes., 106, gives : Bildchi lovina, bad
beer).
Bildgos, s. vildgos.
Birinau, S., vb. tr. (the word could be
derived from the Slov. beru, "I take,"
but the difference of the meaning
leaves that in doubt), to bear, to drag.
Akakanak mange deha, so me kamava
luve ketsi me birinava — now thou wilt
give me what I desire, as much
money as I shall (be able to) bi-;ir.
Pale peske kedind'as ketsi shai birin-
d'as — then he dragged as much as he
could bear. The meaning of the fol-
lowing is not very clear : The biri-
nau but bilagoha—Aud 1 drag myself
through the whole world (many
238
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
countries) ? ; berinav man, M. W.
(Slov. beru sa, Mikl.), I betake myself.
Bish, M. K. S., num. card. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = Sl.), twenty; Duvar bish,
forty ; bishvar, K. S., twenty times.
Bishto, K. S., num. ord. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), twentieth.
Biyau, M. W. S., biyav, M. W., biav,
K., s. m. (Gr. biav, bav ; Hng. biav,
biyav ; Bhm. biyav), nuptials ; pal
biyaveskero, a., M. W., is said to mean
afternoon, evidently by a mistake.
Bizo, S., adv. (Mag. bizony) ; surely, cer-
tainly, indeed.
Bledo, adj., (SI. biddy) pale, concluded
from bledone-moskeri, M. W., adj. (cf.
mui) with a pale face (f.)
Bliskinel, M. W., vb. imp. (Slov. bly'ska
sa), it lightens.
BoM'i, M. W., S., s.f. (Gr., Bhm. boMi,
Hng. buJceli, bokeri), cake, wheaten-
bread.
Bokos, M. W., (Slov. bole), side (of the
body).
Bokh, S., bok, K., s.f. (Gr. bolt, Hng.,
Bhm. bokh), hunger.
Bokhdlo, M. W., S. bokdlo, K., adj. (Gr.
bokalo ; Hng., Bhm. bokhdlo); hungry.
Bokhal'ovav, (mange), M. W., vb. itr.
(Gr. bokal'ovava, Hng. bokhayovav,
Bhm. bokdlav, Jes. 3), to be (or to be-
come) hungry.
Bo'ri, K., S., s.f. (Gr. bori, bride, young
wife, daughter-in-law ; Bhm. bori, the
same ; Hng. bori) ; daughter-in-law,
(so in all instances, viz.:) Leskre nd-
rodi la na kamnas borake— his parents
would not have her as a daughter-in-
law. Prav dayko, yo vudar, anav
tube bora, anav tuke bora, u mange
romniora — open the door, mother, I
bring thee a daughter, I bring thee a
daughter, and for myself a wife. K.
Bornovos, a., M. W., s. m. (Mag. borju,
bornyu, calf), ox.
Bosorka, a., S., s.f. (Slov. bosorka, cf.
Mag. boszorkdny), witch.
Bou, a., S. bov, a., M. W., s. m. (Gr.,
Bhm. bov, Hng. bof, bov), stove.
Brad'i, M. W. (Gr. wanting ; Hng., Rni.
= Sl., Bhm. brdd'i) ; tub, vat, can,
tankard.
Brdna, a., S., s.f. (Slov. brdna), door.
Brdt'elis, a., S., s. m. (a dim. from the
Slov. brat}7 brother.
Brishind, M. W., S., broshin, K. (Gr.
brishin, brishindo ; Hng. brishind,
brishin ; Bhm. brishind), rain ; bri-
shind del, M. W., S., broshindav, K.,
it rains.
Britva, a., S., s.f. (Slov. britva), razor.
Bruntsl'ikos, S., prop, noun, m. (Slov.
brunclik means : a sort of pigeon,
Burzel taube) : the name of the hero
of the tale "E trin drdki." Pale yekh
bruntsl'ikos pes rakl'as aso god'aver,
bruntsl'ikos pes vichinlas. Then there
was found a B., such a wise one, B. he
called himself. The speaker trans-
lated the word B. by mudry (a wise
man) probably misled by the word
god'aver. The hero of several Mora-
vian folk-tales is called Bruncvik.
Brus/iaris, brusndris, S., s. m. (could
be a slang word derived from the
Slov. brus, "to grind," but cf. Cat.
Gypsy bruxi, real). Kreutzer (an
Austrian coin). Nisht les na kosht'i-
nela ahi brusnaris — it will cost him
nothing, not even a kreutzer.
Brusndrkos, a., s. m. (dim. of the fore-
going), kreutzer.
Buxlo, M. W., adj. (Gr. bnglo ; Hng.
bulho ; Bhm. = SI.), wide, broad.
Buxles, M. W., adv., widely.
Bujando, ? a., *K. (Not to be under-
stood). 0 chave bujande, shelentsa
probatne — the boys are well known
(they have been brought to the proof
a hundred times), Kal.
Buko, M. W., S.,s. m. (Gr., Bhm. -SI.,
Hng. bukko, bhuko), the entrails of an
animal, a., S., the liver (pi.), M. W.
Bukos, M. W., s. in. (Slov. buk), beech-
tree.
Bui, M. W., S., s. m. f. (Gr. vul, bul :
Hng., Bhm. = SI.), posteriors.
Burkos, M. W., S. ; purkos, S., s. m.
(Germ, burg), castle, cavern (I) In the
Sl.-G. tales the dragons either reside
in a burkos, or in a xeu, q.v.
Burnek, M. W., s. m. (Gr., Bhm. = SI.,
Hng. burnik, bornek, the palm), hand-
ful.
Buro, K., s. m. (Gr. wanting, Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), bush, shrub, brier.
Buroro, *K. ; buroro, M. W. (dim. of
the same), id.
But, M., K., S. ; but, M. W., adj. adv.
(Gr., Hng., Bhin.=Sl.). 1. Much,
A VOCABULARY OF TFIE SLOVAK- GYPSY DIALECT.
239
many ; Nane man but love — I have
not much money. 2. Very ; Mind'ar
leske o shere desk u pdnch tele chid'as,
chak oda mashkaruno but tirinlas,
uashchik les te chinlas tele — immedi-
ately he cut him up the fifteen heads ;
but the middle held very fast, he
could not cut it down. The com-
parative buter, M. W., S., butter,
M. W., means : further, beyond that.
Buter tumen na dikava — I shall not
see you further. Les buter nane
chdve, chak oda yeJch rdkl'i — he has
no children except that girl. The
superlative sometimes means : par-
ticularly. Yon has odoi pdnch bersh,
ola tovarisha ; yon naibuter ehas chak
vash oda rdkl'i — they were there five
years, those journeyman ; they were
(there) specially for the sake of that
girl. Butterjene, a., M. (cf. jene\
means the same as buter.
iit'i, *M., S. ; buti, M. W. ; buti, *K.
(Gr. buti, buki ; Hng. buti ; Bhm.
buti. 1. Labour ; You shoha na
kerelas zhddno but'i — he never did
any work. 2. Commonly the labours
of a blacksmith ; 0 rom kerel but'i,
leske mind'ar o sviri pcl'as angal o
vast— the Gypsy is working (at the
forge) ; immediately the hammer fell
out of his hand. But'i keres ? — But'i I
Are you forging ? — Yes, I am.
Buyakos, a., M. W., s. m. (SI. bujak), ox.
Buzex, a., M. W., s. f. (Gr. wanting ;
Rm. buzexa, pi. ; Hng. buzeho,, pi. ;
Bhm. = Sl.)j spor.
Buzini, s. zubunis.
Bzenca 1 a., S., s. f. (very uncertain l),
millet that has been ground.
.On.
Chachiben, a., S. ; chachipen, K., s. in.
(Gr. chachipe ; Bhm. chachipen; Hng.
chachipe, chachipo, chachipe, means :
faith, justice), truth, verity. Pen tu
mange chachipen — tell me the truth,
K.
Chdcho, S. ; chacho, M. W., adj. (Gr.
wanting ; Hng. chacho, chachho ;
Bhm. chacho ; Grm. chacho means
genuine, pure). 1. True ; Ax dade
mro, nane chacho, me somas korkori
pashl'i andr-o ker — Oh my father, that
is not true. I lay alone in the house.
2. Right ; Le tut akada angrust'i pal
mro vast he tho tuke la pre tro angusht
chacho — take this ring from my hand
and put it on thy right finger. 3.
Well, all right ; Keraha shukdr biyau,
h-auka hi chacho — we shall make fine
nuptials, and so (all) will be right.
Cliachuno, M. W., adj. (Gr., Bhm. = SL,
but its meaning in Gr. is : true, right ;
in Bhm. own, proper), just.
Chai, M. W., K., S., s. f. obi. sg. ; cha
S. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. = SI., Gr. chei ;
Hng. chhai). 1. Girl; Xudinomyekha
cha, trival laha keld'om — I got hold
of a girl and danced with her three
times. 2. Daughter ; E rdkl'i lot'il'as ;
dikl'as pr-e chavdro o dad : ax uzhdr,
mri chai — the girl was delivered of a
son. The father looked at the child :
Oh, wait 2, my daughter 1
Chaiko, a., S., s.f. voc. (to the SI. chai
the Slov. dim. suff. ka being adjoined) ;
Uzhdr chaiko pr-o pdhi — wait, girl, by
the water.
Chak, M. S., K; dak, K. ; cha, *K.
(cha ker avava = chak kere av), adv.
conj. (Mag. csak). 1. Adv. only, but
as in Mag. 2. When (Lat. ubi, ut]
Cha ker (r. chak kere} avava, mas, ma-
roro xava -when I get home I shall
eat meat and rolls. K.
Chalav, K., vb. tr. (Gr., Bhm. wanting ;
Hng. = SI.) ; to strike.
Chalavav, *K., vb. tr. (Gr. chalavava,
Hng., Bhm., SI.), to strike (as in : the
clock strikes).
Chdl'ovau, S. ; chalovav, M. W., K. ;
chdl'avav, M. W., vb. itr. (Gr. chdl'o-
vava, Hng. chal'ovav, Bhm. wanting),
to become satiated, to feed to the full.
Le marestar chal'ola — she surfeited
herself on good rolls. K.
Cham, K., s.f. (Gr. = S1. meaning cheek,
Hng. chham, Bhm. = SI.), face.
Chang, M. W., S., s. m. (Gr., Hng.,
1 I once heard this word from Moravian Gypsies, but could not find out its meaning. J
afterwards put it to my SI. Gypsies who translated it by the Slov. pSeno ; but, probably,
they were induced to do so only by the similarity of sound between the two words.
- A threatening expression ; like the Germ. Warte nur ! and the Slov. Len takaj !
240
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
Bhm. = Sl, in Gr. meaning leg), knee,
jangl M. W. (ix. 9).
Char, M.S.; char, M. W., K., s.f. (Gr.
Bhin. char; Hng., char); grass. Shu-
Mr char is said to mean flower, S.
Charav, K., vb. tr. (Gr. charava, Hng.
= SI., Bhm. charrav) ; to lick.
Chdro, M. S., s. m. (Gr., Hng. charo ;
Bhin. = Sl.) ; plate (M. W., also pot).
Charori, chdrori, K. S., s. f. (dim. of
char), grass, K.
Charoro, M. W., s. m. (dim. of charo),
plate ; (M. W., also pot).
Chdvo, S., chavo, M. K., s. m., obi. sg.
chas, S. ; 1 son ; Me som barvalo da-
deskro chavo — I am a rich (father's)
son, cf. in the Grm., Westphal. G.
dial, me horn ye chachi dadeski romni.
2. Lad, boy, Dosta chdve pirde, mek
latar na chinde ; chavo oda yek avl'as,
mindiar latar chind'as — Many lads
have come, they have not gathered
it ; this single lad has come, he has
gathered it at once. K. 3. Child (pi.).
Les Inter nane chdve, chak oda yekh
rdkl'i — He has no (other) children
except this one girl.
Chdvoro, S., chavoro, M. W. K., s. chha-
voro, M. W., s. m. (dim of chavo),
child. E rdkl'i lot'il'as ; ax diklas
pr-o chavoro o dad — The girl was de-
livered of a son ; the father looked at
the child. 2. Lad, boy (even when
adult) ; Ax mre chavore, uzhdren chulo
Oh my boys, wait a little (says John
to his comrades in the tale 0 Biboldo).
Chaydri, M. W., K. S., chayori, M. W.,
s. f. (dim of chai), girl.
Chekant, S., chekan, a., K., s. in. (Gr.
chikat ; Hng., Bhm., chekat) ; fore-
head.
Chekan yakhengre, a., eyebrows, K.
Cherxen, S., cherxen, M. W., M., s.f. (Gr.
cherxan, cherxeni ; Hng. clierheni,
cherhan ; Bhm. cherxen), star.
Cherxenori, S., s. f. (dim. of cherxen),
star.
Chi, K., S., Slov. ci), if, (in interrogative
sentences), its use is the same as in
Slov.
Chiamav, a., K., vb. itr., to walk, to go,
K. ; not confirmed by my Gypsies.
Chib, M. W., S., s.f. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.=
SI., Gr., Hng. chip), tongue (never
language).
Chibdlo, S. : chibhdro, M. W., s. m. (Gr.
adj. loquacious ; Hng. chibalo, id. and
blacksmith, judge ; Bhm. chibalo, as
in SI. : in other dialects still it has
various meanings), judge.
Chik, M. W., s. f. Gr., Hng., Bhm. = SI),
dirt, mud.
Chil, s., butter.
Chilau, a., S., s. m. (Gr. kilav ; Hng.
wanting ; Bhm. t'hilav), prune, damson ;
cf. t'ilavin.
Ghinau, M. W., S. ; chinav, K. (Gr.
chinava, to cut, to perceive, to kill, to
immolate ; Hng. chinav, chhinav, to
cut, to strike, to write ; Bhm. chinav,
to cut, to rend, to write). 1. To cut,
to cleave ; Chind'as yepashende oda
angrust'i — he cut in two that ring.
2. To strike, to beat ; Chin len rano-
raha — beat them with a rod. 3. To
write ; Chinava kere ke tute, ke tro
dad — I shall write (a letter) to thy
family (lit. home to thee), to thy
father. 4. To hang, M. ; Yon les
ligede thel yekha shibenitsate, th-odoi
visinlas yek chindo — they brought
him to the foot of a gibbet, and on it
was suspended a hanged man. M.
Chinav preko, to change (money), a., S. ;
Ase manusha, kai dikhnas sovnakune
I6ve te chinen preko — such men, who
would be seen changing golden coins.
Chinau, a., S., v. tr. (Gr., Bhm. wanting ;
Km., Hng. chinav) ; to shake. La e
ddr chind'as, hoi kai pes il'as leha md-
nush — She shook with fear (for she
saw) whither (her) husband had re-
sorted with him.
Chinavav, *M., M. W., K., vb. tr. (Gr.
chinavava, to cause to cut ; Hng.,
Bhm. wanting ?). 1. To rend. 2. To
tug or pull about. K.
Uiingerau, M. W., S., chingerav, K.,
(Gr. chingerava, to perforate ; Hng.
chhingeravav, to cut ; Bhm. chingerav,
as in SI.); 1. to rend ; Pale mind'ar
oda topdnki chingerde — then they im-
mediately rent the shoes. 2. To cut
up ; Chingerd'as leske savore oda shere
— he cut him up all the heads. 3. To
knock down, M. W. 4. To break, M.
W. 5. To throw, to cast or dart, K.
Chingerav yakentsa, to survey with a
look, to cast glances at, K.
lo, M. W., s. m. (Gr. chinkardo
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT. L' 1 1
an iron instrument ; Hng. wanting ; Be silent, for I bring you immediately
Bhm. = S1. borer, bore) ; hatchet. into the paradise.
Chiriklo, M. W., S., s. in. (Gr., Hung., Chivau, M. W., chiav, K., imp. chi, S.,
Bhm. = SI.), bird. Bdro lolo chiriklo, chiv, M. W., pi. pf. chido (Gr. chivava,
eagle ; aso bdro chiriklo, hawk ; shu- pt. pf. chivdo, to draw ; Hng., Bhm.
Jcdr chiriklo, lark; chiriklo so phirel chivav, to sow, to throw) ; 1. To throw.
rdt'i, bat or rearmouse. Aso sviri chid' as so ehas phdres aspon
Chirikl'i, S., s. f. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. chir- desk u pa'nch tsenti — Such a hammer
ikli), bird ; pa'rtti chirikl'i, magpie ; he threw, the weight of which was al-
even a butterfly is sometimes called most fifteen quintals. 2. To stick?
chirikl'i. cf. Uzhdr chivau mro kdr tra dake —
Chirla, K., S., adv. (cf. Rm. shiro, Hng. (In the tale 0 Rom th-o drakos ii.),
tsiro, Bhm. chiro, time) ; long ago. chiav avri, to pour out, K.
nachirla, K., S., not long since. Chivos, S., s. in. (Mag. cso?) tobacco,
Chisto, a., S., adv. (Slov. cisto, purely), pipe, stem.
straight on, directly? T'icho achcn Chizhma, M. W., s. f. (Slov. &rma, cf.
I'ebo tumeti I'ijau and-o rayos chisto — Mag. csizma), shoe.
REVIEWS.
Gli Zingari : Storia d'un popolo errante. By ADKIANO COLOCCI.
Ermanno Loescher : Turin, 1889.
Expected for some months previously, this interesting book has
made its appearance with the beginning of 1889. As it is intended,
in a great measure, for the general public of Italy — to whom any
serious work upon this subject, and in their own language, is quite a
novelty — there is much within the 420 pages of. Gli Zingari that has
long been known to the world of Gypsiologists. This could not be
avoided in a book which addresses itself to the public, and not to
specialists alone, and, no doubt, this is the explanation of a fact which
might otherwise demand criticism — the occasional absence of refer-
ences to the sources of the author's statements. But M. Colocci was
not writing chiefly for his fellow-members of this Society, although
all of these cannot fail to derive much pleasure and a considerable
amount of profit from the perusal of 'his book.
The ten chapters, which form three-fourths of the work, deal
with the origin, advent, dispersion, persecution, and emancipation of
the Gypsies, with their character and religion, their customs and
language, their dances, songs, and music. There is a map — a novel
and instructive feature — which shows the "Itinerary of the Great
Band of 1417," and the localities in Middle and Western Europe
where the presence of Gypsies in the fifteenth century has been
recorded. There is also a very good Bibliography, from which other
compilers may each glean something ; and this is followed by two
242 REVIEWS.
appendices — the first consisting of about twenty pages of words and
phrases in the Italian dialect of Eomani, and the second being an
" Italian-Tchinghianc " lexicon. By " Tchinghiane " M. Colocci in-
dicates the speech of the Gypsies inhabiting Eastern Eumelia and
the Balkan Peninsula generally, where he has himself studied the
people and their language. Both of these vocabularies have, therefore,
the value of original compilations. The first is peculiarly M. Colocci's.
That relating to the Tchinghianes is his also, but the learned Paspati
had previously gone over most of the same ground. (It is pleasant
to observe, in passing, that our author, during his stay in Athens,
enjoyed the friendship of this eminent Tsiganologue, to whom, indeed,
he submitted many of the words now published.) The book, which
is enlivened by many interesting woodcuts — some second-hand and
rather conventional, others extremely valuable — closes with a highly
poetical apostrophe to the source of the author's inspiration.
Among the examples of Gypsy poetry are (pp. 270 and 280) a
few short songs which M. Colocci has himself gathered during his
travels in Eastern Eumelia. Moreover, to one of these —
Kamalav tut m'angcdi&te
Kasoav ani dakar,
he has added the music, also an original contribution, and by which
he illustrates a special characteristic of Gypsy melody. The greater
part, however, of his poetical specimens are admittedly taken from
well-recognised sources.
While Gli Zingari does not, therefore, assert itself as containing
throughout its pages a mass of fresh information, it yet brings under
the notice of even the scientific reader much that is of distinct
importance. Weightier and more learned books have, of course,
been written upon the subject; but no previous writer has repre-
sented the Gypsies from so many points of view, nor is there any
other book of the kind which places so much solid information before
the reader in such a light, varied, and attractive manner. It must
certainly awaken an interest in Gypsy matters among many who
were previously indifferent, and it will give a great impetus to
Gypsy study throughout the whole of Italy.
Zur Volkskunde dcr Tramsilvanischen Zigeuner. Von DE. HEINRICH
v. WLISLOCKI. Hamburg: Verlag von J. F. Eichter, 1887.
This is an admirable example of vulgarisation, in the best and
most legitimate sense of that word, being a short and singularly lucid
REVIEWS. 243
survey of a subject upon which its author could more easily have
written, out of the fulness of his knowledge, a treatise of five
hundred pages, Dr. von Wlislocki has given us in but forty pages
a masterly summary of his knowledge of the manners, customs,
superstitions, and popular life of the Gypsies of Transylvania, who
are found in that mountainous region as early as 1415, and have
worked themselves there into a kind of settled citizenship. No
part of Europe contains a more mixed population than Transylvania.
The whole number of the inhabitants is not much over two millions
(1880), yet here are found Hungarians — descendants of the original
Magyar conquerors and Szeklers — together numbering over 600,000 ;
Saxons, descendants of the German immigrants in the twelfth century,
to the number of over 200,000 ; more than a million Walachians ;
and as many as 46,000 Gypsies. These are commonly called in
Transylvania by the Hungarian names of Pharao ntpc (" Pharaoh's
folk "), Punic (" naked "), and Czigany : the Eumanians call them
digdnu, while they themselves prefer the name Rom. Their
tents are termed Kortrasch by their Saxon fellow-citizens. Their
language divides itself into three dialects, which are mainly differ-
entiated by the greater or less infusion of foreign words : (1) the
Hungarian-Gypsy, (2) the Walachian-Gypsy, and (3) the Saxon-
Gypsy, of which the first is the purest, and indeed the richest dialect
of the Gypsy language in the world. The Transylvanian Kortorar
fall into four main tribes, each under a hereditary chief : the Le'ila,
Kukuya, Aschani, and Tschale.
Dr. von Wlislocki rather suggests than draws upon the extra-
ordinary wealth of popular poetry of the Transylvanian Gypsies, but
what he does say is enough to convince folk-lorists that herein there
is an inexhaustible store of treasures of the richest quality and
preserved, moreover, in the most primitive forms. The glamour of
Egypt has not blinded the author to the drawbacks of his heroes, but
through all their squalor and lack of principle, and spite of the many
unamiable circumstances in their environment, he can discern the
romance that redeems them from baseness and glorifies their brown
tents with the halo of poetry.
THOMAS DAVIDSON.
Notices and articles on the Gypsy question (which were largely
evoked by the publication of Gli Zingari) have recently appeared
in the following journals of Italy : — La Gazzetta Piemontese of Turin
(30th Nov. 1888); // Popolo Romano (5th Dec. 1888); La Tribuna
244 NOTES AND QUERIES.
of Rome (from the pen of Evangelist!, 25th Dec. 1888) \Il Diritto of
Rome (31st Dec. 1888, contributed by Bertola) ; La Favilla of Perugia
(31st Dec. 1888), by G. B. Miliani, who also wrote on the same
subject in the E'lbliofilo of Bologna in Jan, 1889 ; in the Carrier e della
Sera of Mitan (by Barattani; 5-6 Jan. 1889); La Bilancia of Jesi
(3rd Feb. 1889) ; L* Illustrazione Italiana of Milan (by Ugo Pesci, on
10th Feb. 1889) ; the Cuore e Critica of Bergamo (20th Feb. 1889, by
Dr. N. Colajanni), and in La Gazzetta del Popolo della Domenica,
Turin, 17th March 1889. The Gazzetta Musicale of Milan, (10th
March 1889), also contains the first of an interesting series of studies
on " The Music of the Gypsies," by Dr. A. G. Corrieri.
But of the many recent items upon this subject, which have
appeared not only in the journals of Italy, but in those of Austro-
Hungary and of other continental countries, we have not space to
speak particularly. It is impossible, however, to conclude without
referring to the graceful and sympathetic notice of our Society, which
the pen of Madame CopMarlet (authoress of the Gypsy novel Gold-
jano), communicated to the columns of the Revue de I' Orient of Buda-
pest, on 20th January last. Herself an enthusiastic lover of the
Gypsies, as well as a most charming writer, her article glows with a
feeling of genuine appreciation of this Society, which may well con-
gratulate itself upon having such an advocate.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
I.
KING JOHN OP ENGLAND AND THE TINKERS.
The anecdote of King James v. of Scotland (A.D. 1513-1542) and the tinkers
may be contrasted with the similar adventure of King John of England (A D. 1199-
1216), told at length in Lonsdale Magazine, 1822, vol. iii., p. 312, and repeated in
Hampson's Medii Mm Kalendarium, 1841, vol. i., p. 224. King John was staying
at Alnwick Castle, and dressed himself as a palmer (pilgrim) to visit the peasants
and learn news of himself. Upon St. Mark's Day (April 25) he followed a footpath
to a well, where he found three tinkers, who desired him to sit down and tell
them the news. They made themselves merry with mocking him, and led him to
a boggy bottom, and caused the king to travel to and fro until, bedaubed with dirt
from head to foot, they suffered him to depart. As he passed home through Aln-
wick street the people crowded about him. He testily told them all their posterity
should tread in his footsteps. He reached the Castle, and sent an armed party
after the tinkers. Two were hanged ; the third, who interfered on the king's
behalf, was presented with his liberty and a sum of money. King John then made
a law that if three tinkers were ever in future found travelling in company, two of
them should be hanged ; and in consequence of the people's laughing at him, the
king made a further decree that no man should enjoy the freedom of Alnwick until
he had travelled through the same slough. H. T. CROFTON.
NOTKS ANT) QUERIES. 245
The Scotch anecdote referred to by Mr. Crofton is quoted by Simson in his
History of the Gypsies, pp. 104-5. And the similarity between the two stories is
very striking — so striking that it is evident there is more than similarity. The
Scottish king goes through exactly the same kind of experience as King John of
England (with some few and unimportant differences of detail), and, like him, he
made a law, as the result of this ill-treatment, "that whenever three men tinkers,
or gipseys, were found going together, two of them should be hanged and the third
set at liberty."
Now the Scotch story relates to the county of Fife, and the first half of the six-
teenth century. The English story relates to the northern part of Northumberland,
and the beginning of the thirteenth century. Obviously, therefore, the English
story is the true one, of which the Scotch version is only an echo.
That such an anecdote, if previously existing, should become associated with
James v. of Scotland — a very Harun-al-Rashid, and of whom innumerable such stories
were told — was an exceedingly natural event. But how did the Northumberland
tale of the twelfth century become current in Fifeshire in the sixteenth ? If the
English tale had been a couple of centuries earlier still, the explanation would not
have been difficult. For, until the battle of Carham, in 1018, the country lying
between the Tweed and the Firth of Forth was not Scottish but English (i.e.
Northumbrian) ; and as the people of south-eastern Scotland were practically the
same as those of Northumberland, an Alnwick incident would be as well known
on the southern shores of the Firth of Forth as on the River Tyne. And if current
on the southern shores of the Firth, it could easily pass across to the northern shores
when the people on either side became politically one.
This explanation, however, would insinuate that even the King John version
was not the original. Be that as it may, it is clear that the Scotch story is a mere
copy. And one very interesting circumstance is that, if the Scotch version be
correct in speaking of the three as " tinkers or gipseys" and if the English tradi-
tion really dates from the days of King John, then the latter would indicate the
presence of Gypsies in Northuinbria in the thirteenth century.
DAVID
THE WORDS " GURKO " AND " SIMO."
With reference to Mr. Pincherle's query (No. 3 of the Journal, p. 1 69) con-
cerning the etymology of Gurko — which in Spain is kurko, and in Italy kurJcara —
I am of opinion that the Greek KvpiaKrj is the probable source of all these forms.
As a matter of curiosity, I would add that two other interpretations were offered to
me : one that the word was derived from the Turkish-Gypsy gdrko (bad, wicked),
as though the Gypsies, when Christianity was imposed upon them, had wished to show
their contempt for the day of religion — well aware that the Christians would not
have understood the significance of the term. The other derivation was from the
Indian g'hur (house), either because it was used to denote the day when one
remained in the house, without going out to work, or because one went to church,
the " house of God." These two interpretations of gurkoro dives have been given
to me, but I cannot say I have much confidence in them.
Simo comes from sinar, as Mr. Greene (No. 3, p. 170) correctly remarks. The
Gitano verb sinar, however, seems to me the old Latin form altered, and not of
Gypsy origin. In the Neapolitan dialect one finds these forms : Simo accd (we are
here) ; Ce simmo nasciuti 'nsema (I was born with him). [Latin sim, subj.]
ADRIANO COLOCCI.
246 NOTES AND QUERIES.
3-
NOTES ON THE THREE MAGI.
Florence, Jan. 4, 1889-
DEAR MR. MACRITCHIE, — Just about the time when I received No. 3 of The
Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, and read your remarks on the Three Kings of
Cologne, I was interested in the same subject from a very different point of view,
yet one which bears on it. I am much occupied here in Florence in collecting
Witch-lore, my assistant-general being a fortune-teller, apparently of Romany blood,
who is possessed of a great store of charms and incantations, all of the " old faith,"
i.e. not Catholic Christian.
She had frequently spoken to me of what are called medaglie dMe streghe, or
witch-medals, worn as a counter-charm against sorcery and other evils. Finally
she obtained some of them for me. They are small brass counters, bearing on one
side the Three Kings of Cologne worshipping the child Christ, on the other,
S. s. REGES
GASP. MKL. BALD.
ORATE PRO NOBIS
NUNC ET IN HOE A •
MORTIS NOSTRAE
AMEN !
On my remarking that this was " Christian," I was told that the believers in
witchcraft, or those who have recourse to it, make an exception in its favour. They
formerly used only old Roman coins for witch-medals. The priests, to prevent
this, substituted the medals of the Three Kings, and " as we found that these were
as powerful, they were accepted." I have lately learned that this compromise with
sorcery made trouble among the orthodox believers. And I have been told by my
collector, " Certainly we receive the medals, because the Three Kings were Streg-
hone " (or wizards). But wizard here implies also " heathen," or not-Christian.
Why, indeed, were these medals accepted by the believers in ancient sorcery, if
there was not a deeply seated faith that the Wise Men of the East were sorcerers, and
belonged in some way to the great army of dealers in dark lore ? It certainly showed
great shrewdness in selection to so exactly match the witches' medals with the
Three Kings', who were none the less wizards or warlocks because they were " holy "
men. As for their connection with Gypsies, it is plain enough. Gypsies were
from the East ; Rome and the world abounded in wandering Chaldean magi-priests,
and the researches which I am making have led me to a firm conclusion that the
Gypsy lore of Hungary and South Slavonia (of which I have large collections) has
a very original character as being, firstly, though derived from India, not Aryan,
but " Shamanic " that is, of an Altaic or Tartar, or " Turanian " stock, such as con-
stitutes the real latent religion of the majority of the country people in India to-day.
Secondly, this was the old Chaldean = A ccadian "wisdom" or sorcery. Thirdly —
and this deserves serious examination — it was also the old Etruscan religion
whose magic formulas were transmitted to the Romans. Now I find that the
Florentine witch-lore is derived from the Tuscan Romagna, where it still has such
influence that two persons, one a very learned Italian, and the other, one of the
people, both independently remarked to me that there is ten times as much faith
in heathenism or witchcraft there as in Christianity.
The gift of gold, myrrh, and frankincense is very little understood. .Not long
ago a professional witch in the Romagna made, and sent to me as a kindly token,
" the great charm." It consists of several very ancient Roman and one purely
Gypsy ingredient (the magnet), and was prepared with ceremonies and rhymes.
But the chief component was frankincense, and I was warned that to perfect it I
must add a small gold coin. This is not derived from the New Testament, for
everything among these Tuscan sorceries is world-old. The gift by the Magi is
explained as that of the charm or amulet which is given with a prophecy. Its
NOTES AND QUERIES. 247
object is to insure its completion, and to keep away evil influences, or malignant
sorcery, and secure prosperity. According to my informant, the Magi " dukkered "
the Infant, and gave him the usual gift. It is certainly true that this was the real
meaning of such a gift under such circumstances.
The Venetian witchcraft, as set forth by Bernoni, is evidently of Sclavic = Greek
origin. That of the Romagna is Etruscan, agreeing very strangely and closely with the
( 'haldean magic of Lenormant, and marvellously like the Gypsies'. It does not,
when carefully sifted, seem to be like that of the Aryans, though these latter at an
early date got hold of a great deal of it, nor is it Semitic. To what degree some
idea of all this, and of Gypsy connection with it, penetrated among the people and
filtered down, even into the Middle Ages, no one can say. But it is very probable
that through the centuries there came together some report of the common origin of
Gypsy and "Eastern" or Chaldean lore, for since it was the same, there is no reason
why a knowledge of the truth should not have been disseminated in a time of tradi-
tions and earnest study in " occultism." The more I investigate it, the more I am
convinced that we know very little indeed about the real or social condition of
witchcraft and sorcery of yore.
I think that I have proved all I have here asserted in a book which I am writ-
ing on Gypsy Sorcery. If not, I have at least brought together a mass of curious
lore which possibly proves it. A great proportion of this has been gathered by me
in strange ways among very strange people ; so strange that few cultivated men
would believe such beings existed, or that such remains of prim.ieval religion are
actually "living and breathing" in Europe. It dies very hard, this old faith in
the fetish and "possession" and incantations, and it is probable that here in
Italy, while the medals of the Magi are sold, and benedictions and exorcisms of
another kind are dealt out, there will be found even among the peasants many who
conjecture their true origin, and who, when a good strong cure is needed, go to it
by preference. CHARLES G. LELAND.
The idea that Gypsies were regarded as " wandering Chaldean magi-priests," in
comparatively modern times, seems quite borne out by the following entry, which
occurs in the Accounts of the Burgh of Aberdeen, 1593-1650: — "Item, to twa
strangers — the ane ane Grecian, the uther ane Caldean — remanent in this burgh,
be the Counsall . . . ,£10." (£10 Scots, it may be remarked, was only 16s. 8d.).
This " Caldean " can hardly have been anything else than a Gypsy. Probably the
"Grecian" was also one ; like those "Greeks " of 1512, referred to in the Consti-
tutions of Catalonia.
Note also these lines in Butler's Hudibras (Part ii. Canto in.) : —
" He played the saltinbancho's part,
Transformed t' a Frenchman by my art ;
He stole your cloak, and picked your pocket,
Chowsed and caldesed you like a blockhead."
Warburton says that this is " a word of his [Butler's] own coining, and signifies
putting the fortune-teller upon you, called Chaldeans, or Egyptians."
Whether Butler invented the verb " to caldese " or not, it seems evident that,
during the seventeenth century, and from one end of Great Britain to the other,
the term " Chaldean " was not infrequently applied to Gypsy fortune-tellers.
Therefore, as the Three Magi were believed to be Chaldeans, their representatives
on the stage were naturally identified with the existing fortune-tellers "called
Chaldeans, or Egyptians."
The following extract from the January number of the Revue des Traditions
2)opulaires (1889, p. 39) may here be given as supplementing similar statements on
pp. 142-3 of our Journal (No. 3) : — "In Normandy, the Feast of the Kings is
celebrated on the Sunday following the 6th of January, and also the three Sundays
following that date, that of the third Sunday being called the Feast of the Moorish
Kings (Fete des Rois Maures)." DAVID
248 NOTES AND QUERIES.
4-
ITALIAN TINKERS AND THEIR HABITS.
The following is from a Trieste newspaper (II Piccolo, evening edition), 7th
February 1889 :—
"We would draw the attention of our readers to various incidents which have
recently occurred at Bergamo, where, on the ramparts near the gate of San
Alessandro, a troup of Gypsies was encamped.
"Numberless disputes remained to be settled between the tinker-Gypsies
(Zingari-calderai) and their customers, who had entrusted to them their kitchen
utensils, for the repairing of which the Gypsies were asking exorbitant prices ; but
the police authorities cut short the difficulty by having all the utensils conveyed to
the police-station, and inviting all parties thither for an equitable settlement.
And, indeed, they arrived at a more or less spontaneous agreement, although
several utensils are still lying at the police-station.
" Now, while the Gypsies were striking their tents, there arrived another
caravan of them, who desired to pitch their tents in that place. This the police
absolutely prohibited them from doing ; and thus the two caravans, united together,
moved down into the plain and betook themselves to Balicco's stable-yard, in the
Campo di Marte.
" Yesterday the preliminaries of a strange contract appear to have been com-
pleted between the Gypsies and a landlord there. The latter, who bears the
sobriquet of Pacio, took temporarily into his service, during the Gypsies' stay on
the Campo di Marte, one of their boys, with whom he was so much pleased that he
asked the Gypsies whether they would agree to leave him altogether with him. To
this the Gypsies did not show themselves averse, but on the understanding that
they should be recompensed. Pacio desired to learn the amount of such recom-
pense. ' Five lire for every kilo the boy weighs,' replied the Gypsies. We do not
know the lad's weight, but he is strongly built and stout, so that Pacio saw at a
glance that the compensation was a little too serious. However, he ventured to
offer two lire for every kilo. And the bargain broke off.
" A contract of another sort was afterwards entered into between the two Gypsy
caravans. A lovely girl belonged to one of the companies ; to the other a sturdy
young fellow, Mastro Nicola. Mastro Nicola fell in love with the girl and, ipso
facto, asked her in marriage. The match was at once arranged by the chiefs of the
caravan. Everything seemed definitely settled, when, late in the evening, discus-
sions arose concerning the Wedding Prize : the caravan that had ceded the girl
claimed 1000 lire ; the other party would not give nearly so much. As a conse-
quence, abusive language and menaces were freely exchanged, and an endless
squabble got up, causing a curious crowd to gather round Balicco's stable -yard.
The affair threatened to become serious, for the disputants had begun to exchange
cuffs and blows. Fortunately the marshal, De Martino, with a dozen guards, came
up in the nick of time. He had, however, much trouble before peace could be
restored. Finally, seeing themselves threatened with severer measures, the two
Gypsy caravans, with all their baggage, moved off to a very considerable distance
from the neighbourhood of the town."
VOLUME I. of the Journal will consist of the first six numbers, on the comple-
tion of which a cloth cover will be issued to those who have previously intimated
their desire to have it.
NOTICE. — All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MACRITCHIE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY.
*
VOL. I. JULY 1889. No. 5
I.— THE GYPSIES OF ASIA MINOR
THE Gypsies are as well entitled as the Circassians, and even as
the Tartars and the Nogais, to be reckoned among the in-
habitants of Asia Minor, where they appeared probably as early as
the first century of the Christian era, and certainly sooner than they
did in Europe. To judge from the accounts of the learned Baki Zade
Chusni, of the kaimakams in Antioch, who occupied himself in
archaeological research, one finds indications in the Arabic chronicles
of the seventh century of the presence there of Gypsies. There came
from the East many people calling themselves Ruri (compare Luri
and Ljuli — Gypsies of Central Asia), and these spread themselves over
the whole country lying on the other side 'of the Euphrates. They
lived in tents, understood smith-work, and how to treat horses, which
they loved better than their own children. The dance and the song
embellished their wild and irregular life. It cannot be denied that
this description is strikingly applicable to the Gypsies who are yet to
be found in great numbers in Asia Minor ; who often, with the
Turkomans and the Juruken (mistaken for Gypsy bands) wander over
the inner Anatolian plateau without any evidence of possessing a
settled .abode. On my way to Siwas I met three or four bands
one after another, which probably migrated to the south. On no
account do they go beyond the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, for there
they are opposed by the wild nomadic Bedaween. I met no Gypsies
in Syria and Palestine, nor in the Sinaitic peninsula, although I not
VOL. i. — NO. v. K
250 THE GYPSIES OF ASIA MINOR.
infrequently encountered Gypsy bands when in Egypt. The nearer
one finds oneself to the eastern boundary of Asia Minor — i.e. the
nearer the Persian frontier — the more numerous are the Gypsies ; and
this also is the case on the Russian-Caucasian frontier.
Of the thirty-four Gypsies whom I investigated from the anthro-
pological standpoint during my journey through Asia Minor, twenty-
eight belonged to the so-called common type, and had not the fine
features and clear profile so often found among our Gypsies.
Moreover, many of those whom I have measured were prognathous.
Their average height was 'about 5 feet 2 inches (1'58 m.); their
cephalic index 77'6 — 80'0. In general the common type among
those Anatolian*, Gypsies recalls the Gypsies or Ljuri of Central Asia;
on the other hand, the Gypsies or Chingars whom I met on the other
side of Charput belong to the Persian type of the Susmani Gypsies.
Their fine profile, the oblong face, the fine aquiline nose, the small but
expressive black eyes, the curly, black hair, and the insignificant
prognathism, reminded me of the type of the greater part of the
South Russian and Wallachian Gypsies. Their cephalic index is from
75*4 — 78'0 ; their average height is about 5 feet 3 inches (1'60 m.);
they are also taller than those groups of Gypsies previously mentioned.
One can sometimes maintain this type to be genuinely Semitic,
whereas those Gypsies who belong to the common type have in
general a Mongolian cast of features.
The Gypsies of Asia Minor are horse-dealers and farriers, and they
also occupy themselves in telling fortunes and in stealing. Musicians,
singers, and dancers are more frequently met with among the Susmani
than the real Anatolian Gypsies. The Persian Gypsies who frequent
the frontiers of Armenia and Persia, and who are also found in
Kurdistan, are notorious for their moral degeneration ; the Gypsies of
Asia Minor, on the contrary, are eminent for their high morality. It
is even said that crimes against honour and against their individual
property are of very rare occurrence in their camps. The Gypsies
frequently pitch their tents at the entrances of towns, and, uniting
themselves with the Juruken and the Turkomans, wander together
on the Jaila (the pasture-land of the Anti-Taurus). In the habits
.of the Lycian and Pamphylian Gypsies one can see the step between
the nomadic and the sedentary life. They take the same resting-
places for years at a time, and busily engage in cattle-rearing ; the
women even spin and weave. I have been told, moreover, that some
Gypsy settlements are to be found on the way to Tosgad, but I have
seen nothing of them. A. ELYSSEEFF.
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 251
II— THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR
LANGUAGE.
SOME ten years ago, a tribe of Gypsies quartered themselves in
my forests. Pushed by curiosity, I frequently asked them to
explain to me the meaning of certain words I had picked up among
them, and the information so obtained led me to compile the present
small vocabulary.
Gypsies have, of late, appeared more rarely in these regions.
They are in the habit of settling down for good in the places most
congenial to them, where they amalgamate, by degrees, with the
native population ; hence, in a hundred years hence, and perhaps
even long before then, they may disappear altogether, and those who
now have opportunities for writing down the information obtained
with regard to the Cygani language, will contribute towards enlarging
our knowledge on this subject and enable linguists to institute further
comparison with the cognate languages.
As even now Gypsies are met here very rarely, I have not been
able to fall in with another of their settlements for the last ten years.
Those who pitch their tents in these regions are known to visit also
other more or less contiguous governments (provinces).
Some of them may be met also at the annual fairs, but not regu-
larly. As they are great adepts in the art of stealing, most of the
frequenters of those periodical meetings are anxious to give them a
wide berth. They usually occupy themselves with fortune- telling,
cheating, horse-dealing.
In winter time they rarely camp out in the open air, but take
up their quarters in the village inns, where they seek to ingratiate
themselves with those who seem to sympathise with them. Their
favourite dance is the " Eed Cosak," a kind of Russian peasants'
dance, accompanied by monotonous songs or instrumental music.
The women usually wear, like the Kurpi1 peasant women, a
large shawl, by way of a cloak, which affords them not only sufficient
protection against the cold, but also a convenient receptacle for
stolen goods. In begging, they display considerable astuteness and
knowledge of character. Thus, for instance, when a Gypsy woman
asks at a peasant's hut for the gift of a piece of lard or some other
similar article, a second Gypsy will, of course accidentally, turn up
at the same moment and apostrophise her somewhat in the following
style : " How stupid you are ! Why do you beg ? Do you not know
1 Kurpi, a Polish family, inhabiting the provinces of Lomsha and Plock.
252 THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
how good the lady is, and that she will give you more than you have
asked for ?-..." and so forth.
All of the Gypsies visiting these parts are Roman Catholics,
and recite their prayers in the Lithuanian language; they are
baptised, married, and buried according to the ritual of the Eoman
Catholic Church.
In reply to some questions of mine, they stated that they pos-
sessed no books written in their own language. Like their Lithu-
anian kindred, the Gypsies of Curland are Eoman Catholics, and
follow the usages of the Catholic Church. It is, however, their
practice to conform, as much as possible, with the creed of their hosts,
no matter what persuasion they may belong to. Thus I remember
seeing, at Mittau, in Curland, some twenty years ago, some Gypsies
going to confession at Easter time. They conform with all sacred
rites merely in a most superficial manner, and after having partaken
of the Communion, they leave the church in the greatest haste. A
priest told me once, in a jocular way, that they only come to the
confessional when their conscience is oppressed by excessive horse-
stealing.
Sometimes we are visited also by Hungarian, Servian, and
Roumanian Gypsies. These last consider themselves to belong to
the true (i.e. the Russian) Church. They are mostly tinkers, repairing
copper cooking utensils ; but of these they are very apt to steal the
copper bottoms, substituting an imitation of papier -mdcht. They
differ greatly from our own Gypsies, whom they excel in an incredible
amount of obtrusiveness ; moreover they attack and rob wayfarers,
and when asked what they are, they say : " We are not Gypsies,
Sir ; we are Magyars." A pretty story is told of these same " Mag-
yar" gentry, as practised upon a gentleman in the district of Marianpol,
in the province of Suwalki. This is what happened : — Some Gypsies
had cured the horses on that nobleman's estate of glanders, for which
service they demanded a very large sum, amounting to several hun-
dred roubles, which the nobleman refused to pay, as it was greatly
excessive. When the Gypsies had left, the horses began to neigh in
an extraordinary manner, louder and louder, becoming perfectly wild ;
and, eventually, falling down in convulsions. A veterinary surgeon
was sent for, but could do nothing, and he was not even able to name
the disease from which the horses were suffering. When the surgeon
dissected one of the dead horses, he found every part of the body to
be in a perfectly normal condition ; but, on opening the head, it was
found that a number of rags had been pushed up the poor animal's
Till; LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND TIIEIll LANGUAGE.
nostrils, which, of course, brought on suffocation. Such and similar
innocent little games arc now and then practised by these amiable
visitors, and no one need therefore wonder why their room is, as a
rule, preferred to their company.
The Gypsy women always carry a quantity of corn in their
pockets, for the purpose of attracting and catching poultry, which
they quickly kill, and adroitly hide underneath their ample shawls.
They also dispense certain philtres, whicli they call "sympathetic
nostrums," supposed to have the effect of making people fall in love
with each other. They are also suspected of child-stealing.
I once came across a fair-complexioned Gypsy, with light blond
hair ; he was the son of a noble lady, who had eloped with his father.
By such and similar instances of cross-breeding, the race of the
Gypsies becomes refined and altered. They usually speak several
languages, and are not a little proud of their own, which, they say,
is a mixtum composition, consisting of three times nine languages ;
that is to say, probably, by an admixture of Lithuanian — Trins
devineres Kalbas, as they name it.
With regard to their genealogy, they say that they come from
Egypt, and that, at the time the Jews were slaves in that country,
building towers and treasure-cities, their ancestors were set over them
by the Pharaohs as taskmasters, armed with knouts to whip them
on. . Stealing, they say, has been permitted in their favour by the
crucified Jesus, because the Gypsies, being present at the Crucifixion,
stole one of the four nails, by the aid of which the Saviour was
nailed to the cross ; hence it is that, when the hands had been
nailed fast there was only one nail left for the feet, and therefore
God allowed them to steal, and it is not accounted a sin to them.
Gypsies have, generally, a dusky complexion, and curly black
hair, and black eyes, by which, and their peculiar features, the descen-
dants of this tribe are easily recognised.
In summer time the children are often allowed to go about naked.
They smoke pipes, and when they are short of tobacco, they are
satisfied to smoke hay or other vegetable matter.
Half a century ago the nobility practised the barbarous sport
of hunting Gypsies out of their forests, often killing or crippling
them. It certainly had the effect, if not of expelling them entirely,
at least of making their visits few and far between.
When telling people's fortunes from their hands, they gratify
them usually with a string of set, flattering phrases ; for instance :
" Girls will surround you, good sir, like Hies around a milk-pot. If
254
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
you marry, you will have no fewer than ten children ; men do not
look after the bread basket " (meaning, you need not trouble about
having to keep them), et ccetera ad infinitum.
CYGANI-ENGLISH VOCABULARY.
The Polish orthography of the author is here followed, with a few modifications.
The italicised " 1 " (I) is substituted for the Polish symbol, which has the force of
" 11 " in English. Italicised o and e represent a nasal sound equivalent to French
on and in in the words bon and vin. The letter " n " is here used as in Spanish.
Cz = Eng. ch ; sz = Eng. sh ; z = Fr. g, as in gite ; c = Eng. ts ; and ch = Germ. ch.
Cygani.
English.
Remarks.
(Those marked thus * are by the Editors).
Angrusti,
Ring, ....
Bibo, .
Aunt, ....
Bibi.*
Bate, .
Hair, ....
Breza, .
Birchwood, .
Rus. Berioza ; Lit. Berzas.
BoZybe,
Heaven,
Brydo, .
Bori, .
Ugly, ....
Daughter-in-law, .
Pol. brzydki.
Pol. brae' ; Rus. baroZ.
Brainta,
Brandy (Schnapps —
Germ. Branntwein.
Eau-de-vie).
Bing, .
Devil, ....
Lit. Bangputis, an idol. Beng.*
Boczano,
Stork, ....
Pol. bocian ; Lit. bacenas ; Rus. bot'ka.
Bar, .
Czaj, .
Stone, ....
Daughter,
Lettish, bars, a heap.
Czupny,
Whip, cat-o' -nine-tails,
Lit. cziupti, to seize.
Czomut,
Horse-collar,
Pol. chomot.
Czaro, .
Large dish, .
Pol. czara.
ChoZou,
Trousers,
Pol. cholewa, the leg of a boot. Wlislocki, cholo,
stockings.*
Cocha,
Greatcoat, .
Czon, .
Moon, . . •• .
Czerhenia, .
Stars, ....
Czyna, .
Ear-rings,
Pol. cyna ; Lit. cina (because they are made of
tin — Germ. Zinri).
Czar, .
Cha, .
Grass, ....
To eat, ....
Used by the Gypsies for making charms ; Pol.
czary, sorcery, a love-philtre.
Cholinakro. .
Angry, ....
CheZada,
A Russian, .
Rus. choZodnyj, cold ; coming from a cold
region — (north).
Czavo, .
Son, ....
Kirch. -Slav, czado — child.
Czisawo,
Chestnut colour. .
Pol. cisawy.
CzirikZo,
Bird, ....
Lit. cirulus, lark.
Dziuly,
Woman (female), .
Eng.-Gyp., djiivel ; Paspati, djuvel.*
Daj, .
Mother,
Dad, .
Father, .
Pol. dziad ; Rus. ded, grandfather ; Lit. dedis;
Rus. diada, uncle.
Danda,
Teeth,
Lit. dantis; Lat. dens.
DukaZ, .
Pain,
Eng.-Gyp., duka.*
DeveZ, .
God,
Lat. Deus ; Lit. Dievas (and Dievelis, dear God).
Dzo, .
Oats,
Eng.-Gyp., djob.*
Dziukel,
Dog,
Drum, .
Way (road and street), .
Pol. droga.
Draba, .
Medicine,
Pol. drobic, crumbs.
Dikmengepa
Show me your hand (for
Wast !
De pszaZoro
telling your fortune),
Give oats to my horse,
Look me on the hand.*
mire greske
dzo !
brother ! .
Pol. daj, give ; Germ. mir.
Fur, .
Sheep, ....
Foro, .
Town, . -
Filaczyn,
Country residence (Vil-
Eng.-Gyp., filisin;* Liebich, filezzin;* Lit.
leggiatura),
pile, town.
Felda, .
Field, ....
Germ. feld.
Graj, .
Horse, .
Grazki,
Mare, .
Grazni.*
Gad, .
Shirt, . . . .
Pol. galki, gacie, drawers.
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
255
Cygani.
English.
Remarks.
Gadzo, .
Inhabitant of Zmudz
Rus., Lit. Gudas. (Eastern Russia). Gadzo =
(Samogitia),
Non-Gypsy.*
Gruszka,
Pear-tree,
Pol. gruszk.
Gniado,
Dun, or chestnut (colour),
Pol. gniady.
GudZo,
Sweet, ....
Lit. godus, godlivas, to long for sweetmeats.
Gau, .
Small village,
Germ. haus.
Giu, .
Rye, ....
Hera, .
Feet, ....
Lit. greitas, swift; Pol. (vulg.) giry, leet.
Hanyny,
Well, ....
Hirifo, .
Jag, .
Peas, ....
Fire, ....
Esthon. hern ; Lit. zirnei,j3eas ; Slav, zerno, grains.
Lit. ugnis ; Lat. ignis ; Sansc. agni ; Lettish, uguns.
Jaka, .
Eyes, ....
Lit. akis ; Let. acis ; Pol. Russ. oko.
Jegla, .
Fir, ....
Lit. egle, agle ;' Lettish, egle ; Pol. jodZa.
.Tudu, .
Jew, ....
Germ. Jude. *
Jenczmenie, .
Barley, ....
Pol. jeczmien ; Rus. jaczmien.
Indarako,
Petticoat,
Germ, unterrock ; Lit. indarokas.
Kachni,
Poultry,
Esth. kanna.
Kuroro,
Foal
Kak, .
Uncle, ....
Korszy,
Trunk, ....
Polish, karcz.
Kcham,
Sun, • .
Kangiery, .
Church,
Knizki,
Book, ....
Rus. kniga, knizka ; Lit. kniga.
Kas, .
Hay, ....
Esth. kask, kassa, birch ?
Kana. .
Ear, ....
Esth. kan, kand.
Kar, .
Flesh (meat),
Rus. karowa ; Lit. karwe ; Pol. krowan, cow.
Kaszta, Kasxt,
Wood, ....
Pol. kasztan, a chestnut tree.
Kiral, .
Kirko, .
Salt, adj., .
Bitter, ....
? A quid pro quo (kiral = cheese).*
Lit. kartus ; Rus. gorkij.
Kalu, .
Black, ....
Germ. kohl.
Kotka, .
Cat, ....
Pol. kotka ; Lit. kate.
Laska, .
Stick (cane), .
Pol. laska.
Lye, . .
To carry,
Zatszu,
Good, ....
Lovina,
Beer, ....
Mursz, .
Man (i.e. mensch), ^ .
Pol. monz; Rus. muz; Lit. muziks ; Esth.
mees.
Mocho,
Moss, ....
Rus. nioch.
Muj, .
Body, ....
Meribe,
Death, ....
Lit. miribe, death ; mirti, to die.
Mas, .
Flesh, ....
Lit. mensa ; Pol. mienso ; Lit.jnisti, to nourish
oneself.
Mirikle,
Corals, ....
Matszlim, .
A fly, .
Nasz, .
To move,
Lit. neszti ; Pol. nieszc', to draw.
NaszeZopani,
The water runs (flows), .
Naszel o pani.*
Naswalo,
Sick, ....
Okolisto,
To ride — on horseback, .
0 kolisto (i.e. the horseman). Cf. Scotch-Gypsy
klistie, soldier.*
Pani, .
Water, ....
Lit. pienas (mleko), milk.
Pode ! .
Demand — Beg !
Pol. podaj ! Lit. poduk !
Piri, .
Kettle, ....
Pchu, .
Perio. .
Earth, ....
An Egg,
Rus. pachat, to plough, to till the ground.
Lit. p^ras, a brood of chickens.
Pora, . .
Pen, ....
Pol. pioro ; Rus. piero.
Pchabaj, .
Apple, ....
Parno,
White, ....
Pol. pardwa, white partridge.
Postin,
Sheep's fleece,
Lit. postees, to clothe one's-self.
Pchuro,
Old ....
Papin, .
Goose, ....
Pogrobo,
Burial, ....
Pol. pogrzeb. ; Rus. pogreb ; Lit. pagrebas.
Puruma,
Palca .
Onion, ....
Finger, ....
Lit. purai — wheat.
Pol. Palec.
Rakty,. .
Girl, ....
Roj, .
Spoon, ....
Roto, .
Wheel (of a carriage or
Germ, rad ; Lit. ratas, a wheel ; Sans, rata, a
cart).
carriage.
Reka, .
River, ....
Rus. rieka.
Raszaj,
Raj, .
Rajny .
Parson (priest), .
Gentleman (Seigneur), .
Lady, ....
j-Pol. (vulg.) Rajny, to woo; courtship.
Renkano,
Pole, . . . .
Lit. lenkas.
Rom, .
Gypsy, ....
256
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
Cygani.
English.
Remarks.
Romni,
Wife ; female Gypsy, .
Ri, . .
To cook
Lit. riti ; Let. riht, to eat.
Reca, .
Duck, ....
Sztetus,
Camp (Military), .
Germ, stadt ; Lit. stoti, to stand.
Saste, or
Sasto,
Healthy,
Szwar, .
A bridle,
Paspati, shuvar, bridle.*
Sawaris,
A small bridle,
Lit. suverti, to bind together.
Stad, .
Cap, ....
Eng.-Gyp. staadi.*
Sosna, .
Pine (fir), .
Pol. and Rus. sosna.
Stremien,
Stirrup,
Pol. strzemieu ; Rus. stremien.
SmoZa,
Tar, ....
Lit. smaZa. Pol. smoZa.
SZuga, .
Servant,
Pol., Rus., and Lit. sJuga.
Saso, .
German,
Esth. Saks. German ; Pol. Sas. Saxon.
Sal, .
Salt, ....
Esth. sool. The Gypsy word for " salt " is Ion.*
Smaru,
Bread, ....
?Maru.*
Szukar,
Beautiful, .
SzutZo,
Sour, ....
Sado, .
Garden,
Pol. sad ; Lit. sodas.
Szino, .
Blue, . .
Pol. siny ; Rus. sinij.
Sivo, .
Szvagro,
Szvencono, .
Grey (horse),
Brother-in-law,
Holy (sacred),
Pol. siwy.
Pol. szwagier ; Germ, schwieger.
Lit. szventas, holy ; Pol. swiencouy, consecrated.
Smentano, .
Cream, ....
Lit. smetona ; Pol. smietana.
Szerariduni, .
Pillow, ....
Troszero,
Head, ....
Tro szero, thy head.*
Tyracho,
Boot, ....
Tchu, .
Smoke, ....
TchuiaZy,
Trifilis,
Pipe, ....
Clover, ....
Tchuvalo= tobacco, in various Gypsy dialects.*
Fr. trefle, Lat. trifolium.*
Tchora,
Beard, ....
Tchut, .
Milk, ....
Tchera,
House, ....
? Kchera.*
• Terno, .
Young, ....
Lit. tarnas, a servant.
Uszta, .
Mouth, ....
Pol. usta ; Lit. ustai, moustache.
Vurdo,
Vedro,
Carriage or cart, .
A measure (for liquids),
Eng.-Gyp. vardo and wardo.*
Pol. wiadro ; Rus. wedro ; Lit. wedras, a
capacious skin.
Vasta, .
Hands, ....
Lit. westi ; Esth. wasto.
Volcha,
Alder-tree, .
Pol. and Rus. olcha.
Vuncy,
Moustache, .
Pol. wosy ; Rus. usy.
Zen, .
Saddle,.
.
Zeleno,.
ZiZto, .
Zwero, .
Green, .
Yellow,
Animal (wild).
Rus. zelenij. Eng.-Gyp. selno.*
Lit. geltas. Eng.-Gyp. yelto.*
Rus. zwer ; Lit. zweris.
CYGANI NUMERALS.
1. jek.
2. duj.
3. trin.
4. sztar.
5. pancz.
6. szau.
7. efta.
8. ochta.
9. enia.
10. desz.
11. desz jek.
12. deszo duj.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. bisz.
21. biszte jek.
22. biszte duj.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
30. trindesza.
40. sztardesza.
50. panczdesza.
60. szaudesza.
TOO. szel.
200. duj szeZa.
300. trin szeZa.
1000. tysiouc (Pol. tysionc).
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIK LANGUAGE.
257
Not being quite sure about the correct signification of some
words, I took care to inquire further of other Gypsies in the Polish
and Lithuanian languages, and thus ascertained that the expressions
used were correct. I am, therefore, quite sure, and have no longer
any doubt about it, without venturing in any way upon believing in
my own infallibility, having made a compilation of a language which
I have not mastered at all.1
In an article published in 1881, in the Warsaw Illustrated
Gazette, No. 311, page 381, there appeared a synopsis of some words
of the Cygani language as spoken in Galicia, which proves the
diversity existing in the various Cygani dialects, although the author
of the said article declares that the Cygani language of Galicia is
absolutely the same as that of Lithuania. From • the following
Synopsis it will, however, be seen what difference there exists really
between the two dialects. However, the language of the Gypsies in
Lithuania is quite the same as that of the inhabitants of Samogitia
(Zmujdz), the tribes in question being in the habit of frequently
interchanging their camping grounds.
SYNOPSIS OF SOME WORDS IN USE WITH THE GYPSIES OF
GALICIA. LITHUANIA.
Cygani.
English.
Cygani.
English.
MrodeZ.
God.
DeveJ.
God.
(My God.)*
Gadziu.
A male.
Gadzo, Mursz;
A male.
Rakloro.
Lad.
Gadzo.
An inhabitant of Samo-
gitia (i.e., a non-Gypsy).*
Rakli.
Girl.
RakZy.
Girl (lass).
Akaraj.
Gentleman.
Raj.
Gentleman.
(This gentle-
man.)*
Dani.
Father.
Dad.
Father.
Cher.
House.
•Tcherof?kchero)*
House.
Rykono.§
Dog.
Dziukiel.
Dog.
Kaszt.
Wood.
Kaszt.
Wood.
Szero.
Head.
Troszero.
Head ; (troszero, thy
head).*
Vast.
Hand.
Vasta.
Hand.
Pindro.
Foot.
Hera.
Foot.
Z/owe.
Money.
?
?
Rom.
Gypsy.
Roni.
Gypsy.
§ Paspati, rukond, or riJcond, a little dog.*
1 While it is evident that, in some instances, M. Dowojno has heard or noted down im-
perfectly the words given to him by his Gypsies, we have thought it expedient to leave his
list in its original state, believing that a vocabulary thus untouched possesses certain
advantages of accent which would otherwise be lost. Where it has seemed advisable, we
have made some additions to M. Dowojuo's '" Remarks."— [ED.]
258
THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
In Kraszewski's novels, Oksana and The Hut near the Village, a
great many Cygani words have been introduced.
As the Eussian authorities desire the complete supervision of the
Gypsies, they are commanded to settle themselves in certain selected
localities. In this district there has been formed the Gypsy village
of Szimsza, near Szavli, in the province of Kovno ; and other Gypsies
reside in the neighbourhood of Balberiszki and Preni, in the province
of Suvalki, regarding whom I shall say more on a future occasion.
MIECZYSLAW DOWOJNO-SYLWESTKOWICZ.
HI.— 0 MINARIS: A SLOVAK-GYPSY TALE.
0 MINARIS.1
Ehas yekh minaris ; ehas les
shukdr rdkli, has lake bish bersh,
nashchi pes talindyas lake rom.
You has igen, lakro dad, and-e
bdri lach, kana hi igen barvalo, he
nashchi pes lake rom talinel.
Indch hi rdklya jungdleder h-o
romes len. A.X uzhdr, ine dava te
kerel yekh bdlos he dava and-o tselo
kra/ina heslos, kai t-aven pra bdlos,
(hoi me kerava shukdr bdlos), nisht
les na koshtyinela anyi ~brusny-
aris ; ketsi kamla sako mdnush,
atsi shai khelel the shai xal the shai
piyel. Me chak probdlinau, chi
pes mra rdklyake talinla vare-savo
pirdno.
Laches — ke rdtyi desh ore He o
roma te bashavel. 0 raya, o
2)rintsi, vsheliyaka manusha auk-
har so has pra svetos, savore avle /
na has para ole svetoske, kai atsi
toulchas atsi vildgos, nashchi peske
dinyas o minaris anyi rada. You
THE MILLER.
There was a miller ; he had a
beautiful daughter ; she was twenty
years old, and could not find a
husband. Her father was much
ashamed, that, though he is very
rich, she cannot get a husband.
" In other cases," he said, " girls
are uglier, and yet secure husbands.
Oh ! I shall give a ball, and send
an invitation through the whole
land, that they may come to the
ball (that I shall give a fine ball),
and it will cost him (who comes
to the ball) nothing, not even a
kreuzer ; every man may dance,
and eat and drink as much as he
likes. Only I shall try if a lover
for my daughter may be obtained."
Well, at ten o'clock at night, the
Gypsies began to play. The gentle-
men, the princes, men of all kinds,
whosoever were in the world, they
all came ; there was not a pair
[left] in the world [outside].
When such people bustled in such
1 The orthography is the same in general as in my Slovak-Gypsy Vocabulary, except that
for the signs t', d', n', I' there used, I have here substituted ty, dy, ny, I (before i), ly (before
other vowels), in order to facilitate the work of the printer.
O MIX A HIS: A SLOVAK-GYPSY TALE.
259
has igen rado hoi chak pes talinla
varesavo pirdno ola rdklyake he
Irkea biyau.
Lyebo ndne nyiko man chak oda
yekh rdkli. Me som xvala devles-
ke barvalo auk-har grdfas. Kana
merava, kaske me odova mukava ?
ndne man rdklo anyi rdkli, chak
sal tu kokdri.
Alye Idches — He te bashaven o
lavutdra yekh shukdr verbunkos, e
rdkli gelyas the khelel the yeklu
manmheha, you has masdrsko to-
varishis alye Jias igen shukdr the
ehas barvalo. Mindyar e rdkli
pes leske zalyubindyas he e rdkli
leske ; xudine pes soduije'nc chumi-
dinde pes yekhetdne he dine peske o
vast.
Tu sal mri romnyi, me som tro
rom / Akanak jas ke tro dad,
pheneha leske, hoi amen sovla-
xdraha he keraha biyau. Laches
— phuch tre dadestar, so man tuha
dela.
Ax dadka, phen ole mre romeske,
so les mantsa deha.
Pal mri smertya savoro leske
he tuke poruchinava,
Te na mulyas, ehi pr-o scdos he
peskra romnyaha.
a manner, the miller did not know
what to do. He was much pleased
that probably a husband for the
girl would be found, and she
would make a marriage.
" For," said he, " I have none
besides this one child. I am,
God be praised, rich as a lord.
When I shall die, to whom shall
I leave that [money] ? I have
neither a son nor a daughter except
yourself."
Well then, the fiddlers began
to play a fine dance ; the girl went
to dance with a man; he was a
butcher's boy, but he was very
fine and rich. Immediately the
girl fell in love with him and the
lad with her ; they embraced and
kissed one another, and gave the
hand to one another.
You are my wife, and I am
your husband ! Now go to your
father ; you will tell him that we
will espouse one another and make
a marriage. Well, ask your father
what he will give me with you
[as a dowry].
0 father, tell my husband
[bridegroom ?] what you will give
him with me.
After my death I shall bequeath
all [that I have] to him and to
you.
If he is not dead, he is in the
world [alive] with his wife.
NOTES.
This story has been written down from the lips of a Gypsy
lad (Andreas Facsuna, called Yanko by his comrades), in 1884, at
260 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
Tapolcza. In publishing it, I do not imagine that its contents will
be found interesting. It is intended only to give to English readers
a short specimen of the speech itself, and of the childlike style of
Slovak-Gypsy tales.
To some passages of the Gypsy text, which I left uncorrected
itself, I ought to add the following remarks : — Ax uzlidr, me dava te
kerel, etc. Cf. German : Warte, ich werde etc.
Hoi me kerava shukdr bdlos. This is a mere repetition of the fore-
going : me dava te kerel yekh bdlos.
Nisht les na koshtyinela. We might expect len instead of les.
lie o roma te bashavel. " 0 roma" Translated by " The Gypsies " ;
the different meanings of that word will be explained in my Vocabu-
lary.
Na has pdra ole svetoske. I am doubtful whether this passage is
connected with the foregoing or with the succeeding sentence. We
could also render it : " There was no pair of men in the world who
would bustle so much, there was no such abundance of light (else-
where)."1
Nashchi peske dinyas o minaris anyi rada. Cf. German : er wusste
sich gar keinen Rath.
Mindyar e rdkli pes leske zalyubindyas. Instead of the immedi-
ately following he e rdkli leske, the narrator of the story should say ;
h-o rdklo lake. RUDOLF VON SOWA.
IV.— IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO WESTERN
EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
(Continued.)
FIRST PERIOD, 1417 — 1438.
AT the end of the year 1417, a band of Gypsies appeared all at
once in the neighbourhood of the North Sea, not far from the
mouth of the Elbe. They came most probably, or at least the greater
number, from those parts of the Byzantine Empire which were
invaded or threatened by the Turks ; 2 and we may conclude from
1 The following reading is also permissible : — Kai atsi toulehas . . . anyi rada,
"There was such a bustle and such a blaze of lamps, the miller did not know what to
do."— [ED.]
2 This is what I conclude from the statements they made, as will be seen further on,
which wei'e received as true by the Emperor Sigismund, as is proved by the contents of the
letters of protection. I do not doubt that there were then in Hungary other Gypsies who
had inhabited the country for a space of time more or less long ; but it was evidently
not they who could have made these statements to the Emperor, nor, above all, who could
have induced him to believe them.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 261
the indications which are about to follow that they must have made
a halt in Hungary, and afterwards stopped near the Lake of
Constance. During this long journey, from the Balkan Peninsula to
the North Sea, no chronicler, no document known up to the present
time, has noticed their passage ; from which we may conjecture that
it was rapid and direct.
We will here notice a well-attested fact, and a valuable testi-
mony, which throw some light on these early times. The above-
named Gypsies were, as we are about to see, bearers of letters
of protection from the Emperor Sigisinund.1 Where had they been
obtained ? It has been generally supposed that it was in Hungary ;
and at first sight this supposition appears natural enough, these Gyp-
sies having come from the east, and Sigismund being King of Hun-
gary at the same time that he was King of Bohemia. But there is a
small objection to this supposition ; which is, that the Emperor did
not go to Hungary during this period. So far as I have been able to
follow his movements, during the whole of the time that the Council
was sitting (Nov. 1414 — April 1418), Sigismund was in Western
Germany, at Constance, in France, and in England, from whence he
returned by Calais, the Low Countries, Alsace, and Savoy, and re-
entered Constance on the 27th January 1417, where he remained till
the end of the Council. Where then could our Gypsies have met
him or gone to find him ? A valuable piece of information furnished
by Munster2 will find its place here. This author states that, being
at Heidelberg (about 1525 ?), he met some Gypsies of quality, who
1 I will here notice a double falsehood committed by these Gypsies, and which has a
certain critical interest for us. In 1422, at Bologna, they say that they have been wandering
for five years, and they show letters of protection from the emperor. Now their arrival in
the West dated precisely from 1417. In 1427, at Paris, they say again that they have been
wandering for five years, and at the same time they show letters of protection from the Pope.
Now it was precisely in 1422 that they had been in Rome, and, before this journey, they had
never spoken of pontifical safe-conducts. The concordance of these circumstances and, in
general, of all those concerning the letters of protection from the Emperor and the Pope
would confirm, if necessary, the authenticity of these documents. If they had been false,
the Gypsies, who in all their statements carried back the date of the commencement of their
pilgrimage as far as possible, would not have failed to fabricate others.
2 Cosmographie universelle. Not having been able to consult the best German or Latin
editions of this work containing the chapter relative to the Gypsies (it is not to be found in
the former, and it is disfigured in the latter), I have been obliged to rely upon the French
translation of 1552-1555 (Bale, in large-fol. p. 287), and upon that of Belleforest, Paris, 157f.
(2 vols. in 3 parts in fol.). In the whole of this chapter, which possesses some interest,
although the commencement is simply an unacknowledged reproduction of a passage in
Albert Krantz, the two differ only in several equivalent expressions and by two gross faults
of impression, which each of the two translations may serve to correct in the other. In
following these two French translations, which in the whole of this chapter I have reason to
believe are conformable to the best original editions, I remark, however, in my .short and
very important quotation, two different readings furnished by the German edition of Bale,
1669, which, although abridged and disfigured, may have retained on these two points some-
thing of the right reading : It is at Ederbach, near Heidelberg, that Munster met these
262 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
showed him copies of some letters they had formerly obtained from
the Emperor Sigismund at Lindau ; " in which letters it was told how
their ancestors had formerly abandoned for a time in Lower Egypt
the Christian religion, and had returned to the errors of the pagans,
and that, after their repentance, it had been enjoined them that, during
as many years as their predecessors had remained in the errors of the
pagans, so long should some members of all these families travel
about the world, in order that, by such banishment and exile, they
should obtain remission of their sin." It is evidently the town of
Lindau, situated on the Lake of Constance, at eight leagues from the
town where the Council was sitting, that is spoken of here. Unhap-
pily, Munster has not transmitted to us the date of this document
which passed under his eyes ; but the summary that he gives of it is
so much in accordance with the essential data of the accounts which
the Gypsies, bearers of the Imperial letter, are about to give during
several years, that one can scarcely doubt the identity of the latter
with the one of which Munster saw the copy.1 I adopt in conse-
quence this conclusion ; and as, in addition, it is most unlikely that
our Gypsies should have remained long without making use of this
document in a manner sufficiently notable for the mention of it to
have come down to us, I will in future call this letter the Imperial
letter granted in 1417 at Lindau. This date of 1417 also agrees well
with the chronological indications I have noted above as to the
movements of Sigismund at this period; and it is still more
plausible, because it is only towards the end of 1417 that we find the
Gypsies bearers of this letter from Sigismund.
One will no doubt be astonished that an Emperor of Germany
should have accorded his protection to the people we are about to see
Gypsies ; and it is a " vidimus . . . that they had obtained from the Emperor Sigismund at
Lindau." The first reading must be the true one; the second is almost certainly faulty,
except perhaps for the word vidimus (instead of copy), which it would be worth while to
substantiate with the aid of the best original editions. — As to the time when Munster met
these Gypsies, all the editions or translations I have been able to consult — all those, at least,
which give a date — repeat : " It is about twenty-six years ago that I, Munster, who write these
things, being at Heidelberg . . ." In order to know to about what year this date carries us
back, it would be necessary to be acquainted with the first edition in which this indication is
given. I will only say that Miinster died at Bale in 1552 at the age of 63, that the first
German edition of his Cosmographie is of 1541, the first Latin edition of 1550, and that I
think his chapter on the Gypsies is slightly posterior to this latter date.
A last remark on the subject of the expression letters, or even some letters, employed in
the French translation of Munster :— this plural, which derives from the Latin littercc, quce-
dam litterce, and which has been used in French, and probably in other languages, to design
certain official documents, does not usually imply several letters, and I shall employ it often
myself without giving it the plural significance,
i Another letter granted, as we shall afterwards see, at Zips (in Hungary) in 1423, by the
same Sigismund to other emigrant Gypsies, further confirms this very probable identification ;
for this last, granted no doubt to Gypsies who had been long settled in Hungary, does not
contain anything similar to what Munster has noted in the letter from Lindau.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 263
at work, and above all that he should have believed the tales of which
Munster has given us the substance, and which we shall find repro-
duced, sometimes developed, and without doubt amplified, by the
bearers of the Imperial letter. I myself could not be sure, in 1844,
that the Gypsies were sufficiently well known in Hungary, in 1417,
for Sigismund to be aware with what sort of people he had to do, and
it was natural enough then to suppose that the Imperial letters of
1417 had been obtained by a sort of surprise. The surprise still
remains possible, and even probable to a certain extent, as I will
point out by and by ; but I am now convinced that at this period
Gypsies had long existed in Hungary, as well as in the neighbouring
countries,1 and that Sigismund, who it is true was not a Hungarian,
but who had been King of Hungary since 1386,2 could not have failed
to know them in 1417 ; and the letter of protection granted by him in
1423 to another Gypsy chief and his band,3 proves that although he
knew them, and although very probably he even knew certain
amongst them under not very favourable colours (for he could
scarcely be ignorant of the way in which the first he had patronised
had conducted themselves in the West during four years), that fact
did not prevent his protecting them on occasion. As a general rule,
the public acts of protection granted to Gypsies in Hungary, and
more generally in the south-east of Europe, where a great number of
them have known how to make themselves useful by their nomadic
trades, or agreeable by their musical talent, and where one was
already accustomed to tolerate the others, are less surprising than
those they sometimes obtained from different Western Princes in
times when their tricks were known, and when the populations had
become very hostile to them. But the first who came westward in
the fifteenth century, although they evidently proceeded from the
1 The direct proofs are still wanting as regards Hungary, unless any should be found in
the Archduke Joseph's book, the French translation of which I am impatiently awaiting ; but
the indirect proofs are already sufficiently conclusive. I will not insist upon them here.— As
for the Gingari of Ludwig, an. 1260 (see Nouv. recherches, 1849, p. 23-25), I still think that
it is a word that has been badly read (instead of Bulgari) ; but in the same document (see
ibid.) there are some Hismahelitcc who are very probably Gypsies, taking into consideration
the Ishmaelites, certainly Gypsies, of the Genesis written towards 1122 by an Austrian monk
(see tftatde la question . . . ] 876-1877, pp. 23-29).
- It may also be remarked that Sigismund had warred in Moldo-Wallachia in 1392, and
afterwards in 1396, when he was vanquished and a fugitive ; a favourable condition for making
acquaintance with the Gypsies who, we know, then existed in that country. We will add
that Sigismund became, in 1419, King of Bohemia, where he went at that time and engaged
in a war against the Hussites. We know that the Gypsies existed in Bohemia previous to
1416 (see the passage, already cited, of the Annals in the Bohemian language, reproduced by
Miklosich, in., Mem., 1873, pp. 22-23). This was a further occasion for his knowing the
Gypsies before he granted them the second letter of protection, that of 1423.
3 See note on preceding page ; see especially, further on, under the date of Ratisbon, 1424.
264 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
Balkan Peninsula, where there are now many honest Gypsies, even
amongst the nomads,1 were, as we shall see, most skilful knaves ; and,
unless it can be supposed that Sigismund desired to employ them as
spies,2 which is not absolutely impossible on the part of a Prince as
cunning as he was intriguing and disloyal, we must admit that,
although acquainted with the Gypsies in general, he was mistaken
concerning these ones in particular. It is, however, important to
remark that it was far easier to fall into a mistake concerning them
than at first sight it now appears to be.
The provinces of the Byzantine Empire were then devastated by
the Ottoman conquests, which had already been preceded by long
wars between Christians and Infidels. Weary of so much disorder,
a part, and probably not the best part, of the Gypsy population of
these countries, which was not attached to the soil as the other in-
habitants of the land, nor sustained by any national interests, was
naturally disposed to seek out calmer regions ; and this was no doubt
the cause of the movement which, by its propagation from place to
place, brought about the immigration of the Gypsies into the West
during the course of the fifteenth century and in the century following.
Those who emigrated from the countries that had been the
theatre of these events had been necessarily mixed up in the religious
conflicts between Christians and Infidels,3 for it was not possible to
remain neutral between the two religions in arms against each other.
The accounts of the first Gypsies concerning the religious pressure to
1 As far as regards the probity, at least relative, of modern Gypsies in the regions called
not long ago Turkey in Europe, I could invoke very competent testimony, to begin with that
of Paspati. But I must not forget that we are speaking of the fifteenth century, a period for
which we have not sufficiently numerous documents to allow of our forming general apprecia-
tions of the Gypsies of these countries.
2 The Gypsies have especially been accused of serving as spies to the Turks against the
Christians, and this accusation is clearly set forth in an imperial edict of 1500 proclaimed by
the Diet of Augsburg (see Grellmann, edition of 1787, p. 179 ; Fr. trans., p. 184). But, if
divers testimonies are to be believed, they had equally been employed as spies by different
Christian personages (see Grellmann, pp. 170-173 ; Fr. trans., pp. 176-178). And, as regards
more particularly certain Gypsies protected by Sigismund, we shall see further on that the
people of Ratisbon in 1424 looked upon them as spies. But I do not insist upon such allega-
tions which for the most part are entirely without proof.
3 According to the remarks of M. Paspati, which more especially concern the Gypsies of
Roumelia, the nomads, much more numerous than the sedentary Gypsies, are for the most
part Mahometans (Les Tchinghianes, Constantinople, 1870, p. 11) : now "the study of the
Tchinghiano-Christian terms shows that the Mahometan Tchinghianes had been familiar
with the Christian religion " (ibid. p. 26), which causes our author to say, a few lines
previously, that all must have been Christians before the Mahometan conquest. Already in
a former writing (Memoir on the Language of the Gypsies . . . in the Turkish Empire, 1860,
p. 17, M. Paspati had remarked that certain Mahometan Gypsies (those, it appears, who are
at once sedentary and Mahometan) lose their language because "they consider it as part and
parcel of the Christian heresy." In my Derniers travaux relatifs aux Bohemiens dans
V Europe orientale (1870-1872, p. 33 et 44), I had already noted these observations of M.
Paspati, as having, in default of contemporary testimony, a great retrospective interest.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 265
which they had been alternately subjected (see especially the recital
of Paris, 1427) was then perfectly credible, so much the more so that
it was conformable to the well-known religious frailty of this race ;
and it was quite natural that their misfortunes, true or false, and
their intentions of repentance, more or less sincere, should at once
touch the Christians of those times.1 What was a stroke of genius
on the part of these penitents, more attentive to take advantage of
the situation than to win paradise, or even to deserve the kindness of
the inhabitants of the new countries into which they were entering,
was to make pretence of being pilgrims, a condition which accorded
so well with their usual manner of life, which in addition dispensed
them from all labour, — for the true pilgrim should live on public
charity — and which finally permitted them, even when in rags, to
assert certain pretensions to nobility. One may be surprised that
they should have been able to play this part for so long a time in
certain countries ; unfortunately for them, it was destined to come
everywhere to an end, and this end was a lamentable one.
As to the titles of dukes, earls, and knights assumed by their
chiefs, these were not much more than the equivalents of those of
Vaivods and others granted them in various countries of the East ;
and these titles are often to be found consigned in official documents
in the West, without the mention " soi-disant " which, later on, gene-
rally accompanied them. In reality, almost everywhere one was glad to
have to deal with chiefs who were held to be more or less responsible
for the doings of their bands. What proves besides that these titles
were considered as serious by those who bore them and by their
surroundings, are the epitaphs, with the armorial bearings of a duke
and an earl of Little Egypt, who died in 1445 and 1498, in Swabia,
and which Crusius has noticed in his Annales Suevici (Francof. 1594-
1595, in fol., vol. ii., pp. 384 and 510), to say nothing of the epitaph
and coat-of-arms of an Earl Peter of the Small Shield, whom Crusius
suspects (ibid. p. 401), and with some appearance of probability, of
1 It must not be thought, however, that these infidels did not occasionally play their
part of converted Christians very seriously. Such singular compromises are sometimes made
by these uncultivated natures ! I may be allowed to refer here to what I have said else-
where of certain pseudo-Christian Gypsy legends, in which the most artless faith and the
most shocking impiety are mixed up in a truly prodigious manner (Les derniers trawiux
relatifs avx Bohemiens, 1870-1871, tirage d part, 1872, pp. 67-68 ; see also a few words on
the LSgende des trois clous du crucifiement in the Bulletins de la SociSti d'anthropoloijie, 3d
April 1884, p. 208.)-! have, moreover, known a young married Gypsy couple, who were in
reality as little Christian and even as little Catholic as possible, but who nevertheless, the
young woman having long suffered from languor, undertook a long "journey" to the shrine
of I know not what saint (journey is the popular name for pilgrimage), in order to obtain a
cure. It is true that this last trait, and others similar to it, belong to that category of
which examples may be found elsewhere than amongst the Gypsies.
VOL. I.— NO. V. s
266 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
having been also a Gypsy chief. I shall perhaps again recur to these
curious documents in the last part of my work (second period of
immigration).
As to the title of King assumed by one of the chiefs in the beginning
of the second period (commencing from 1438), it appears more gro-
tesque, and it is allowable to lend but small belief to the saying of the
Gypsies (in Paris, 1427), " that they had a king and a queen in their
own country." However, the title of King of the Cygans appears to
have received a sort of official consecration in Poland and in part of
Lithuania, but we are only acquainted with it after the beginning of
the eighteenth century,1 and it would be interesting to know whether
this title was in use ab antiguo amongst the Gypsies of these
countries. The Queen of the Gypsies at Yetholm, on the borders of
England and Scotland, may invoke, on her side, in favour of her title,
an already ancient tradition. Excepting these, I think that the pre-
tended kings and queens of the Gypsies, who from time to time make
their appearance in divers countries, may be considered as having an
essentially fictitious existence.
In short, what appears at first sight to be the most strange in the
imperial letter, and in the sayings of the Gypsies themselves, is easily
to be explained, except on one point, which remains very surprising,
namely, that a penitence so well adapted to their habits of life, also
to their evil inclination and to their secret designs, (that of becoming
pilgrims), should have been assigned to them. I shall not attempt an
explanation which the state of my information does not allow of. I
will simply remark one circumstance which may have rendered
Sigismund more accommodating on this point and for all the rest.
The Gypsies who came from countries invaded or threatened by
the Turks no doubt commenced by abounding particularly in
Hungary, for two reasons : first, because their like were not ill-treated
there, whilst in Wallachia and in Moldavia they were already
reduced to bondage ; secondly, and above all, because Hungary was
then the chief appanage of the Christian Emperor himself, whose pro-
tection could, and no doubt would, be so valuable. Now this
affluence of the Gypsies must have pre-occupied Sigismund and the
personages who surrounded him, or who administered the country
during his absence, and disposed them to accord more easily a sort
of recommendation which might contribute to deliver the country
from the over-abundance of these strangers. It may perhaps be
i Concerning the chiefs of the Gypsies in Poland and Lithuania, see Historical Sketch o/
the Cy^an people (in Polish), by Theodore Narbutt, Wilua, 1830, in 8vo., pp. 127-138.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 2G7
objected that, if such were really the idea of Sigismund and his
counsellors, it was not only one or two of these letters that he would
have granted them. ... It is indeed very possible that they were in
reality more numerous. It must be noticed that it is due to two
remarkable accidents that we are acquainted with the two imperial
letters, — the substance of one through Munster, the text of the other
through the priest Andrew of Eatisbon: may there not also have
been many others?1 At all events, those which we know, and
which remain at least as specimens of two different types, were
copies — authentic copies, no doubt — when one of them fell under
the eyes of Munster, as we have already seen, the other, as we shall
see by-and-by, under the eyes of the priest of Eatisbon (1424) ;
and, if these copies emanated from the imperial chancery (of which
we are ignorant), they would prove the facility with which this
chancery multiplied the copies of these acts.
I have endeavoured in the preceding pages somewhat to en-
lighten the reader about the often strange facts that are about to
pass under his eyes, and concerning which he would, no doubt, have
asked himself what he ought to think. But it will often be neces-
sary to add to these explanations the skilfulness of the Gypsies, their
persistence, and sometimes their talent in soliciting, the surprising
ability with which certain of these uncultivated and shallow people,
who appear strangers to all our habits, know how to insinuate
themselves into the favour of those who can be of use to them, and
even purchase (when the object in view is worth the price) the
subordinates through whom the ear of the powerful is gained.
Certainly, the " Dukes " Andrew and Michael, who directed all this
first expedition, and who knew how to group under their command
hundreds of Gypsies disseminated throughout such extensive spaces,
were skilful men. But, in reality, these first emigrants rendered a
very poor service to their successors, in leaving a tradition of idleness,
imposture, and rapine, which the greater number of those who fol-
lowed have but too well imitated.
To end this long digression, which I have however abridged as
much as possible, it would be necessary to make some comments
upon the Egyptian origin which the Gypsies then attributed to
themselves, and which they continue to attribute to themselves up
to the present day. But, as this complex and so to say unstable
1 I acknowledge that this remark diminishes somewhat the value of the identification
established above between the imperial letter of which the first Gypsies were bearers and
that which was shown to Munster ; but this identification does not the less remain very
likely.
268 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
question would carry me too far, I will confine myself to saying
that we must certainly neither accept too literally this confused
tradition, nor entirely despise it ; for it appears to be anterior to the
migration of the fifteenth century, and, for my own part, I think it
contains some truth.
The existence of this Egyptian tradition, either among the
Gypsies, or around them, in the south-east of Europe before 1417
is the historical point which it would be interesting to establish here.
This is the place to examine a Byzantine document of the beginning
of the fiftenth century, of which Carl Hopf (who died towards the
beginning of the year 1874) had given the substance in his pamphlet,
Die Einwanderung der Zigeuner, Gotha, 1870, p. 12, and of which I
had pointed out the probable importance in Etat dc la Question, p. 1 6,
but which I had then been unable to consult ; for Hopf had been
pleased to quote this document without any indication, excepting
the author's name and the title of his principal writing. Here is
what I have learnt since : the work in question is a satirical writing,
entitled, TJie Descent into the Infernal Regions ('Eirifypla ez> aSov)
whose author, Mazaris or Mazari, in imitation of the Dialogues of the
Dead of Lucian, places the scene in the infernal regions, with this
difference, that, instead of making his characters speak, it is he
himself who makes his descent into the lower regions the subject of
a discourse. This account, which is rather long, is followed in the
manuscript existing in the National Library of Paris by three other
short treatises by the same author which are connected with it, and
of which I must make mention ; for it is in the first of these treatises,
and not in the principal piece, that the passage which interests us
is to be found. All this has been analysed by Hase in Notices et
extraits des manuscrits de la UUiothbque du roi, in 4to, t. ix., part ii.,
an. 1813, pp. 131-141. Hase had extracted at the same time from
these writings all the useful references that he could find in them,
as well concerning the life of the author as concerning the manners
of the Byzantine court; but the passage I sought for had not at-
tracted his attention. Happily the Descent into the Infernal Regions,
with its annexed treatises, has been published integrally, as I have
since learnt, by Boissonnade in his Anecdota grceca, large 8vo, vol. iii.,
1831, pp. 112-186; and I have at last found in it, p. 174, the
passage Hopf had in view, and of which a finished Hellenist, M.
Tardieu, of the Library of the Institute, has had the kindness to
make a literal translation for me. This passage, then, is to be found
in the first of the three parts which follow the Descent into the In-
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 269
fernal Regions; which part (pp. 163-182), much longer than the two
following, is entitled, " The Dream after the Resurrection " ("Oi/etpo?
fjiera rr)v avapluxnv, etc.), and ends (pp. 173-182) with a letter,
which is the only one of all the writings of Mazaris that is dated,
and this date, placed at the head of the letter, corresponds, as
Boissonnade remarks, to the year 1416 of the Christian era.1 At the
sixth line of this letter begins (p. 174) the following passage : —
" In Peloponnesus, as thou knowest thyself, 0 my host, live pell
mell numerous nations of which it is not easy nor very interesting
to retrace the boundaries, but here is what tradition says as being
evident to all and notable : Lacedemonians — Italians — Peleponnesians
— Sclavonians — Illyrians — Egyptians (AlyvTrnoi), and Jews (with-
out counting a good number of other people interspersed in the
midst of these) — in all, seven principal nations."
Hopf, after having alluded to this passage which he had indi-
cated so badly, adds (p. 12) : " It has been shown long ago that we
are not to see in these Egyptians a Moorish colony from Egypt as
had been at first supposed," and he does not doubt that it is a
question here of Gypsies. If, indeed, the idea of a real Egyptian
colony may be put aside with certainty2 — which Hopf, well versed
in the knowledge of Greece in the Middle Ages, was well able to
decide — we cannot doubt that these "Egyptians" were Gypsies.
It is a conclusion which forces itself upon one, when the passage
from Mazaris is compared with all that we already know from Hopf
and other sources of the existence of Gypsies in various parts of
Greece in the fourteenth century, and at the beginning of the fifteenth
(see £tat de la Question, pp. 11-23), without forgetting the deductions
which Miklosich has drawn from the study of the Gypsy dialects,
relative to their long stay in this country before the fifteenth century.
It is necessary, in fine, to note that Guphtoi is still at the present
day one of the names given to the Gypsies in Greece, where certain
ruins are known under the name of Guphto-Kastron.
I think, then, that we may consider the Egyptians of Mazaris as
real Gypsies ; and, to say nothing of the importance of this document
in other respects, it results from it that the name of Egyptians was
applied to the Gypsies in Greece long before their immigration in the
fifteenth century into the West, for it is clear that the name thus
applied did not date from the day on which Mazaris remarked it.
1 Hopf, without of course any explanation, gives the date of 1414. The difference is of
small importance.
3 This is indeed the whole question ; and, although for the present I follow Hopf, I should
be glad to have on this point the opinion, comformable or not, of any competent reader.
270 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
As to the name of " Little Egypt" very ingeniously adopted by
the immigrants, it may have originated in some special locality, such
as the country of Gyppe,1 in the Peloponnesus ; but this name, no
doubt, took an uncertain and varied signification in the mouth of the
Gypsies, some of them meaning under this name the country, wher-
ever it might be, whence they had really come, others intentionally
giving it a more or less fanciful signification for the benefit of stran-
gers, but all or the greater number of them believing, I make no
doubt, the tradition which made their forefathers come from Egypt ;
only, as it may well be supposed, those who repeated this tradition,
especially after a long residence in the West, would have been
puzzled to say where Egypt was situated.
There is a curious remark to be made here : on their first arrival
in the West (Hanseatic Towns, 1417), if we can rely on the texts of
Corner and Rufus, who, although contemporary, do not appear to have
written until some time afterwards, the immigrants gave themselves the
name of Tsigans (Secanos se nuncupantes), a name by which they were
then well-known in the south-east of Europe (as we know positively
at the present day), and by which they were probably designated in
the imperial letter of 1417, as they are ki that of 1423 ; but, as soon
as they had quitted the Hanseatic towns, they carefully concealed
this name which had not brought them good luck, and no longer
represent themselves except as people " from Little Egypt." 2
Regarding the various names given to the Gypsies from this
period and later on in different countries, it is not necessary for me
to speak ; this subject would demand a special study even after that
of the learned and lamented Pott in his Zigeuner (vol. i., 1844, pp. 26-
51). In the meanwhile, every reader in the least familiar with the
matter will easily recognise the Gypsies under the various names that
we may meet with. I have taken care to reproduce all these names
with precision, in order that my work may be consulted on this
matter as safely as the original documents.
There still remain in the accounts given of our Gypsies, and col-
lected by the Bourgeois de Paris (1427), divers details concerning
which I have said nothing ; and this other ill-according detail fur-
nished by Corner (1417) may be added, which is that it was "their
bishops " who had imposed upon them as a penitence to wander dur-
1 See Mat de la question de Vanciennete des Tziganes en Europe, 1876, pp. 14-15.
- The chroniclers frequently substitute for this name that of Lower Egypt, which no
doubt appears to them a more correct equivalent ; but in the official acts, public accounts of
towns, etc., where the titles assumed by the Gypsies are more exactly reproduced, we
always, or almost always, find ''Little Egypt."
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 271
ing seven years. But although in some of these accounts, which it
is impossible to verify, there may be a small part of truth, we risk
little in attributing them on the whole to the imagination of the par-
ties interested.
After these explanations I return, or rather I at length come, to
my recital ; and first of all it appears to me that the following is the
way in which we may conjecture that the events took place : —
Our Gypsies started evidently from some province of the Byzan-
tine Empire, and amongst them there may have been some who came
from Asia and even from Africa. They arrived first iii Hungary,
already provided, no doubt, with letters of recommendation (for these
people always found means of procuring some J), in which mention
was made of the misery the Turks had inflicted upon them. By
aid of these letters, they managed to gain the interest of some of the
personages who governed Hungary in the absence of King Sigismund,
and who in their turn confirmed by some document, addressed or not
to their King and Emperor, the recital, already no doubt amplified,
of these pretended pilgrims. These, seeing their plan of campaign so
well prepared in the countries of the West, were then desirous of
having letters from the Emperor himself, as, later on, they were
desirous of having letters from the Pope, and they marched straight
towards Constance. The most sedate of the band composed their
countenance as they approached the grave abode where the great
Council of Christendom was holding its sittings ; they were not sorry
to find Sigismund taking some relaxation from his overpowering pre-
occupations in the free and imperial town of Lindau, which has
deserved the surname of Little Venice. There they presented them-
selves in as godly a manner as possible to the very Christian
Emperor, spoke of Hungary to the King of Hungary, of the Turks to
him who was continually warring against them, and ended by telling
a skilful tale which everything seemed to confirm, to begin with the
papers which, no doubt, they already held from some high personage
in Hungary, such, perhaps, as the son of Peter the Macedonian, that
Nicholas in whom the Emperor placed all his confidence, and whom
he had invested with the absolute command of his troops against the
Turks. How indeed suspect of imposture true Orientals coming from
so far, people who, with the exception of their chiefs, wore such poor
clothing, and who had gold chinking in their pockets ? When they
1 Besides, Corner tells us positively that, as far back as 1417, they had letters from
princes, and more especially from Sigismund.
272 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
left the Emperor they carried away letters signed by his own hand,
and containing all their story in full.
The next thing was to make use of these letters as much as pos-
sible, but as far as might be from the Emperor. Certainly no country
could better secure this double advantage than all those free towns
belonging to the Empire, and standing along the shores of the North
and Baltic seas, towards the point where these two seas meet.
Lindau had been for them an agreeable sample of these little
imperial republics. The band went then direct towards the Teutonic
Hansa, crossed without stopping the space which separated them from
it, and only joined each other on entering it. Thus, unnoticed,
they traced the road that we shall soon see them follow in another
direction.
Towards the end of 14171 our band of Gypsies arrived at the
northern extremity of Germany, and began to visit the Hanseatic
towns which were at this time at the height of their power. They
commenced at Liineburg; then crossed the Elbe, and reached
Hamburg, which had not yet attained its independence ; at last,
following the shores of the Baltic from west to east, they made
acquaintance with the free cities of Liibeck, Wismar, Eostock,
Stralsund, and Greifswald.
These Gypsies are signalised to us by three chroniclers, CORNER,
EUFUS, and ALBERT KRANTZ, but the two first only are contem-
poraries of the event. Both were well situated for accurate informa-
tion. Corner was from Liibeck,2 and I presume that Eufus, less
known, was likewise from thence, for he has written a chronicle of
this town, and he mentions in this work the event which interests
us.3 But Corner, though rather concise, is much more complete, and,
1 The manner in which Corner has dated the passage in his chronicle, indicated
further on, allows of our arriving at the approximate precision : quarto anno Sigismundi
qui est Domini 1417°. This date concerning Sigismund can only relate to the period when
as Emperor he received the silver crown, that is to say, on the 8th November 1414. Now
the day usually adopted in the fifteenth century, by the Germans as well as by the Church
of Rome, as the beginning of the year, was the 25th December or the 1st January. The
apparition of the Gypsies on the shores of the North Sea took place then between the 8th of
November 1417 and the 25th of December or 1st of January following (according to the
Julian calendar ; for the Gregorian calendar dates only from 1582, and was only adopted suc-
cessively, at very different dates, in the various countries of the West. This must not be
lost sight of in the course of the present work).
2 M. Herm. Cornerii Chronica novella, usque ad annum 1435 deducta, in the Corpus
hist, medii cevi of Eccard, Lipsiae, 1723, in fol., vol. ii., p. 1225. Hermann Korner, Corner,
or Cornerius, monk of the order of preaching friars of St. Dominic, assisted at the provincial
synod of Hamburg as early as 1406 ; he must have been very young at this time (see
Corpus hist, of Eccard, i. ii., No. III., Preface). I do not think that his chronicle was
printed before it was inserted in the above-named collection.
3 It is only through Mr. F. Dyrlund's Tatar e, og Natmandsfolk i Dantnark (Copenhagen,
1872, in 8vo, p. 360) that I am acquainted with the passage that RUFUS, in his Chronicle of
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 273
•as Rufus adds nothing very important to his compatriot's account, I
shall follow Corner.
With regard to Krantz, who belonged also by his birth, life, and
death to one of the towns then visited by our Gypsies, I had
formerly added one or two features of his recital to that of Corner ;
but on a closer examination I perceive that all the details given by
him refer to the Gypsies of his own time, l and would consequently
be more appropriate to a description of these strangers towards the
end of the fifteenth century. I will, therefore, confine myself princi-
pally to the information furnished by Corner. But the three
chroniclers are perfectly agreed concerning the date of the year, and,
thanks to Corner, we have even been able to be more precise.
These Gypsies, seen for the first time in the countries now called
Hanover, Holstein, and Mecklenburg, numbered about three hun-
dred, men and women, not including the children : this circumstance
must have carried their number to four or five hundred, for no doubt
amongst these Gypsies, as amongst those of the present day, children
abounded.2 If we rightly interpret the text of Corner, they already
frequently broke up into several bands,3 but they all looked up to
the same chief, they marched in concert and followed each other
closely ; in a word, they formed a whole in which the total number
of individuals was appreciable, and to all appearance it was the
whole of the band which travelled over all the places through which
we have followed it. These people were very ugly,4 and black as
Lubeck (Lybst Kronnike) of 1400 to 1430 (Grantoff : Die Lubeckischen Chroniken in nieder-
deutscher Sprache, vol. ii., p. 496), devotes to our travellers, under the year 1417. The
complete translation will be found further on, following the text from Corner.
Mr. F. Dyrlund mentions also (Ibid. p. 289, note 2) the following line of Lambertus
ALARDUS (who died in 1672) in Westphalens Monumenta, vol. i., 1831, under the year
1416: "Anno eodem, Tartari primo in Holsatiam venerunt." But it appears that this
author is not always exact in his chronology, and I am very much disposed to think, with
Mr. Dyrlund, that this apparition of the Gypsies in Holstein must be referred to 1417, and
that the information comes directly or indirectly from Korner. However, as we have traces
of the presence of the Gypsies in Germany, in the north or in the centre, before 1417, it is
not quite impossible that there should be here some fact belonging to the Preludes of the
immigration.
1 See Albert Krantzii Saxonia; Francfort, 1621, in folio, lib. xi., ch. 2, pp. 285-286. Mr.
Dyrland gives also the text of the passage. Albert Krantz, born at Hamburg towards the
middle of the fifteenth century, died there, Dean of the Chapter of the Cathedral, on the
7th December 1517. His Saxon Chronicle appeared for the first time at Cologne in 1530.
Krantz is much better known than Corner and Rufus. Munster, in his Cosmographie, has
reproduced entirely the passage from Krantz, giving it as his own, and the learned Conrad
Gesner, in his Mithridates, has copied it from Munster without knowing that the real
author was Krantz.
2 Cf. Rufus, who estimates their total number at 400.
3 "Turmatiin autem incedebat (multitude), et extra urbes in campis pernoctabat, eo
quod furtis nimium vacaret, et in civitatibus comprehendi timeret." — CORNER.
4 Forma turpissimi, Corner ; Black and Ugly, Rufus ; Nigredine informes, Krantz. I,
who find them very handsome, cannot help remarking that the copper complexion, and also
the uncleanliness, of our adventurers, appear to have had a great influence in the aversion of
274 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIKS INTO
Tartars.1 The people of these countries so named them, and in some
places they still retain the name. As to themselves, they called
themselves Secani2 (that is to say, Tsigani). They had amongst
them chiefs, that is to say a duke and an earl, who judged them, and
whose orders they obeyed. Some were on horseback, others on foot.
Their infidelity to the Christian faith, and their relapse to Paganism
after a first conversion, was, it was said, the cause of their wandering
life: their bishops had imposed upon them as a penance the con-
tinuation of their adventurous course during seven years. They
were bearers of and exhibited letters of protection (litteras promotorias)
from several princes, amongst others Sigismund, King of the Romans,
which caused them to be well received by the episcopal towns, by
princes, castellans, fortified towns (oppidis), by bishops and other
mitred dignitaries.
But they showed themselves little worthy of this friendly recep-
tion. The shrewd Germans of these mercantile towns open to
strangers of all nations did not long suffer themselves to be imposed
on by the recitals, the diplomas, and the chivalrous equipage of
these strange adventurers. Corner and Rufus say that the troop
camped at night in the fields because of their frequent thefts, which
made them fear to be arrested in the towns. They were, indeed,
great thieves, especially the women ; and in consequence several of
them were in various places captured and killed.3
our two Germans, accustomed to white and clean faces, and that, after the first impression
had passed away, Krantz, who still finds them hideously black, no longer dares to call them
ugly inform and feature. I must not however quarrel too sharply with our chroniclers
beyond the Rhine on this account : those of France, and even those of Italy, will say the
same.
1 Rufus makes them even come from Tartary.
2 Secanos se nuncupantes, Corner and Rufus. This detail is very peculiar and very
curious, as I have remarked above (p. 270), providing it be not the result of ulterior general
information obtained by Corner, who could only have written the passage in his chronicle
relative to the Gypsies, after having made inquiry, as he follows them in five towns. —
Krantz, who wrote towards the end of the fifteenth century, says : Tartaros vulgus appellat ;
in Italia vocant Cianos.
3 CORNER. Here is the complete text of this chronicler, who remains up to the present
time the most important original authority for the fact which has engaged our attention : —
"(Quarto anno Sigismundi, qui est Domini 1417°), quaedam extranea et previe non visa
vagabundaque multitudo hominum de Orientalibus partibtis venit in Alemaniam, perani-
bulans totam illam plagam usque ad regiones maritimas. Fuit etiam in urbibus stagnalibus,
incipiens ab urbe Luneburgensi, et perveniens in Prutziam peragravit civitates Hanmie-
burgensem, Lubicensem, Wismariensem, Rostoccensem, Sundensem et Grispeswaldensem.
Turmatim autem incedebat, et extra urbes in campis pernoctabat, eo quod furtis minium
vacaret, et in civitatibus comprehend! timeret. Erant autem numero ccc homines utriusque
sexus, demtis parvulis et infantibus, forma turpissimi, nigri ut Tartari, Secanos se nuncu-
pantes. Habebant etiam inter se Principes suos, Ducem scilicet et Comitem, qui eos
judicabant et quorum mandatis parebant. Fures autem eraiit magni, et praecipue mulieres
eorum ; et plures de eis in diversis locis sunt deprehensi et interfecti. Litteras quoque pro-
motorias Principum et praesertim Sigismundi regis Romanorum apud se ferebant, propter
quas a civitatibus, priucipibus, castris, oppidis, episcopis et prelatis, ad quos decliuabant,
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 275
These misadventures must have induced them to forsake the
shores of the Baltic ; and, in fact, we find them in the first half of
the year 1418 at Leipzig,1 and at Frankfort-on-the-Main.2 But the
details concerning their passage in these two places are wanting, and
the time of the year is even unknown for Leipzig.
The Gypsies now come to Switzerland. Sprecher pretends that
they appeared in the Grisons (in Khsetia), and in the surrounding
countries so early as 1417.3 It is true that all the other chroniclers
attribute to the year 1418 the first arrival of the Gypsies into the
countries which now form Switzerland ; and Grellmann has relied
solely on their testimony,4 although he was acquainted with the pas-
sage in Sprecher. At first sight, however, the real disagreement
admissi sunt et humaniter tractati. Eorum auteni quidam equitabant, quidam vero pedes
[pedites] gradiebantur. Causa autem hujus divagationis eorum et peregriuationis dicebatur
fuisse aversio a fide et recidivatio post conversiouem suam ad Paganismura. Quam quidem
peregrmationem continuare tenebautur ex injuncta eis poenitentia ab Episcopis suis ad
septennium."
It is not uninteresting to compare this text of Corner with that of RUFUS, who was also a
contemporary of the fact. The following is a literal translation, with the exception of a few
words which I reproduce in the original language because they demand a special knowledge
of Low German: — "At the same time (1417), a band of strangers wandered through the
country, who came from Tartary : they were black and ugly, and they had with them
women and children. They passed through the towns and camped iu the fields, lor the
townspeople could not tolerate them because they stole. They were about four hundred in
number, and gave themselves the name of Secanes (Secanen). They had amongst them
chiefs, a count and a duke, by whom they were judged when they had committed any fault.
The chiefs of the country had given them safe conducts dat se velich togen, wor se wolden.
Some of them travelled on horseback, but most went on foot. The reason they went from
one country to another was, it was said, because they had relapsed to Paganism, and it was
for this that this penance had been inflicted on them, and they were to undergo it for seven
years."
The resemblance is so great between this text and that of Corner, that one of the two
chroniclers appears to have been acquainted with the other.
1 Anno 1418 : " The Zigeuner, a malicious people of thieves and sorcerers appeared for
the first time at Leipzig." Leipzigische Chronike, by Tobie Hendenreich, doctor of law at
Leipzig. Leipzig, 1635, in 4to. I place this appearance before that of Frankfort, which is better
dated, because Leipzig is less removed from the Hanseatic towns ; but this circumstance only
furnishes a faint probability ; and in the absence of any indication respecting the month, one
cannot even be certain that what took place at Leipzig was not subsequent to the meeting
of the bands of Gypsies in Switzerland, nor that what took place at Strasbourg, which will
be found placed after this grand rendezvous, was not anterior to it.
2 "Mention is first made of them at Frankfort in the month of June 1418, where one
finds in the book of accounts of the town (Stadtische Rechenbucher, fol. 38b) that 4 pounds
and 4 shillings were spent for the bread and the meat given to the strange people from Little
Egypt (den elendigen ludeu vsz cleynen Egypten) ..." Deutsches Biirgerthum im Mittelalfer,
etc. (particularly at Frankfort-on-the-Main) by Dr. G. L. Kriegk, archivist of the town of
Frankfort. Frankfurt-a-M., 1868, in 8vo. vol. i., p. 149. At the end of this extract, pp.
150-152, and in the corresponding notes, p. 541, Mr. Kriegk gives some fifteen extracts
relative to the Gypsies at Frankfort, from 1334 to 1497) all taken from the Books of Accounts
or the Registers of the Burgomasters of the town, besides an interesting decree of the Council
of Frankfort, of 1571.
3 "Eodem anno, in Rhsetia et circumvicinis regionibus primo conspecti sunt Nubiani,
etc." Pallas Rhcetica, etc., or Rhcetia, etc., or Chronicon RJuctuc, authore Fort. Sprechero
at Berneck, etc., Basel, in 4to, 1617, p. 91 ; or edit Elzevir, 1633, sm. 12°, p. 139.
4 Grell., 1787, p. 201 ; trad, fr., p. 202.
276 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
appears to be only between Sprecher and Guler,1 these two chroni-
clers being the only ones, amongst our own, who specify the Orisons.
If we consider indeed that the wild country of the ancient Ehsetians
had still at this period quite a separate existence from Helvetia, of
which a part had become confederate in 1315, taking the name of
one of its cantons, the Canton of Schwitz, we should be inclined to
suppose that the Gypsies may have visited it in 1417, without the
knowledge of the chroniclers of Helvetia, or, at all events, without
their having paid attention to it. The date given by Sprecher is not
then without some appearance of worth, and I could not lightly reject
it. I do reject it however, because the comparative examination of
the passage of Guler, and of all the passages which interest us in the
other Swiss chronicles, shows me clearly that Sprecher, no more than
Guler indeed, was acquainted with any original document special to
the Grisons.
What at first sight strikes the collector of texts concerning the
apparition of the Gypsies is the great number of those offered by
Switzerland ; but one soon perceives that this unusual abundance is
more apparent than real. Nearly all our Swiss chroniclers have
copied and re-copied each other. We should then, in making use of
them, neglect no means of critical supervision, and attend especially
to the chronological order in which they succeed each other.2 We
1 "Towards the same time (1418) were seen for the first time in the Rhetian countries the
Ziegeiner, vulgarly called Heiden (pagans.)" Rhcetia, that it to say, detailed and true
description of the three honourable Grisons and other Rhetic countries (in German), by Guler
de Veineck, etc., 1616, in fol., p. 156 verso.
2 Here is the complete list of these chroniclers. I include Wurstisen in it, whose testi-
mony only regards Bale in 1422, but who must have been known to some of the after
chroniclers ; and Specklin, whose testimony regards Strasbourg in 1418, and who was cer-
tainly acquainted with some earlier Swiss chronicler : —
John STUMPF, who died in 1558, signalises the appearance of the Gypsies in Helvetia,
and especially at Zurich in 1418; Schweitzer Chronic, etc. (Swiss chronicle, that is to say,
description of all the honourable confederation — edit, revised, augmented, and continued
by John Rudolp Stumpf, Tiguri : 1606, in fol., p. 731). The first edition of this chronicle is
of 1546 at the latest. Among the ancient authors who have quoted Stumpf, I will name
Spondanus (Annal. ecclesiast. continuatio, in 3 vols., in-fol. Lutet. 1641, vol. ii. p. 237), who
read 1400 where Stumpf says 1418.
Giles TSCHUDI, magistrate at Glaris, an esteemed historian, was born at Glaris in 1505,
and died in 1572. It is he who gives us the most precise details concerning the march of
the Gypsies in Switzerland in 1418, JEgid. Tschudii Chronicon helveticum, etc. (in German,
— edit, of 1736 in 2 vols. in-fol., vol. ii. p. 116). This chronicle was only printed for the
first time in 1734.
Christian WURSTISEN (in Latin Urtisius), a scholar of Bale, bora in 1544, died in 1588,
published in 1580 his Bale Chronicle (Easier Chronick, etc., oder Easier Eistumbs Historien)
in four books, dated at the end. We shall only make use of this text, which regards exclu-
sively the territory of Bale and a neighbouring district in 1422, further on.
Daniel SPKCKLIN (or SPECKEL), Architect of the town of Strasbourg, and one of the
greatest engineers of his time, wrote also at the end of the sixteenth century, I do not know
exactly at what period. I owe the knowledge of his Collectanea (in two vols., in-fol. MSS.
of the time, conserved in the library of Strasbourg) to the kindness of M. Strobel, professor
at the mixed college of Strasbourg, and author of a good History of Alsace, and who has
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 277
shall thus be brought to recognise that there are but three who can
pass for original : Stumpf, Tschudi, and Wurstisen ; none however
are contemporary. (When this was written, I was not acquainted
also given me some other documents (M. Strobel died suddenly in 1850). It is in this col-
lection, valuable for its history of Alsace, that Specklin, 1st vol., fol. 340, ad an. 1418,
mentions the arrival of the first Zeyginer at Strasbourg ; he adds, unfortunately, " and in
every country " (of Europe, no doubt), and that makes me already fear that his assertion
rests only on this reasoning, unworthy no doubt of a man of erudition if even the premises
had been less inexact : the Gypsies showed themselves for the first time in all the countries
of the centre of Europe in 1418, consequently at Strasbourg. This basis would be all the
worse because the Gypsies only spread themselves perhaps over that part of Switzerland
which is near to Alsace, in 1422 (see Wurstisen). What is certain is that, except that
Strasbourg takes the place of Zurich, the passage in Specklin is scarcely anything else than
a second edition of the passage of Stumpf, — some phrases are transposed, some details are
suppressed : Specklin even takes upon himself to add the name of Epirus to that of Little
Egypt, and to fix at fifty years the interval which, according to the author he copies, sepa-
rated the. real Gypsies from the new ; but his originality ends there. What is especially un-
fortunate for him is that he has the hardihood to repeat the whole number of 14,000, when
Tschudi, whom no doubt he was not acquainted with, says positively that on leaving
Switzerland the band divided into two sections, whieh took different routes. — These observa-
tions do not absolutely prove that the capital fact, i.e. that of the coming of the Gypsies to
Strasbourg in 1418, is false ; but it must be allowed that, under such a cover, it becomes
doubtful.
John GULER de Weinech and Fortunat SPRECHER of Berneck, who filled important
functions either in the army or in the magistrature and politics of their country, were both
born at Davos, in the Grisons, the first in 1562, the second in 1585. Sprecher wrote a
biography of Guler, and the title alone of this opusculum seems to prove that they were
bound together by friendship. Their works, quoted in the preceding notes, appeared at an
interval of one year : that of Guler in 1616', at Zurich, where the author for some time
resided ; that of Sprecher at Bale, in 1617, whilst the author was governor of the county of
Chiavenne (in the Milanese). The work of Guler is far more extensive than that of
Sprecher, but it presents deficiencies, the second part promised by the author having
perished by fire.
The rather long passage in Guler may be divided into two parts.— In the first part,
devoted to the first Zigeuners, the only ones who were authentic in the eyes of Guler and in
those of the other Swiss chroniclers, he copies Stumpf, putting however, in the place of the
number of 14,000 that of 1400, perhaps from Crusius (Annales Suevici), and adding details
which are not to be found in Tschudi ; thus he develops the saying of the Gypsies on the
cause of their exile, and he speaks of their passports and of Duke Michael, of whom, in
Switzerland, Wurstisen alone had spoken before him. Where has Guler found these
details? He has taken them from Minister (Cosmog. univ.), who had already appropriated
to himself the interesting passage from Krantz, joining to it, however, some curious observa-
tions, by which Guler in his turn profited. The phrase concerning the passports is taken
textually from Krantz, save that Guler has added the Pope to the Emperor, doubtless
following Wurstisen. As to the recital of the Gypsies concerning the cause of their exile, it
is copied from Munster, who had already taken it I know not whence, perhaps out of the
Chronicle of Bologna, from which several other of his details appear also to have been bor-
rowed.— In the second part of his passage, Guler makes us acquainted with the counterfeit
Gypsies whom he thinks to have followed the first, and whom Stumpf already distinguishes
from them, but less clearly. Here are to be found textually the details given by Krantz on
the Gypsies of his time, enriched by those that Munster had joined to his plagiarism, con-
cerning the pretended attempt of the Gypsies to return into Africa, their fortune-telling, and
their pilferings, etc. Finally, a word of Guler's indicates that he was also acquainted with
some of the authors who make the Gypsies come from Zengitania — Niger, Ortelius, Vulcanius,
or others.— On the whole, in all the passage by Guler, 1 only find one line to notice : Guler
says, in ending, that the Gypsies are now driven out of many countries, and, that when they
are found there, they are thrown into prison or beheaded as they deserve ; and he adds :
"Several princes, however, accommodate themselves willingly enough with this heap of
pickpockets."
The passage in Sprecher is only a short and feeble summary of the proceeding, especially,
it would seem, of Guler, He was also acquainted with Vulcanius or Ortelius, from whom he
278 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
with a Swiss contemporary chronicler, Justinger, who will be found
further on).
Our authors, whilst they copy each other, have nevertheless found
means to disagree on several important points. Their principal
divergence bears on the number of the Gypsies who visited Switzer-
land. The question is important, as we are about to see ; it is no
longer a question of some hundreds of individuals, but of thousands,
many thousands.
Tschudi estimates the number of these Gypsies at forty thousand ;
Stumpf, and, in accordance with him, Specklin, and Walser, who,
however, copy Guler for all the rest, make it fourteen thousand.1
How comes it then that Guler, who steals from Stumpf, should have
replaced this number by that of fourteen hundred ? Is it from
Crusius 2 that he has borrowed this different reading ? But what
reason had Crusius for giving it ? Is it on his part a rectification
or an error in copying ? If his work were recent, I should have no
hesitation in saying that it was an error of copying; for, in our
times, it would not be allowed to reproduce or analyse a text, naming
its author, when at the same time, even for the best reasons in the
world, an important modification is introduced. But the annalists
of those times had not the same ideas as ourselves on this point,3
and I am disposed to think that it is a rectification. At all events,
the number of fourteen hundred is to be retained and examined ; for
one can only hesitate for a moment between this number and that of
fourteen thousand, the forty thousand Gypsies of Tschudi exceeding
borrows the name of Nubiani. The only difference between him and the other Swiss
chroniclers is in the date of 1417 ; and if it is not the result of a lapsus, it is probably
because, finding the source of Guler in some of the copyists of Krantz (Munster, Gesner, or
others), Sprecher has thought that he was acting as a highly judicious critic in adopting the
date furnished by a more original document.
John GBOSSIUS, whose Little Chronicle of Bale (in German) appeared for the first time, I
think, in 1624 (Basel, in small 8vo, p. 70, sub an. 1422), only abridges the passage from
Wurstisen.
Finally, Gabriel WALSER, whom I know to be posterior to the above, does no more than
reproduce the passage from Guler, abridging it a little in the second part, and applying it
without further ceremony to the canton of Appenzell. Only he takes up again in Stumpf
the number of 14,000 that Guler had replaced by 1400 ; and as to the date, he substitutes, no
doubt by negligence, 1419 for 1418 (see, however, further on, the passage from Justinger).
He ends by adding a few noteworthy statements regarding the measures taken against the
Gypsies in various countries, and the small number of them that were still to be met with in
the canton. See New Chronicle of Appenzell, or Description of the Canton of Appeuzell.
interior and exterior rodes (in German), S. Gallen, 1740, in 8vo, pp. 266-267.
1 As to Sprecher, whose testimony is null, he does not give any number ; and, as
Wurstisen and Grossius speak of another arrival of Gypsies four years later, we need take no
account of it here.
2 Annales Suevici, ab. an. 1213 ad an. 1594. Francof. 1595, 2 vols. in fol. 3d part,
2d vol. p. 345.
3 Witness Calvisius, rectifying Fabricius in the way we have seen above.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 279
all bounds of probability.1 Now I say even of the fourteen thousand
what Mliller2 says of the forty thousand, which is that such a
multitude would have alarmed all the princes and towns, and that
one does not find any trace of such an agitation. And, whilst
Muller hesitates between these numbers of fourteen thousand and
fourteen hundred, under pretext that the latter would not have
attracted the attention of all the chroniclers, I am astonished on the
contrary to see the Gypsies, to the already enormous number of
fourteen hundred, pass not only through Switzerland, but at a few
leagues from Bale, without anything being known about it at Bale.3
Fourteen hundred Gypsies ! it is double the number contained in
the Basque provinces in France, where the inhabitants demand
yearly in the " Conseil general " for the Lower Pyrenees, and even
in the legislative assemblies, measures of repression against these
wretched remnants of half-civilised nomads.4 I add with Grellmann 5
that everything we have seen up to the present moment, and every-
thing we know about the composition of the Gypsy bands, is
opposed to the number of fourteen thousand. That of fourteen hun-
dred is, on the contrary, sufficiently probable, and we will adopt
it for the present. I say for the present, for it is already very high ;
and if later, when we cast a glance over the whole of the facts, and
on calculating the number of Gypsies who travelled over Europe
during this period, we experience a difficulty, it will be that of
arriving at such a total.
However it may be, this multitude entered Switzerland by the
country of the Grisons,6 crossed the canton of Appenzell,7 and pene-
trated into the canton of Zurich. A great number came to Zurich ; 8
they arrived there the last day of August, camped before the gate of the
town, on the place of Bannser's mead and on the banks of the Limath.
1 Muller, in his Histoire de la Confederation Suisse (French trans, by MM. Monnard
and Wullierain, vol. iv. p. 277, note 299), also rejects this number. As for Grellmann, he
was not acquainted with the passage of Tschudi, and he was already, with good reason,
alarmed at the number of 14,000. See Grellmann, p. 209-211 ; French trans, pp. 212-214.
2 At the passage quoted.
3 They were also known at Bale in 1422, according to Wurstisen; but see Justinger
further on.
4 This was written in 1844. Since then the Gypsy population in the French Basque
provinces has passed through various phases, the explanation of which would be too long for
us to enter upon here.
s Edition of 1787, pp. 209-211 ; French trans, of 1810, pp. 212-214.
6 Unless they at once went through the countries of St. Gall and Appenzell below the Lake
of Constance. I have chosen the Grisons on account of the passages in Guler and Sprecher.
I do not, however, attach any importance to their testimony, no more than to that of Walser,
and I should not follow them if they had not appeared to be in accordance with the ulterior
itinerary of the Gypsies compared with their anterior itinerary.
7 Walser. See the preceding note.
8 Tschudi and Stumpf.
280 THE IMMIGKATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
They remained there six days. Then they went as far as Baden in
Argovia, and there they separated into two bands.1 This multitude
did not inarch in close columns ; they dispersed themselves over the
country, 2 and, according to Stumpf, it was not the whole horde who
camped before the gate of Zurich. There must, however, have been
a close connection in this horde, and a visible unity in the march of
the different bands composing it, before Tschudi could have remarked
its breaking up on quitting Switzerland.
These people who had never before been seen in the country,
and whom all our chroniclers represent as strange and singular,
were generally black,3 the children as well as the men and women.4
They had their dukes, earls, and lords; and two dukes and two
knights were especially remarked amongst them.5 Guler and, copy-
ing him, Walser add that the principal chief was Duke Michael of
Egypt; but we know what to think of Guler's originality, and
although I have not sufficient proof that he was acquainted with
Wurstisen, I fear he has borrowed this detail from him : it is, how-
ever, probable. — These Gypsies said that they were from Little
Egypt.6 They related that they had been driven out by the Sultan
and the Turks, and that they were condemned to do penance in
poverty during seven years. They were, besides, very honest people;
followed the Christian customs as concerned the baptism of the
newly-born children, the burials, and all the rest. They wore poor
garments, but they had a great deal of gold and silver provided by
their own country; ate well, drank well, and paid well.7 Stumpf
adds that, faithful to their word, at the end of seven years these
Gypsies returned home ; and he is careful not to confound them with
the vagabonds who, under the same name, have since so much in-
creased in number, and amongst whom, he adds, the most honest is
a rogue, seeing that they live exclusively on theft.8 This strange
1 Tcshudi.
2 Stumpf. Tschudi, who carried their number to 40,000, certainly did not think that
these forty thousand souls remained motionless and compact during their six days' sojourn
before the gate of Zurich.
3 Tschudi ; Sprecher. The latter says : gens atra. 4 Tschudi. « Ibid.
6 Stumpf only says from Egypt. Tschudi is more explicit : according to him they said
they wei%e from the country of Zingri (?) in Little Egypt ; some also said that they came
from Igritz (?).
7 All these details are taken from Stumpf and from Tschudi.
8 Guler has taken possession of this idea, and has developed it as a transition between
his plagiarism of Stumpf and that of Munster, already enriched by that of Krantz : "After
the departure of the Ziyeuner," says he, "a lost and savage rout of thieves gathered together,
took their place, and dared to make themselves black like them by means of an ointment.
When they had become sufficiently disorderly, dissolute, and dirty, they also assumed the
garb of the strange Zigeuners, and endeavoured thus to persuade the world that they were
the above-mentioned Egyptians, and that they had endeavoured to go by sea to Africa, but
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 281
testimony seems at least to indicate that the numerous Gypsies who
first came into Switzerland behaved themselves there with some
decency; and there is reason to suppose that they were tolerably
well received there.1
What we have just seen to have taken place in Switzerland was
evidently a complete rendezvous ; and I am persuaded that this
rendezvous was not the simple effect of chance. When indeed one
considers the first Gypsy peregrinations, one is struck by their
promptitude. In all the countries where one can, by aid of authentic
testimony, follow the Gypsies during some time, one sees them
marching, marching continually, not only as nomads who like a
change of place, but as travellers in haste to see. Such journeys
must have had for object the exploration of the new part of the world
into which they had bravely ventured; and, in order that this
exploration should be more extensive, and nevertheless profitable to
the whole band, it was necessary to separate often, and re-assemble
sometimes ; above all it was natural to meet again completely at
some place far advanced of the journey, such as this. In these
meetings, the inferior chiefs related to the superior what they had
seen ; the head chief numbered his men and issued fresh orders.
The somewhat alarming number of Gypsies gathered together in
Switzerland contributed, no doubt, to make them prudent and
reserved. They owed besides some respect to the country on the
borders of which they had been so well treated by the Emperor, and
which the Emperor had lived in scarcely four months previously ; 2
had been prevented from landing, etc. ..." The Gypsies have, it is true, given this last
reason to explain their stay in Europe after the expiration of the seven years : see Munster.
As to the masquerade which gave rise to the hundreds of thousands of Gypsies spread over
Europe, it will deceive no one.
1 This appears also to have been the case from a short passage in Joh. Jakob Hottinger,
who, in his Swiss Ecclesiastical History, after having spoken of the benevolence of the town
of Boleure towards several localities and divers persons, adds : "The same charity was ex-
perienced at the same period by the homeless Zigeuners." See Helvetische Kirchengeschichte,
recast after the ancient work of Joh. Jakob Hottinger, and other sources, by Louis Wirz,
pastor at Monch-Altorf, Zurich, 1808-1810, in 8vo, vol. iii. p. 223. —I quote this work in
default of the original by J. J. Hottinger, which I have not been able to find in the Paris
libraries ; and it is impossible that this passage shoiild be taken from Wirz (which, however,
is of small importance). Hottinger does not specify the time more than the facts ; but,
according to the date which precedes and that which follows, his observation would refer
only to the middle of the fifteenth century, which is too recent, if it concerns, as I think it
does, the first Gypsies who travelled through Switzerland.
2 Perhaps even the Emperor was still quite near, which would be very significant.
' After the Council (which closed on the 22d April 1418) Sigismund continued travelling for
some time in the Rhine countries ; afterwards he went into Hungary. . . ." — Hist, des
Allemands, by Schmidt, translated (by J. C. de Laveaux), in 8vo, t. v., 1786, p. 134.
N.B.— It will be eeen further on that all the preceding remarks on the good behaviour
of the Gypsies in Switzerland in 1418, remarks justified in 1844 by the unanimous testimony
of the non-contemporary chroniclers belonging to this country, appear now to be reduced
to nothing by the testimony of Justinger.
VOL. I. — NO. V. T
282 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
and besides it entered into their plans to re-visit it. They did not
therefore stay long there. Their passage appears to have been very
rapid and very direct : they certainly did not travel through all the
countries of the confederation, as Walser pretends ; 1 according to all
probability, they only crossed the north-eastern extremity of Switzer-
land, and they crossed it with such an unanimity that their passage
must have left for the moment but small traces.2
All that we have just seen concerning the Gypsies in Switzerland
(including the notes) was written in 1844. Since then I have
become acquainted with a passage from JUSTINGER, the only Swiss
chronicler known up to the present time who is contemporary with
the fact.3 I translate literally this passage, which is placed under
the year 1419 : —
" Of the baptized Heiden. In the said year came to Bale, to
Zurich, to Berne, and to Soleure more than two hundred baptized
pagans (Heiden) ; they were from Egypt, pitiful, black, miserable,
with women and children ; and they camped before the town (of
Berne 4) in the fields, until there came a prohibition (from the autho-
rities), because they had become unbearable to the inhabitants on
account of their thefts, for they stole all they could. They had
among them dukes and earls, who were provided with good silver
belts,5 and who rode on horseback ; the others were poor and pitiful.
They wandered from one country to another ; and they had a safe-
conduct (Geleitbrief) from the King of the Komans."
Several important facts in this testimony which, I repeat, is con-
temporary, disagree with those I had previously collected, and which
certainly were not borrowed from him.
First the date: but, contemporary as he was, Justinger, if he
wrote this passage some years after the fact, may have been mistaken
1 Walser, copying Guler, and wishing absolutely to place in his chronicle of Appenzell
the passage of the chronicle of Helvetia, substitutes this trivial fact for the coming of the
Gypsies to Zurich.
2 I have already remarked, as being an astonishing fact, that this great horde should have
passed at fifteen leagues from Basle, without making itself known at least by some detach-
ments.
3 Conrad JUSTINGER : Berner Chronik, published by Stierlin and Wysz in 1819, p. 381.
The passage in old German is entirely reproduced by M. F. Dyrlund (op. cit., p. 362), where
I see that Justinger, who died in 1426, was recorder of the town of Berne from 1411, and
that his chronicle goes as far as 1421. I should have wished to see in the original publica-
tion how the date presents itself; but I have not found the volume in the National Library
of Paris.
4 Justinger was from Berne, and his chronicle being that of Berne, there can be no doubt
as to the place.
5 I wondered for a moment whether these were not receptacles for containing money worn
roun the body and generally underneath the garments, but the German expression (silbrin
Giirteln) does not permit a doubt but that they were real belts, baldricks or ornaments of
some kind.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 283
on this point. Now it is certain that he cannot have written it at
the very moment, because he speaks at the same time of the visit of
the Gypsies in several of the Swiss cantons. Besides, a passage of
the chronicle which commences by these words : " In the same
year, . . ." does not present the same chronological certainty as if
the date of the year had been expressed : in addition to the month
being omitted, which appears to indicate a rather vague remembrance,
it may happen that a fragment thus dated may slip from one year to
another. If, however, the date of 1419 were exact, it would be pos-
sible that it applies exclusively to Berne, where the author lived, and
perhaps to Soleure, and even to Bale, three places of which Tschudi
does not speak, and where a band of " more than two hundred " Gyp-
sies may have come in the year which followed the great rendezvous
in Switzerland. For, as far as concerns Zurich, where Tschudi says
positively that the great band arrived on the 31st of August 1418,
and even Baden in Argovia, which is not far, and where Tschudi
relates that it separated into two portions, it appears to me impos-
sible to admit that this chronicler has not had some precise docu-
ment under his eyes.
It may be replied perhaps that Tschudi, to whom belongs the
regrettable honour of having fixed the legend of William Tell,1
Tschudi, who has given us the fantastic number of forty thousand
Gypsies, does not merit much confidence. I answer that, as regards
estimates which are often uncertain and variable, such as the number
of combatants in a battle 2 or the number of individuals in a Gypsy
horde, legend has full scope, and that, in this instance, Tschudi has
evidently followed and perhaps enlarged upon the legend, but that a
date so precise as that of the 31st August 1418 is of a very different
nature. I will add that Stumpf, another Swiss chronicler, original in
this passage, also gives the year 1418 as that of the appearance of
the Gypsies in Switzerland, and particularly at Zurich.
My conclusion, which can only be provisional, is then that two
alternatives are possible : either Justinger has made a mistake of a
year, or else this date of 1419 applies to another arrival of Gypsies
at Berne and probably at Soleure, perhaps at Bale. In the first
case, I should be inclined to think that the " two hundred " Gypsies,
1 See the Revue Critique of the llth July 1868, p. 29, in the article by Rod. Reuss on the
work of M. Albert Rilliet, Les Origines de la Confederation Suisse.
2 See in the Revue Critique of the 6th February 1888, p. 108, the analysis (by M. Am.
Hauvette) of the work of M. Hans Delbruck, Die Perserkriege und die Kuryundcrkriege,
Berlin, 1887, upon the preposterous numbers attributed by the Swiss to the Burgundian
armies vanquished by them at Granson and at Morat (1476).
284 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
or a few more, with whom Justinger was acquainted in the last-
named places and particularly at Berne, where he lived, were but a
detachment of the great band of Zurich. For, whilst making a large
allowance for the legend, I can with difficulty persuade myself that
the 40,000 of Tschudi, the 14,000 of Stumpf, Specklin, and Walser,
the 1,400 of Crusius and of Guler, an estimate which appeared to
me to be perhaps acceptable, should finally be reduced to "more
than two hundred," that is to say, to a number notably inferior to
that which we found at the outset in the Hanseatic towns.1
In one or other of these alternatives, not only Berne and Soleure,
which did not figure in our first Swiss documents, would be added
under the date of 1418 or 1419, but even Bale also, where the testi-
mony of Wurstisen, without doubt applicable to the year 1422,
signalises the presence of the Gypsies at that period as occurring
for the first time. But Wurstisen was not a contemporary, and he
may easily have been unacquainted with a document anterior to
that of which he made use. I had already experienced some
astonishment (in 1844, p. 30 and p. 34, note 2 ; see above, p. 279 and
p. 282, note 2) that the great band of 1418 should have passed so
near Bale unknown to the inhabitants of this town. It now seems
probable that they came there in 1418 or 1419, and most probably
in 1418.
A last point upon which Justinger is wholly at variance with
the non-contemporaneous chroniclers, is the manner in which the
Gypsies behaved in Switzerland on their first appearance, in numbers
more or less considerable, in this country. Here, I think, his testi-
mony may be received without reserve : the pretended nobility of
the first Gypsies is founded on the distinction, purely chimerical,
established by the other chroniclers between these and their succes-
sors ; it is in contradiction with all that we know of other countries ;
and, if I allow what I have said on this subject to remain, it is simply
as a legendary testimony.
The itinerary that I have endeavoured to trace (p. 31 of the tirage
a part; see above, pp. 279-280) for the entrance of the Gypsies into
Switzerland may also have to be modified when better information
is obtained. What appears clear to me up to the present moment is
that the order in which Justinger mentions the towns and the cantons
1 As to the numbers that we shall meet with ulteriorly, they are in general reduced to
about 100 or 120 (excepting at Forli, 1422, where they are 200, and perhaps in some other
places, Augsburg in 1418, Bale in 1422, etc., where their number is ill determined). But
we have reason to think that they separated on leaving Switzerland, and it would seem that
afterwards their meeting was never complete.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 285
visited by them (Bale, Zurich, Berne, and Soleure), is quite fortuitous,
and does not represent an itinerary.
As to the description of their departure from Switzerland (ibidem
and below), it is founded on the precise testimony of Tschudi, whom
one cannot refute without very positive proofs. But the return by
circuitous routes, like the previous appearances at such or such a point,
are always possible, especially in a country composed of independent
cantons. And it is thus that the passage through Switzerland of the
great horde (if there be a great horde, as I am still inclined to think),
or of the detachments which composed it, may also not have been so
rapid as I supposed it to have been (pp. 33-34 of the former tirage
a part, p. 282 ante}.
In short, the testimony, very valuable notwithstanding, of the
contemporary Justinger, far from throwing light upon the history of
the first appearance of the Gypsies in Switzerland, leaves much in
obscurity. It is an historical point which most likely will only be
elucidated by the Registers of the municipal accounts of the towns
through which the Gypsies have passed, and in which they may have
received subsidies,1 as we shall see that they have received elsewhere.
What actually contributes to the uncertainty of the Swiss
itinerary is that documents sometimes bear the date of the year
only; we have met with such examples not only in Switzerland,
but, before or after the passage of the Gypsies in this country, at
Leipzig, at Strasbourg.
For the present, however, it is after the departure from Switzer-
land that I place the arrival of the Gypsies at Strasbourg, as I have
also temporarily placed their passage at Leipzig before their entrance
into Switzerland. "We have, indeed, left the great band breaking up
near Baden in Argovia. A part of the horde, adds Tschudi, then
1 I call the attention of the Swiss scholars of Zurich, Baden in Argovia, Berne, Soleure,
Bale, and in general of all the Swiss towns that have kept their ancient Accounts, to this
point : for the first question is the knowledge of the towns in Switzerland possessing A ccounts
going back as far as the beginning of the fifteenth century ; and upon this point, information,
even negative, would have a solid interest. Wherever these accounts exist, it would be neces-
sary more particularly to explore those between 1416 and 1420, and better still up to 1438 ;
but, this exploration once commenced, it would be interesting to pursue it as far as possible
in order to extract from these Registers all that they contain about the Gypsies (Zigeuner,
Heiden, etc., etc.) ; and even to go further back than 1417 to see if perchance people resem-
bling the Gypsies may not have existed, under other names, in Switzerland before 1417.
These extracts published in some collection of the country (of which I should be glad to
receive the exact indication— rue de 1'Odeon, 12, Paris) would form the beginning of a docu-
mentary History of the Gypsies in Switzerland, like that which M. Dirks has collected for
Holland. It is scarcely necessary for me to add that what I have requested for Switzerland
on the occasion of an obscure fact, upon which it would be particularly interesting to throw
some light, would be equally desirable for all the countries of Europe, and that, if I only
speak here of the Registers of Toions, it is not with any intention of excluding fhe Chronicles
and such other sources of information as may present themselves.
286 IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTUEY.
passed the Boetzberg, that is to say, the north-west end of the chain
of the Jura. Tschudi does not follow them further, and does not
say what direction the others took. But it is natural to think that
a good number of Gypsies must then have penetrated either into the
present grand duchy of Baden, or directly into Alsace, and it is thus
that some may have arrived at Strasbourg in the same year.
Now, the presence of the Gypsies at Strasbourg in 1418, which
left some doubts on my mind when it was mentioned only by
Specklin1 and by Hermann,2 appears better attested by an (un-
published?) Chronicle of Strasbourg, which, however, I only know
through a quotation,3 and which does not specify the time of year.
PAUL BATAILLAKD.
{To be continued,)
V.— THE GITANOS OF TO-DAY.
DUEING the autumn of the past year (1888), I travelled over a
considerable part of Spain, and the conclusion I have come to
regarding the Gitanos is, that one is much mistaken if one believes
that the pure type of the traditional Gitano is still to be found there.
I have visited the famous suburb of Triana (Calle de la Cava) at
Seville ; there is there a population which does not differ much from
the populations of the other quarters of Seville. Even in fhefabrica
de tabacos of Seville, where there are many thousands of work-
people, the workshops of the Gitanos do not strike one as very
different from those of the Andalusians. Here and there only (and
especially among the old people), one sees a rare type, presenting
some trace of the true Gypsy physiognomy.4
1 See my long note on Specklin, pp. 27-28 of my former memoir ; and above, pp. 276-277.
2 In a note of my former memoir (p. 34), I said : " I find besides in a collection of small
scattered facts, placed at the end of Notices historiques, statistiques et litteraires sur Stras-
bourg, by Hermann (Strasbourg, 1819, 2 vols. in 8vo., vol. 2, p. 432) the following sentence :
' In 1418, some Gypsies, called in German Zigeuner, and in some countries Heiden, pagans,
came for the first time into Alsace and the neighbourhood of Strasbourg.' But the author
having dispensed himself from indicating his authorities, I think the indication is drawn from
the Collectanea of Specklin and to be received with the same distrust."
3 In a short article upon the Zigeuner, by Auguste Stober, inserted in the Anzeiger fur
Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit, an. 1856, t. I., Niirnberg, 1863, p. 173, I find the following
note concerning the apparition of the Gypsies in Germany : "They came from Epiro (sic),
which the vulgar call 'Little Egypt.' TRAUSCH, handsch. Strasburgische Chronik, n. 366.
According to Trausch, the ' Zeyginer ' made their first appearance at Strasbourg in 1418."
M. Stober does not say to what epoch this chronicle belongs ; but what makes me believe in
its originality— at least relative— is that the detail given by Specklin, that "they came from
Epirus, called also vulgarly Little Egypt " (see again above, p. 277, in the long note on
Specklin reproduced from my former memoir), is certainly borrowed from him.
4 With these statements of the Marquis Colocci, compare the " Sketches at Seville " in
our Notes and Queries (p. 309 post).— [ED.]
THE GITANOS OF TO-DAY. 287
The Gitanos of Seville emigrate to America without the least
disinclination ; once there, they employ themselves as herdsmen in
the ganaderias, or enlist in the military service of Cuba or the
Philippine Islands.
In the Sierra Morena I found Gitanos, whose special occupation
was the making of baskets and chairs. These spoke a better cal6.
At Saragossa I found a small Gitano colony.
There are also some at Cordova. And we know of the adventure
which happened there to an English tourist (a Dr. Middleton, I
believe), who shot a Gitano on the tower of the Cathedral to save
himself from being robbed by him.1
At Santa Fe there is a numerous colony of Gitanos, who have
preserved the racial type better than others. They are proud of it,
and they say of themselves without any hesitation : Nosotros semos
caUs de siete costillas y media (" We are Gitanos on seven sides and a
half "), meaning that they are of the genuine stock.
There are also Gitano localities in Granada. Some live in the St.
Nicholas quarter (Barrio de la Cava de San Nicolo) ; but the greatest
number live in the Sacro Monte quarter above the Albaycin, in caves
cut out of the rock, formerly grottoes of the Moors. This Barrio de
los Gitanos, everywhere pierced with these caverns, presents the ap-
pearance of a huge hive of bees. Zigzag footpaths lead from one
grotto to another. The sides of the Sacro Monte are tufted with
the aloe and the cactus. Below, amid the ruins of ancient Arab walls,
tiows the Darro.
The Gitanos of Granada are smiths, sheep-shearers, small traders
at the fairs, and, above all, they beg from tourists. The women tell
fortunes, or perform Flamenca dances before strangers.
There are nearly two hundred Gitanos in Granada. They are said
to be thieves, and I am inclined to believe it ; but I must admit that
with me they were very honest, and. they laughed fit to split them-
selves when I spoke to them in calo, for that seemed something
wonderful to them. They took me for one of themselves, belonging
to a foreign country, but of their race. The good people of Granada
were amazed to see me always in such company, and they said to
me with a reproachful air : " Seiior, los jitanos son gente muy fea ! "
(" The Gitanos are very dirty people, Senor ! ")
1 In this connection 1 may state that my experiences, when at Granada, did not at all
coincide with the opinions expressed by the writer of the letter " Spanish Gypsies and
British Tourists," communicated to the Edinburgh Scotsman (and quoted in our Journal,
No. 3, p. 178). I was at Granada in the month of November, and the Spanish police did
not take the precautions referred to in that letter. I have been with the Gitanos, alone, day
and night, in their caves, and I found them very good fellows.
288 THE GITANOS OF TO-DAY.
Their morality is not worth much ; especially in the matter of
virtue. I have known several Manillas, thirteen or fourteen years
old, who posed as city guides, but who in reality conducted strangers
to houses of evil fame. With regard to the alleged chastity of the
Gitanas, extolled by Borrow, Enault, Quindale and Liszt, I would
make some reservations.
At Seville, at Cadiz, at Granada, I have known real Gitanas who were
anything but prudes. I have even spoken, at Cadiz, to a poor and
rather pretty Manilla, who had been seduced by her lover, a Gitano,
and deserted by him when with child. Eepulsed by her family,
the poor young creature turned courtesan. At Granada, I knew
a Gitana who accepted an invitation to dinner which I gave to her
and to her husband. After dinner, she fo'und an excuse for sending
away her Othello, and, being then left alone with me, she made
such advances to me as no virtuous Desdemona would have made.
At Cadiz, several Gitanas follow the occupation of go-between in
love intrigues.1 These are generally neither young nor beautiful.
And I always think with shame of a scandalous speech made to me
at Cadiz by two very young Gitanas, of ten or eleven, which they
accompanied by gestures of an indescribably licentious nature.
At Granada there is a prince of the Gypsies, a grotesque being ;
he remains nearly the whole day at the gate of the Alhambra
awaiting strangers, and clad in the old Spanish muleteer costume,
wearing a large peaked hat on his head. His coat, with its gold lace
and velvet, must have been very grand in its day; but now it is
very ragged through the effects of time. This personage sells his
own photograph to visitors, and one learns from the back of it that
it is the portrait of Mariano Hernandez, Principe de los Gitanos,
modelo del immortal Fortuny. He really was a model, and sat to
this famous painter.
It is a sight to see this pedicular prince attire himself proudly,
grand in his garments and his authority ! He conducts you to the
Barrio de los Gitanos ; he organises Gypsy concerts and Flamenca
dances for the amusement of strangers. I had myself a good deal
of intercourse with him, in order to acquaint myself better with certain
details about the Gitanos, and to practise the Cold, which he speaks
much better than the others.
Through him I was still better enabled to remark the simplicity
1 Compare the remark made by Mephistopheles to Faust, with reference to Martha :—
" Das 1st ein Weib wie auserlesen,
Zum Kuppler- und Zigeunerwesen !" — [ED.]
GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING. 289
with which the good Borrow judged of the morality of the Gitanas.
This prince will, indeed, procure Gitana models for you, if you are
anything of a painter, or even if you are not one at all. And if you
should occupy yourself with the original instead of the copy, his
Highness the Prince of the Gitanos will not, you may be sure, raise any
diplomatic question about this exploit touching one of his subjects !
As to their language, the greater part of the Gitanos at the
present day speak Spanish, and employ the Spanish phraseology,
only substituting some Cal6 words, and modifying some Spanish
words with the terminations saro — sara and une — una. For example :
saro-a une-a.
Pelo (Hair), . . . Pdisara. C'ahonazo (Trousers), . Cahonzune.
Frente (Forehead), . -Frentisara. Cravate (Fr.\ . . . Cravatund.
Carrillo (Cheek) . Carissara. D^0 (Finger), . . . Deduna.
Lengua (iongue), . Lengiasara,. _
E7»o(0ne), . . . UnLro. J«2«te (Jacket),
Dos (Two), . . . Doisaro.
Tres (Three), . . . Treisaro.
Cincuenta (Fifty), . Cincuentisaro.
Chaleco (Waistcoat), . Chalequne.
Oreja (Ear), .... Orejuna.
etc.
etc.
The true Cold language still exists, in the precise sense of the
word. But only a limited number of these words are now used ; the
rest is Castilian. Each individual Gitano only knows a small portion
of it. Nevertheless, in my conversations with Gitanos, above all
with those of the Sierra Morena, and, in particular, with their old
people, I have collected — here or there — some hundreds of words,
which, perhaps, I shall one day publish.
I have also collected many of their Cantos Flamencos, similar to
those published by Professor Machado y Alvarez, some sayings and
proverbs, riddles, etc., etc. ADRIANO COLOCCI.
VI.— GYPSY SONGS OF MOUKNING.
i. — PRISONERS' LAMENTS.
IN the course of my visits to prisons, and specially in Transylvania
when in quest of folk-lore, I often had an easy and safe oppor-
tunity of making a study of the Gypsies.
These people, who are either, generally speaking, as shy as a roe
or as intrusive as a bug, are always very slow to furnish any informa-
tion regarding their poetry and national customs; but in prison I
found them dispirited by the loss of their freedom, and much fretted
by the confinement which they probably feel more keenly than any
one else, Here, after having won their good-will by talking to them
290 GYPSY SONGS OF MOUKNING.
in their own tongue, they would open their hearts to me, protesting,
as a rule, their innocence, but occasionally when severely cross-
examined as to the cause of their incarceration, they would, in a
shamefaced fashion, admit their guilt. It would be worth while, I
think, if some of the officials of criminal departments in Hungary,
where there is no lack of people who study the Gypsy tongue for their
pleasure merely, were to study the language and national customs of
the Gypsies from a judiciary standpoint, as is done in other countries.
Some of the Gypsies condemned to a rather longer term of imprison-
ment begged me to intercede on their behalf to have their condition
mitigated (although their well-being in prison is incomparably greater
than it is in freedom), or even to obtain their release. Once, some
recently incarcerated members of a Gypsy band, with whom I had but
a short time before been tramping the country, in a prisoner's dress
and on very familiar terms, stared with their eyes wide open on
seeing me on intimate terms with the all-powerful public prosecutor.
On such occasions the Gypsies were fond of singing to me their
improvised laments (or rather dirges), which they spin out indefinitely,
and which I had to stop when they began to weary me. These
Jeremiads they whined out in a drawling and very sing-song tone,
of a decided Roumanian type. A specimen of these chants was
published in the second number of our Journal (page 101, No. 7,
Burzenland} ; being one which was sung to me by Mojsa Curar in the
prison of Brasso (Kronstadt), in the summer of 1886. I wrote down
more than 100 verses of his words, if one may apply the term "verse "
to a series of disconnected sentences, extremely primitive alike in
rhythm and in rhyme.
I shall quote the text as a curiosity (not on account of its poetical
value), making use of the same system of transcription as that
employed in the translation of the epoch-making Gypsy work of our
august fellow-student, the Archduke Josef.
The text was taken down very hurriedly, and in many places is
doubtful. One asterisk denotes that the word is borrowed from the
Roumanian, two from the Magyar.
Vaj, * Devla-le, na maj * marme, Ah, God ! afflict ine no more,
Ke man, Devla, d'ekin* mard'as, For, since thou, 0 God, hast afflicted me,
Gin misto na kerd'as. Nothing good hast thou done.
Vaj* Devlica, vaj* Devlica, Ah, dear God ! ah, dear God,
Ke man ci maj * mares ! That me no more thou strikest !
Avrete gind.u* kerd'as, To others trouble hast thou made,
Del, mar-le te phabar-le, God, strike and burn,
Ke man ci maj * mares ! But me no more strike !
Tai zatar, Devla, zatar, And I will go, 0 God, I will go,
GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING.
291
Pala mandi ci maj * dikhau.
Devla, Devla, the avau
Tai zav the pala leste
Ci maj* akarav-le palpale,
Te zal, zikaj se lumi, *
Kaj Jcerdela o pai kanali,
Core, core serJce o dad barvalo,
Taj ci loat* (?) kosno
01 cokaja maravau
Taj me but'i kerau
Taj me kosno tuke lau.
Ale Devla, me saj zasa,
Te pala man 6i dikhau,
Ale, ale, Devla, me saj zasa;
Pala mande na diklem,
Ci folosu * na kerdem.
Jare * Devla, dikhau,
Ek baro folosu * kerau.
Zatar tuke, zatar,
Zatar-le Devlica !
Ale Devla, but pherdem,
Taj sar keti * ci pelem,
Ale Devla, but pirau,
Taj kade ci maj * pecisarau.
Zatar mange za kija mre gazi,
Taj mire saore.
Vaj, * but Devla, but
Dekind* avilem,
Mure saoren ci diklem.
Te kamela o Del,
Mure saoren inke * dikhau,
Kamela svuntu * Del, the 6umidau-le
0 Del e lacu, th' avau
Taj pirau,
Te kereni chavau
Mure saorensa.
Zatar, zatar, mure romni,
Taj anau kotorna,
Ek kotorna manro;
Anau so trebul, *
Le saoren so trebul. *
Zikaj barval'on ol saora,
Apoj * atunci * milulel * o Dd
Gindinela * pro lenge.
But core ande lume *
Te ziden ande d'es,
Ad'es te taisa.
Vaj * Devla-le, vaj Devla,
Kaj me but kamau,
Mar en, the pot'inau,
Taj zilta nasci kerau ;
Asunen man, pchraleya,
Hajda* the corau,
Kaj me but kamau,
Behind me no more will I look.
0 God, 0 God, I come
And follow after her,
No more call I her back again,
And go, the length and breadth of the
earth,
And make the waters [our] grave.
0 poor, poor one, thy father is rich,
But has not bought thee a neckerchief ;
The hammers will I beat,
And much [smith-work] will I do,
And I will buy to take to thee
Oh, God ! I shall be able to depart,
And behind me never look,
Ah, God, ah, God, I shall be able to go,
Behind me I have not looked.
Nothing praiseworthy have I done.
To God will I look,
A great, praiseworthy deed will I do.
1 will go from thee, I will go away,
I will go away with God ! (?)
Ah, God, much have I travelled,
And nothing has gone well with me,
Ah, God, much do I travel,
And that no more shall I survive.
I am going to go away to my wife,
And to my children,
Ah, long, God, long is it
That I have come [? here].
My children not have I seen.
But, if God will,
My children again shall I see,
The holy God grant that I kiss them ;
God is good, so that I come
And go,
And at home eat
Along with my children.
I go, I go, my wife,
And I bring a piece,
A piece of bread ;
T bring what is needed,
To the children, what is needed.
How the children will grow,
And then will God bless them
[And] take care of them.
Many poor [are] in the world
And live from day to day.
To-day and to-morrow.
Alas, 0 God ! alas, 0 God !
For I owe much,
They beat me, that I pay,
And money none can I make
Hearken to me, my brothers,
Come, that I may steal,
For I owe much.
292
GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING.
Hajda,* the corau,
Kai the pot'inau.
? bcrsh $i pot'indom.
Ane te kamel o Del,
The pot'inasa,
Zanel o Del, sar pot'inasa,
The kerel, the kojel, amensa e mila.*
Te maj * Devla del vares,
Te herd' el sar Jcamel ;
Leske e putere.*
Apoj* the meraha, mulo aveha,
Ci maj * pot'inasa.
Te sa perd'om,
Te ci maj * pot'indom.
Ale, mre male, mre male,
Asen te helgedun /**
So Del amen del, pot'inasa
Me ci mul'om, de nekazu * som ;
0 Del e lacu, majd * * del,
Majd * * zasa, 'majd * * zasa,
Te majd * * phirasa
The palpala zas.
0 Del del amen,
A men taj tumen,
0 Del e lacu the kerel,
So kamel.
So horn me but $aori
Trebu * sar dav chaben,
0 Devla svuntu,* de man !
Me lau, the cin lau,
Gin misto ci kerdem.
Daje, daje, mire daj,
Tu sa rod'al andro mende,
Andro lestar saori.
Daje, daje, the kamel o Del,
Ke saori kere ink1 * avena,
0 Del hin laco,
Devla, da me sast'ino,
Ke sal laco,
Tute hin putere.*
Da rusa mure dajake,
Taj ferina la
Nasvalipneha.
Amen, Devla, ci zand'am,
Ke per as andre kide comma,
Taj ci zand'am, Havas kathe,
Taj ...(?) andre kade kera,
Kade kera vest'ake.
The kamel o Del, ci maj * avasa,
Zikaj avela ek balu pe pchuv.
Sostar ci avil'al romni,
Te men anes chaben ?
Nasci . . . (?) the avau,
The vilena avena tumen,
Come, that I may steal,
Wherewith I shall pay.
? A year nothing have I paid.
I God will to bring it to pass,
I shall pay.
God knows, I will pay all,
He will take pity on us.
God, give us something,
He has done as he willed ;
To him is the power.
When we are dead, we shall be corpses,
Nothing more to pay.
Always have I gone,
Nothing at all have I paid.
0 my comrades, my comrades,
Be silent and play the fiddle !
What God gives to us, we will pay,
1 a,m not dead, in misfortune am I ;
God is good, soon will he give,
Soon shall I come and go
Soon shall walk
And again come.
God gives to us,
To us and to you,
God is good and does
What he willeth.
I have many children
It is necessary I give [them] to eat,
0 holy God, give to me !.
1 take, and do not take,
Nothing good have I done.
0 mother, 0 mother, my mother,
Thou hast ever wept for me,
And for thy children.
O mother, 0 mother, would to God
That the children home again come.
God is good,
0 God, give me health,
For thou art good,
To thee is the power.
Give a gift to my mother,
And keep her
From illness.
We, 0 God, have not known,
That we should fall into this misery,
And have not known, that we should
come here,
And ...(?) in these houses,
These houses are notorious.
If God will, no more come we here,
So long as one pig goes upon the ground.
Wherefore have you not come, wife,
And to me brought food ?
1 could not come,
And soon you will come,
GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING. 293
The kamel o Del If God will.
Naj tumen but, Not is to you much [spare time]
Numaj* trin Son Only three months,
Taj deSe d'es. And ten days.
Sa gind'om* sar Waves, Always thought I, that you would come,
Taj azuJcerd'em tut. And I awaited you.
Andakode ci Jeer el chantii, But that does not matter,
0 Del milulel * me God will have compassion upon us
AnJcala man kathar, Will release us from here,
0 Del naj sar o manux. God is not like man.
A. HERRMANN.
II. — LAMENTS FOR THE DEAD : In the Popular Poetry of the
Transylvaniau and South- Hungarian Tent- Gypsies.
(The following are extracted from an Article contributed by our fellow-mem-
ber, Dr. Heinrich v. Wlislocki, to the Dresden " Magazin fur die Litteratur des
In- und Auslandes," of 9th March last. Dr. Wlislocki has only given the Roman!
text in the two specimens of the Rovilye which are here reproduced. He does not
furnish the original Romani in the other specimens of Rovilye, or in any of the
Kaiddve. The latter are therefore translated here solely from Dr. Wlislocki's Ger-
man versions. — ED.).
Just as the so-called Rauda (" lament ") forms a stepping-stone to
the Lithuanian folk-song proper (known to the world of literature,
since Lessing's time, by the national name of Daina), so does the
Rovilye, or song of lamentation [lit. of weeping], of the Tent-Gypsies
of Transylvania and the South of Hungary lead the way to the true
lyric poetry of these people. The Rovilye is a kind of elegy, without
either rhyme or verse, and is rather an unstudied address to the dead
than a true song of lamentation, although it is "crooned" by the
mourning-women in a half-murmured, half-chanted monotone. It
does not even resolve itself into proper strophes and verse-lines, but
rather into longer or shorter numbers, at the end of which the woman
who is chanting it makes a longer or a shorter pause, according to the
requirements of the leading idea.
Akin to the Rovilye is the Kaiddve, the song of lamentation
proper, which, like the other songs of the Tent-Gypsies, is of regularly-
constructed verse, rhyming in couplets. These Kaiddve, which
may be heard, though not often, among the Transylvanian Tent-
Gypsies, are, like the Rovilye, recited by regular mourning-women
shortly before the burial. While the Rovilye always specially
addresses itself to a certain person (e.g. a son to his father, a husband
to his wife), the Kaiddve is more general in character and may be
employed as a universal farewell to the dead, for which reason it is
chanted immediately before the burial, whereas the singing of the
Rovilye commences with the laying of the body upon the bier.
I shall now give two of these laments in the original text, as I
have noted them down in the course of my frequent expeditions with
294 GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING.
bands of the Tent-Gypsies, and the others as rendered literally into
German ; they testify that in the world of feeling men are everywhere
alike, whether uncivilised or civilised.
KOVILYE.
(In the Eoniani text here given c = Germ. tsch, x = Germ, ch,
y = Germ. dsch, n is as in Spanish, sh and y as in English.)
I. — The Daughter to her Mother.
1. Gule day, gule, nd mdn tu the 1. Sweet mother, sweet, would that
kerdyelds,Inkdbyekdbdrtuthekerdyelds/ thou hadst not borne me, Would rather
E bdr nd jdnel, kdnd IdJcro ddy merdyds, that thou hadst borne a stone ! The
Uvd me core pdcirtd silydbdvpdl bdrvdl, stone knows not when its mother is
Silydbdv pdld Mm meriben gule ddydkri. dead, But I, poor lark, sing in the
breeze, Sing in the sunshine the death of
my sweet little mother.
2. NiJco mdn dkdnd tdtydrel, Kdnd 2. No one now will warm me, When I am
me shilydvdv ; Niko mdn ushdlyin del, cold ; No one will shade me, When I am
Kdnd me tdte som ! Te Ico mange pddd oppressed with the heat ! And who will
Icerel, Kdnd sovdles som ? Bdrvdl nd hin prepare my couch, When I am sleepy ?
mindig, 0 Tcdm nd hin mindig, Uvd me The wind blows not ever, The sun shines
core rovdv cdk mindig. not ever, But I, poor one, shall ever
weep.
3. Andro bes me jidv, Kdnd hin bdr- 3. Into the wood will I go, When the
vdld, Te tut me dkdrdv, oh gule ddy ; wind blows, And to thee will I call, oh
Uvd tu nd dves, Mire dpsd na telekoses, sweet mother ; But thou comest not,
M're vodyi nd sdscdres. Cores me cdk Thou dost not wipe away my tears, My
jidv, Yekd core Keshdlyi1, Beshdv me heart thou dost not heal. Lonely shall
dkdnd, Upro epustd bdr, Kdy ciriklo nd I wander, A poor Keshalyi \ Henceforth
silydbel, Kdy car nd bdrvdlyol, Odoy me will I sit me down, On barren rocks,
beshdv te rovdv. Where sings no bird, Where grows no
grass, There will I sit and sorrow.
II. — Another Version.
1. Oh ddy, tire muy hin pdndles, 1. Oh mother, thy mouth is closed,
Tre luludyi nd cumides ; Tre punrd Thou dost not kiss thy little flower ;
nd jdn pro selene mdl, Tre vdstd hin Thy feet go no more over the green
mules te nikdnd yon keren/ Oh ddy, heath, Thy hands are dead and work
1 "A hill-fairy, who Bits on the high mountain peaks, and lets her mile-long hair blow
down through the valleys, which causes the mist."
In explanation of several other allusions in these laments, Dr. Wlislocki subjoins the
following fragments of Gypsy folk-lore : —
" The ' White Hound ' is the warder stationed at the portals of the Kingdom of Death,
far up among the summits of the mountains. See my Volkskunde der transsilvanischen
Zigeuner;" (which is reviewed in the G. L. Soc. Journal, ante, pp. 242-3). From the
allusions in the Roviiye, it would seem that as each newcomer reaches the gates of death,
the bay of the White Hound is heard.
"Before one attains the actual Kingdom of the Dead, one must wander through a waste
place, where blows an icy wind ' that cuts the skin like a knife.'
"According to a popular belief among the Gypsies, whoever plucks a flower from a
grave dies soon after.
"The Gypsies believe to a certain extent in the transmigration of souls, and therefore
they bury in the highway at an early hour those little children who were not yet able to
walk, so that ' the soul may journey on in an onward-faring pregnant woman.' "
GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING.
295
t're ydkhd nd diklen seleno bes, T're hand
nd dshunen ciriklen, Te tu rut jdnes,
Kdnd fre luludyi merel !
2. E rukd mdyd meren, Te pale selinen,
Uvd m're vodyi somores hin, Te somores
mindig cdk hin ! E pdni ndcol Te pal
vreme thdvdel ; M're dpsd mindig thdv-
den, Te nikdnd ndcen ; Cirikld hin
blindes, Te ishmet silydben; Asdviben
nd hin mange, Te niko ishmet dshunel.
3. Bdkrori rdciye kere . jid,l, Cirikli
kere urdl ; Uvd me core, kay the jidv ?
Kdnro beshel cores upro pro mdl, Te
cores me beshdv upro pro bdv.
4. Oh ddy, sostdr man cord tu muk-
lydl ? Jiuklyi me jidv yevende pal yiv,
Te nildye pal brishind; Pxdres me
pdshlyovdv Upro pro tro probos, oh ddy /
Asukdrdv, dsukdrdv, Cin tu dves dndrdl
mulengre them.
no more ! Oh mother, thine eyes see
not the green wood, Thy ears hear not
the birds, And thou knowest not, That
thy little flower is fading !
2. The trees fade quickly, And grow
green again. But my heart is sad, And
sad for ever ! The brook becomes dry,
And in the spring-time it flows again ;
My tears are ever flowing, And they
never dry ; The birds cease their sing-
ing, And then again they sing ; Gone is
my laughter, And no one hears the
sound of my laugh any more.
3. At evening the little lamb returns
to the fold, And home flies the bird ;
But ah, poor me, whither shall I go?
The thistle stands solitary upon the
field, And all alone upon the heatli
am I.
4. Ah mother, why hast thou left
poor me ? As a poor hound do I wander
in winter through the snow, And in
summer through the rain ; Then I
lay myself wearied Upon thy grave, oh
mother ! And I wait and wait, Until
thou comest back from the country of
the dead.
KAIDAVE.
To a Child.
Thou, my child, my only one,
Ah ! how soon from me thou 'rt gone !
Lovely rosebud, fair to see,
Death, alas ! has gathered thee !
E'en the grave will treat thee kind,
For indeed thou 'rt gold refined !
Purest gold, dear child, art thou,
Rest in sweetest slumber now !
To a Maid.
Beauteous dove, with golden sheen,
Thou to Death a prey hast been !
Once like graceful hemp-stalk thou,
Bruised, alas ! and broken now !
As the stately tree on high,
Wert thou in thy comrades' eye !
Ah ! that in thy sweet embrace
Lover ne'er found resting-place !
That on thy lips, so soft and red,
Lover's kiss was never laid !
Joy and Love thou here must leave
Rest at morn in peaceful grave !
To a Young Woman.
In the wind the trees loud moan,
Sister, thou hast left us soon !
Sister, on the other shore,
'Tis thine to greet those gone before !
Thirty years long was thy quest,
For the heart, the body, rest !
Thou hast found it now,
Soon revive wilt thou,
Freed from pain and sorrow's sway —
But ah ! so far, so far away !
To a Man Highly Esteemed.
Lofty tree in forest high,
In the ground thou soon must lie !
Though the golden sun is shining,
Sad thy branches all are pining !
Ah, thou wouldst to rest lie down,
Followed by our prayers alone !
Few the men now left on earth
Like to thee in good and worth ;
Henceforth, without sun or star,
Leaderless, we wander far ;
Since of thee we are forlorn,
Lofty tree, in glory born !
296
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
VII.— A VOCABULAKY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
BY R VON SOWA.
(Continued.)
Cho, s., nacho.
Cholaxdni, a, M. W., s. f. (Gr. chovexani,
ghost, phantom ; Hng. chohani ; Bhm.
wanting), witch.
Chon, *M., M. W., S., s. m. (Gr., Bhm.
= S1., Hng., chhon, chhom). 1. Moon,
*M., M. W. 2. Month, S.— ?av
adarde yekhe choneste — come here in
a month.
Chondro, chonoro, M. W., s. m. (dim. of
the foregoing), moon.
Ch6r, S., chor, *K., s. m. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. chor), thief, robber.
Choral, M. W., adv. (Gr. choryal ; Hng.
wanting ; Bhm. chdral), secretly.
Po choral, M. W., id.
Chorau, S., chorav, M. W., vb. tr. (Gr.
chorava', Hng., Bhin. chorav), to steal,
to ravish, S., a.
Chdrau avri, to plunder.
Chori, M. W., s. f. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting), robbery. Geyas pr-e chori —
he went to rob, M. W.
Choripen, M.- W., s. m. (Gr. choribe ;
Hng. choripe ; Bhm. choriben), theft,
robbery.
Po choripen, a., secretly, M. W.
Choro, S., chdro, K., chorro, shorro, M. W.,
adj. ((Gr., Hng. choro ; Bhm. chorro}.
1. Poor; Ax Devla, so tut dava?
Me som choro sasos — O God, what
shall I give thee ? I am a poor
soldier. 2. Unlucky ; Ax Devla
mreya, har me choro manushdro atar
dendshava ? — Oh my God, how shall I,
unlucky man, fly hence ? 3. Orphan,
M. W. ; Devleskri chdri — orphan,
K.
Chorroro, shorroro, M. W., adj. (dim. of
choro), poor, orphan.
Chuchi, M. W., s. f. (Gr., Hng. = SI.
Bhm. chuchi), breast (of a woman), pi.
teats.
Chudinav man, a., M. W., vb. refl. (Slov.
cudovat'). to wonder.
Chulavau, 1 a., vb. tr. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting ; SI., a mistake ?), to sweep
Kai pes chulavel, said a Gypsy, when
asked what he would say for "a
broom."
Chulo, M. W., K., adj. adv. (Gr., Hng.
wanting; Bhm. = SI.), few, a little.
Nane man but I6ve chak chulo — I have
not much money, but just a little.
Pale leske phend'as : " uzhdr chulo " —
then he said to him, " wait a little."
Chul'avav, M., vb. itr. (s. chul'ovau);
to flow, to drop. The word is proved
by : You oda rdklo, vichind'as, hoy
vzhdi chul'ala o pdni ; pale, has o gdje
igen rada, hoy oda pdni chul'alas —
he, that boy, exclaimed that the water
is always flowing ; then the men were
very glad because that water was
flowing, M.
Chul'inka, S., chulinka, M. W., adv.
(dim. of chulo, formed in the way of
the Slavonian ; Gr., Hng. wanting ;
Bhm. = S1.), a little.
Chul'ovau, M. W., S., vb. itr. (Gr.
wanting ; Hng., chuyovav ; Bhm. =
SI.), to drop, to splash, M. W.
Chumi, a., K., s. ? (Gr. chumi. In the
other dialects it is found, but in com-
position with the verb dau. I am
myself of opinion that even in SI. it
is never found as a separate noun) ;
kiss.
Chumidau, S. chumidav, K., vb. tr.
(Gr. chumidava ; Hng. Bhm. chumi-
dav), to kiss. Xudinas peskre phrales
he igen les chumidelas — he embraced
his brother, and kissed him much.
Chumi dinas chamatar — he kissed
(her) on the face, K.
Chupni, S., s. f. (Gr. chupni, chukni
means a tobacco pipe ; Hng. chumnik;
Bhm. = SI), whip.
Churdau, S., churdav; M. W., K., vb.
tr. (a contracted form of chivr-dau,
the SI. v before consonants being a
semi- vocal ; Bhm. chivrdav, which is
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
297
to be referred to Gr. chiv-dava ; Hng.
chidav), to throw. You kana avna,
pre tute o yag churdena — when they
come, they will throw fire upon
thee.
Clmri, S., churi, M. W., s. f. (Gr. churi,
chori ; Hng. churi ; Bhra. churi),
knife.
Churori, M. W., s. f. (dim. of churi),
knife.
Chvrtkos, S., s. in. (Slov. ttvrtok),
Thursday.
Dad, M., K., S., s. m. (Gr. Hng. Bhm. =
SI.), father.
Dadeskro chdvo : See chdvo.
Dadives : See adadives.
Dadka, a., S., s. m. voc. (cf. chaiko), 0
father. This form is proved by : Ax
dadka, phen oh mre romeske — oh
father, say to my husband.
Dadoro, *M. S., dadoro, M. W. (dim.
of dad), father.
Dai, K., S. , s. f. obi. sg. da ; instr. daha
(Gr., Hng., Bhm. = SI. ; Gr. dei, tai),
mother.
Daiko, K., S., s. f. voc. (dim of dai,
cf. chaiko), 0 mother.
Dand, M. W.. S., s. m. pi. danda ; S.
dand, M. W. (Gr. dant ; Hng., Bhm.
= S1.), tooth.
Danderau, S., vb. tr. (Gr. dantelava,
dantarava ; Hng., Bhm. danderav),
to bite.
Dar, M. W., S., s. f. (Gr., Hng , Bhm.
= SI.), fear.
Darandutno, M. W., adj. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. wanting), afraid, terrified.
Darand'ovau, M. W., vb. itr. (Gr.
daratiovava ; Hng., Bhrn. wanting),
to be afraid.
Darau, S., dnrav. a., K. (a misprint ?),
vb. tr., pi. pf. darand'ilo, from the
foregoing (Gr. darava; Hng. darav-
Bhm. darav), to fear. Me lutar na
darau — I am not afraid of thee.
Daravau, M. W., S., vb. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. The corresponding forms mean
"• to frighten "), to fear. N'ikastar na
daralas — he did not fear anybody.
Dau, M., S., dav, K., pf. dinom (Gr,
dava ; Hng., Bhm. dav). 1. To give ;
De man vareso — give me something.
2. To order (Slavism) ; You dinas
banda te vichinel bashaviben — he
ordered a band (of musicians) to make
music. 3. To let, to permit ; The
tuke deha yek yak avri te lei — if thou
permittest thyself to take away one
VOL. I. — NO. V.
eye, M. Dau man, to engage (in).
Pes dine and o roviben—they began
to weep (were engaged in weeping).
Dau man — to commend one's self.
E' phiiri manushni dinas peske mra
Devles — the old woman commended
herself to God. Dau pnle, a., to un-
button, M. W.
Daydri, M. W., K., S. (dim. of dai),
mother.
Definau, a., S., vb. itr. (Mag. dofni, to
sting, to thrust; Hng. wanting; Bhm.
definav, to elicit, Jes., 57). 1. To
thrust ; Man igen dukal, me man igen
drfind'om — I feel a great pain ; I have
thrust me much (? pricked or stabbed
myself). 2. The verb seems to have a
different meaning in the sentence Kana
you kapl'as, mind'ar lake and-o vusht
defind'as oda yepash angrust'i. In
the tale 0 Trin Draki a girl had given
the half of a ring to the Bruntsl'ikos.
When he met with her again, she offered
him a glass of wine. When drinking
it, he found in it the other half of the
ring, which she had thrown into it
(that is the explanation of the quoted
sentence). 3. To splash out ; Auka o
drakos numind'as pordd, azh leske le
vasiestar o rat defind'as — so the dragon
. pressed (the stone) continually, until
the blood splashed out from his hand.
Dendshau, S., denashav, M.W., K. (Gr..
Hng. wanting; Bhm. denashav, a com-
posite of da + ndshav, Mikl., M. W.
viii. 23, cf. Rm. de nashibe, ib.), to
run, to fly.
Den, *M., s. in. (Slov. den), day ; occurs
only in dobri den. See Dobri.
Desh, K., S., num. card. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), ten; deshvar, K. S., ten
times.
Deshto, K., S., num. ord. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), tenth.
Devel, M. W., *K, S., del., *M., s. m.
(Gr., Hng., Bhin. devel ; Gr. del-, Hng.
U
298
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK- GYPSY DIALECT.
del), God. The SI. Gypsy always says,
mro Devel (my God), or mro sovna-
Jcuno Devel (my golden God), and very
seldom uses the single noun, cf. even
in Hng. bastdle somniaktine Devla !
Ml. I. ; 151. Idche somniakune Devla !
ib. 181, etc. I could not find instances
of this use in any other dialect.
In the tale, 0 ykuro sasos, God gives
orders to St. Peter. In the same tale
God appears in the shape of a beggar
to the poor soldier, and says him-
self : Me som mro sovnalcuno Devel—
I am my golden God. And in the
tale, E trin rdklya, God reveals him-
self in the shape of an old man.
Develoro, S., s. m. (dim. of Devel, Bhm.
Devldro), God.
Devl'ikdno, a., S., adj. (Gr. Devlikano ;
Hng., Bhm. wanting), divine; occur-
ring only in Mri Devl'ikdni dai — my
God's mother (the Virgin Mary).
Diesara, a., K. (cf. dosdra ; I am doubt-
ful of diesara), morning, K.
Dikhau, M. W., S., dikav, K. dikxau,
*M., vb. tr., pi. pf. diklo (Gr. dikava,
dikhava ; Hng., Bhm. dikhav), to see ;
dikhau pre — to look at.
Dilos, M. W., S., d'ilos, M. W., s. m.
(Mag. del ; Hng. wanting, Bhm. = SI.).
1. Midday, noon ; 2. Dinner. Yoi
amenge tdvla o dilos — she will cook
the dinner for us. Diloskero, at noon,
M. W. ; zhi diloskero, till noon,
M. W.
Dil'ino, S., dilino, M. W., K., adj. (Gr.,
Hng., Bhm. dilino ; Gr. dinilo), fool-
ish, silly.
Dil'ovav, a., M. W., vb. itr. (Gr. dikyo-
vava ; Hng. dit'hovav ; Bhm. wanting),
to appear (prop., to be seen).
Dives, K., S., d'ives, M. W., S., d'es,
M. W., s. m. pi. d'ives, d'ivesa ; M.
W., dives, s. f. ; (Gr., Hng. dives ;
Gr., Bhm. d'ives, pi. d'ivesa, Jes. 11 ;
Gr. dies, dis), day.
Divesal'ol, S., d'ivesalol, M. W., divesal'o,
K., vb. imp. (Gr. disl'ol ; Hng. dislol,
it glows ; Bhm. d'ivesal'ol), it dawns.
Divesoro, K., s. m. (dim. of dives), the
dawn, K.
Divizjono, a., S., s. m. (Germ. Division),
division (milit.).
Divo, a., M. W. adj. (Slavon. divij,
Mikl.), wild.
Diz, S., s. f. (Gr., Hng. wanting ; Bhm.
= S1., cf. Ptt. ii. 318), castle ; Phdri
diz — prison, gaol (cf. Germ. Schwerer
Kerker).
Dldzhotsi, a., S., s. pi. (certainly bor-
rowed from Slov., but I could not
find its equivalent in the Slov.
dictionary), silver coins ; so my Gypsy
explained it. The only passage in
which it occurs (in the tale 0 Mom
th-o drakos /), runs : So kames mandar
akanak ? love ? I'ebo kames mandar
dldzhotsi, I'ebo bare dukdti ? Vai ka-
mes bare I6ve? (cf. Zeitschr. d. d. rn.org.
Ges. Vol. xxxix. p. 513).
Do, S., prep. (Slov. do), to, till: only in
azh do rdna, till the morning.
Dobri, *M., adj. (Slov. dobri), good ;
only in the Slov. phrase, dobri den,
good day !
Dohoninau, % M. W., vb. tr. (Slov.
dohonit'), to overreach. Slov. verbs
compounded with do are frequently
borrowed. The materials further
afford :
Doxdzinau, S., vb. itr., to reach.
Dostainau, M. W., vb. tr., to receive.
Doyd'inau, S., doydinav, M. W., vb.
tr., to arrive.
Doved'inau, S., vb. tr., to bring to.
Dozvjed'inau man, S., vb. refl., to con-
vince one's self, from the Slov. vbs. :
dochddzat', dostat', dojst', doviest',
dozvedet'sa.
Dorik, M. W., S., s. f.. (Gr., Bhm. dori-,
Hng. = SI.), band (string-band).
Dosdra, a., K., adv. (cf. Slov. zora, dawn,
rose, morn ?) near the morning, K.
Doska, a., M. W., s. f. (Slov. <ln*bi).
board, plank.
Dost, dosta, K., S. (Slavon. dosyti,Mik\.
M. W. vii. 45 ; Rm., Hng., dosta),
enough.
Dostatkos, S., s. m. (Slov. dostatek,
plenty, provision, stock, store.
Dovart'inav, a., M. W., vb. (Slov.
vartovat', to keep guard. Cf., for
another etymology, M. W., xii. 76.)
The meaning is not given in M. W.
Drdgo, S., adj. (Serb, drag, the Slov.
form being drahy), dear. Mro drdgo
mdnush — My dear man !
Drakos, M. S. (Slov. drak), dragon. In
three of my Sl.-G. stories a dragon
is mentioned. In the tales, 0 Rom
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
299
th-o drakos, i. and n., the dragon
dwells in a cave (yaskina) with his
blind mother. He steals sheep, a
great number of which he eats. He
possesses plenty of money ; he is able
to fly through the air. In this, as in
other tales, the dragon converses with
men. In the tale, 0 Trin Draki, three
dragons have ravished girls, with whom
they dwell on inaccessible peaks or in
deep abysses. They are cannibals,
and they can scent the flesh of men
from afar. One of them eats leaden
dumplings at dinner. One of them
has a dozen heads. These dragons
are possessors of treasures. In the
tale, 0 Drakos, the dragon is said to
have twenty-four heads. Every day
a girl must be offered to him as food
by the inhabitants of the town. This
dragon also resides in a cavern, and
has a blind mother like that in R.D. I.
All the dragons mentioned in the
tales have immense strength of body ;
they throw sticks up to the sky ;
with their hands they squeeze stones
until water splashes out from them
(0 Horn th-o Dr.) ; they throw ham-
mers weighing from fifteen to fifty
quintals to a distance of fourteen or
even fifty miles (0 Trin Dr.), etc.
Drom, M. W., K., S., s. m. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhra. = S1.). 1. Way, road, see bdro.
2. Journey. Dava tut trin mare pr-o
drom — I shall give thee three loaves
of bread on the journey.
Dromaskro, a., K., adj. (from the fore-
going), wandering. Trin ase dro-
maskre mamisha — three travellers, K.
Druhi, a., S., num. ord. (Slov. druhy),
second ; occurs only in druh !. ra~,,
second time.
Dtsera, a., M. W., s. f. (Slov. dcera),
daughter.
Dubos, M. W., s. m. (Slov. dub), oak.
DugOj M., adj.^ (Slavon. dlugu, Mikl,
M. W., vn. *vb., Hng., Bhm.=Sl.),
long. Diigos, M. W., adv., a long
time, for a long time.
Dui, K., S., duy, M., num. card. (Gr.,
Hng., Bhm. = SI.), two. Donde, a.,
Gr. (duyende), in two, K. Me le
donde chind'omas — I shall have cut
him in two, K. ; duijene, dujene, M.,
(s. jtne), two, both, soduijene, see so ;
duvar, M. W., *K., S., duar, K. (s.
var), two times, twice. In the Obi.
the first part also of the composite
changes its form ; e.g., duye-jenen, ace.
m., duye-jenentsa, inst. f.
Dukal, M. W., S., vb. imp. and tr. (Gr.
dukava, to feel a pain ; Rm. = SI., Hng.,
Bhm. dukhal. In SI. it is not always
used impersonally, but never other-
wise than in the 3d pers. sing pres.),
to ache, to pain. Man igen dukal — I
feel a great pain ; Man dukal o shero —
my head aches.
Dukdtos, S., dukatis ? a., M. W., s. m.
(the norn. sing, being inferred from
pi. dukati, S., and dukdta, M. W.
(Slov. dukdt), an Austrian ducat.
Dukerau, S., vb. itr. (do Slov. +keraut)
The meaning of this verb is not clear.
It occurs only in the tale, 0 Trin
Draki, in the following passages : (a.)
Kaitutadaiil'al,mro drdgo mdnushf
Adai tro vdd'i achla/ — Me na darau/
— Adai chirikleske na dukerel u tu
adarde ml' all This last sentence
might be translated : A bird does not
succeed [not even a bird succeeds] in
coming here, and thou earnest here !
That is to say : The peak on which we
dwell is so high that not even a bird
is able to reach it. (b.) Latar phuch-
el oda drakos : (me som) mange adai
manushdlo mas khandel. — Al'e kai
tuke mro drdgo rom, manushdlo mas
khandelas, kana adai chirikle ( — klo ?}
chirikleske na dukerel ? The chronicler
himself translated the last sentence :
Ptdk ku ptdku nedoleti (bird does not
come to bird), cf. Mikl. M. W., xii.
90 : Chiriklo chirikleske na doydinel —
A bird does not come to the bird.
Dukrutna la., S. (This must be a mis-
understood Slov. word. — I cannot
explain it). Imdr you prinjdrd'as, o
Yankos, peskra da : mro Devel asi
dukruttia dinas. ta prinjdrd'as akurdt
(0 Dui Chdvore).
Duma, a., S., s. f. (Bulg. duma, Mikl.
M. W., vii. 117; Rm. Bhm. = SI.),
speech, answer ? advice ? Chak mri
duma shun, har tuke phenava, auka
mosi te keres — Only hearken to my
advice (words ?) ; as I say to thee so
300
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
must thou do. Po trival lestar
phuchl'az, na kaml'as te vakerel leka
e duma — three times he asked him,
(but) he would not speak (give) to
him an answer (?).
Duma dav, a., M. W. (Rm. Bhm. =
SI., but means, to speak), to consult,
to deliberate.
Duma, M. W., S., s. in. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), back. A Gypsy rendered
" crook-backed " by Nane Idcho dumo
(not having a good back).
Dumdro, a., M. W., s. m. (dim. of
dumo), the first slice of a loaf.
Dur, S., dur, M. W., K., adv. (Gr.,
Bhm. dur, adj. adv., Hng. dur adv.),
far ; duroder (coinp.), further.
Duvar. See vudar.
DvoichJci, S., s. m., pi. (Slov. dvojicky),
twins ; dvo'ichki chavore, id.
D'
D'akinav, a., M. W., vb. tr. (Slov.
d'akovat'), to thank.
D'emantovo, S., adj. (Slov. diamantovy),
of diamond, diamantine.
D'es. See Dives.
D'ilos. See Dilos.
D'iv, M. W., (Gr. giv, iv ; Hng. dl-c
wheat ; Bhm. = SI., corn), grain.
D'ives. See Dives.
D'ivesal'ol. See divesal'ol.
D'ivinau man, S., vb. refl. (Slov.
clivit'sa), to wonder.
Dz.
Dzdr, S., dzar, M. W., K., s. f. (Gr. jar ;
Hng. dxtir ; Bhm. dzar), moustaches,
shag, filament, hair : dzdra, pi., eye-
brows, S.
Dzardlo, a., S., adj. (Gr. jaryalo ; Hng.
dzarvalo ; Bhm. =81.), moustachioed,
shaggy.
E.
Efta, K., S., ofta, M., num. card. (Gr.,
Hng., Bhm. = SI.), seven ; eftavar,
K., S., seven times.
Eftato, K., S., num. ord. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), seventh.
Ekstra (Slov. vulg. and Germ, extra),
separately.
Ena, S., ennya, K., num. card. (Gr.
enea, enia, iniya ; Hng., Bhm. = SI.)
nine ; eiiavar, S., ennyavar, K., nine
times.
Enato, S., ennyato, K., num. ord. (Gr. ?
Hng., Bhm. = SI.), ninth.
E'lyen, S., intj. (Mag. djen), long live
he ! (in drinking one's health).
Eshche, S., adv. (Slov. efte), still, yet.
F.
Feder. See Idcho.
FeJctinau, a., S., vb. itr. (Germ, fechten},
to fight.
Fel'eblos, a., S., s. m. (Germ. Feldwehel),
sergeant.
Figl'aris, M. W., s. m. (Slov. fgliar),
juggler.
Firshtos, S., s. in. (Germ. F'drst), prince.
Flinta, M. W., s. f. (Slov. vulg. flinta,
from the Germ. Flinte), gun, rifle.
Forgovos, a., M. W., s. in. (Mag. forgo,
bunch of feathers), red cap (as the
Turkish fez).
Forikos, M. W., s. m. (dim. of the
following ; cf. Bhm. forichkos), town.
Foros, M., S., Joros, K. (Gr., Bhm.
foros ; Hng. foro}, town.
Frchkos, S., s. m. (Slov. cvr&k, cricket,
frcat1, to rattle, to whiz ; but the Sl.-G.
word may be borrowed rather from
another Slav, language), cricket.
Furt, S., adv. (Germ, fort), continually.
REVIEWS. 301
REVIEWS.
Observaciones Criticas d las Etimologias de la Heal Academia Espanola.
By Professor A. FERNANDEZ MERINO. (Extracted from the
Revista Contempordnca, Madrid, 1889.)
THESE observations, which our learned colleague has brought
forward with a view of rendering more accurate the next edition of
the Real Academia's Diccionario, are in many respects beyond our
scope. But of the 187 pages of this pamphlet, a large portion (pp.
63-111) directly concerns itself with the Gitanos and their language;
while, in the detailed etymological criticisms which follow, various
Romani derivations are set forth.
The objections which the critic urges so strongly against the Die-
cionario (too strongly, perhaps, to suit the taste of the lexicographers)
are that, whereas it omits many important words, on the ground that
they are too technical or special, it includes a great many terms that
have nothing to justify their presence in so important a work, being
mere slang, or else Spanish- Americanisms. (See pp. 67, 68, and
110.) Moreover, while these slang words are so often introduced, the
Gitano words — of which many (see p. 110) are in constant use in
Spain, and not among Gypsies only — are ignored altogether. Fur-
ther, the Gitanos and their language are entirely confounded and
identified with the ladrones, picaros, and other scamps, most of whom
know nothing of Romanes, but employ this lerga, Gfermama, or slang,
which the Diccionario ignorantly believes to be the language of the
Gypsies. With Professor Merino's righteous indignation against this
recognition of a jargon, to the exclusion of a genuine language, we
have of course every sympathy ; but it is to be feared that he will
tind few Gypsiologists who will agree with him in regarding the occu-
pants of prisons as a class totally distinct from the Gypsies.
Among those words to which Professor Merino assigns a Gitano
origin are — duquende (=Eng. Gyp. duk), chacho, gao, pillo, camelar,
lacayo, lacha, and pingo.1 With regard to chacho, which occurs in
Spanish as a term of endearment, and which Professor Merino is
inclined to believe comes (through the Gypsies) from the Hindustani
chacha, " uncle " (cf. Gyp. kak, koko), we would suggest that it has a
much closer affinity with the Gypsy adjective chacho, "true" or
" genuine."
And if a Gitano origin has not been assigned to the word
i See pp. 126, 127, 157, 160, 163, 167, 174, 179, 180, and 181. '
302 REVIEWS.
gaita, " a bagpipe," we beg to point out tbat it belongs to the
Greek dialect of Komani (see Paspati, s. v. Gfdida). It can scarcely
be maintained that Spain gave this word to the Gypsies of the
Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, those Greek Gypsies, whose
presence in Spain in the year 1512 is testified by the Constituciones
de Cataluna (see De Kochas, p. 269), must certainly have employed
the word, if the bagpipe, still used by the juglars of Catalonia, was
as much associated with the Gitanos as it formerly was with the
Gypsies of England and Scotland.
Professor Merino's survey of the various accounts relating to the
advent of the Gypsies in Europe, which occupies many pages, calls
for no special mention here. Of the importance of his etymological
" observations " there can be no question.
Die Zigeuner unter den Siidslaven : Contributed by MADAME MAKLET
(Mara Cop) to No. 3 of the Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus
Ungarn.
In this article, Madame Marlet, content to act the part of
" chorus," has placed before her readers an alternating series of state-
ments, by two highly competent authorities, regarding the South-
Slavic Gypsy family. Professor J. H. Kuhac, eminent as a collector
of Slavic ballads, and whose valuable work, Jugoslavenske piesme
(South-Slavic songs), is devoted to the melodies, folk-lore, and
customs of the Gypsies, as well as of the Slavs and Slovaks of
Hungary, has from time to time expressed himself upon Gypsy
matters, in the course of his correspondence with Madame Marlet.
These letters Madame Marlet has since submitted to our esteemed
fellow-member, the Archduke Joseph of Austria-Hungary, with the
request that he would jot down such marginal comments as might
suggest themselves to His Highness while perusing Professor Kuhac' s
statements. Informal as the notes accordingly are, in either case,
they are thus obviously none the less valuable.
Many interesting statements are made with regard to the organi-
sation of the Gypsy community, and the system of government by
" woiwodes," who in turn acknowledge a supreme " great woiwode."
This dignitary, and the " species of ' Peter's pence,' " exigible by him,
at once recalls to an English reader the " Grand Eogue," who once
received a similar tribute in England, according to earlier writers.
REVIEWS. 303
Other remarks are made on such subjects as marriage by purchase ;
and the temporary connection which a Romani chai does not scruple
to form with a gadjo, and which, indeed, receives the formal sanction
of the woiwode. And the Archduke states that it is not unusual to
see a fair-haired child at play with his swarthy half-brothers and
sisters.
That these Gypsies are good linguists, and generally able to
speak in three languages (sometimes in more), is distinctly asserted.
Professor Kuhac, indeed, has formed a high opinion of the Gypsy's
abilities. Not only are we told that every member of a Gypsy
family has his or her special daily work to do, contrary to the
common belief that they are idle people, but that as a race they
are distinguished by great talent and perseverance. Whatever
they engage in they excel in ; and this applies not only to music, as
European history testifies, but also to many other arts, such as gold
and silver filigree-work, smith-work, and wood-carving. It is cer-
tainly noteworthy that, as we are here informed, the Gypsies of Mon-
tenegro are called Majstori (" Meister "), because even yet they are the
only artificers of that country. The Montenegrins, it appears, are
only in a very slight degree agriculturists, and to engage in any
handicraft would be quite beneath their dignity, according to the
inherited ideas of that warrior caste. Now, it is equally notable that
the Gypsies of Scotland must at one time have occupied a precisely
similar position to those of Montenegro. For the Gypsies of the
Highlands of Scotland, if not those of the whole country, were known
as cairds ; which term has exactly the signification of Majstori, viz.
" artificers." Both of these terms testify that the Gypsies were once
pre-eminently a caste of artificers; and this is very suggestive.
These various notes and commentaries are extremely interesting,
and, having all the weight of authority, they are equally important.
It is gratifying to notice that this paper will be followed by a subse-
quent series of observations by these two eminent Gypsiologists.
Ueber den Zauber mit mensctilichen Korperteilen lei den transsilvan-
ischen Zigeunern. Contributed to No. 3 of the Ethnologische
Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, by DR. HEINRICH VON WLISLOCKI.
This treatise forms a supplement to the previous studies in Gypsy
Lore undertaken by this zealous and most thorough Gypsiologist.
Here Dr. Wlislocki restricts himself, as the title indicates, to the
304
" magic " that is associated with the various parts of the human body.
The opening section of his article, that now before us, is chiefly taken
up with a detailed account of the witchcraft of the Fingers, which
form the text of five separate descriptions. The Hair, Teeth, and
Nails are also dealt with. The whole article will greatly interest
those who desire to study this subject ; and it not only forms a valu-
able addition to Dr. Wlislocki's previously published studies in
Gypsy Witchcraft, but it is also a characteristic item in this the
latest number of Professor Herrmann's admirable Journal.
Besides the three publications above-named, we have also to
record the recent appearance of various books, pamphlets, and news-
paper notices (some of these last of no great value, it is true, but still
useful as illustrating Gypsy ways.) In No. 1 1 of Das Mayazin fur die
Litteratur des In- und Auslandes, (Dresden, 9th March 1889), appeared
Dr. Von Wlislocki's beautiful TotenTdagen, copious extracts from
which are given in our present number. Pastor J. Jesina has issued
another sfiries of Gypsy-Bohemian Tales (Oikdnsfio-faskt pohddky a
povidky : Nos. 4 and 5, Kuttenberg, 1889). The Italian newspaper,
La Sentinella (Osimo, 24th April 1889), is enriched with nearly two
columns on Gli Zingari in Africa, by the Marquis Colocci. And in
his new and elegant edition of the famed Breitmann Ballads, Mr. C.
G. Leland has succeeded in introducing / Gili Eomaneskro and the
moving ballad of The Gypsy Lover. Other items, chiefly relating to
English Gypsies, are these : — Fortune-telling at Darwen, near Black-
burn, by a Gypsy hawker, Jane Matilda Boswell (18), who was fined
2s. 6d. therefor, (Preston Guardian, 16th March 1889) ; Fortune-tell-
ing at Hanley, by Eosannah Price, Gypsy, fourteen days' imprison-
ment, (Derby Reporter 22d March 1889); Zachariah Smith, George
Smith (his son) and Nathaniel Smith, Gypsies, fined £5 for assault
on police at Collingham, near Wetherby, (Leeds Mercury, 26th April
1889) ; The Gypsies of Ceylon, (The Times, 23d April 1889); notices
of the " Gypsy Heirloom," mentioned on page 176 of our Journal,
(The Graphic, 4th May, and the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 16th May
1889); Carnathia Clayton, aged five, accidentally burnt at camp at
Merryhill, near Handsworth, (Manchester Guardian, 4th May 1889);
Andrew Dighton, Gypsy, elopement with Caroline Smith, wood mer-
chant's daughter at Eastbourne (Manchester City News, 4th May 1889) ;
Yetholm Gypsies — three paragraphs, (The Globe, 10th May 1889);
George and Boye Burton, Gypsies, sons of Selina Burton, imprisoned
NOTES AND QUERIES. 305
one month for assault on farmer at Bodenham (Hereford Times, llth
May 1889) ; "A King's Nephew : how Owen Stanleigh was crowned
years ago in England." A very long and excellent article, with
illustrations, containing valuable information as to American Gypsies
(by Arthur Kegan, in the Globe-Democrat, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.,
26th May 1889). The Marquis Colocci's recent work, Gli Zingari, was
also reviewed by Mr. W. E. A. Axon in The Academy of 1st June 1889.
And we may mention that The Portfolio (London: Seeley & Co.)
reproduces in its June number a fine head of a Gypsy, by Sir
Frederick Leighton, P.R.A.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
I.
HUNGARIAN GYPSY OFFERING TO PROVE THAT HE DESCENDS FROM
" KING PHARAOH."
The French newspaper, Le Temps, contained in its number of the 10th
September 1888, under the head " Autriche-Hongrie," the following paragraph,
which I re-translate into English :—
" A correspondent from Vienna to the Daily News says that an old Gypsy
named Raphael has addressed a request to the Emperor Francis-Joseph, in which
he begs him to proclaim him l King of the Gypsies, because he can prove his direct
descent from ; King Pharaoh.' The subscriber of the address promises on his part
to put an end to the vagrant habits of the Gypsies, and so enable them to furnish
good soldiers to the Austrian army."
The Emperor of Austria has certainly not taken the request of the old Gypsy as
serious? for the fact belongs much more to folk-lore than to the domain of govern-
ment ; but this request was all the more interesting to the Gypsiologist because its
author evidently made it seriously, and because it has an evident connection with
the old tradition which makes the Gypsies come from Egypt, — a tradition pro-
pagated all over Europe for centuries past by the Gypsies themselves, and which
has procured them, especially in Hungary, the name of the " people of Pharaoh."
An ecclesiastic residing in Hungary, Mr. Reuss, pointed out some time ago to
his former master, Pott, a Gypsy song, " known by the name of the famous Song of
Pharaoh (beriihmte Pharaonslied), which seems to have an epic character," and
which the Gypsy who had been heard to sing it accompanied with bitter tears.
Unfortunately it had not been possible to gather more than a fragment of it, and
that perhaps an incorrect one, or composed in an ancient Gypsy dialect (which
might even be Asiatic or African ?) ; for Pott had not been able to translate it, but
he nevertheless reproduced the fragment, in the hope of calling the attention of
some investigator who might collect the whole of the song and give a translation of
it. (See Pott, Ueber die Zigeuner, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenliindischen
Gesellschaft, 3d vol., 1849, p. 327. Of. Bataillard, Les Derniers Travaux ... p. 27).
If there yet remains any chance of recovering and throwing some light on this
precious song, it would no doubt be furnished by some old Hungarian Gypsy,
imbued, like Raphael, with the Pharaonic traditions concerning his race and con-
cerning his own family.
1 Le Temps writes, " de se proclamer," which is evidently a mistake.
306 % NOTES AND QUERIES.
At all events, it would be curious to learn the proofs that this Gypsy asserted
he was able to furnish of his Pharaonic descent ; and no one could be better situated
than the eminent Gypsiologist, the Archduke Joseph, to find the petition addressed
to his Imperial cousin, and the old Gypsy Raphael himself, and to obtain from the
latter the documents and the explanations by which he pretended to justify his
petition. This request we ourselves now respectfully address to his Imperial and
Royal Highness. P. B.
2.
THE CHINGANE'ROS OF VENEZUELA.
I have recently been reading again a book written with much ability, and giving
a bright and interesting account of some very varied scenes. No author's name is
given on the title-page, which reads : —
" Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela and New Grenada and in the Pacific
Ocean from 1817 to 1830 ; with the Narrative of a March from the River
Orinoco to San Buenaventura on the Coast of Choco ; and Sketches of the
West Coast of South America from the Gulf of California to the Archi-
pelago of Chiloe. Also Tales of Venezuela : illustrative of Revolutionary
Men, Manners, and Incidents. (London, Longman and Co. Printed by
H. E. Carrington, Chronicle Office, Bath, 1831.)" 3 vols.
My present object, however, is chiefly to call attention to the account given of a
race bearing very striking analogies to that mysterious Romany race which has pro-
vided so many puzzles for ethnologists of the Old World : —
" He was one of that class of Mestizo natives who are called, in many parts of
South America, Gitanos and Chinganeros, in allusion most probably to the wander-
ing, vagabond way of life they have adopted ; for there would seeui to be no reason
to believe that they really belong to that singular race of outcasts from whom they
derive their name, and who are supposed to be as yet confined to the Eastern
quarters of the globe. These people are held in utter contempt and abhorrence by
all true Indians ; and not even the meanest tribes among them will hold any
intercourse with the Chinganeros, whom they consider degraded by their buffoonery
to the level of monkeys. Their agility and humour, nevertheless, rendered their
occasional visits always welcome to the light-hearted Criollos ; and even the super-
cilious Spaniards deigned at times to relax from their haughty gravity, and to smile
at their unpolished gambols. At the hottest periods of the guerra a la muerte the
Chinganeros were considered as privileged exceptions to the general rule, which
admitted of no sort of neutrality in the sanguinary contest, and were freely per-
mitted to visit the encampments of both patriots and royalists, for the diversion of
the soldiery. As they belonged to no party, so they could scarcely be looked on as
spies ; and although they had not the least scruple in conveying such intelligence
as lay in their way, or even occasionally becoming bearers of private messages from
one side to the other, still they atoned for this conduct, or rather neutralised its
effects, by the perfect impartiality of their communications. In a word, they were
considered too despicable and insignificant a race for anger, or even for serious
attention." — vol. iii. p. 162.
In another place he says : —
" The Chinganeros are a peculiar race of wandering Criollo minstrels, whose
habits, and even whose appellation, strikingly resemble those of the Zinganees, or
Eastern Gypsies. They claim for themselves pure [American] Indian descent ; but
this is denied by the aborigines. They are all good dancers and musicians, and,
above all, fortune-tellers, supposed sorcerers, and improvisator^ — vol. ii. p. 324.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
307
Of their power as minstrels he gives two examples, with translations : —
Montanera soy, senoras !
Yo no niego mi nacion, —
Mas vale ser Montanera
Que no Porteno pintor :
Montanera en Buenos Ayres
For las Pampas he pasado ;
Montanera por las nieves
De las Andes he baxado.
En su curso por el cielo
Quien atajara al Lucero ?
Mas atreve quien pretende
Atajar al Montanera.
Libres vuelan los condores
Por la cana Cordillera ;
Y no menos por los valles
Libre va la Montanera.
" La Montanera.
A Montanera's life I lead,
I '11 ne'er disown the name,
Though village maids and city dan us
May lightly hold our fame.
From Buenos Ayres' boundless plain
The Montanera conies,
And o'er the mighty Andes' heights
In liberty she roams.
What hand e'er tried in empty space
To arrest the morning star ?
The Montanera's free-born mind
To enslave is harder far.
Free o'er the Cordillera's peaks
The lordly condor stalks ;
As freely through her native wilds
The Montanera walks."
La Zambuttidora.
Nino ! tomad este anillo,
Y llevadlo a la muralla,
Y dfle a la centinela, —
Este nino va de guardia.
Vamo'nos, Chinas del alma !
Vamo'nos a zambullir ;
El que zambulli se nmere, —
Yo tambien quiero morir !
Huid la pompa del poblado,
Nino, huid a la savanna ;
All gozareis quieto,
En salud, hasta maiiana.
Vamo'nos, Chinas del alma !
Vamo'nos a la caleta,
Para ver los guacamallos
Con fusil y bayoneta.
Piensan luego en dispertarse
Los temblores ya dormfdos ;
Volvad nino a la muralla,
Salgad, 6 serais perdido.
Vamo'nos, Chinas del alma !
Vamo'nos a la laguna,
A ver si en la zambullida
Encontremos una pluma,
Con que escriba la chata inia
Las cartas de Montezuma.
Youth ! this magic ring receive,
The Chinganera's fairy spell ;
Swift the city ramparts leave,
Nor heed the wakeful sentinel.
Come ! beloved of my soul, —
To the depths of ocean fly ;
Where the dark blue billows roll
Fearless plunge, nor fear to die.
To the wild savanna fly !
Empty pomp of cities scorning ;
There, beneath the vault of sky,
Rest in safety till the morning.
Come ! beloved of my soul, —
To the sands of ocean come ;
There no sounds shall meet thine ear
Save curlew's pipe or bittern's drum.
Hark ! the wakening earthquake's cry
Echoes on the startled ear ;
To the city ramparts fly,
Youth ! for death awaits thee here.
Come ! beloved of my soul, —
Fly we to the desert waste ;
There, where the lake's blue waters roll,
A fairy pen, by wizards placed,
Lies for thee to write a scroll
Such as Montezuma traced."
Whether these wandering minstrels are really Gypsies or not, the resemblance
between the Montancros and the Gitanos is sufficiently striking to be worthy of
notice, and of fuller investigation by those having the opportunity for making
further inquiries. [Originally contributed to Notes and Queries, 7th July 1883.]
WILLIAM E. A. AXON.
308 NOTES AND QUERIES.
3-
Two ITALIAN BOOKS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
While residing at Venice, I observed in the " Querini-Stampaglia " Library a
book bearing this title, La Zingana, memorie Egiziane di Madonna N. N. scrittt
infrancese da se' medesima, e pubblicate daW abate Pietro Chiari, poeta di S. A. S.
il Sigr. Duca di Modena, Tomi II. Parma 1762 : con Vignetta litografata ; la
Zingana. From the pages of this book I made the following extract (page 254),
" Historical Origin of the G-ypsies, styled Egyptians.
" The world has always been tenacious in its prejudices. By the name of
' Gypsies,' it understands nothing more than gangs of mere vagabonds, without
fatherland or home, living upon the proceeds of imposture, and even the credulity
of the ignorant crowd.
" To judge them rightly, however, one ought to have read something of the
ancient history of the East. At the present day they are, I do not deny, a crew of
outlaws, who may not inaptly be termed the dregs of society ; but the time was
when they were the glorious and memorable remnant of a renowned people, who
held sway in the East, and, like other famous races, at length suffered the vicissi-
tudes of fortune and of time. This nation, subjugated and dispersed more than a
thousand years ago, sought shelter and safety in Egypt. But even there it did not
long enjoy tranquillity ; and, finding no peace with fellow-man, it was forced to
seek for safety among the wild beasts of the forest. There, amid the most desolate
wildernesses, did these people withdraw themselves almost wholly out of sight of
other men. Time, the disposer of all things, chiefly exercises its tyranny over the
human inclinations. A wild and rude climate generally renders the manners of the
inhabitants also wild and rude. (Even so may the most pellucid stream grow
turbid.) Thus did the residue of a highly-cultured nation gradually degenerate
into a horde of rough vagabonds. The most contemptible of their occupations was
originally most laudable, and replete with inventive genius. The art of foretelling
good or bad fortune — which now-a-days is so associated with the Gypsies — was at
one time the science of astronomy, so assiduously and comprehensively studied by
them that they professed to be able to foretell all human vicissitudes by the aid of
the heavenly bodies. The songs with which they are wont to accompany their
predictions are but a survival from the golden clays of their ancient poetical
incantations, then wonderfully embellished by the accompaniment of various
musical instruments. The industry which they applied to the cultivation of the
soil and the uses of commerce degenerated in later times into the incredible ability
they display in theft and rapine, whereby they almost solely exist. Great travellers
and explorers have placed them before us in an honourable and favourable light,
but now they are spoken of with contempt. They shift their dwelling every third
day, and the place of their birth is never the place of their death, for a longer stay
is not permitted to them. Are they to be doomed for ever to this unsettled, wild,
and wandering life ?"
My Venetian note-book contains also a few extracts from I Zingani : Storiella
piacecolie ; Venezia, 1710, nella Tipografia del Dal Fabbro : —
"Capitolo I. — In a low haunt in the outermost principality (Principato
ulteriore), that forms part of the great province of ' Terra di Lavoro,' in the king-
dom of Naples, was born Corradino Aniello, whose story we are going to relate.
He descended in a direct line from that famous Tommaso Aniello, called Masaniello
d'AmalJi. ... He has been a great impostor."
On page 21 it is stated : — " Corradino dressed, after the Gypsies' fashion, in
green garments (vestito di color verde), with large shining metal buttons, his black
NOTES AND QUERIES. 309
hair falling in curls by each ear. His head was covered with a silken network,
above which he wore a large coarse hat (cappellacio), trimmed with gold. In
complexion he approached so nearly to olive (his complexion is styled olivastro),
that he looked like a real Gypsy."
So far as I remember, this book — being a mere romance — contains nothing else
worthy of quotation. However, the extracts which I have made from both books,
although they are of questionable value, seem to throw some light upon the Italian
Gypsies of last century. J. PINCHERLE.
4-
SKETCHES AT SEVILLE.
1. From a balcony at the Fonda de Madrid.
" A group of Gypsies passed one day : a map with a blue fez-shaped cap, a loose
gray jacket, and full blue Turkish trousers, reaching only to the calf of the leg,
followed by a woman so tall and muscular, so dark and fierce, so majestic and
sibylline, that she might have passed for Meg- Merrilies had it been possible to
imagine her in English-speaking parts ; but in ^a dark-red woollen petticoat and
striped blanket for a cloak, she was the true Zingara. A lithe lad of twelve or
fourteen brought up the rear, in bright rags dulled by dirt : he was bronze-colour,
with wild black eyes and elf locks, and looked like a half-tamed animal. They did
not speak to each other, nor look at each other, but marched along in single file,
bound together only by their isolation from everybody else."
2. At La Triana.
"I found the Gypsy quarter very different from the huddle of picturesque
squalor which I had expected. It is more like a neat village, the houses being
white, and low like cottages. The few shop doors and windows are given up to
the gay appurtenances of the Andalusian horseman, and to coarse pottery of the
most beautiful antique Eastern forms. Before one of the saddlers' shops stood a
drove of patient-faced donkeys. Their driver . . . was bargaining for a pair of
purple and orange saddle-bags. My errand was for earthenware, and I entered a
small shop where great bulging oil-jars of dark shining green, with a deep project-
ing rim and three curved handles, stood in rows. The walls were lined with shelves
bearing dark red terra-cotta water-cruses, with taper necks and trefoil lips, others
of a delicious cream-colour, covered with a graceful incised design, and others
delicately beaded over with a raised pattern ; some had one arm akimbo, or a long
eccentric spout. ... I lost my head over this display, and recklessly ordered big
pieces by the pair and smaller ones by the dozen. . . . The Gypsy merchant, only
a degree more brown, stately, and silent than the ordinary Andalusian, betrayed
no emotion at my prodigality, although I am persuaded that he had never made
such a sale before, for the bill amounted to several hundred reals."
(From "A Cook's Tourist in Spain"; Atlantic Monthly, August 1884.)
5-
OF A TINKER BEREAN AND OF A HIGHWAYMAN.
There are two or three facts in the Life of the Corn-law Rhymer, Ebenezer
Elliott (1781-1849), that may have an interest for members of our Society. He was
the grandson of Robert Elliott, a whitesmith, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, whose
ancestors, I have been told, and have the honour to believe, were thieves, neither
310 NOTES AND QUERIES.
Scotch nor English, but lived on the cattle they stole from both. " My father," he
continues, " being a Dissenter, baptized me himself, or employed his friend, and
brother Berean, Tommy Wright, the Barnsley tinker, to baptize me." Here
surely are crypto-Egyptians for Mr. Simson !
In 1849 the Rhymer received a visit from Mr. Watkins, his future biographer,
at Great Houghton, near Barnsley, in Yorkshire. They walked out to "Wind-
gap Oak, which stands on an eminence, commanding views on all sides. Elliott
told me how once another oak stood near, in whose hollow trunk Nevison, the
highwayman, is reported to have been hid when he was taken. In revenge of this
it had been burnt clown by some Gypsies" (Watkins' Life of Elliott, 1850,
p. 258). There is a somewhat conflicting account in the smaller Memoir of
Elliott (1850) by "January Searle " (George S. Phillips) :— "He spoke of two
great oaks, about a mile from his house, where the Wapentake assembled in
ancient times ; and where, in the hollow of one of them, Nevison, the celebrated
highwayman, had to secrete himself when in danger. He likewise related the
history of Nevison, who was born at Wortley in Charles the Second's time, and
knew the site of the public-house, where he was at last captured. ' A heart-break-
ing story, I have no doubt,' said Elliott, 'for-the daughter of the innkeeper was
Nevison's sweetheart.' " F. H. GROOME.
6.
THE ARABIAN JUGGLERS.
Among those words, occurring in Romani, which Professor De Goeje regards
as Arabic, is "the Arabian jugglers' word mosjtdn [moshtdn]" — mochton, a box.
If this means that the word is peculiar to Arabian jugglers, and is therefore not
Arabic, the inference is that the jugglers of Arabia, like those of many other lands,
are really Gypsies, and that they obtain the word moshtdn from their mother-
tongue. DAVID MAcRiTcniE.
7-
" EGYPTIAN " DAYS.
In John Major's Historic Maioris Britannice, tain Anglice quam Scotioe, etc.,
of which the first edition was published "ex officina Ascensiana" in 1521, I find a
mention of a " dies infaustus et ^gyptiacus." I should be grateful to any of my
fellow-members of the Gypsy Lore Society who could furnish me with parallel
passages, or indicate the probable meaning of the word "^Egyptiacus " in Major's use
of it. The passage occurs near the beginning of the eleventh chapter of the Fourth
Book of the History, in connection with the accession of Alexander m. to the throne
of Scotland, and is as follows : — "Post Alexandri secundi obitum, filius eius Alexander
tertius octo annos natus puellus in regem ordinatur : verum in eius coronatione
inter regni primores lis orta est, aliquibus dicentibus quod prius debebat eques
auratus seu miles quam rex insigniri : aliis oppositum asserentibus. Aliqui
utrisque contradixerunt, dicentes niliil illo die debere fieri : quia dies erat infaustus
et ^Egyptiacus." I may add that Major did not consider that the party of delay
had reason on their side — adducing several reasons of no present relevancy ; but he
brings forward as a " Secunda propositio, Nulla est dies JKgyptiaca plus infausta
pro regum coronationibus quam alia" This looks as if there were a considerable
choice of " Egyptian " days. ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 311
8.
FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF MR. SMITH'S MYSTICAL Box.
See our Notes and Queries, p. 176 ante.)
The London Graphic of 4th May 1889 contains an engraving of this alleged
" Gypsy heirloom," with the following remarks : —
"This box has been presented, or rather sold for a merely nominal sum, to Mr.
George Smith, of Coalville, by a number of leading Gypsies, in gratitude for his
efforts to improve the condition of the Gypsies and van children. The presentation
took place last November, at a large gathering of Gypsies on Plaistow Marshes,
and a memorandum was drawn up and signed by its then possessor, David Lee,
stating that the small symbolical and mystical copper and brass box, bearing the
name 'Right Door Lee,' engraved and dated 1182, had been an heirloom in his
family, the Gypsy Lees, and had been held by his father's ancestor back to the date
engraved upon it. The box is stated to have brought thousands of pounds to the
Lee family, and fortunes — so the Gypsies themselves would say — to those who
climbed the ' Ladder of Life/ or the ' Golden Ladder ' (which is engraved on the
side of the box not shown in our engraving), read the mystical numbers, and had
their ' planets ruled.' Mr. Smith thinks that the box was engraved abroad, and
that Right Door Lee either means an officer of the sacred army of Gypsies who
were wont to march about Europe some centuries since, with counts and earls at
their head, or else * Right through the Sea.' The box is probably one of the pass-
ports granted by Pope Sixtus iv. to the Gypsies to admit them to the kings and
rulers of Europe, and of the countries through which they travelled, soliciting alms
on their pious pilgrimage. This also agrees with Mr. Smith's views expressed in
his works on Gypsy life as to their first appearance in Europe and England at the
end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. Consequently, he con-
siders that time and wear have turned the 1482 into 1182, and the date 1497 (on
the side not shown in our illustration) into 1197. Mr. Smith is well known for
his strenuous and successful eiforts to improve the condition of the brickyard and
canal-boat children. He is now working hard to induce Parliament to educate and
protect 130,000 English and Scotch Gypsy and van children, and his proposed
measures have the good wishes of the Gypsies and van-dwellers themselves."
As a result of the above account, the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of 23d May
1889 contained the following : —
" I mentioned last week that a box given by the Gypsies to Mr. Geo. Smith of
Coalville had been illustrated in the Graphic, and that an identically similar one had
been found to be in the possession of a Newcastle gentleman. The only difference
was this : the Gypsies claimed that the box given to Mr. Smith bore the date 1182,
Mr. Smith believed the right date to have been 1482, and the Newcastle box had
for its date 1582. Since last week's note appeared, Mr. W. J. Carr, of Ebchester,
has left at the Chronicle office for my inspection a similar box which he possesses,
and which he bought at a second-hand shop about twenty years ago. It is of brass,
about 8 inches long and H inches deep, has on it the exact inscription which
appeared in the Graphic, and bears the date 1482. The characters appear to me
to be Dutch, and there is clearly an almanac engraved on the box. Two other old
boxes, belonging to Mr. Crawhall, Newcastle, have turned up during the week,
and have been inspected by Aid. Barkas of the Art Gallery. Where, it may be
asked, have these five curious boxes, all going back so many centuries, come from ?
and what was their intended use at the time of manufacture ? One of the series
certainly looks more like an ancient mariner's spectacle case than anything else."
Mr. H. T. Crofton, to whom we are indebted for these extracts, points out that
the date upon this box, as shown in the Graphic engraving, is unmistakably
" 1765." And a gentleman who has made a study of such things, and to whom the
engraving was therefore submitted, states his opinion thus : —
312 NOTES AND QUERIES.
"It is a simple almanack for 1765. The months are arranged according to the
day of the week on which the first day of the month falls, but are in this order —
Tties : Mon : Sun : Satur : Fri : Thurs : Wednes.
" The numbers over the total number of days in each month have been probably
misread in the engraving from the box. They should denote the order of succes-
sion of the months— March 1, April 2, May 3, June 4, July 5, August 6, Sept. 7,
Oct. 8, Nov. 9, Dec. 10, Jan. 11, Feb. 12 (the Eornan order). The figures in the
circles at the ends are probably the Virgin and the Pope (?)."
In explanation of the fact that these boxes have been variously assigned to the
years 1182, 1482, and 1582, it ought to be stated that, under the figure assumed to
represent a Pope, there are certain indistinct characters, of which the two last
are pretty plainly " 82." What the two first are (? the initials of said "Pope ") it
is impossible to say. But the actual date, 1765, which is in its proper place, is
perfectly legible.
9-
THE GYPSIES OF CEYLON.
A recent report on the destruction of game in Ceylon by a committee of sports-
men belonging to the island refers to wandering bands of Gypsies as being among
the culprits. A Colombo newspaper states that these so-called Gypsies of Ceylon
are known among the Cingalese as Telugus, and are met with in most parts of the
island, engaged in the occupations of exhibiting tame cobras or monkeys, and per-
forming jugglery, and from their appearance are not to be distinguished from
ordinary Tamil coolies from Southern India, so that in a recent census report they
appear to have been classed as Tamils. They are, however, careful to call them-
selves Telugus, though apparently unable to speak Telugu, — Cingalese and Tamil
being used indiscriminately by them. The two classes of snake-charmers and
monkey-dancers are, according to their own account, quite distinct, the former
being much more numerous ; they belong to different castes, and each professes to
consider the other's occupation as degrading. The women of the monkey-dancers
also practise palmistry. Their religion appears to partake very much of that of the
locality in which they appear ; sometimes they are Buddhists, sometimes Sivites.
They are perfectly illiterate, and have no desire that their children should be edu-
cated. A camp of snake-charmers met with in the southern province of Ceylon
spoke Cingalese fluently and well, though with a foreign accent. They could not
speak Telugu, though they said it was their proper language, but spoke Tamil.
They asserted " that their ancestors came over in the time of Buddha," and they
professed to be Buddhists. These people never settle down, but spend their lives
wandering over the island ; their wagon-shaped talipot huts packed up and carried
on donkeys' backs. They abhor work of all kinds, but do not appear to be addicted
to serious crime. Unlike their brethren in Europe, they are not much given to
plunder, though at times having many opportunities ; but occasionally a crop has
been found to have sensibly diminished after their departure from the neighbour-
hood. They are quite distinct from the class of wandering Moormen. As to their
claim to a Telugu origin, it is curious to note that the wandering castes of the Dec-
can, snake-charmers and others, lay claim to Telugu descent. It is not known
whether these Gypsies have any affinity with the wanderers going by that name in
Europe and elsewhere, or whether they owe that name merely to their nomadic
habits.— The Times, 23d April 1889.
MEMBERS are reminded that their Subscriptions for the year ending '30th June 1890
are now due.
NOTICE. — All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MAcKiTCHiE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh.
JOUENAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY.
VOL. I. OCTOBEE 1889. No. 6
I—THE OEIGIN OF THE HUNGAEIAN MUSIC.
T ISZT tried in all good faith to prove the Hungarian Music to be
•^ a mere Gypsy invention. The great paper-war excited by the
publication of his views was severely contested, but was by no means so
sterile of results as is maintained by Liszt's followers. One important
result of it was the discovery of many particulars hitherto unknown ;
still, the result of it shows that Liszt found no one of mark to adopt
his opinion in Hungary. It is a pity this important result is not
known outside our own country. The assailants of Liszt's theory
employed the most inexorable logh, whilst its defenders contented
themselves with declaring that Liszt has been misunderstood, that the
mistake is not in his book itself, but merely in its title, which ought
to have run, "Of the Gypsies, and the manner they handle the
Music in Hungary." (See an article in the Nemzet of October 23,
1886.) Still, the whole book contradicts this idea. Only a few
passages, especially chapter cxvii., seem to corroborate it, and even
that only seems to do so: as all that we read there is advanced
hypothetically. If Liszt had wished merely to represent the Gypsies
as clever performers, the designation of our music could not have
been to him matter of question.
VOL. I.— NO. VI. X
314 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSIC.
According to him the Gypsies created their art for their own sake,
in order to commune one with another, to sing to themselves, to paint
their own joys and griefs (Des Bohtmiens, pp. 221, 248, 249); they
created it without taking any pattern from the " Giorgios " or non-
Gypsies (59). Moreover, in those centuries during which their musical
epos was gradually developed by the rhapsodisation of very many
fragments, they did not so much as guess that there existed any
other music in the world (251).
They had their own scale and their genuine language, and it was
solely to the maintenance of these two things that they always
bestow a conscientious and sincere attention (221).
The three main peculiarities of the Gypsy music, from which are
derived all its other originalities, are : their own intervals, which differ
from those of European music ; the genuine Gypsy rhythms ; the
luxuriant, essentially Oriental, ornamentation (223).
In a word, this music is of Gypsy origin to the core. It formerly
was never called Hungarian Music, but Gypsy Music. From the
report given on p. 14 of vol. vi. of the Anzeigen one would con-
clude, following Liszt's opinion, that the Hungarians did not in
last century, to wit in the year 1775, so much as dream (ne son-
geaient point encore) that the Gypsy Music was their own (278).
It was not till the present century that the Gypsy Music became
an object of pride to the Hungarians, and was declared a national
property by being called, instead of Gypsy Music, Hungarian Music
(322). Cf. "the so-called Hungarian Music" (339), "The Gypsy
musicians founded the three principal elements, i.e. the melody, the
rhythm, and the ornamentation, in a mould that is conventionally
called Hungarian Music" (235).
Liszt himself called his rhapsodies Hungarian ones, because it
would be unfair thereafter to separate from each other what has been
united in the past. The Hungarians adopted the Gypsies as their
own musicians; they identified themselves, etc. (346-7).
The art of the Gypsies developed only on Hungarian soil. The
Hungarians were appreciative listeners (219, 248, 287) ; solely to their
protection does this music owe its fortunate development, and so far,
and so far only, have the Hungarians any share therein.
The development of the Gypsy Music in our country shows no
trace of having been influenced by the Hungarian Music ; quite on
the contrary : the Hungarians adapted their national dances to the
division and the measure of the Gypsy airs (269), arid (instead of
their own national songs) sung melodies of Gypsy origin with
THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSIC. 315
Hungarian words, and these melodies remained in perfect purity
among the inhabitants of villages and heaths, and struck there so
deep a root that there they were finally appropriated (272).
Even those who still cling to the notion that the Hungarians
taught their own songs and dance-airs to the Gypsies cannot deny
that they have to thank the Gypsies for preserving their poor frag-
ments from destruction (281).
That the Gypsies are not able to identify themselves with the
sentiments of any other race is plainly asserted on p. 218. This
music therefore is, not only with regard to its form, but with regard
to its contents also, not Hungarian, but Gypsy. National enthusiasm,
the very essence of a nation, is enshrined in this music. " That this
nation is that of the pariahs — well, what has it to do with the art?"
(347, etc.)
The foregoing assertions of Liszt's have been refuted by many
authorities. See in this respect the communications of Brassai,
Bartalus, Simonffy Kalman, Adelburg, Czeke Sandor, and Scudo. It
was Brassai who did so most fervently. He combated not only the
musical but the ethnographical section of Liszt's book, and con-
demned it with inexorable logic.
As for us, we wish briefly to sum up the following arguments
concerning this problem of the Gypsies.
Before our Gypsies entered Hungary, they certainly were
acquainted with at least the Greek and Wallachian popular music.
In our country they made acquaintance with the Hungarian Music,
of which mention occurs in several historical sources, notably in a
passage of the biography of St. Gerard. The Hungarian Music seemed
peculiar but agreeable to the ears of the strangers. Besides the
Hungarian, they found Servian, Slovak, and German airs.
The musical faculty of the Gypsies entered into the services of
the music of every people ; moreovei, they play all those foreign songs
and dance-airs which are adopted by fashion.
That this was the case in the very beginning of their era of
lustre is proved beyond any doubt by Czinka Panna, who played not
only the Hungarian dance-airs, but Styrian, German, and French as
well. Liszt himself knew from a letter of Matray (Des Boli&n.
p. 306) that Bihari played " Kalamaykas," French quadrilles,
Ecossaises, and minuets.
The Hungarian Music was always called Hungarian, and never
Gypsy. The Gypsy musician himself, when asking what he shall
play, suggests a Hungarian air, never a Gypsy one.
316 THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSIC.
Liszt's belief that the name of Hungarian Music originated only
in the beginning of the present century is strikingly refuted by the
following Latin lines, which were written in 1772, on the occasion of
the death of Czinka Panna : —
" Nam seu Styriacos malles, seu Teutonis orbes
Seu quibus Francus, prompta, superbit, erat.
Praecipue Hungaricos (vah nunc quoque . . . stupesco)
Fors prorsus rnagica moverat arte choros."
Nor is it true (as Liszt asserts on p. 245) that the violin and
the czimbalom (dulcimer) formed in every time the basis of their
orchestra. The so-called Polish violin was unknown, or at least not
in use with us, even in the first half of the sixteenth century (see
above, p. 323 ; see also Brassai, pp. 27, 42-3).
According to Liszt, the Gypsies did not even invent the music
which is now called Hungarian in Hungary, but brought it with
them. (267). If this were true, the traces of the essential peculiari-
ties of the music in question would necessarily be found in the songs
and dance-music of the Gypsies of other countries. But experience
shows the very opposite (see 196, 198).
The most important and decisive argument which proves the
genuine Hungarian origin of the Hungarian music is the rhythm.
The very pulsation of the rhythm is the accent. The law of
accent of the Hungarian music is the same as that of the Hungarian
language. This is the reason why Hungarian songs cannot be sung
to German, French, Italian, etc., words, without accentuating the
words in the Hungarian manner.
The Hungarian accent is the very opposite of that met with in the
most ancient dialect of the European Gypsy language. Hungarian
accentuates the first syllable, the Greek Gypsy, with few exceptions,
the last (see above, p. 3).
As the Gypsies, before their settling in Hungary, did not know
the accent which is pulsing in the same manner as well in the Hun-
garian language as in the Hungarian music, but first became acquainted
with it there, and accustomed themselves to it in such a measure
that they forgot their own genuine accent, and accentuate at present
their own language in the Hungarian manner, it is clear they could
not bring with them the Hungarian music, which shows the very
genuine Hungarian rhythms, but that they must have learned it
in Hungary.
Liszt, learning this refutation (January 13th, 1873), declared
THE ORIGIN OF THE HUNGARIAN MUSIC. 317
orally, "I am thoroughly a practical musician. I have my own
rhythms." He said he was not able to teach anybody the theory
of rhythms.
He recognised the decisive value of the argument of rhythm, but
insisted that "the Gypsies brought something with them." Thus
in the course of conversation he maintained that the harmony, how-
ever, was introduced into the Hungarian music by the Gypsies. This
can be conceded ; for, without doubt, the Gypsy orchestras have had
a great share in the development of the peculiar accompaniment.
Yet, if Liszt was wrong concerning the origin of our music, still
he earned an immortal fame as the earliest interpreter of this national
treasure of ours to all the world, as well by his peerless art as by his
brilliant pen. EMIL THEWREWK DE PONOR.
BUDAPEST.
II.— THE PAEIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS.
Stockholm, Aug. 20, 1889.
E life of an English Gypsy during the season of fairs, cockshies,
races, hopping, pivlioi te dukkerin, te piaben, " cocoa-nuts and
fortune-telling and drinking beer," is about as confused and bewilder-
ing an existence as can be imagined, and that of the President of the
Gypsy Lore Society at the French Exposition was like unto it.
Perhaps it was the immense quantity of coloured windows in the
show, with the piles of glittering variegated glass-work arid the bands
of music, which created a feeling as if I had been a factor in a vast
kaleidoscope which was turned round and round to orchestral accom-
paniment. - It began with the first sight of the great iron scaffolding
or trestle-work, the Eiffel Tower of Babel, which rises appropriately
over the true modern Babylon, and ended as it grew smaller in the
distance and vanished.
I dwelt very near the Exposition, and so went there at once after
arriving in Paris. Within its limits there are to be found a company
of Spanish Gypsy girl dancers in a small theatre, a very picturesque
company of Roumanian Romanys, who both sing and play, and
another of Hungarian Tzigane from Szegedin, not inferior to them.
I need not say that I speedily became acquainted with them, or that
they welcomed such an extraordinary being as an Anglo-American
Romany rye, avec effusion, volunteering to play for me such real
Gypsy airs as the " Song of the Gorgios " and " Bird Song." The
Roumanians knew very little Romany. In fact there was only one
318 THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS.
of them, an elderly man, who could really converse in it, but the
Hungarians rejoiced greatly therein as well as in a knowledge of
German. And when I marvelled thereat, since even in Buda-Pest the
Gypsies are hard to find who know Nemetz, they assured me that it
was nothing remarkable, inasmuch as they — the Szegedin Roms — were
as much beyond the Buda-Pesters in general intelligence as they were
as musicians, and indeed intimated that in all moral qualities, good
looks, and great virtues, they were as far superior to their compatriots
as a dark night is to a small nigger. That they were indeed very
remarkable Gypsies appeared from the fact that they said nothing
about being chori roms or poor devils, but manfully declared that
they were making money, and revelling in wine, good food, and other
carnal comforts of Paris to their hearts' content, being evidently the
most to be envied individuals in town, and chiefly in this, that they
knew it.
My object in visiting Paris was, however, not to see the Exposi-
tion, climb the Eif-bab-el Tower, or listen to Gypsy music, but to
attend the Conyres de.s Traditions populaires or folk-lore, and which,
considering the immensely rapid though recent growth of this new
branch of Wissenscliaft, will be regarded some day as having formed
a very great era in the history of learning. It is worth observing
that this Congress was held " conformably to a Ministerial decision,
dated Feb. 11, 1889," and that the French Government not only
officially recognised the importance of such a study, but manifested
its interest in many ways, as in courtesies extended to foreign
members, such as the reception given to them by the Minister of
Public Works. The opening of the Congress took place July 29, in a
hall of the Trocadero. It was a matter of very great regret to all
concerned that England was not more fully represented, as there was
a very great desire indeed to secure English co-operation and interest.
Great satisfaction was expressed that the English Gypsy Lore Society
had sent a deputy, the proof being that I was elected honourable
President for the first regular sitting, as a special compliment to our
Association. Among those who attended were MM. Charles Plaix,
Se"billot, Prince Roland Bonaparte, Zmirgredzki, Stanislaus Prato,
Henry Carnoy, Jean Fleury, Leon Vicaire, Tiersot, Kaarle Krohn of
Finland, le Comte de Puyniargre, Mario Proth, Certeux (the treasurer
and generally useful man of the Congress), H. Cordier, Jules Baillet,
Charles Morelle, Raoul Rosieres, Felix Regamey, Michel Dragomanov,
Krzyvicks, Lancy, Emile Ble'mont, and Michau. After the first day
our meetings were held in the Mairie, opposite San Sulpice.
THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS. 319
I regret that I cannot find space for even a brief recital of the
many admirable papers read by most of these gentlemen, and if I
give a r&sum6 of my own it is at the request of our Editor, and
because it directly refers to our Society. I remarked that: —
" It is not very long since even learned men began to understand
the great importance of the affinities between folk-lore and history,
according to the real meaning of the latter word. Now we are begin-
ning to perceive that one is to the other as the colour of a picture is
to its design. In fact as regards 'local colour,' be it in truthful
narrative or romance, of all which is of general interest nine parts out
of ten belong strictly to folk-lore.
" Thus far next to nothing has ever been published as to the
relations between Gypsies and European popular traditions, or the
influence which they have exercised on our folk-lore. I may
here recall certain remarks translated by Mr. David MacKitchie
from the Ethnoloyische Mitteilungen, and his comment thereon, in
which treatise the belief is advanced that legend or folk-lore is
strictly the gospel of a religion of consolation to the suffering, and
that fairy tales and Gypsy predictions, and all the possible solaces of
sorcery, are so many promises of hope. From this point of view-
that popular tradition has been a religion — it may be declared that
the folk-lorists or traditionists are writing its Bible, and that this our
Congress has its place among other^reat synods and councils, since it
is here that a first general effoij has been made to arrange and
co-ordinate the branches of this study of a great popular faith.
" Of this religion Gypsies have been, for thousands of years in the
East, and for four hundred in the West, the chief priests. Wherever
they abound, they are the story-tellers, or trouveurs, who spread
songs and sorceries and traditions of every kind among the people,
creating and keeping alive all folk-lore. Among the collections
which I have made during the past ten years in Hungary and the
Tuscan-Bomagna, I have been constantly astonished at the extra-
ordinary influence which these humble beings have asserted wherever
they have gone. Heine said of De Musset that he was a man
with a great future behind him. The Gypsies, with their strange
talents and gift of vitalitj raciale, and influence on millions of
believers, are, after all, a feeble folk, with no hopes of a national life
before them.
" Though they came from India, the real religion (of sorcery) of the
Gypsies, as clearly shown iii Hungary and all South-Eastern Europe,
320 THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS.
is not Hindu, but pre- Aryan — that is to say, Shamanic. As a theory
which may at least serve as a scaffold to build on, I assume that this
Shamanic sorcery was originally Turanian, Altaic, or Tartar; that it
spread to Babylon and Nineveh, as well as to the Etruscans, and in
the north to the Finns, Laplanders, and Eskimo. It is a gross religion
of man's wants and sufferings, incarnate as tormenting spirits, who
are driven away by exorcisms and drum-beating and fumigation. It
was the ancient religion of the peasantry in India, and always pre-
served by them in secret, despite the Brahmins. Of late years, owing
to religious toleration on the part of our Government, it has begun to
creep out of its mysterious cavern, and shake off the dust of a
thousand years, with which it was covered.
" I could give innumerable instances, did space permit, to prove
that Shamanism has been ' historically ' transmitted from race to
race, and that it did not spring up spontaneously or sporadically
under the influence of concurrent chances. Thus I may mention
that two incantations, learned by me from a fortune-teller of Tuscany,
were quite the same with others given by Lenormant in his Magic
chalda'ienne. Of this faith the Gypsies are to-day indefatigable mis-
sionaries. In a letter recently received from a person who collects
magical lore for me in Italy, the writer tells me that she can do
nothing at present, but that she expects in a few days to see an old
Zingara or Gypsy woman, who is learned in all kinds of sorcery and
witchcraft. And in the last song in the dialect of the Tuscan
Romagna a woman, whose lover it enchanted, goes to a Gypsy for
relief.
" If Gypsies have thus since all time been going about like birds
over many lands, leaving here and there the seeds or grains of tradi-
tion of every kind, it will be cheerfully admitted that they deserve
attention in our efforts to collect all that is important in popular
beliefs. We are only beginning to recognise the vast value of all
folk-lore or legends just as they are perishing with great rapidity—
et on n'en fait pas des nouvelles — no new ones are created. Therefore
it is not too much to declare that the man or woman who collects a
book among the people, even on the most insignificant subject,
deserves a place in the annals of literature.
" We have had for more than a year in Great Britain a Society
founded specially for the study of Gypsy lore. This Society, of which
I have the honour to be President, and here represent, soon discovered
that we, far from moving in a very restricted circle, had to deal with
a subject which spread over half the globe, and was mingled with
THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS. 321
every kind of tradition. There is indeed an old Scotch song which
declares that Gypsies form one-third of all folk-lore : —
Of fairies, witches, Gypsies
My nourrice sang to me ;
Of Gypsies, witches, fairies
I '11 sing again to thee.1
" My colleagues of the Hungarian Deputation will tell you that
among the twenty-five committees of their Folk-lore Society, each'
devoted to a special language and race, there is one for the Gypsies,
of which the Archduke Josef is chairman. I do not know how
these Hungarian Eomanys discovered the magical virtues of the
Maria Theresa dollar. (I have seen among them a sick infant, whose
parents believed it would soon recover because they had hung three
such coins round its neck.) But it is remarkable that over a great
part of Eastern and inner Africa the blacks will take no other money,
and it is in consequence still coined for them. We owe thanks to
the Gypsies for at least this important aid to commerce.
" As the literature of proverbs has become so extensive that men
are now beginning to publish volumes of special subjects in it, so it
is already beginning to be evident that folk-lore must be subdivided
to be thoroughly pursued. I trust that I have shown, though inaptly,
that Gypsy lore has an important place in tradition, and I venture to
say that my colleagues in our Society have pursued the subject with
such ability as to fully demonstrate its value. Such is, gentlemen,
the present condition of a study which has so many relations to the
history and popular traditions of all Europe."
One of the most interesting dinners at which it has ever been my
fortune to be present was that given by Prince Eoland Bonaparte to
the members of the Society. As a traveller, a collector in many
lands, and as a learned folk-lorist, Prince Bonaparte occupies a high
position. His hotel in the Cour de la Eeine would be called a very
fine palazzo in Italy, and it is magnificently adorned with arms and
ethnological relics, or works of art, collected far and wide in every
land. On this occasion our host had provided the Eoumanian Gypsies,
whom I have mentioned. Their music was soft and beautiful, and
very remarkable in being the only band I ever heard at a dinner
which did not disturb the conversation. The menu at this dinner
was worth remark. It was a large and beautifully-executed etching,
i Thus rendered in the address : —
" Des fees, des Tsigaues et sorcieres,
Ma nourrice me chantait ;
A mon tour je chante les sorcieres,
Les Tsiganes et les fees."
322 THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS.
representing prehistoric men, and was specially designed as a compli-
ment to the guests. It was a very polyglot company, and I had
occasion to use all the scraps of languages which I have picked up in
a life of wandering. But it was the first very " swell " party of any
kind at which I ever was obliged to rdkker Romanis.
Our next treat was to a concert of popular songs given by the
Congress in the hall of Hotel des Socie'tes Savantes, sur Serpente. If
any one had ever predicted to me during my Latin Quarter student
days in 1847-1848, that a time would come when a body of ladies and
gentlemen would assemble in what was then the proverbially dirtiest
yard-wide little slum even on our side of the Seine, I should have
been " a-smile." Sed tempora mutantur et nos do mutamur — astonish-
ingly, in illis. This concert was also in many tongues, all uniting
in the one celestial language of music, and was pronounced to be a
great success.
It was a queer chance, but 1 had been put down as delegate on the
Hungarian Deputation, and was the only one of them all who came.
In this capacity as Magyar, I laid before the Congress a paper stating
that our marvellously active friend, Professor Anton Herrmann, is
about to publish a weekly Folk-Lore Journal in four languages,
French, English, Hungarian, and German. Those who collect will
thank me for stating that the price will be from 7 to 14 florins; but
Folk-lore Societies may subscribe for their members for one-fourth of
this amount. Our final explosion of gaiety was at a dinner given at
the Cafe Corazza in the Palais Eoyale by the Congress to the foreign
delegates. I think that this will long be remembered as one of the
jolliest assemblies which even the Frenchmen " in our midst " had
ever attended. After the dinner came the toasts. Mr. Andrews,
who represented America, being absent, when I was called on to
answer as the President of the Gypsy Lore Society, and not wishing
that America should remain unspoken for, I replied that I appeared
for three countries, like Mrs. Malaprop's Cerberus, " three gentlemen
in one." Then came singing of a curious and varied character.
There was present the celebrated Desrousseaux, " chausonnier," an
elderly man, but a still charming singer and reciter, whose volumes
of ballads have circulated by the hundred thousand, and whose other
works have given him the highest rank as a traditionalist. From
him we had his best. Then came wonderful lays of many lands. I
shall never forget an Ukraine Cossack song, which had the very
expression of a wild wind wailing over the desolate steppe.
Among the papers read during the Congress, that by M. Ploix, on
THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADITIONS. 323
the interpretation of mythical tales, will attract attention when
published. I can recall having been interested also by one from
M. Carnoy on Esthonian traditions. M. Carnoy has published a
valuable little work on the variants of the tales in Reynard the Fox.
Karle Krohn lectured on Finland traditions, and not only presented a
full set of all the publications of his Society, which are very valuable,
but promised to send any of them which individual members desired
to them. A very curious communication on the Swastika, by
M. Zmirgrodzki, excited much comment. I called attention to the
fact that in China the Swastika, or cross with side ends, has been
the basis of the Kou-a system of dualism, which has not only given
birth to a library of mystical literature, but even greatly influenced,
if it did not entirely create, the national system of decorative art,
" a batons rompus" by grouping on longs and shorts. There is a very
learned paper on this subject by H. Cordier on Les Socitte's secretes dc
la Chine, originally published in the Revue d' Ethnographie, edited by
Dr. Hamy. To this latter gentleman I owe thanks for the courteous
manner in which lie led us through the Ethnographic department of
the Trocadero, and for giving me permission to sketch in it.
There was a general hope that the next general meeting of the
Folk-lorists may be in England, and I sincerely trust that it may be
brought about. The cordiality of the reception of all foreigners at
this meeting, the real kindness and hospitality shown them, were
such as to deserve special gratitude, and I take great pleasure in
expressing it. The acme of refinement and politeness is when
scholars are cosmo-polite to one another. Kings among kings should
be kingly, and friendly alliances and much intercourse between
thinkers elevates them in every way. I have heard men ridicule
these Congresses, and ask of them cui bono ? but I always shall
believe that there is a great deal of bono in them, as much for the
world as for the men who meet af> them. That I am a sincere con-
vert to this faith may indeed be drawn from the fact that I am now
writing in Stockholm, waiting for the Congress of Oriental Scholars
to begin — of which I will write anon, for there are to be " great
doings " here — yea, and thereunto a cup of mead at the tomb of Odin,
and other high jinks of a Norse character. Meanwhile I am wrest-
ling manfully with Swedish. Truly it is a very Proteus of tongues.
Sometimes I seem to grasp it in words like Scotch, such as myckel
and bra, and then for half a sentence English, gradually gliding into
delusive German, and ending with some horrible term, deducible
from nothing known to me. Au revoir in our next.
CHARLES G. LELAND.
324 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
III.— IMMIGEATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO WESTEKN
EUEOPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTUEY.
FIRST PERIOD, 1417 — 1438.
(Continued.)
WE have left the Gypsies divided into two bands on quitting
Switzerland (towards the commencement of September 1418),
and one of these bands most probably visiting Alsace.
What appears certain is that, on the 1st of November 1418, a
troop of Gypsies came to Augsburg. It numbered only, it is true,
fifty men, but they were followed by a legion of ugly women and
dirty children. These vagabonds, of black complexion, as the chroni-
cler says, had moreover at their head two dukes and several earls, as
they called them. These circumstances induce me to compute their
number at about a hundred and fifty individuals. They represented
themselves as exiles from Little Egypt, and as people skilful in the
art of divination. But, on closer examination, it was discovered that
they were master thieves, and unmitigated rogues.1
It is difficult to say what fraction of the great horde was repre-
sented by this band. However, as, whatever may have been the num-
ber of Gypsies, we nowhere see more than two dukes appear at their
head, and as we meet with these two chiefs at Augsburg (if this
detail given by a non-contemporary chronicler may be relied on), I
am disposed to think that the staff and central corps of the whole
horde must have been there. It is then to be supposed that the
Duke Andrew, whom we shall find named for the first time in the
1 "Porro currente adhuc hocce anno (1418), pervenerunt, Kalendis novembribus, ad hanc
primurn civitatem ignoti et subnigri errones, numero quinquaginta, permagnam etiam turn
deformium mulierculamm turn fcedorum puemlorum catervam secum ductitantes. Quibus
duo duces et, uti ferebant, aliquot comites prseerant ; profitebanturque se minor! ^Egypto
exulare, et vaticinandi peritos esse. Verum, re penitus introspecta, meri trifures furciferique
sunt deprehensi. Hodie nostris Zegineri, Italis Cingani, et Gallis Bohemi dicuntur ..."
(Two different explanations of their origin follow.) Annales Augstburgenses, by Achil.
Pirmiu. Gassar (physician at Augsburg, born in 1505, died in 1577), in the Script, rer. Germ,
prcecipue Saxon., de Job.. Bur. Menckenius, Lipsise, 1728-1730, in fol, 3 vols., t. i., col.
1560-1561. Two Germ, authors, Mart. Crusius (Annales Suev., Francof., 1595, in fol. t. ii.,
p. 346) and J. Ludolf (ad. suam Hist. ^Ethiop. Comment., 1691, p. 214), have given extracts
of the passage of Gassar which interests us. Ludolf appears even to have been acquainted
with the manuscript : " MSS. extant in bibliot. Gotana," he says in a note. However, both
have read 1419 where I read 1418. I cannot verify this difference, the edition, or the two
editions, of the Annals Augs. which already existed in the times of Crusius and of Ludolf,
and which are the only others remaining with the above, having become exceedingly scarce.
But I ought to mention that the edition given by Mencken passes for having been made from
the manuscript itself. Now here one might hesitate between 1418 and 1430, the annalist
having encroached, in the year 1418, on the facts which belong to 1430 ; but, I repeat, it is
impossible that it should be 1419. — In his extract, Crusius has put by mistake seventy men
instead of fifty. Grellmann (1787, p. 210) and all the modern writers upon the Gypsies
have been acquainted with this extract only, and have reproduced the error.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTU11Y. 325
following year near Macon, and whom we shall meet with later on,
accompanied on this occasion the Duke Michael, whom we have most
probably met with already in Switzerland, and whom we shall again
meet with more certainty at Bale in 1422.
It will be remarked that the bands which remained visible during
the following years were not very numerous ; and this fact agrees
with the conjectures just expressed concerning the Augsburg band.
On quitting Switzerland the horde, if really more numerous than
anywhere else, did not break up into two troops only : it must
soon have divided again. It seems indeed as though the greater part
of this multitude melted away definitively, and that the nucleus
alone, commanded by the two dukes, remained, sometimes united,
sometimes divided into two detachments, conducted each by a duke.
On Friday, the 24th August 1419, "Andrew, Duke of Little
Egypt," arrived at St. Laurent, near Macon,1 " with men, women, and
children to the number of 120 persons, if not more (saul le plus)."
Under this date, a first article of the Register of the deliberations of
the town of Macon, mentions the order given to a farmer of the
sixteenth of Macon,2 to deliver as alms to this personage and his com-
pany, in the name of the said town, bread and wine to the amount of
seventy " sous tournois."
Under the same date, a second article adds the following details
concerning the presence of these strangers at St. Laurent : " They
were men of terrible stature in person, in hair, as well as otherwise ;3
1 St. Laurent-lez-Macon is a parish distinct from Macon (department of Saone-et-Loire), and
which now is in the department of the Ain ; but the Saone alone separates these departments,
and a bridge connects St. Laurent (on the left bank) with Macon (on the right bank). If
these Gypsies were, as is very probable, a part of those who had visited Switzerland, they
had therefore already crossed the Saone before arriving at St. Laurent, and had most likely
travelled over a part of Franche-Comte and of Burgundy.
2 "A farmer of the sixteenth" was one who had farmed a tax established on the
sixteenth of the revenue, or the sixteenth of the sale of such or such a merchandise, or a tax
increasing by one-sixteenth the tax already existing.
s Here is the text of this strange phrase, -md which remains rather obscure : ' ' Estoient
gens de terriblie stature, tant en persenes, en chevelx, comme autrement." One might
wonder that the scribe who had just written twice persone andpersones (I have omitted one
of the two passages, because they repeat each other) should now write persHnes ; but Littre
gives the form porsdne as being Burgundian, and this form is still more irregular in its first
syllable. As to the word chevelx, one might ask one's-self at first sight whether it means
cheveux (hair), or chevaux (horses) ; but, besides its being a question here of "people," I
think the examples given by Littre concerning those two words suffice to show that it cannot
be a question of horses (I do not find a single form of the word cheval, chevaux where the
letter a is wanting in the second syllable). Godefroi, in his Diet, de I'ancienne langue
franqaise, gives also the word chevel, plur. chevelx, with the signification of chief', adj.
principal ; but this signification appears to me to be inapplicable here. In short, the sense
of the passage seems to me to be : people of terrible aspect, as well by their stature (in
person) and by their hair as otherwise. At all events, it appears that the people of this
band, or some of them whom the writer of the Deliberations had remarked, were of very
tall stature, which circumstance is not mentioned in any other document. As to the abun-
dant hair which might contribute to give a savage appearance to those who possessed it, I
326 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
and they lay in the fields like beasts ; and some, the women as well
as the men, practised evil arts (magic) such as palmistry and necro-
mancy. And on this account they were summoned to the Castle of
Macon by the justice of the King's officers, for certain deceits by evil
art which they had practised in the said town (no doubt at Macon)
on Anthony of Lyon, grocer, . . . and several others." l I remark
that, in this second article, Andrew is no longer designated as
" the Duke of Little Egypt," but as " Andrew, who calls himself
Duke of Little Egypt," a significative difference, and which is
explained by the context. It is very probable that, at this moment
of the same day, the magistrates of the town would not have sent
him a gift of bread and wine.
As to the misdeeds of subtilty with which our Gypsies are
reproached at Macon, they will be found fully described at Tournai
(1422), and at Paris (1427); but this is the only time during the
whole period between 1417 and 1438, so far as our present knowledge
extends, that these misdeeds brought upon them a citation before jus-
tice.2 I cannot help remarking on this occasion that in the present
document no mention is made, as in most of the others, of the letters
of the Emperor Sigismund. The same remark applies to the
deliberation of the town of Sisteron, where we are about to meet
anew with the same band, but not to a similar document, which
brings the Duke Andrew to our notice at Deventer (Low Countries) in
March 1420. In this last place he was bearer of "letters from the
King of the Eomans " (an authentic copy no doubt) : was not this
Duke Andrew, who appears to us for the first time at Macon, in
possession of these letters, either in this town or at Sisteron ?
However this may be, here are our travellers summoned to, and
perhaps imprisoned in, the Castle of Macon by the King's officers of
justice — not all of them doubtless (120 men, women, and chil-
dren), but the principal and the most compromised among them, not
do not doubt but that it was the men of whom it is question here, either because it fell on
their shoulders, as is usually the case with the Hungarian coppersmiths whom we have seen
in the West within the last twenty years, or because it formed an enormous and entangled
roll round their head, as is sometimes seen even amongst our Western Gypsies.
1 This double document is extracted from the archives of the town of Macon, Registers
of the Deliberations, 1st vol. (BB. 12), folio 129, verso. It had been pointed out to me, so
far back as 1855, by my excellent colleague of the Society of the Ecole des Chartes, Eugene
de Stadler, then Inspector-General of the Archives (died 1875), who had given me a summary
of it. 1 am indebted for the whole text to the kindness of another and younger colleague,
M. L. Lex, archivist for the department of Saone-et-Loire.
2 Corner, speaking of those who travelled through the Hauseatic towns (1417), says that
"several, in divers places, were seized and put to death." But it is more than probable
that these were victims to the vengeance of the people or peasants whom they had deceived
or robbed. The authorities would not have proceeded in so violent a manner.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFfEENTH CENTURY. 327
excepting most probably the Duke Andrew. One would like to know
how they got out of their adventure ; but M. Lex, the archivist
already named, who has had the kindness at my request to go over
the continuation of the Deliberations up to the end of the year 1419,
has not succeeded in finding anything further.
Those who are acquainted with the Gypsies can represent to them-
selves in this circumstance the lamentations and supplications of the
women, and the active and persevering steps taken by all those who,
remaining at liberty (supposing some to be prisoners), were considered
the most clever. One may be certain also that the chief, who bore
the title of duke, was a man fertile in resources. At all events the
whole band could not have long delayed the continuation of its pil-
grimage.
In effect, five weeks later, we find the Gypsies in Provence, as we
learn by the history of a town * in this country, which did not then
belong to the King of France. A troop of these strangers arrived, on
the 1st of October 1419, at Sisteron in Provence, where they were
named Saracens, the appellation given to all non-Christians, and
which was particularly familiar to the inhabitants of the south of
France on account of the recollections left by the invasions of the
Arabs. " Their strange visit," says M. de Laplane, " was not without
inspiring some fears. They were refused admittance into the town ;
they remained for two days in a field encamped like soldiers, in the
quarter of the Baume, where food was sent to them. They consumed
at one meal a hundred loaves of the weight of twenty ounces, from
which one can, in some measure, judge of their number. Those who
appeared in Paris, in 1427, and who, being lodged at La Chapelle,
excited in so lively a manner the curiosity of the public, were scarcely
more numerous, since Pasquier 2 does not carry their number beyond
a hundred and thirty-two persons,3 including women and children.
1 Histoire de Sisteron, tiree de ses Archives, etc., par Ed. de Laplaue, in 8vo, tome 1,
Digne 1843, pp. 261, 262.
2 The true source is the Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris, to which M. de Laplane ought
to have referred the reader, rather than to the imperfect extract which Estienne Pasquier
had given in his Recherches de la France (1596) of the very interesting passage of this
chronicle then unpublished (the passage will be found further on ; Paris, 1427) : for, not to
mention the edition of 1729 (in Memoires de France et de Bourgogne), which edition has,
it appears, served to establish those which I point out lower down, the Journal d'un
Bourgeois de Paris had appeared in the Buchon collection (tome 40, 1827), and had been
reproduced in two other collections previous to the Histoire de Sisteron.
3 The Bourgeois de Paris, after having mentioned the twelve horsemen who arrived first
in Paris, then the other Egyptians who arrived ten days later, says that they "were not
more in all .' . . than one hundred, or one hundred and twenty or thereabouts." Pasquier,
who gave the number of 132, has done wrong, T think, in having added up the two
numbers.
328 THE IMMIGEATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
Like the troop in Paris, these had horses,1 and as commander a
duke, to whom the provisions were presented." 2
This estimate is very near the precise number 3 given us at St.
Laurent-lez-Macon, and we must conclude from thence that it was
the same band, and that the duke mentioned at Sisteron was, as near
Macon, the Duke Andrew. During this interval the band had spread
itself over Provence, and the reputation of these " Saracens, who were
travelling over the world as a penance," had preceded them at Sis-
teron. As soon as they had arrived, steps were taken to satisfy them
immediately, in order that they might leave as soon as possible, for it
was known beforehand " that they wrought evil " ; it was, however,
found to be indispensable to support them for two days ; and in all
respects " the example of the other towns in Provence where they had
passed " was followed ; which indicates, by-the-by, that other
archives of the country ought to contain notices analogous to this
one, which is not without interest.
Six months go by, and we meet Duke Andrew, with the same band,
in the Dutch Low Countries. Here is the literal translation of an
article in the accounts (Kameraars-rekening) of the town of De venter
(Province of Overryssel), under the date of 1420 : —
" Out of charity, to the Lord Andreas, Duke of Little Egypt : on a
Wednesday after remi?iiscere (6th of March), to the said^lord, who had
been driven out of his country on account of the Christian faith, and
had come to our town with a hundred persons, men, women, and
children, and about forty horses ; the same having letters from the
King of the Romans, containing an invitation to give them alms, and
to treat them with kindness in all the countries where they might go :
given by order of our aldermen (scepenen), 25 florins (gulden). . . .
1 Direct mention of horses is not made in the Deliberation ; but Laplane naturally
assumes that there were some in consequence of the " quatre emines d'avoine (quatuor eminas
civate) " which formed part of the daily ration. — To the gifts of wine, bread, and oats must
be added a sum of money, " quatuor lessi (?) mutonis."
2 Hist, de Sisteron, loco cit. Here is the text of the Registers quoted in this work :- —
"Quod, amore Dei, istis Sarracenis qui venerunt ad hanc civitatem Sistarici, et qui vagant
per universum orbem, penitentia, ut de attento quod eleemosynam pecierunt a dicta univer-
sitate pro dando eis discessum ab hac civitate, racione mali quod faciunt, dentur eis de bouis
universitatis ea que sequuntur, pro uno prandio, sic et aliae universitates Provincial in quibus
fuerint fecerunt. Et primo, duas cupas vini puri, que valent quinque grosses, ad racionem
IIIIor alborum, pro qualibet cupa, monete albe, computando cartum pro tribus denariis.
Item, centum panes, quemlibet unius pataci monete albe. Item, IIIIor lessi mutonis. Item,
IIII°r eminas civate, que valent, secundum quod nunc venduntur, unum flor. albe monete,
ad racionem trium denariorum pro carto. Precipientes clavario (tresorier) dicte universitatis
quatenus ita faciat crastino die in prandio, et ista omnia faciat apportari ultra ad pratum
Balme ubi sunt ipsi lochati more gencium armorum, et preseutentur quidam (sic) duci
ipsorum qui est proceles (sic) inter eos, ex parte universitatis, amore Dei." (1419. — ler
Octobre. Kegist. des deliberations. )
3 It appears still nearer by the rectification made in note 3 of the preceding page.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 329
Item, to the same for bread, beer, for straw, herrings and smoked her-
rings, for cost of the carriage of the beer, for straw, for cleaning out
the barn in which they slept, (paid) to Berend, who conducted them
as far as Goor, etc., in all, 1 9 florins 1 0 plakken." l
It ought perhaps to be added that the Gypsies showed themselves
also, in this same year, in Friesland, and in the north of Holland pro-
perly so called,2 and also in the neighbourhood of Leyden, that is to
say on the confines of northern and southern Holland,3 which might
1 Document published by Mr. P. C. Molhuysen, De Heidens in Overijssel, in Overijs-
selsche Almanak for the year 1840, Deventer, 1839, pp. 59, 60 ; and reproduced by J. DIRKS,
Geschiedkundige Onderzoekingen . . . (Historical researches concerning the sojourn of the
Heidens or Egyptians in the Low Countries of the North), Utrecht, 1850, in 8vo, p. 56. I
shall more than once have to quote this volume of Mr. Dirks's (viii. and 160 compact pages),
in which the author has collected all the original documents relative to the Gypsies that it
had been possible to find up to that time in Holland, from the fifteenth century up to our
times, and which has been followed by a supplement published in 1855 in the Bijdragen,
etc., of Mr. Nijhoff, appearing at Arnhem, and by scattered contributions published by
divers persons in the Navorscher (the Seeker — Amsterdam) from vol. vii. (1857) to vol. xxxi.
(1881). In two letters, dated 10th July 1874 and 8th July 1889, Mr. Dirks has kindly given
me a summary list of the documents — most of them rather recent — published in the latter
of the above-named collections (similar to those which appear in France under the title of
L' Intermediate and in England under that of Notes and Queries), which form each year a vol.,
in small fol., from 1852 to 1871, — in large 8vo subsequently. Although Mr. Dirks always
indicates the authors who have published documents before him, I shall also indicate them
first, whenever I may have been able to procure the original publications. — A few last words
upon the principal work of Mr. Dirks (1850). It consists of three parts. The 1st (pp. 4-38)
comprises general notions concerning the Gypsies, where one naturally finds information
already known ; the two pages, 8-10, concerning the arrival of the Gypsies in Europe, are
quite behindhand, even considering their date. The new and very important part is the
2d (pp. 39-137), full of Dutch documents, classed according to the provinces. In the 3d
part (pp. 138-157) the author gives a general summary of the history of the Heidens in the
Low Countries of the North from the documents contained in the second part. I remark
(p. 139) one notion which it is useful to rectify : Mr. Dirks wrongly imagines that the
titles of earl, duke, or king have been given to the Gypsy chiefs, and often to the same
chiefs alternately, by the authorities of the countries through which they passed, according
to the degree of consideration they consented to accord them : no— they repeated, with more
or less confidence at first, with more or less suspicion afterwards, the titles which these
chiefs gave themselves, and which were often attested by the official papers of which they
were the bearers.
2 "Dirk Burger van Schorel, in his Chronyck van Medemblik (Hoorn, 1767, p. 93), says
that when, in the year 1420, they came for the first time into Friesland, and into the
northern quarters of Holland, they were made mu'ih of, but soon afterwards opinion changed
regarding them. Whence has this writer gathered this ? The archivist (? Chartermeester),
J. A. van der Zwaan, has taken the trouble, on the subject of the Heidens or Egyptians,
to verify a great number of accounts of Bailiwicks (Baljuwschappen) in the province of
Holland in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries ; but he has only found one
single note of 1491 and two of 1633 and 1635."— J. Dirks, Geschiedkundige Onderzoekingen,
etc. (already quoted), p. 118. I am told, besides, that Dirk van Schorel deserves but little
credit.
3 Mr. J. Dirks, in his very obliging letter of the 10th of July 1874, had given me, amongst
many others, the following indication : At the end of extracts relative to the Heidens, taken
from the accounts of the Abbey of Leeuwenhorst (from 1462), and published by Mr.
Rammelman Elzevier in the vols. xii. and xiii. of the Navorscher, Mr. K. Elzevier says (vol. xiii.,
1863, p. 164) : — "If one examines the accounts of the Abbeys of Leeuwenhorst and of Rhyns-
burg (near Leyden), I think that earlier mention will be found there of the Gypsies, for ex-
ample in the year 1420." I then wrote a long letter (15th July 1874) to Mr. Rammelman
Elzevier, archivist at Leyden, in order to ask him for some explanations upon this and several
other points ; but I did not receive any answer.
VOL. I. — NO. VI. Y
330 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
have been their road for gaining Hainault, where we shall shortly
meet them. But here our information is so uncertain that I do not
dare to rely upon it.
What is more certain is the passage at Tournai (Hainault), at the
end of September of the following year, of a group of Gypsies who,
according to the context, do not appear to have been numerous.
"30th of September 1421. The ' consaux ' (consuls, aldermen of
the town) charge Sir Jean Weltin to examine the request made
on the subject of the Egyptians.
" It is again to the municipal accounts," says the editor of these
documents,1 " that we must have recourse to complete the often too
laconic information procured from the registers that we are analysing.
Here is the account of 1421 2 concerning what is called the subject of
the Egyptians : —
" ' To Sir Miquiel, prince of Latinghem in Egypt, as [gift] 3 made
to him out of pity and compassion, for the sustaining of him and
several other men and women of his company who were driven out
of their country by the Saracens because they had turned to the
Christian faith : xii gold " moutons" worth xiii livres. Item, for a
rasiere 4 of bread which was given in common to the said Egyptians,
xxxv s. Item, for a barrel of " amlours " (a sort of beer) also given to
them xviis. vid. The said portions amounting [to] xvil. xiis.
rid/"
Who is this new " Sir Miquiel, prince of Latinghem in Egypt " ?
Is it the Duke Michael of Egypt, whom we have perhaps already met
with in Switzerland in 1418, and whom we meet with more certainly
at Bale in 1422 ? 5 It is possible ; but then, for some reason of which
we are ignorant, he had adopted a new title which has a Flemish
physiognomy much more than an Egyptian one.6 It is possible also
that it may have been a petty dissentient chief of some kind who had
wished to receive the alms (those he obtained here were very liberal)
1 Extraits analytiques des anciens registres des Consaux de la mile de Tournai (1385-
1422) . . . published by H. Vanderbroeck, archivist of the town of Tournai (in 2 vols. 8vo ;
Tournai, 1861 and 1863), tome i., p. 236.
2 The editor ought again to have given here the date of the month and the day.
3 The word within brackets is wanting in the text.
4 The "rastire" is generally a measure of capacity; it appears that at Tournai the
rasiere represented also a certain weight or a certain quantity of articles of food, such as
bread, which cannot be measured.
6 He is found again at Utrecht in 1439, but this date belongs to the Second Period.
6 M. Louis de Mas Latrie, whom I met at the Ecole des Chartes on the 30th January
1873, whilst I was occupied with these documents, told me that he had known a colonel of
engineers, since dead, whose name was Lateignan de Ladinghem, who was a native of Flanders
or of Artois, or of some neighbouring province. M. de Mas Latrie did not doubt that Latinghem
or Ladinghem was the ntime of some place in this region.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 331
for himself and his little group, and who, not daring to usurp the title
of Duke Michael, which might have drawn upon him the ill-will of
him whose name he had usurped, took another less high-sounding
title.1
The "Egyptians" returned to Tournai in the following year
(1422).2 Unfortunately the very valuable passage of the chronicle
which describes this band (not very numerous, it appears) does not
give us the name of the chief, and does not even make special mention
of any chief. Here is this curious document : —
" And in the following year, which was one thousand four hundred
and twenty-two, about the month of May, several people of strange
nation, who said they came from Egypt, came for the first time to the
town of Tournai and the country round about. And they said they
could only lodge for the space of iii days in a town, because they were
constrained to journey as pilgrims about the world for vii years before
they might return into their said country. And these Egyptians had
a king and lords whom they obeyed,3 and had privileges, so that none
could punish them save themselves.
" And most of these lived by pilfering, especially the women, who
were ill-clothed, and entered the houses, some asking alms and others
bargaining for some sort of merchandise. And it was with difficulty
that one could be upon one's guard against them without losing some-
thing. And there were some who, the better to deceive foolish men
and women, pretended to foretell the future, such as the having of
children, or of being soon or well married, or of having good or bad luck,
and many other such deceits. And whilst they were thus abusing the
belief of many people, the children cut the purses of those who were
too attentive to their charms, or they themselves, with the hand with
which they seemed to hold a child (which they did not do, for the
1 See further on pp. 332-333, particularly the end of note 3, p. 333.
2 Mr. Vanderbroeck, in quoting this passage of the chronicle, appears to think that it
applies to the same fact which had been signalised on the 30th of September 1421, at
Tournai. It is no doubt the phrase, " c&me first to the town of Tournai . . .," which induced
him to make this supposition ; but the chroniclers are too much disposed to think that the
first fact with which they become acquainted is the first of the same kind that has taken
place. Supposing that this writer, who does not appear to have immediately dated the
fact he has so well described, but which he has no doubt interpolated into his chronicle later
on, should have been mistaken in the year, which is not very probable, his recollections
would not have furnished him with " towards the month of May " instead of the 30th of
September. On the whole I see no reason to doubt the approximate date given by the
chronicler.
3 This vague mention of "king and lords " is better specified by the Bourgeois de Paris
(see Paris, 1427). That which here concerns the king refers no doubt to what these Egyptians
then said of their own country. On the contrary, the privilege of which they boasted of
being punished only by themselves evidently regards their actual chiefs ; cf. further ou
(Bologna, July 1422) my note concerning the pretended imperial decree which authorised
them to steal.
332 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
child was supported by a band put on as a sling x covered over with a
blanket (' flassart or linchoel ' 2), and this hand was free), purloined
artfully without its being perceived.
" And the men were sufficiently well dressed, the greater number
of whom occupied themselves with the buying and selling of horses,
and they were such skilful horsemen that a horse appeared very much
better under them than under other men. And thus, by ' heu-
delant ' 3 and deceiving, they often got a better horse than their own,
and money into the bargain. And some of these men, when they
bought some merchandise, gave a florin in payment, and in receiving
their change, were so skilful with their hand, confusing and cheating
the people, or asking for other money than that which was given
them, that none escaped without loss. And often, when they had
stolen what they could, they would not take the merchandise, pre-
tending not to know the money that had been given them in
exchange.
" And these folks were lodged in Tournai on the market-place, in
the cloth-market, where many went to see them by day and by night.
And they slept there by couples, one close to the other, and were not
ashamed to do their necessities and natural works before every one.
" And folks gossiped about the allegation made by these people
that they were from Egypt, but no doubt they were only, as was
known afterwards, from a town in Germany named in Latin Epi-
polensis (sic), and in common parlance Mahode (or Mahone ?), situated
between the town of Wilsenacque andTfomme (sic), at vi days' journey
from the said Vilsenacque ; and they abide there by tribute and
servitude." 4
I have already quoted and remarked upon 5 this last paragraph
which ends by so strange a geographical indication. I reproduce it
here, however, not only to avoid cutting short this valuable passage
of a chronicle, but also because this paragraph appears to me to be of
1 The text says "estoit soutenu de ung chaint & erquerpe. " I think we ought to read,
"d esquerpe," that is to say, en echarpe, in a sling.
2 This "flassart or linchoel " (linceul — anciently a sheet, and by extension all sorts of
covering) appears again at Bologna (July 1422) under the name of Schiavina (see p. 336), and
is called at Paris (1427) a "flaussoie," another form of the wordjlassart.
3 Godefroy, in his Diet, de Vancienne langue Francaise (in course of publication), men-
tions the verb "heudeler" with a note of interrogation, and produces, "as sole example, the
self-same phrase in our text. The precise meaning of this word is then still unknown.
4 Recueil des Chroniyues de Flandre, published under the direction of the Royal Com-
mission of History by J. J. de Smet. Brussels, in 4to, vol. iii. 1856, p. 372, in the great
Collection des Chroniques beiges. I need not say that the author of this chronicle is con-
temporary with the event which he evidently relates de visu ; but his name is unknown. The
editor (p. 113) thinks that this important chronicle was probably written at Tournai, and he
makes some remarks on the incorrect French of the " Wallon" writers.
5 In Antecedents and Preludes, pp. 207-210.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 333
a nature to throw perhaps some light upon the particular origin of
such a little band as may present itself to us under an unusual aspect,
like that which came first to Tournai (September 1421) under the
conduct of " Miquiel, prince of Latinghem in Egypt."
Indeed, if, as I think, there existed, before 1417, in the bishopric
of Wurtzburg (Herlipolis), which must be the place intended in this
strange document, Gypsies whom the Prince Bishop forbade his
subjects to harbour,1 if some had been driven from Meissen in 1416, to
say nothing of those who might have arrived in Hesse in 1414,2 it is
quite natural to think that some of those, seeing the success obtained
by the newly arrived Gypsies from the East, endeavoured to imitate
them, and caused themselves to be equally well received by repeating
the same tales, which it was probably not difficult to learn well
enough. What they lacked, however, was necessarily the letters from
the Emperor (afterwards from the Pope) in confirmation of their
assertions. Now I remark precisely that, in the account of the liberal
alms given on the 30th of September 1421 by the town of Tournai
to " Miquiel, prince .of Latinghem in Egypt," no mention is made, as
is generally the case in the documents of a similar nature, of the
imperial letters . . . : this circumstance alone proves nothing, for
the greater number of these documents are too summary to contain
invariably such an indication,3 but it is necessary to authorise, in
presence of other more significative circumstances, a conjecture like
that which I have just made, and which, besides, I only give as a
conjecture.
This conjecture is inapplicable, whatever the chroniclers may say,
and notwithstanding the absence of all mention of the imperial letters,
to the band which has just been described to us by the Chronique de
Flandre* for several of the curious details given by it concerning
1 See Antecedents and Preludes, pp. 207-210.
2 See»Wd.,pp. 205-207.
3 I have already remarked (p. 326) that there is no mention made of the imperial letters
in the account of St. Laurent-lez-Macon (end of August 1419), nor in those of Sisteron (1st
October 1419), to say nothing of certain Chronicles (see the following note) : this does not
prevent me from considering the Gypsies signalised in these places as forming part of the
group to whom these letters had been accorded. The shortness of the accounts is not, how-
ever, without doubt the only cause of the omission which is sometimes remarked in them.
It is very likely that the scribe, or the municipality itself, seeing what sort of people they
had to deal with, may have more than once found it more suitable not to mention the imperial
recommendation. At St. Laurent, precisely, the " Egyptians " behaved themselves very ill,
at Sisteron they are known beforehand. But this consideration appears inapplicable to the
first band which visited Tournai, for the "prince of Latinghem" and his followers, who were
very well received there, gave no cause of complaint. They appear to have wished to dis-
tinguish themselves advantageously in this respect from those whose steps they followed,
according to my conjecture.
4 The chroniclers neglect too easily the official details, such as the name of the chief, the
papers he possessed, things which are more interesting to the municipalities who grant alms.
334 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
this band are identical with those which the Journal d'un Bourgeois de
Paris will give us concerning the Gypsies who visited us in 1427,
and who were evidently one of the principal bands of this period.
The identity of the details furnished by the two chroniclers adds,
besides, a great value to these two documents, for it proves the per-
fect correctness of the observations collected on both sides. But the
Ohronique de Flandre contains also no less curious details, which are
met with in no other document of this first epoch, especially the
subterfuge used by the women for thieving, the cunning of the horse-
dealing men, the thefts in changing money practised by both men
and women, and which are still at the present time one of the com-
monest misdemeanours of the Gypsies, with this difference, that it is
now almost always the exclusive business of the women.
Let us, however, pursue our researches and resume the itineraries
of these indefatigable travellers, as far as the documents which have
come to our knowledge will permit.
The letters of the Emperor began to get old, they must already
have been dated five years before, and, as the Gypsies had said up to
the present time that their pilgrimage was to last seven years,1 it was
prudent to see what could be done. Besides, the credit enjoyed by
the Emperor Sigismund was not the same in every country ; and these
great pilgrims began to pass for unbelievers. It was clear that if, by
the imperial letters, they could obtain others from the Pope, their
situation throughout the whole of Christendom would be much
benefited ; and truly as penitents it behoved them to go to Eome. . . .
This is precisely the idea which entered the head of our adventurers.
To go to Eome, to see the Pope, still better to extort from him letters
of protection, what a strange thing, and apparently how difficult for
Gypsies ! The strangeness was an additional reason for them to
attempt it, and as for the difficulty, nothing is difficult to a Gypsy.
"The 18th of July 1422, a duke of Egypt, named Duke Andrew,
arrived at Bologna with women, children, and men from "his own
country. They might be about a hundred. This duke, having denied
We find the same regrettable omissions in the inestimable testimony of the Bourgeois de
Paris, whose recital makes one, however, suppose that these Gypsies exhibited the papal
letters obtained in 1422.
i Their statement on this point, agreeing no doubt with what was contained in the imperial
letter, had not varied. See above the Hanseatic towns (1417), Switzerland (1418), Tournai
(May 1422), and, lower down, Bologna (July of the same year). According to the statement
in the last-named place, it was the King of Hungary, i.e. the Emperor, who had fixed this
duration to their pilgrimage.— After the letters from the Pope were obtained, towards the
end of August 1422, this latter year seems generally to serve as the point of departure for a
new term of seven years.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 335
the Christian faith, the King of Hungary 1 had taken possession of
his lands and person. Then he told the king that he wished to
return to Christianity, and he had been baptized with about four
thousand men ; 2 those who refused to be baptized were put to death.
After the King of Hungary had thus taken them and re-baptized
them, he ordered them to travel about the world for seven years, to
go to Rome to see the Pope, and afterwards to return into their own
country. When they arrived at Bologna, they had been journeying
for five years,3 and more than half of them were dead. They had a
decree from the King of Hungary, the Emperor, in virtue of which
they were allowed to thieve, during these seven years, wherever they
might go, without being amenable to justice. '
" When they arrived at Bologna, they lodged themselves inside and
outside the gate of Galiera, and settled themselves under the porticoes
(portici), with the exception of the duke, who lodged at the King's
Inn (Nell' Albergo del Ee). They remained a fortnight at Bologna.
During this time many people went to see them, on account of the
duke's wife, who, it was said, could foretell what would happen to a
person during his life, as well as what was interesting in the present,
how many children would be born, whether such a woman was good
or bad, and other things ; concerning all which she told truly. And,
amongst those who wished to have their fortune told, few went to
consult without having their purse stolen, and the women had pieces of
their dress cut off. The women of the band wandered about the town,
seven or eight together ; they entered the houses of the inhabitants,
and, whilst they were telling idle tales, some of them laid hold of
what was within their reach. In the same way they visited the
shops under the pretext of buying something, but in reality to steal.
Many thefts were committed in this way in Bologna. So it was
1 It was the Emperor Sigismund who was King of Hungary since 1392.
2 "... e cosi si battezzo con alquanti di quel popolo, e furono circa 4000 uomini." It
will be seen that, in Paris, in 1427, the Gypsies said that they had numbered one thousand
or twelve hundred when they set out. I note these numbers without deducing anything from
them.
3 I have said before what importance we may attach to this statement taken in it s
absolute signification, but I also point out all the value that this statement and that of the
Gypsies in Paris in 1427 derived from their comparison with the dates of the safe-conducts
of the Emperor and of the Pope ; they prove the authenticity of these safe-conducts, and
these will serve to prove the identity of the baud of Gypsies travelling over the west at this
epoch.
4 It is more than doubtful whether the Emperor's letters contained any such clause, but
they evidently contained another which is in reality equivalent to it. The Tournai chronicler
(May 1422) tells us that they had "privileges so that none might punish them but them-
selves only," that is to say their chiefs. And we find this privilege drawn up by Sigismund
himself in the letter which he accorded, in 1423, to another Gypsy chief, the voivode Ladislas,
to whom he reserves the right of justice over all the members of his band, to the exclusion
of all the local authorities. See further on, Ratisbon, 1424.
336 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
cried throughout the town that no one should go to see them under
a penalty of fifty pounds and excommunication ; for they were the
most cunning thieves in all the world. It was even allowed to those
who had been robbed by them to rob them in return to the amount
of their losses [a strange expedient]. In consequence of which
several of the inhabitants of Bologna slipped during the night into a
stable where some of their horses were shut up, and stole the best of
them. The others, wishing to get back their horse, agreed to restore
a great number of the stolen objects. [This was accordingly done as
it appears.] But, seeing that there was nothing more to gain there,
they left Bologna and went off towards Rome.
" Observe," adds the chronicler, " that they were the ugliest brood
ever seen in this country. They were thin and black, and they ate
like swine ; their women went in smocks, and wore a ' schiavina ' l
across the shoulder (ad armacollo), rings in their ears, and a long veil
on their head. One of them gave birth to a child in the market-place,
and, at the end of three days, she went on to rejoin her people."2
Forli was on the road to Rome (about five leagues from Bologna,
which the Gypsies had quitted about the 2d of August), and we find
them before this town on the 7th August. Their number had no
doubt increased on the road, for the chronicler of Forli esteems it to be
two hundred. These unaccommodating people, says he, went to and fro
during two days like wild beasts and thieves.3 If one can judge by
the expressions of the chronicler, they affected to treat the Italians
on a footing of equality, and representing themselves as a people sent
by the Emperor, they demanded a sort of alliance with the people of
Forli. Fra Geronimo does not tell us anything more of them, except-
ing that some of them said they were from India.4 He adds that
1 I find in the dictionary : " Garment of coarse linen peculiar to slaves, and worn also by
pilgrims and hermits. It is also used for bed-coverings made of the same tissue." Garment
or covering for pilgrims, the two things are already much alike, for the Gypsies they are one
and the same thing. I will not, therefore, decide. Old engravings show us the Gypsies, and
especially the Gypsy women, wrapped in long and large cloaks in the form of blankets, or
vice-versa. Sometimes these blanket-cloaks are striped. See, amongst others, the engraving
given by Munster. As to the epithet ad armacollo, it means that the Gypsy women then
wore the blanket, not as a cloak, as the engraving in question represents them, but as a
drapery passed under the arm and fastened on the other shoulder. Le Bourgeois de Paris
(see further on) tells us precisely that the women wore as sole garment a smock, and over it
a very coarse old blanket fastened on the shoulder by a band of cloth or a cord. See also
notes 1 and 2 of page 332, ante (Tournai, Mai 1422).
2 Chronica di Bologna in the great collection of Muratori, Reruin ital. Scriptores, t. xviii.,
1731, pp. 611, 612.
3 The text bears furentes, furious, but I think we ought to read, fur antes.
4 " Eodem millesimo (1422) venerunt Forlivium quffidam gentes missse ab Imperatore,
cupientes recipere fidem nostram ; et fueruut in Forlivio die vii° Augusti. Et, ut audivi,
aliqui dicebant quod erant de India. Et steterunt hinc inde per duos dies gentes 11011 multum
morigenatse, quae quasi bruta animalia et furentes. Et fuerunt numero quasi ducenti, et
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 337
there was a great plague and a great mortality that year at
Forli.1
On quitting Forli, as in quitting Bologna, the Gypsies said that
they were going to Eome to the Pope ; and in truth they were going
there. It appears even that these crafty heathens found means to
touch the sovereign pontiff : as was evidenced by the new letters of
protection which they soon produced.
The object of the journey, as I have already given to understand,
was these famous letters of protection. As soon as they had been
obtained, the troop retraced its steps. We are about to find them
again in Switzerland, in this centre of civilised nations, where the
Gypsies had already once before given each other rendezvous, and
which they no doubt liked on account of its division into more or less
independent cantons, and also perhaps because they again met with
the German tongue, with which they had been long familiar, as I have
remarked in my first article, for it will be observed that it is again in
a German-speaking canton that we meet them.
In the same year (1422) — we do not know the precise date, but
the possession of the Pope's letters places it undoubtedly after the
month of August — the cunning, lazy foreigners called Zigeiner were
known for the first time at Bale,2 and in the Wiesenthal.3 The
chronicler of Bale 4 does not tell us the number of these travellers,
ibant versus Romam ad Papam, scilicet viri et nmlieres et parvuli." Chronicon Foroliviense
(1397-1433), auctore fratre Hieronymo foroliviensi, ordinis Praedicatorum ; in Rerum italic.
Scriptores, vol. xix. p. 890. — There is in this text a short sentence which has been more
remarked than perhaps it deserves to be : " aliqui dicebant quod erant de India." In the
tirst place, this incorrect Latin allows of two different interpretations : was it some of the
Gypsies who said that ? or some of the inhabitants of Forli who had this idea ? I had
formerly adopted the first of these two interpretations : now, it appears to me very doubtful.
In either case it must be recollected that at this period the word India was sometimes made
use of to indicate certain countries in Africa, particularly Ethiopia, as Pott has remarked in
a passage of Die Zigeuner which I cannot put my hand on. Some authors, indeed, of the
sixteenth century and of a later date have given the name of ^Ethiopes, Nubiani, etc., to the
Gypsies.
1 Muratori makes the same observation in his Annali d' Italia, vol. ix. (1764), p. 89.
2 See, however, in my preceding article, pp. 282-284, the testimony of Justiuger, accord-
ing to whom the Gypsies had already visited Bale in 1418 or 1419.
3 Wiesenthal (valley of the Wiese), Visentagiensis Comitatus, between the territory of
Ulm and the county of Wurtemberg (became a duchy in 1495).
4 Wurstisen Easier Chronik, Bale, 1580, in fol., p. 240, or John Grossius (who copies
Wurstisen), Kurtze Bassler Chronick, Bale, 1624, in small 8vo, p. 70. Concerning these two
chroniclers see my note relative to the Swiss chroniclers, pp. 276 and 278. Here is the
literal translation of the passage in Wurstisen : "In 1422, came for the first time to Bille and
into the Wiesenthal, a cunning and lazy strange people called Zigeiner, with about fifty
horses. They had a chief who calls himself the Duke Michael of Egypt. They were provided
with safe-conducts (Paszworte) from the Pope and from the King of the Romans. It was on
this account that they were tolerated and allowed to pass, although it was to the displeasure
of the peasants. They said they drew their origin from the Egyptians who refused hospitality
to Joseph and Mary (hiring their flight into Egypt with the newly-born Lord Jesus to escape
the anger of Herod. It was for this reason that God cast them out into misery as orphans
(vjeiszlosz). Since then this black, ugly, and savagely vagabond people, ..." etc.
338 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
but seeing that the band was provided with fifty horses, it may be
concluded that it was considerable.1 Wurstisen, however, mentions
only one chief, and he does not bear the same name as the chief of
Bologna ; he calls himself the Duke Michael of Egypt. However,
the band was provided with safe conducts (Paszworte) from the King
of the Eomans, with which we are acquainted, and also with those
which they had just obtained from the Pope. " It is on account of
these letters," adds Wurstisen, " that these vagabonds were tolerated
and allowed to pass, although it was to the displeasure of the country
folks." It appears clear from this account that the two dukes had
joined each other, as was natural, to go to Rome ; and it is very
probable that this meeting took place between Bologna and Forli, for,
during this short journey, which our travellers had accomplished in
five days, their numbers had doubled, as we have seen above. Were
the two dukes still together at Bale ? It is very possible, although
Wurstisen, who wrote a century and a half after the event, has only
found mentioned in the documents he has no doubt consulted one
duke bearing another name than the duke of Bologna. But it is also
possible that the band had separated after the journey to Rome. It
may be presumed, however, even in this last case, that the detach-
ment signalised at Bale was the principal nucleus of this band ; but
the possession of the imperial and pontifical letters is no longer a
proof of it to me as it formerly was ; 2 for I am now convinced that
the Gypsy chiefs took care to provide themselves with authentic
copies of these important documents, and the two dukes who were
together in Rome had even perhaps obtained two original letters from
the Pope. The possession of these documents, whether original or
o»ly authentic copies, only proves that the Gypsies who possessed
them depended on the two great chiefs with whom we are acquainted,
and this is the important point.
But Wurstisen ends by a statement which it is impossible to
admit. Up to the present moment, every time that we have been
informed, in a more or less explicit, in a more or less summary
manner, of the accounts of the Gypsies concerning their Egyptian
origin and the cause of their pilgrimage, these accounts all turned
upon the same theme, and it is still the same story we meet
with in 1427 at Paris, where it was more fully developed than any-
1 I had at first thought of several hundred, but I observe that the band which visited
Deventer in 1420, and which owned about forty horses, was only estimated at a hundred
souls. It must not be forgotten that these Gypsies already exercised the trade of horse-
dealing (see especially "La Chronique de Flandre," Tournai, 1422).
2 See my memoir of 1844, p. 40.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 339
where else, and afterwards at Amiens, at Tournai (1429), etc. etc.
Here, on the contrary — I mean at Bale — there is a totally different
version : " They say that they drew their origin from those Egyptians
who had refused hospitality to Joseph and Mary when they fled into
Egypt with the Lord Jesus, and it was on this account that God had
condemned them to wretchedness." I may here remark that we are
about to meet with the same entirely novel version, hut in a band of
Gypsies, evidently Hungarian, who consequently could not have
made the recital of their religious adventures among the Moham-
medans, and who, moreover, had certainly not quitted Hungary
before the end of April 1423 at the soonest; besides which they were
only at Eatisbon in 1424 (towards the month of August ?). Nothing
can be more natural than that these should have given another
explanation of the origin of their miserable and wandering existence.
But those of Bale (1422), who were in possession of the papal letters,
obtained in the same year, and which, it is evident, could only have
been got by aid of the imperial letters, in which the statement we
are acquainted with was consigned, and by presenting themselves to
the Pope, in accordance with this statement, as repentant pilgrims,
how could these, at such a moment, forsake the story which had
answered them so well, and adopt an ancient legend which was con-
trary to the imperial letter, and without doubt contrary also to the
papal letter of which they were bearers ? This is not only highly
improbable, but we also know positively by a document at Amiens
(27th Sept. 1427, see further on) that this was not the case : for it is
on the sight of the pontifical letters that the authorities at Amiens
ascertain that the Holy Father certifies that Earl Thomas of Little
Egypt (the chief of this detachment) and his followers have been
driven from their country for not having consented to forsake the
Christian faith. If, then, Wurstisen has really gathered from a reliable
document the statement which he transmits to us, there must have
been amongst the band at Bale some Gypsy recently arrived from
Hungary, to whom the recital with which we are acquainted was not
yet familiar, and that the witness who sought for information must
have had the bad luck to fall upon that one. . . . But it is far more
probable that Wurstisen, who, after some lines devoted to the appear-
ance of the Gypsies in his country, speaks of those of his own time
(not, as it may be guessed, to speak well of them), should have gathered
this explanation from some of these vagabonds, and should have
thought it was that which they had always given.
The chronological order which I have always endeavoured to
340 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
follow brings me now precisely to a document of very particular
interest, and which is transmitted to us by a well-informed witness.
This document carries us to Eatisbon in 1424, and there is certainly
question here of a new band (scattered about and more or less
numerous) which did not only come from, but was native (oriunda)
to Hungary, that is to say, belonging to that category of Tsigans
accustomed from times more or less ancient to circulate or move
about within that country. This is proved by the statement of these
people themselves, or by that of the very intelligent chronicler who
has evidently visited them, and also by the context of the recent
letters of Sigismund, of which they were bearers, and even by the
name and title of the chief to whom they had been accorded. I shall
revert to these last observations ; but it is right to reproduce first of
all the valuable, but too concise, recital of the chronicler.
" Item, in those times (1424 l) there came into our countries and
wandered about in them a certain nation of Cingars,2 vulgarly called
Cigawnar. They were seen near to Eatisbon, succeeding each other,
sometimes to the number of thirty people, men, women, and children,
sometimes in smaller numbers. They pitched their tents3 in the
fields, because they were not allowed to inhabit towns; for they
cunningly took what did not belong to them. These people were
natives of Hungary, and they said that they were exiled on account
or in remembrance of the flight of our Lord into Egypt,4 when He
1 The chronicler, although he has habits of precision, has not specified more particularly,
no doubt because he was referring to an event, indefinite in its nature and duration, to
which it was not possible to assign a determined date. All that I can remark is that the
passage which interests us comes after certain facts relating to the year 1424, the three last
to the 26th and 21st June and to the 15th August, and before other facts in the same year
which bears the dates corresponding to the 1st, 21st, and 29th September.
2 Cingari (see also further on the word Zingari in another passage of the same chronicler
referring to the year 1426). This is, as far as I can recollect, the oldest example known up
to the present time of this particular form of the name of the Tsigani — the form charac-
terised by the r in the last syllable— which has been often employed in after times by authors
of different countries writing in Latin, and which has been adopted (but not at first) in
Italian. It will be remarked that, although the letter from Sigismund, and other Hungarian
acts of much later date, are written in Latin, the form therein employed is Cingani (some-
times Czigani). Concerning the form Cingari there would be a special study to make,
which I had formerly begun, and in which I should have to make use of a valuable unpub-
lished note of the late Garrez.
3 We shall find the same mention of tents made in a few lines that the same chronicler
devotes to another passage of Gypsies at Ratisbon in 1426. This detail is interesting;
perhaps even it may furnish an additional distinctive trait between the great band which
began to travel over the West in 1417 and these new-comers from Hungary ; but, as the
question of tents calls for observations of some length, I shall place these and some others
at the end of the First Period.
4 The same explanation, which is certainly wrongly attributed by Wurstisen to the
Gypsies visiting Bale in 1422, but which was apparently current amongst the Gypsies in
the west in the time of this chronicler (end of the sixteenth century), is rather more explicit :
it was for having refused hospitality to the Holy Family, flying into Egypt, that they had
been condemned to a wandering and miserable life. These few additional words render the
legend, not more likely, but clearer.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 341
fled from Herod, who sought Him to slay Him. But the common
people said that they were spies. These people had also letters from
King Sigismund, and I have been careful to insert here, as being
perhaps interesting to chroniclers (or to chronics ?), the tenor of one
of these letters which they possessed written upon paper." l
The imperial letter, which we give here, and which is dated the
month of April of the preceding year (1423), is as follows: —
" Sigismund, by the grace of God King of the Eomans, ever
august, and King of Hungary, of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia,
etc., — To all our faithful nobles, knights, castellans, officers, vassals,
to our free towns (civitatibus liberis), to our fortified towns (oppidis),
and to their judges constituted and existing under our reign and
dominion (dominio), greeting with love. Came in person into our
presence our faithful Ladislas Wayvode (Waywoda 2) of the Cigani,
with others of his tribe (cum aliis ad ipsum spectantibus), who pre-
sented their very humble supplications to us, here at Zips (in Sepus)
in our presence, with entreaty of supplications and prayers, in order
that we might vouchsafe to gratify them with our most abundant
grace. In consequence, we, being persuaded by their supplication,
have thought proper to grant them this privilege (libertatem).
Therefore each time that the said Ladislas and his people (sua gens)
shall come into our said possessions, be it free cities, be it fortified
towns (dominia, videlicet civitates ml oppida), from that time we
send word and strictly order to your present fidelities, that you may
favour and keep without any hindrance or trouble the said Wadislas
(sic) Wayvode and the Gigani who are subject to him ; and even that
it may please you to preserve them from all obstacles and offences.
That if any variance or trouble occurred between themselves, then
that neither you nor any other of you, but that the same Ladislas
Waiwode, should have the power of judging and absolving. As to
the present (letters), we order that after their reading, they should
1 " Habebat quoque gens eadem litteras Sigismundi Regis quarum unius tenorem, aqum
in papyro habebant scriptam, hie pro Cronicis inserere curavi." Andrese Ratisponensis
presbyteri Ord. Can. Reg. S. Aug. ad S. Magnum in pede pontis Ratisponensis Diarium
sexennale, annum Christi MCCCCXXir. cum quinque sequentibus complectens, ex autographo
auctoris edidit Andreas Felix (Efelius, Bibliothecae Bav. prsefectus ; in Rerum Boicarum
Scriptores of (Efelius, Augusta Vindel. (Augsbourg), 1763, in 2 vols. fol., vol. i. p. 21.
Notwithstanding the particular importance of this passage of the chronicle and of the
imperial letter which follows it, as I have given a complete and as exact a translation as
possible of them, I do not think it necessary to reproduce here these two texts (excepting
the few lines above of Andrew of Ratisbon, which call for some observations), because the
first has been reprodiiced by Mr. Dyrlund (always very exact) in his previously-named book,
Tatere og Natmandsfolk i Danmark, Kopenhague, 1872, p. 365 ; and the second by
Grellmann, 1787, p. 343.
2 The word is thus written in the whole course of this document, and (Efelius, in order
not to bear the responsibility of this inaccuracy, adds in a note " In codice Way?ioda."
342 THE IMMIGKATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
always be returned to him who shall have presented them. Given at
Zips (in Sepus), the Sunday before the feast of St. George the Martyr
(this feast-day falls on the 23d of April), the year of our Lord
MCCCCXXIIL, and of our reigns, in Hungary xxxvith; as King of the
Eomans, xnth ; in Bohemia the third."
It results from the indications furnished by the Priest of Eatis-
bon, that in 1424, in Bavaria, especially round about Ratisbon, there
was a small floating population of Gypsies, who had come from Hun-
gary. They had, it appears, adopted certain places for encamping,
and succeeded each other there in numbers sometimes greater, some-
times smaller. And this circumstance explains, as I have already
remarked in a note, that the chronicler has not given any precise
date to the event. But it seems to us that he might have said when
and how he had obtained not only the communication of the valu-
able document which he has transmitted to us, but the means of
transcribing it. One does not even learn by his recital whether the
Waiwode Ladislas was at Eatisbon at the rather uncertain time
which is in question, and still less, if it was he who communicated
to the author the Imperial letter dated from the preceding year. But
this author has been too happily inspired in transmitting this docu-
ment to us for us to find fault with him for the rest. Who knows
besides if he has not had some reason for not mentioning the means
by which he had procured himself this copy ? With the Gypsies on
one hand, with the subaltern police agents on the other, it is often
necessary to be cautious how one proceeds.
To end at once with these details, which remain secondary from
the moment that no light can be thrown upon them, it is important
to remark certain expressions in the last sentence of the chronicler.
"They had," says he, "letters from Sigismund, . . .," and here, in
opposition to the usual meaning of the word litterce, it is impossible
not to see that it is a question of several letters. The sequel shows it :
" quarum unius tenorem" etc. One can scarcely doubt the exactness
of the statement, and the statement is curious. Besides, the letter of
which the text has come down to us was written on paper (in papyro):
so then it was already a copy — for the original diploma, which
came from the Imperial Chancery was necessarily on parchment —
it was no doubt an authentic copy, otherwise the document would
not have satisfied the very intelligent chronicler; but it appears
interesting to me to find already in the Gypsies' possession the copy of
an Act which could scarcely have had more than one year's date.
WESTEHN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTU11Y. 343
These remarks complete those which I have presented in my second
article, pp. 266-267.
But the double document which precedes calls for more certain
observations of particular importance.
Whilst the Gypsies who travelled over the West from 1417 were
evidently Oriental Gypsies coming from countries occupied or
threatened by the Turks, those who spread themselves, in small
groups, in Bavaria during a certain part of the year 1424, were, on
the contrary, Hungarian Gypsies. Not only did they say so them-
selves, and are so considered by the chronicler, but everything proves
it. There are no more Oriental accounts. The letter from the
Emperor does not say a word of their exotic origin, it refers to them,
on the contrary, as old and faithful subjects deserving of the favour
of the sovereign who lends an ear to their request. On their side,
these new immigrants do not pretend to explain their wandering life
by more or less recent adventures which had happened in their
Egyptian home. No ; but as they believe, in common with all the
Gypsies in Europe, in an ancient Egyptian descent, they repeat a
legend which was probably current amongst them in Hungary and
elsewhere, and which cajries back their wandering life to the period
of the flight into Egypt.1
I note lastly a detail which agrees well with all the other circum-
stances to which I have called attention. The dukes Andrew and
Michael, to whom most likely the Imperial letter from Lindau was
accorded in 1417, bore names which belong to the whole of Christen-
dom, and that of Michael had been borne by eight Emperors of the
East. They are names which are perfectly suitable to Gypsy chiefs
coming from some unknown region of the Byzantine Empire. Quite
different is the name of the Waiwode Ladislas. It is a name of
Slavonian origin — Polish, I believe — which, under the form ofWladis-
las, has been borne by several dukes or kings of Poland, and by some
dukes or kings of Bohemia, but which had been carried by Polish
princes into Hungary, where it had been naturalised from the
eleventh century under the form of Ladislas. It had also passed into
Wallachia (first as Vladislav, then as Vlad) ; but I do not think it
will be found further south, and it has certainly never been in use in
the Byzantine Empire. The form Ladislas was finally a Hungarian
1 Several other legends in which the Gypsies are connected with Jesus Christ, St. Peter,
and the Crucifixion, are still current amongst the Gypsies of the present time, and some-
times even amongst other people. But the fact of such a legend existing so far back as
1424 appears to rae to be particularly interesting. If, at this period, the Gypsies had not
already travelled about the world from a time immemorial, they would not have conceived
such a legend.
344 THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
name, and it is exceedingly probable that the G-ypsy chief who bore
it was born in Hungary. It must be added that the title of Waiwode
or Woiwode, though it is also of Slavonian origin, is that which has
always been given in Hungary and Transylvania to Gypsy chiefs,
and even to those Hungarian personages who, from the middle of the
sixteenth century up to about the middle of the eighteenth, as far as
one can judge with regard to these dates from the documents
furnished by Grellmann, filled the rather lucrative office of superior
chief of the Gypsies in one or other of these two countries. (See
Grellmann, 1787, p. 133, and following, and Nos. IL, ill., iv. of the
Appendix (Beylage).
I will not take leave of these new-comers without remarking that,
according to the trustworthy testimony of the priest of Eatisbon, they
were not to be preferred to the first protected by Sigismund. This
Emperor was decidedly not very difficult in the choice of his proteges ;
and when we see him so graciously admit into his presence his
" faithful Ladislas, with others of his band," to listen to and grant
their entreaties, I ask myself whether it was not rather to give them
instructions as spies. I had formerly rejected this idea,1 but the
Imperial relapse, and the opinion which the people of Eatisbon
formed in this respect, bring me back to it, or rather awake my sus-
picions on the subject.
It is not only in 1424 that the arrival and departure of the Gyp-
sies at Eatisbon were remarked. The same chronicler, Andrew, priest
of this town, signalises them again at Eatisbon in September 1426,
saying that they pitched their tents in a place (inter Maiterias), which
was without doubt outside the town. According to the terms of this
very short document, which gives no indication of their number, it
would appear that they remained there but one day.2 Was it a new
band arriving from Hungary 1 Was it the return of a detachment of
the little floating population which had been signalised in 1424?
The laconicism of the chronicler does not allow of making a choice
between these two alternatives, the only ones which present them-
1 See ray second article, p. 264. To the second note of this page I might have added
that Frederick the Great did not disdain to employ the Gypsies as spies. See Ernest
Lavisse, Etudes sur Vhistoire de Prusse, Paris, Hachette, 1885, pp. 290-291. In these two
small pages the eminent Professor gives an interesting sketch of the history of the Gypsies
in Eastern Prussia and Lithuania under Frederick i. and Frederick II (the Great). What
is wanting here is the indications of sources which would allow us to refer to details which
are without doubt vahiable ; but the nature of M. Lavisse's works does not allow of any
indications of this kind, even on a special subject like the present.
2 1426. "Hoc anno Gens Zingarorum iterum venit Ratisponam, fixitque tentoria sua
et habitavit inter Maiterias feria secunda post Matthsei" (that is to say, the Monday after
the feast of St. Matthew, which is on the 21st of September). — Andrse Ratis. presbyteri
Diarium sexennale, in the collection already named (p. 341, note 1) of CEfelius, vol. i. p. 26.
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 345
selves, for it is not possible to connect these new-comers of 1424 and
of 1426 with the band with which we are acquainted since 1417.
Besides, as nothing, in the documents which the First Period is
about to furnish us with, will recall the distinctive characters of the
new-comers of 1424 and 1426, we will set them aside, supposing for
the moment, either that they have remained in Bavaria, or that in
the other countries where they may have spread themselves they
have drawn attention less than their predecessors, — which is not
surprising, as they had no marvellous stories to recount, nor official
alms to ask for as pilgrims.
Indeed it must not be forgotten that even the others — those who
for us date from 1417 — leave, in general, no trace of their passage
unless they are willing to do so, that is to say, unless they ask for
subsidies from the municipalities, as pilgrims driven out of Little
Egypt, or unless they take pleasure at the same time (for the outward
show did not in general exclude the demand for alms) in making a
rumour in the towns, which will procure us the recital of some
chronicler.
This remark adds so much the more value to the two statements
made by the Priest of Eatisbon, who does not appear to have had to
do with Gypsies very desirous of drawing attention upon themselves.
PAUL BATAILLARD.
(To be continued.)
IV.— THE RED KING AND THE WITCH.
A ROUMANIAN GYPSY FOLK-TALE.
THIS story is No. 10 in the Probe de Limbo, si Literatura Tsigani-
lor din Roumania (Bucharest, 1878) of Dr. Barbu Constan-
tinescu, from which I have already translated " The Bad Mother " for
the first number of our Journal, p. 25. The present story, which
seems to me the very best Gipsy folk-tale that we have, may be
compared with Grimm's No. 57, Von Halm's No. 65, and "The
Norka" on p. 73 of Mr. Ealston's Eussian collection.
IT was the Eed King, and he bought ten ducats'-worth of victuals.
He cooked them, and put them in a press. And he locked the press,
and from night to night posted people to guard the victuals. In the
morning, when he looked, he found the platters bare. He did not
find anything in them. Then the king said : " I will give the half
VOL. I.— NO. vi. z
346 THE KED KING AND THE WITCH.
of my kingdom to whoever shall be found to guard the press, that
the victuals may not go arnissing from it."
The king had three sons. Then the eldest thought within himself.
" God ! what, give half the kingdom to a stranger ! It were better for
me to watch. Be it unto me according to God's will." He went to
his father. " Father, all hail ! r What, give the kingdom to a stranger !
It were better for me to watch." And his father said to him : " As
God will, only don't be frightened by what you may see." Then he
said : " Be it unto me according to God's will." And he went and
lay down in the palace. And he put his head on the pillow, and re-
mained with his head on the pillow till towards dawn. And a warm
sleepy breeze came and lulled him to slumber. And his little sister
arose. And she turned a somersault,1 and her nails became like an
axe and her teeth like a shovel. And she opened [the cupboard],
and ate up everything. Then she became a child again, and returned
to her place in the cradle, for she was a child at the breast. The lad
arose, and told his father that he had seen nothing. His father looked
in the press, found the platters clean ; no victuals, no anything. His
father said to him : " It would take a better man than you, and even
he might do nothing."
His middle son also said : " Father, all hail ! I am going to watch
to-night." " Go, dear ; only play the man." " Be it unto me ac-
cording to God's will." And he went into the palace, and put his
head on a pillow. And at ten o'clock came a warm breeze, and sleep
seized him. Up rose his sister, and unwound herself from her
swaddling-bands, and turned a somersault, and her teeth became
like a shovel, and her nails like an axe. And she went to the press
and opened it, and ate off the platters what she found. She ate it
all, and turned a somersault again, and went back to her place in
the cradle. Day broke, and the lad arose, and his father asked him
and said : " It would take a better man than you, and yet he might
not do anything for me, if he were as poor a creature as you."
The youngest son arose. " Father, all hail ! Give me also leave
to watch the cupboard by night." " Go, dear ; only don't be frightened
with what you see." " Be it unto me according to God's will," said
the lad. And he went and took four needles, and lay down with his
head on the pillow ; and he stuck the four needles in four places.
When sleep seized him, he knocked his head against a needle, so he
stayed awake until dawn. And his sister arose from her cradle, and
1 Da-pes pa sareste, literally, "gave herself on the head." A Romani formula, almost
invariably preceding every transformation.
THE RED KING AND THE WITCH. 347
he saw. And she turned a somersault, and he was watching her.
And her teeth became like a shovel, and her nails like an axe. And
she went to the press, and ate up everything. She left the platters
bare. And she turned a somersault, and became tiny again as she
was ; went to her cradle. The lad, when he saw that, trembled with
fear ; it seemed to him ten years till daybreak.
And he arose, and went to his father. " Father, all hail ! " Then
his father asked him : " Didst see anything, Peterkiii ? " " What
did I see ? what did I not see ? Give me money and a horse, a horse
fit to carry the money, for I am away to marry me." His father gave
him ducats in abundance, and he put them on his horse. The lad
went, and made a hole on the border of the city. He made a chest
of stone, and placed all the money there, and buried it. He placed a
stone cross above, and departed.
And he journeyed eight years, and came to the queen of all the
birds that fly. And the queen of the birds asked him : " Whither
away, Peterkin ? " " Thither where there is neither death nor eld, to
marry me." The queen said to him : " Here is neither death nor
eld." Then Peterkin said to her : " How comes it that here is
neither death nor eld ? " Then she said to him : " When I whittle
away [hiyaraua] the wood of all this forest, then death will come and
take me, and old age." Then Peterkin said : " One day and one
morning death will come and eld, and take me."
And he departed further, and journeyed on eight years, and arrived
at a palace of copper. And a maiden came forth from that palace,
and took him and kissed him. She said : " I have waited long for
thee." She took the horse and put him in the stable, and he spent
the night there. The lad arose in the morning, and placed his saddle
on the horse. Then the maiden began to weep, and asked him.
" Whither away, Peterkin ? " " Thither where there is neither death
nor eld." Then the maiden said to him : " Here is neither death nor
eld." Then he asked her : " How comes it that here is neither death
nor eld ? " " Why, when these mountains are levelled, and these
forests, then death will come." " This is no place for me," said the
lad to her. And the lad departed further.
Then what said the horse to him ? " Master, give four ....
[bicea 1] in me, and two in yourself, and arrive in the plain of regret.
And regret will seize you, and cast you down, horse and all, so spur
your horse, and escape and tarry not." He came to a hut. In the
hut he beholds a lad, as it were ten years old, who asked him : " What
seekest thou, Peterkin, here ? " "I seek the place where there is
348 THE RED KING AND THE WITCH.
neither death nor eld." The lad said : " Here is neither death nor
eld. I am the Wind." Then Peterkin said : " Never, never will I
go from here." And he dwelt there a hundred years, and grew no
older.
The lad dwelt there, and went out to hunt in the mountains of
gold and silver, and he could hardly carry home the game. Then
what said the Wind to him ? " Peterkin, go unto all the mountains of
gold and unto the mountains of silver ; but go not to the mountain
of regret or to the valley of grief." He heeded not, and went to the
mountain of regret and the valley of grief. And grief cast him down.
He wept till his eyes were full. And he went to the Wind : " I am
going home to my father, I will not longer stay." " Go not, for both
your father is dead, and brothers you have no more left at home. A
million years have come and gone since then. The spot is not known
where your father's palace stood. They have planted melons on it ;
it is but an hour since I passed that way."
But the lad departed thence, and arrived at the maiden's whose
was the palace of copper. Only one stick remained, and she cut it
and grew old. As he knocked at the door, the stick fell and she
died. He buried her, and departed thence. And he came to the
queen of the birds in the great forest. Only one branch remained,
and that was all but through. When she saw him, she said, " Peter-
kin, thou art quite young." Then he said to her, " Dost thou re-
member telling me to stay here ? " As she pressed and broke
through the branch, she also fell and died.
He came where his father's palace stood and looked about him.
There was no palace, no anything. And he fell to marvelling : " God,
thou art mighty." He only recognised his father's well, and went to
the well. His sister, the witch, when she saw him, said to him : " I
have waited long for you, dog." She rushed at him, to devour him,
and he made the sign of the cross, and she perished. And he
departed thence, and arrived in a certain . . . [bozi ?], and came on
an old man with his beard down to his waist. " Father, where is the
palace of the Ked King ? for I am his son." Said the old man :
" What is this thou tellest me, that thou art his son ? My father's
father has told me of the Eed King. His very city is no more.
Dost thou not see it is vanished ? And dost thou tell me that thou
art the Eed King's son ? " " It is not twenty years, old man, since I
departed from my father, and dost thou tell me that thou knowest not
my father?" It was a million years since he had left his home.
" Follow me, if thou dost not believe me." And he went to the cross
THE RED KING AND THE WITCH.
349
of stone ; only a palm's breadth was above the ground. And it took
him two days to get at the chest of money. When he had lifted out
the chest, and opened it, Death sat in one corner groaning, and Old
Age groaning in another corner. Then what said Old Age ? " Lay
hold of him, Death." " Lay hold of him, yourself." Old Age laid
hold of him in front, and Death laid hold of him behind. The old
man took and buried him decently, and planted the cross near him.
And the old man took the money and also the horse.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
V.— A TEANSYLVANIAN-GYPSY BALLAD.
(RdkloteRdUyi--
RAKLO.
Brinsherdv me yek' rdklyd,
Brinshevdv me shukdrd !
La, veldv mdnde romni,
Yoy the lisperlds pdni !
RAKLYI.
Lisperdv dndrdl pdni
Tute hdmdr yek' goni,
Kdnd mange suv rodes,
Ko dndre pdni perdyds.
RAKLO.
Roddv me dndre pdit.i
Tute e suv, m're rdklyi,
Kdnd hidos t'u keres"
Angushtensd may laces.
RAKLYI.
Kerdv tute dngushtensd
Ldce hidos upre pdnd,
Kdnd tover tu keres
Andrdl pd$os may laces.
RAKLO.
Kerel tute ndrodos,
Tover dndrdl o pdcos,
Kdnd pro kdm o tover
Laces the kovelydrel.
RAKLYI.
Uvd pro kdm na Idces
Tu o tover kovlydres !
RAKLO.
Mise?es hin rdkldhd,
Kdnd the dumddeld /
Lad and Lass).1
LAD.
I know a maiden,
I know a pretty one !
Her take I to wife,
Could she spin water !
LASS.
I spin from water
Quickly a sack for thee,
If you find me a needle
That fell in the water.
LAD.
I find in the water
Your needle, my lassie,
If you make a bridge
Of fingers right well.
LASS.
I make thee of fingers
A good bridge o'er the water,
If you make an axe
Of ice right well.
LAD.
For thee the friend make [i.e. " I
An axe out of ice, make "]
If the axe in the sun
He forges well.
LASS.
But the axe in the sun
Not well do you forge.
LAD.
'Tis ill with a maiden
When one does strive.
i According to the orthography here employed, c=English ch, 9 -German ch, R is as in
Spanish, and./, sh, and y as in English.
350 A TRANSYLVANIAN-GYPSY BALLAD.
ANALYSIS.
Haklo = youth, lad; £e = and; rdklyi^gir], rdklyd accus. sing.; rdklyi = nom.
for voc. ; brinsherdv = I know ; me=I, mdnde (mange] dat. sing. ; shukdr=
beautiful, shuJcdrd accus. sing. fern. ; yoy = she, ld=a.cc. sing. fern. ; veldv = I take ;
veldv romni = l take to wife, I marry ; the = & conjunction used with subjunctive ;
lisperdv = I spin, lisperlds = lisperdlds, 3 sing. impf. subj. ; pdni = water, pdna =
nom. pi. ; dndrdl = out of ; tu = thou, tute = dat. sing. ; yek' — yekd, one ; goni =
sack ; &dmi = when, or if ; suv = needle ; roddv = I seek, rodes = 2 sing. pres. ; perdv
= 1 fall, perdyds = 3 sing. perf. ; dndre = in; m're = my; hidos = bridge (from the
Hungarian hid) ; kerdv=l make, keres = 2 sing, pres., kerel = 3 sing. pres. ;
dngushto= finger, dngushtensd = instrumental plur. ; may = a, prefix used in super-
lative ; ldces = v/ell (adv.) ; Idco, Zdce=good (adj.) ; upre, pro = upor\, in, over ;
tover=&xe, hatchet ; paces =ice ; ndrodos= friend ; kdm = sun ; kovlydrdv=I
forge kovelydrel=3 sing, pres., kovlydres = 2 sing. pres. ; wvd = but ; nd = not ;
misep = bad, miseges = bad ly ; dumdddv = I strive, dumddeld = '3 sing. fut. (one shall
or will strive).
This ballad of the Transylvanian Gypsies is interesting in that
the same subject, and treated in almost the same way, has already
been found among other peoples; in Danish (Mittler, No. 1327-32) ;
in German (Rosa Warrens, Germanische Volkslieder der Vorzeit,
vii. 305); in Swedish (Arwidson, iii. 128); in Scottish (Child, i. 276,
and Aytoun, ii. 15). There are ideas that are common to all man-
kind, and not peculiar to one people. I heard this ballad from a
Gypsy woman at Broos in 1887, and again in the spring of the
present year from a Gypsy named Botar Peter, in Alvincz.
HEINKICH VON WLISLOCKI.
VI.— IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
A LTHOUGH the caste of " Tinkers " cannot be regarded as
-"- identical with that of the Gypsies, yet it is undeniable that the
two are closely associated, and that a great number of Gypsies are
tinkers. " So many Gypsies, so many smiths," has long been a pro-
verb in Transylvania, and so early as the year 1122 we find the
Austrian Gypsies referred to as Chaltsmide, or " cold- smiths."1 The
Castilian edict of 1499 was directed against "Egyptians and
foreign tinkers (calderos extrangeros) " ; and similar edicts issued
against " English Gypsies under the Tudors," and subsequently, yield
a similar testimony. And the connection between the two castes
still exists : to borrow the words of Mr. Leland, " He who catches
a tinker has got hold of half a Gypsy."
1 "That here by Chaltsmide . . . Gj'psies are meant, scarcely admits of doubt," is
Mr. Groome's remark in introducing this quotation (Encyc. Brit. art. "Gypsies"), and few
will dispute the correctness of his inference.
IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 351
These remarks are necessary as introductory to a study of the
Gypsies of Ireland. If one is to accept the testimony of an English
Gypsy who has visited most of the celebrated Irish horse-fairs,
there are no Komane to be found in Ireland at the present day,
except those who have crossed from Great Britain in recent years.
Nevertheless, the tinker caste in Ireland is certainly Gypsy to some
extent. Simson, in his History, speaks of that caste as practically
one with the Scotch nomads whom he styles " Gypsies " ; but that
writer employs the term " Gypsy " in a much too comprehensive
fashion. That there is, however, a distinct Gypsy element in the
tinkers of Ireland may be seen from the following description,
which is from the pen of an Irish lady, resident in the county of
Limerick : — l
" In an account of the Greek Gypsies, whose arrival and pro-
tracted stay in England gave rise last year to a good deal of comment,
I observed that the name by which they were designated in their
continental passports was that of chaudronnier, or ' tinker.' Now
I have often heard that the Irish tinkers are a species of Gypsy ; and
certainly they resemble the latter class in their wandering habits, for
they seldom, if ever, stay for any length of time in one place. More-
over, they are all — in this neighbourhood, at any rate — dark-haired
and of swarthy appearance, and they seldom marry out of their own
caste. It has, therefore, occurred to me that a few remarks upon the
habits of the Irish Gypsies or tinkers, based upon personal experience,
may prove instructive, and perhaps amusing, to those who take an
interest in the manners and customs of our British nomads — all the
more interesting because these must gradually disappear under the
pressure of modern law.
" Most of the country people in Ireland profess to believe that the
only necessary marriage ceremony needed by the tinkers generally is
for the man and woman to jump together, hand in hand, over the
' budget' — as the box containing the materials used by a tinsman is
called.2 Perhaps, on the same principle, but by jumping back again,
a divorce may be obtained ! Certainly the following custom, and the
instances — strictly true in each case — which accompany it, go far to
suggest that tinkers are not very particular as to the means used to
'mate' them. The village of B , in the south-west of Ireland,
1 This extract is taken from a longer article, contributed to the North British Advertiser
of 26th February 1887.
2 The word ''budget" was so used in Shakespeare's time, as may be seen from tl
in Autolycus's song (Winter's Tale, iv. 2) :—
" If tinkers may have leave to live,
And bear the sow-skin budget."
352 IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
has for many, many years been made a rendezvous by tinkers for the
furthering of a very curious custom — namely, that of exchanging
wives. Incredible as this may appear, it is nevertheless a fact, and
though the instances of it do not occur so frequently now as formerly
seldom does a fair day pass without one exchange at least being
effected. The tinkers seem to think very little of the matter, which
they designate by the somewhat vulgar term of a ' swap.' To the
following ' swap,' or exchange, a friend of mine was an unseen wit-
ness. Tinkers are great horse-dealers, and the one in question was
no exception to the rule. Seeing a promising young foal in the posses-
sion of a fellow-tinsman, he longed to become its owner. How to do
so was the question, for tinker Number Two refused to part with the
animal. Some months later the two men met at the village fair in
question. Number Two had a very ugly old wife, with only one eye,
whom he longed to ' swap ' ; while Number One was the possessor of
a young and pretty one, whom, so far, he had no wish to dispose of
in the usual way. But business was business, and so good an oppor-
tunity was not to be lost, so he offered the pretty young wife for the
old one with the one eye, provided the coveted foal was given too, so
as to make the exchange equal. Tinker Number Two demurred, but
over a few friendly glasses the bargain was concluded. He got the
young wife, and gave in exchange the foal and the ' old woman ' —
as lie called her. In all these ' swaps ' horses, money, so much
whisky, perhaps a new ' budget,' or a suit of clothes, form part of the
exchange."
Apart from all other resemblances, this custom of wife-exchange
would of itself suggest Gypsy affinity. In describing the Gypsies of
Spain, George Borrow quotes freely from " Don Juan de Quinones,
who, in a small volume published in 1632, has written some details
respecting their way of life," wherein this passage occurs : — " Friar
Melchior of Guelama states that he heard asserted of two Gitanos
what was never yet heard of any barbarous nation, namely, that
they exchanged their wives; and that as one was more comely-
looking than the other, he who took the handsome woman gave a
certain sum of money to him who took the ugly one." 1 Whether or
not the system of wife-exchange was peculiar to Gypsies, we have
here a visible link between the Spanish Gypsy and the semi- Gypsy
of Ireland ; and the statement made by the Spanish writer of the
seventeenth century is unconsciously confirmed with a remarkable
exactness by our lady writer of modem Ireland.
1 The Zincali, vol. i. chap. x. (1841 ed.).
IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 353
We get glimpses of those Irish tinkers in at least two modern
books, whose writers have more than a casual acquaintanceship with
similar nomads. For example, a certain well-known sojourner " in
Gypsy tents" relates how, as he and some young Eomani lads
strolled along a Welsh lane, they encountered a R6mano chiriklo,
or " Gypsy magpie" (otherwise known as the water-wagtail), which,
as it scarcely hopped aside to let them pass, proclaimed to them
that they would soon see strange Gypsies — according to a settled
article of Gypsy belief. " And lo ! a turn in the lane brought us in
sight of ... two tattered, low, smoked tents, pitched in a hollow by
the wayside. But ' tink, tiuk, tink ' came the sound of a white-
smith's hammer, announcing that these were no gentle Eomani, but
Irish Crinks. ... At least the wielder of the hammer was black
enough, though whether from innate swarthiness or ingrained grime
it were hard to determine. I could but hazard a remark in Kornanes,
' Sor shan, pala ? riukeno saiilo si ' (How d 'ye do, brother ? a beauti-
ful morning). He paused a moment with uplifted hammer, shot a
mistrusting glance at us, and curtly answering, ' I dunna jon your
cant,' went on with the milk-pail he was fashioning." x
Now, although that " Crink " was not a Eomanochal, yet, as Mr.
Groome points out, one of the words he used, j&n, signifying " know,"
is good Eomanes ; and indeed the Clink's pronunciation of the word
is nearer the continental forms than the Anglo-Eomany jin. In
fact, that one sentence, " I dunna jon your cant," seems to put in a
nutshell the chief characteristics of the Irish tinkers' language, or
jargon. For " cant " is there used in the ordinary Gaelic sense of
" speech." And, whatever its original form, the language of the
Irish tinkers seems to be a compound of English, Eomanes, and
Gaelic.
The study of this form of speech is as yet in its infancy. Until
lately it has been taken for granted that when Shakespeare made
Prince Henry boast that he could " drink with any tinker in his own
language," the language referred to was Eomanes. And the same
inference has been drawn from the allusion to " the beggars' tongue "
in the ballad of The Gdberlunyie Man (ascribed to James v. of Scot-
land). But Mr. Leland relates how, in the year 1876, he first learned
of the existence of a dialect peculiar to tinkers, with which dialect
he subsequently made a closer acquaintance. This form of speech,
he tells us, is known as Minklers* Thari, Shclta Thari, or " Shelta,"
otherwise " Tinkers' Talk." And, after due consideration, he has been
i See pp. 25-26 of Air. Groorne's In Gypsy Tents.
354 IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
led to remark : " I have always supposed that the tinkers' language
spoken of by Shakespeare was Bomany, but I now incline to think
it may have been Shelta."
As the discoverer of Shelta gives several pages of words in that
language, in an easily accessible form,1 it is unnecessary to repeat
them here. But on looking at these examples, one is ready to agree
with the explanation given by a decayed vagabond, who furnished
him with much information on this subject : — " As for the language,
I believe it's mostly Gaelic, but it's mixed up with Romanes and
canting or thieves' slang. Once it was the common language of all
the old tinkers. But of late years the old tinkers' families are
mostly broken up, and the language is perishing."
One remarkable feature of Shelta is that, while it undoubtedly is
a form of Gaelic, it is not confined to those districts where Gaelic is
still spoken, but is employed by tinkers and tramps throughout the
British Islands ; of whom it is to be presumed that a great number
have never been outside the borders of England.2
Some of those, however, who are otherwise connected with the
Gaelic language are to be met with in the late Mr. Campbell's
Popular Tales of the West Highlands ; and it was from one of them,
a certain John M'Donald, that he obtained the stories of The Brown
Bear of the Green Glen, The Tale of the Soldier, and another, " of which
one scene," says Mr. Campbell, "represented an incantation more
vividly to me than anything I have ever read or heard." With
regard to this John M'Donald, we have the following information : —
" He wanders all over the Highlands, and lives in a tent with his
family. He can neither read nor write. He repeats some of his
stories by heart fluently, and almost in the same words." " He is
about fifty years of age3; his father, an old soldier, is alive, and
about eighty ; and there are numerous younger branches ; and they
were all encamped under the root of a tree in a quarry close to
Inveraray, at Easter 1859. The father tells many stories, but his
memory is failing. The son told me several, and I have a good many
of them, written down. They both recite. They do not simply tell
the story, but act it with changing voice and gesture, as if they took
an interest in it, and entered into the spirit and fun of the tale.
1 The Gypsies, Boston, 1882 ; concluding chapter, "Shelta, the Tinkers' Talk."
2 In the November and December numbers of The Academy of 1886 will be found
examples of Shelta, not only collected by Mr. Leland, but also by Mr. H. T. Crofton. In
each of these cases the words were frequently obtained from people who do not appear to
have had any known connection, by birth or ancestry, with Ireland or the Highlands of
Scotland.
s This was in 1860.
IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 355
They belong to the race of ' Cairds,' and are as much nomads as the
Gypsies are." " There is a similar race in Spain, and though they are
not all Gypsies, they are classed with them."
This word " Caird," or " Ceard," is defined by Mr. Campbell
thus : — " Ceard, any kind of smith ; . . . Gypsies and travelling
tinkers are pre-eminently ceardan or smiths, because they work in a
great variety of metals."1 In the Irish2 or Gaelic dictionaries of
Scotland, ceard is rendered " a tinker," — and one less flattering defini-
tion given is "a blackguard." Of course those dictionaries also
interpret the word ceard in the wider sense referred to by Mr.
Campbell. But all over Scotland ceard or caird has long been a
recognised equivalent of "tinker" ; and that its meaning is even more
special in Gaelic may be inferred from the fact that the Gaelic dic-
tionaries not only regard " tinker " and " ceard " as synonyms, but
they define the word " Gypsy " as ctard-fiosachd (a fortune- telling or
wizard-tinker), and " a Gypsy woman " is not only ban-fhiosaiche (a
sorceress), but also ban-cheard (a tinkeress).3
A consideration of this word ceard, in this aspect, suggests a very
great deal. " In our own Highland glens," says a Scottish writer,4 " I
have heard more legends of supernatural smith-work than ever I
could gather of Ossian." Were these " supernatural smiths " the
same as the " wizard-tinkers " we are speaking of ? If they were
not, wherein did they differ ? Certainly the antiquity of ceards in
the British Islands has never yet been disputed. And, in view of the
opinion held by a Tsiganologue such as M. Bataillard, that the Gypsies
have been pre-eminently workers in bronze, if they did not introduce
it into Europe, it is interesting to quote the following remarks of a
modern archaeologist 5 regarding ancient bronze sword-sheaths found
in Ireland : — " Then came the discovery [within recent years],
amongst a quantity of fragmentary paalstaves, socketed celts, and
minor articles, of the greater portion of what had been a fine sheath
1 For these various references in the West Highland Tales, see vol. i. xcv.-xcvi., and 164-
175 ; vol. ii. 276-285 ; and vol. iii. 387, note 5.
2 Until comparatively recent times the Gaelic of Scotland was known to the English-
speaking people of Scotland as " Irish," which word being pronounced (as it even yet is in
some districts) as " Earish," or, still earlier, as " Earis," eventually occasioned the barbaric
spelling " Erse," now almost obsolete. This detail is noted here in order to emphasise the
fact that the "Irish Tinkers" under notice are not confined to Ireland, but belong equally
to the "Irish" districts of Scotland — (not to mention other parts of the British Islands
where Irish is not a local form of speech).
3 See the dictionaries of Armstrong, M'Alpine, and M'Leod & Dewar.
4 The late Mr. Cosmo Innes (as quoted at p. 354 of the Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland, 1880-81).
5 Mr. W. F. Wakeman, in the Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Associa-
tion of Ireland, April- July 1889, pp. 98-99.
356 IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE.
of bronze. Like the specimens found with it, it had been broken up,
probably by some ancient ceard, or worker in bronze, whose aim was
to use the metal in the manufacture of new weapons, instruments, or
ornaments. ... It is well perhaps here to remark that at Lagore,
Ballinderry, and other lacustrine retreats in Ireland, objects in a
half-finished state, composed of bronze, bone, or other material, have
not unirequently been turned up, as also crucibles in which metal, or
probably vitreous paste of some kind, had in all likelihood been
melted. Indeed, there is abundant reason to believe that many of
our crannogs [lake-dwellings] were at times in the occupation of
ceards, or workers in brass, or bronze, as well as in iron, bone, flint,
wood, and even glass."
To turn to the Shelta language, the speech of existing cairds.
The name " Shelta " is, in the opinion of one leading Gypsiologist, very
likely nothing else than a variant of " Celtic," or " Keltic." And
another, who has been the first to introduce this speech to public
notice, says with regard to it : — " Of Celtic origin it surely is. ...
The question which I cannot solve is, On which of the Celtic lan-
guages is this jargon based ? My informant declares that it is quite
independent of Old Irish, Welsh, or Gaelic. In pronunciation it
appears to be almost identical with the latter ; but while there are
Gaelic words in it, it is certain that much examination and inquiry
have failed to show that it is contained in that language.1 That it is
' the talk of the ould Picts — thim that built the stone houses like
bee-hives ' — is, I confess, too conjectural for a philologist. I have no
doubt that when the Picts were suppressed thousands of them must
have become wandering outlaws, like the Eomany, and that their lan-
guage in time became a secret tongue of vagabonds on the roads.
This is the history of many such lingoes ; but unfortunately Owen's 2
opinion, even if it be legendary, will not prove that the Painted
People spoke the Shelta tongue. I must call attention, however, to
one or two curious points. I have spoken of Shelta as a jargon ; but
it is, in fact, a language, for it can be spoken grammatically, and
without using English or Romany. And again, there is a corrupt
method of pronouncing it, according to English, while correctly enun-
ciated it is purely Celtic in sound. More than this I have naught to
say."3
1 This statement requires to be qualified. The numerals given by Mr. Leland are exclu-
sively Gaelic (save for a slight Roman! turn in " trin-ye&h " for "tri-deug," or " -dheug ").
And a slight knowledge of Gaelic enables one to see that Gaelic predominates in Shelta.
But this is a question which only Gaelic scholars are competent to deal with.
2 The Irish tinker, who furnished many of the words.
3 Mr. Leland's Gypsies (Boston, 1882), pp. 369-371.
IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 357
Whatever be the truth regarding the Irish tinkers and their lan-
guage, it is evident that much may yet be learned from a study of
both. Whether Ireland has had, or even yet retains, a caste of verit-
able Eoman(3, appears to be unknown at present. There seems no
reason for believing that Ireland was not as much a home of the
Gypsies as any other part of the British Islands. Indeed, the Scot-
tish historian of the Gypsies, Mr. Walter Sitnson, indicates that Scot-
land received its Gypsy population from Ireland.1 Be this correct or
not, one would think that State documents and parish records, relat-
ing to Ireland, would yield quite as many Gypsy items as those
relating to England and Scotland. Such a reference as this, for
example, provokes further inquiry : — " Long ago, when the sturdy
beggars were whipped out of Dublin, by order of the Lord Mayor and
the Corporation, they made a halt on the top of Tallagh Hill, which
overlooks the city. Here they might safely shake their fists at the
Lord Mayor, and defy the power of him and his myrmidons, as they
were far beyond his jurisdiction and hearing." 2 Were these " sturdy
beggars " akin to those who in Great Britain underwent similar tribu-
lation, along with the " rogues and vagabonds " " commonly called
Egyptians"? And if they too spoke "the beggars' tongue," was it
the language of the Eomane, or that Shelta dialect which appears to
be peculiarly associated with Irish nomads ?
DAVID MAcKiTCHiE.
1 Mr. Simson states that " before the year 1460 " the south-west of Scotland was ravaged
by a band of Gypsies from Ireland ; and these are, in point of date, his earliest ' ' Scottish
Gypsies." He also refers to a large immigration of Irish Gypsies in nineteenth-century
Scotland. " It is only about twenty-five years," he says, writing about thirty or forty years
ago, "since the Irish Gypsies, in bands, made their appearance in Scotland. Many severe
conflicts they had with our Scottish tribes before they obtained a footing in the country.
But there is a new swarm of Irish Gypsies at present scattered, in bands, over Scotland, all
acquainted with the Gypsy language."
However it may conflict with the belief that Shelta, rather than Romanes, is the special
language of Irish tinkers, it is clear that if all those to whom Mr. Simson refers spoke the
dialect employed by the Irish Gypsies whom he met in Fife (of which dialect he gives speci-
mens at p. 328 of his book), then they certainly spoke Romanes. But this may be explained
by the fact that tinkers, such as the "Owen," who supplied so much Shelta to Mr. Leland,
could also speak Romanes. That writer particularly says of Shelta, "I class it with the
Gypsy, because all who speak it are also acquainted with Romany " ; and one is led to infer
from his remarks that Shelta has been preserved from the knowledge of the outer world with
much greater care than Romanes itself. Consequently, Mr. Simson's tinkers may have
known both languages, but have refrained from imparting to him any words of the more
secret " Shelta."
2 Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, April-July
1889, p. 138,
358
VENETIAN EDICTS RELATING TO THE GYPSIES OF
VII.— VENETIAN EDICTS relating to the Gypsies of the Sixteenth,
Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries.
Archivio dei Frari, at Venice.)
(Extracted from the
Parte presa nell' Eccellentiss.
Conseglio di Pregadi 1558-
15 Luglio, e 1588-24 Set-
tembre, In Materia di Cingani.
Stampata per Antonio Pinelli
Stampatore Ducale.
1558 — 15 Luglio, In Pregadi.—
Considerando la mala qualita dei
Cingani, e la molestia danni e molti
disturbi, che ricevono li fedeli nos-
tri dalla loro practica, fii preso in
questo Conseglio a' 21 Settembre
1549, che fossero mandati fuori
delli Territori nostri e che nell'
avvenir non se gli potesse dar licen-
za di venir nel Stato Nostro senza
deliberazione di esso Conseglio ; il
qual Ordine cosi buono e lodevole,
al presente non si osserva, essendo
introdotto, che li detti Cingani co'l
mezo di Lettere Patenti da loro
impetrate da alcuni Rettori Nostri
di poter transitar per tre giorni
sotto la sua giurisdizione vanno
vagando per li luogi Nostri, contro
la forma del Decreto predetto con
danno di molti, & universal mor-
morazione. Al che dovendosi pro-
veder per satisfazione, e benefizio
delli Popoli nostri, 1'andera Parte,
che le predette Lettere Patenti siano
revocate & annullate ; come fatte
contro li Ordini nostri, ne de cae-
tero possino essere piu fatte, sotto
pena alii Cancellieri, 6 altri Minis-
tri, che le facessero, de immediate
privazioni della Cancelleria, o altro
Officio, che havessero, e di non
poter in perpetuo piu esercitar alcun
Officio del Dominio Nostro ; e sia
commesso a tutti i Rettori Nostri
di Terra Ferma, che debbano far
uscir detti Cingari subito e im-
mediate delli luoghi Nostri, li
quali non possono piu essere ad-
Resolution taken in the Most
Excellent Council of the Pre-
gadi, 15th July 1558, and 24th
September 1588, concerning the
Gypsies. Printed by Antonio
Pinelli, Ducal Printer.
1558 — 15th July, In Pregadi. —
Considering the evil disposition of
the Gypsies, and the annoyance,
damages, and manifold troubles that
our faithful subjects sustain from
their intercourse, it was enacted in
this Council on the 21st September
1549, that they should be sent out
from our territories, and that hence-
forward no licence would be given
to them to come into our State with-
out a consultation of said Council ;
which Decree so good and laudable
is not observed at present, owing to
the circumstance that the aforesaid
Gypsies, by means of Letters Patent
obtained by them from some of our
Rectors with power to pass for
three days, under his jurisdiction,
are wandering about our lands,
contrary to the manner of the
aforesaid decree, causing damage to
many, and a universal complaint.
Wherefore, it being our duty to
take measures for the satisfaction
and benefit of our people, it is en-
acted that the above-named Letters
Patent be revoked and made void,
as made against our orders, and
that they be never made again,
under penalty to the Chancellors or
other officers who would so do of
the immediate forfeiture of their
office or other charge that they
have, and their subsequent disability
ever after to exercise any other office
of our dominion ; and be it ordered
to all the Rectors of the main-
land that they are to expel, at once
THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. 359
messi, ne per tre giorni, ne altri-
menti a mode alcuno senza licenza
di questo Conseglio, e se contro le
forme dell' Ordine presente nell'
avvenir si conferiranno in alcun
luogo Nostro, cosi con Patent!
dell! Rettori, come senza, siano, &
esser s'intendano incorsi alia pena
di esser posti a Remo nelle Galee
Nostre de' Condennati, ove habbino
a servir alia Catena per Ann! diese
continui ; Haver debbano quelli che
prenderanno alcuni di essi Cingani
Contrafacenti, ut supra, e consegne-
ranno in le forze della Giustizia da
esser mandate in questa Citta per
1'effetto predetto Ducati diese delli
Danari delleTaglie, Possiendo etiam
li detti Cingani, cosi huomini come
femine, che saranno ritrovati nelli
Teritori Nostri, esser impune am-
mazzati, si che li Interfettori per
tali homicidij non habbino ad in-
correr in alcuna pena. Et la pre-
sente Parte sia fatta pubblicar dalli
detti Rettori in li luoghi soliti per
intelligenza d'ogni uno, e registrar
in Atti delle loro Cancellerie, a
memoria delli successor!, e sia posta
nelle Commission! di essi Rettori.
1588-24 Settembre, In Pre-
gadi. — Se bene per Parte di questo
Conseglio 21 Decembre 1549, e 15
Luglio 1558, e stato provisto, che
li Cingani per li molti danni e
disturb! che inferivano all! Terri-
tori dello Stato Nostro, non potes-
sero haver ricetto in alcun luogo,
sotto pena di Bando, Galea, & anco
di poter esser impune ammazzati.
Nondimeno si vede, che tuttavia
& stanno in molto numero con
danno grandissimo di detti Terri-
torij, ai quali vien anco dato recapito
da molti, che tengono poco conto
della Giustizia, & che partecipario
and immediately, the said Gypsies
from our lands, into which they are
no more to be admitted, either for
three days, or otherwise, in no
manner whatsoever, without a li-
cence by this Council, and if contrary
to the statutes of the present order,
they should in future betake them-
selves to any places of ours, with
patents from the Rectors or not,
they shall be held to have incurred
the penalty of being put to the
Oar, in our convict galleys, where
they shall serve at the Chain for ten
consecutive years ; Those who will
apprehend any of the counterfeit
Gypsies above referred to and deliver
them into the hands of justice, to be
sent into this city for the aforesaid
effect, will be paid ten ducats out
of the fund for such captives. It
is also permitted that the said
Gypsies, both men and women,
found in our territories, may be
with impunity slain, without the
perpetrators of such murders having
to incur any penalty whatever.
And let this Decree be made publicly
known by the said Rectors in the
usual places for the intelligence of
every one, and let it be registered
in Acts of their Chancellories, to
remind their successors, and be
placed in the records of said
Rectors.
1588-24th September, In Pre-
gadi. — Although by order of this
Council, 21st December 1549, and
15th July 1558, it has been pro-
vided that the Gypsies, owing
to the several injuries and dis-
turbances caused to the territories of
our State, were to be received no-
where, under penalty of banishment
and the galley, and also to be
slain with impunity : Nevertheless
it is seen that they are yet, in great
numbers, and greatly to the detri-
ment of these territories, still living
there, to whom also shelter is being
afforded by many who make light
360
VENETIAN EDICTS EELATING TO THE GYPSIES OF
delli loro latrocinij, con mala sodis-
fattione delli poveri Contadini, &
altri, che ricevono da loro molti
danni, al che dovendosi proveder.
L'Andera parte, che salue, & ri-
servate le sopradette leggi, sia a
quelle aggiunto che.tutti li Rettori
di Terra Ferma, debbano una volta
all' anno far publicar tutte le sopra-
dette parti ; & oltre di ci6 faccino
proclamare, che se alcuno dara
recapito, o allogiara li predetti
Cingani incorrera in pena di seruir
per anni tre in Galea alia Catena
e altra pena che parera ai Eettori,
secondo la qualita della persona.
Et subito che detti Cingani capite-
ranno in alcun luoco siano obligati
i Merighi delle Ville sotto le
medesime pene, andar a darli in
nota alii Rettori piu vicini, acci6
possano essere cacciati del tutto
dello Stato Nostro & castigati
quelli che gli hauessero dato re-
capito. Non potendo li Rettori
predetti concedere a detti Cingani
a modo alcuno, ne in voce ne con
lettere patenti, o passaporti di
alcuna sorte, ne per transito ne
altramente di poter stare o passare
per lo Stato Nostro, senza licenza
di questo Conseglio ; e le sia mede-
simamente e sopratutto prohibito
di poter venire in questa Citta
nostra. Et la presente Parte sia
registrata nelle Cancellarie delli
Rettori di Terra ferma, e posta
nelle Commissioni loro per la sua
debita esecuzione.
1767-29 Luglio. — In Consiglio
di Dieci. Sebbene per le Parti del
Senato 21 Decembre 1549, e 15
Luglio 1558, e per quelle ancora
del Consiglio di Dieci 21 Agosto
1690, e 8 Febbrajo 1692 sia stato
proveduto con risolute ordinazioni
e Leggi onde sia assolutamente
proibita 1'introduzione e perman-
enza de' Cingani cosi di Uomini
che di Donne, nelle Citta della
of justice, and who share in their
plunder, greatly to the dissatisfac-
tion of the poor peasants and others
who receive much harm at their
hands : To obviate which, be it en-
acted that in addition to the afore-
said laws, it be also decreed that all
the Rectors of the mainland are once
a year to have all the abovenamed
laws published, and further, that
they proclaim that any one affording
shelter, or lodging the aforesaid Gyp-
sies, will incur the penalty of serving
for three years in the Galleys at the
Chain, or such other punishment as
shall seem fit to the Rectors accord-
ing to the quality of the person.
And as soon as said Gypsies happen
to appear in any place, the Merighi
delle KiUe[oi rural magistrates] shall,
under the same penalties, be obliged
to denounce them to the nearest
Rectors, that they may be entirely
driven out from our State, and those
punished who had afforded them
shelter. The aforesaid Rectors not
' being allowed to grant to said Gyp-
sies, in any manner whatsoever, either
verbally or with letters patent, and
passports of any sort whatever,
neither by way of passage or other-
wise, to stay or pass through our
State, without a licence from this
Council, and it being likewise
specially prohibited to permit them
to come into this our city. And be
the present Decree registered in
the Offices of the Rectors of the
mainland, and intrusted to their
provision for its due execution.
1767 — 29 th July. — In the Council
of the Ten. Although by Decree of
the Senate 21st December 1549,
and 15th July 1558, and by those
also of the Council of the Ten 21st
August 1690, and 8th February
1692, it has been provided, by strict
ordinances and laws, that the in-
troduction of the Gypsies, both of
men and women, into the cities of
the mainland and their territories,
THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. 361
Terra Ferma e loro Territorj, sotto
le rigorose pene espresse in esse
Leggi, e Decreti; con tutto ci6
essendo pervenuto a Cognizione del
Consiglio medesimo, e piu indi-
vidualmente per la relazione, che
ha avanzata il Podesta e Capitano
di Treviso nelle sue Lettere 24
Luglio cadente, die una Truppa di
essi, sin al numero di 30, parte
a piedi e parti a Cavallo tutti
d'armi muniti siano comparsi in
alcune Ville di quel Territorio con
terrore e spavento di quei villici, e
con quelle moleste, e dannose con-
segnenze che ne derivano dalla loro
introduzione, e stazione nello Stato
Nostro per le sopraffazioni, e rapine,
che vengono da essi praticate.
Per6 volendosi dall' autorita di
questo Consiglio nei modi piu forti,
ed efficaci rimediare a cosi gravi
molestie, e disturbi, si fa iioto che
non possa per qualunque immagin-
abile colore, o pretesto esser per-
messo ne tollerata I'introduzione e
permaneuza di detti Cingari si di
Uomini che di Donne, soto le pene
rigorose espresse in esse Leggi, di
Prigione, e Galea, e anche di essere
impunemente ammazzati secondo le
qualitk delle transgressioni. In
consonanza delle medesime Leggi
dovranno li Contestabili, Capitanj
di Campagna ed altri Ministri de'
Reggimenti non che li Comuni
delle Ville inseguirli a tutto potere,
e farli ridurre nelle pubbliche forze.
Per premio poi del fermo, captura
e consegna di essi Cingari, con-
seguiranno Ducati venticinque per
cadauno, da esigersi o dal Camer-
lengo alia cassa del Consiglio di
Dieci, o da qualunque altra Camera
della Terra Ferma a piacere ed
arbitrio del Detentore. E se contro
la forma del presente Ordine Nos-
tro fosse da alcuno contravvenuto,
dando a costoro ricetto, ed alloggio,
incorrer debba nelle dette pene, ed
altre che pareramio alii Rettori,
secondo la qualita della persona, e
VOL. I. — NO, VI.
and their continued residence there,
be absolutely forbidden, under the
rigorous penalties imposed in the
said laws and decrees, nevertheless,
it having come to the cognisance
of the same Council, and, more
particularly, through the relation
forwarded by the Mayor and Cap-
tain of Treviso in his letters of
the 24th of the present month July,
that a gang of them amounting to
thirty in number, partly on foot
and partly on horseback, all of
them supplied with arms, appeared
at some country-houses of that
territory to the terror and fright
of those villagers, and with those
disturbing and injurious conse-
quences that proceed from their
introduction and stay in our State,
through the acts of oppression and
rapine perpetrated by them :
Wherefore, the authorities of
this Council, wishing to remedy, in
a more efficient and more forcible
manner, so great a mischief and
trouble, it is hereby made known
that it is forbidden, under any
imaginable idea or pretext, to allow
or tolerate the introduction or
permanence of said Gypsies, either
of men or women, under the rigorous
penalties imposed in the said laws
of prison or galleys, and also to be
slain with impunity, according to
the nature of the transgressions. In
accordance with the said laws, the
Constables, country officers, and
other Government officials, as well
as the communal authorities of the
country, must pursue them most
strenuously, and have them handed
to the police. And as a reward
for the apprehension, capture, and
delivery of such Gypsies, they
will receive twenty-five ducats a
head, to be exacted either of the
Chamberlain of the Council of the
Ten's funds, or of any other bank
of the mainland, at the pleasure
or option of the arresters. And if,
contrary to the terms of the present
2 A
362
VENETIAN EDICTS.
della delinquenza, onde da per tutto
purgato resti lo Stato da cosi
malnata e dannosa infezione di
Gente.
E la presente sia stampata e
man data alii Rettori principal!
della Terra Ferma con Ordine di
farla pubblicare nelle loro Citta, e
trasmetterli agli altri Rettori delle
Fortezze, Terre, e Castelli e a tutti
i Giurisdicenti che si attrovano nel
loro Territorio, onde resa universal-
mente patente ad ognuno riporti
1'intiera inviolabile obbedienza ed
osservanza.
Decree of ours, it should be con-
travened by any one, by giving to
those people shelter and lodging,
he is liable to the said penalties
and such others as may be deemed
fit by the Rectors, according to the
quality of the person or of the
delinquency, that everywhere the
State may thus be purged of so
ill-born and accursed a plague of
people.
And let the present be printed
and sent to the principal Rectors
of the mainland, with the order
to have it published in their towns,
and transmitted by them to the
governors of the fortresses, lands,
and castles, and to all the counsel-
lors of the law within their terri-
tory, in order that it be universally
made known to every one for the
entire and inviolable observance and
obedience thereof.
VIIL— A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
BY R. VON SOWA.
(Continued.)
G.
Gad, M. W.5 S., s. m. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
= S1.), shirt.
Gaddro, K., s. m. (dim. of gad), a pretty
little shirt or chemise.
Gdji, S. gajiy K., s. f. (Gr., Hng. gaji,
Bhm. gaji), country-woman, peasant's
wife.
Gajikano, M. W., adj. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting, — the Gr. forming gajano,
the Hng. gajeno, the Bhm. gajtino),
human.
Gajo, M., S. gajo, K., s. m. (Gr., Hng.
gajo., Bhm. gajo *), country-man, non-
Gypsy.
Gdjoro, S., s. m. (dim. of gajo), country-
man, a man of small figure.
Garuvau, M. W., S., vb. tr. (Gr. gera-
vava, Hng. = SI., Bhm. garuvav), to
hide.
Gatichka, a., K., s. f. (dim. from Mag.
gatya ; Slov. gate, drawers), pretty
trousers.
Gau, M. W., *K., S., gdv, M. W. (Gr.,
Hng., Bhm. gav), village.
Gazdo, M. W., s. in. (Mag., Slov. gazda),
landlord, inn-keeper.
Gazdovstvo, M. W., s. m. (Slov. gaz-
dovstvo}, economy, inn-keeping.
Gero, M. W., S., gero, M. W., adj.,
M. W. ; but SI. never combined with
a noun (Gr. wanting ; Bhm. means :
deceased, late), miserable, wretched,
i While in Hng. sometimes even a Gypsy is called gtijo, Mikl. M. W., vu. 53 ; there is
no instance of that use in SI.
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
363
unlucky. Yoi, geri mosi te has t'ixo
auJca sar mdt'hi — she, the unlucky (girl)
must Jiave been silent like a fly, S.
Gilavau, M. W., S., gil'avau, gil'aul
(M. W., vn. 56, the prt. gil'adas may
be referred to a pres. gil'avau), vb.
itr. (Gr. gil'abava ; Hng. d'ilazinav,
jilabav ; Bhm. gilavav), to sing.
Giloi, a., S., s. f., obi. sg., gil'a, M. W.
(Gr. gili ; Hng. d'ili, d'i'li, ; Bhm.
giloi, Jes. 61), song.
Ginau, M. W., S., vb. tr. (Gr. genava ;
Hng. genav, jinav ; Bhm. ginav ; Gr.
to count, to reckon ; Hng. Bhm. even,
to read), to read. A SI. Gypsy, when
asked how he would call a book, said :
kai pes ginel (lit. what is read, or
where is read) and Jcai pes andre
ckinel (lit. in which is written).
GiAil a., S., s. pi. (a mistake? Cf.
Slov. dytia, melon), gourd, pumpkin.
Gizdavo, a., S., adj. (Hum. ghizdavu,
pretty, elegant ; Bhm. wanting; Hng. =
SI. ; Germ, gisevo, giveso ; Hng. Germ,
proud, supercilious), fine? Kana gelc,
mukle lake havoro dostatJcos gizdavo,
hoi lenge te tdvel. The chronicler
translated it : naipeknejsi (most beau-
tiful).
Godav'er, M. W., S., godiaver, K. god'-
avo, M. W. (Gr. Hng. god'aver ; Bhm.
god'avel), intelligent.
Gdd'i, S., g6di, K., s. m. (Gr. godi, gudi,
m. f. ; Hng. Bhm. god'i ; cf. vdd'i),
1. Mind, intellect. 2. One's self ; Me
mange Jcerava har me g6d'i kamava — I
' shall do what I shall wish (to do) my-
self. A variant of these verses affords
Kal. : me mange kerava har me godi
janava.
Gondolav, K., vb. tr., and
Gondolinav, K, vb. tr. (Mag. gondolni,
Hng. = SI.), to prove, to experience.
Gono, gono, S., s. m. (Gr., Hng. gono ;
Hng., Bhm. g6no\ sack.
Gondro, M. W., S., s. m. (dim. of gono).
small sack, or bag.
Goreder, a., M. W., adv. comp. (Slavon.
gorij-, Mikl. M. W., i. 12); worse.
Odoleha ehas meg goreder — With the
other it was even worse.
Goshvardo, M. W., adj. (from g6d'i1\
intelligent.
Granaris, M. W., S., s. m. (probably of
Slavonian origin. Correspondents
are not found in other dialects except
that of the Span. G. The dictionaries
of Sales Mayo (Quindale") and D. A.
de C. give : granar, enriquecer, grane,
ducado, p. 36, resp. 107. The first
remarks that granar belongs to the
" Germania " slang), kreutzer.
Grast, S., s. m. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. = SI.),
horse (cf. s. pdrno).
Grastdro, M. W., S., grastoro, M. W.
s. m. (dim. of grast), horse. A Sl.-G.,
when asked for the word for " mare,"
gave grastoro.
Grashis, S.,rs. m. (Mag. garas ; hardily,
from the Slov. form grog ; Hng.
garashi ; Bhm. garashis), groat.
Grofos, S., s. m. (Mag. grdf), count.
Gryeshno, S., adj. (cf. Slavon. greh, sin,
Mikl. M., W. i. 13), sinful.
Gulo, M. W., K., S., adj. (Gr. gudlo,
guglo ; Hng. gullo ; Bhm. = SI.), sweet;
hither belongs also gulohav (gulo
xau ?), to become sweet, K.
Gules, M. W., adv., sweet.
Guruv, M. W., S., guru, M. W., s. m.
(Gr., Hng., Bhm. guruv), ox.
Guruvano, M. W., adj. (Gr. = SL, Hng.
gurvano ; Bhm. wanting), of an ox,
only in giiruvano-mas, beef.
Guruvni, guruni, M. W., gurumni, K.,
s. f. (Gr., Hng. guruvni, gurumni ;
Bhm. guruvni], cow.
Guruvnori, guruvnori, M. W., s. f.
(dim. of guruviii), cow.
H.1
Hadnad'is, S., s. m. (Mag. hadnagy),
chief, chieftain.
Had'os,K.*K.,s.m. (from theMag.?), bed.
Halasha, a., S., s. pi. (Slov.? I do not
know the Slov. or Tchk. original), the
not known. Cf. You
meaning is
jalas and o bare halaska, and o bare
vesha (in the tale 0 dil'ino rdklo).
Halushko, *K., s. m., ? pi. halushki, K.
(Slov. haluska, f.), dumpling.
Hal'enka, the name of a female genius
in the tale, E trin rdkl'a.
Many words which Kal. writes with initial h will be found under x.
364
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
Handri, M. W., s. f. pi. (Slov. handra,
rags, from the Germ, hadern), clothes.
Haninav, M. W., vb. tr. (Slov. hanit'),
to blame.
Har, K., S., sar, K., S., adv. conj. (Gr.
sar ; Hng., Bhm., sar, liar) ; 1. As,
like. Auka has yon barvale sar raya —
They were as rich as gentlemen.
AJcana lu chi, har me chid'om — Now
throw thou as I threw ; 2. than ; Le
romeske has buter har oxto shel rup —
The Gypsy possessed more than eight
hundred florins. K. harpes, how, or
thus, consists of the two words harpes,
q. v., harJco auka (?), even as, just as,
K. ; 3. When ; Sar yekha ranikoraha
shluhind'as oda bar, mindydr e bare-
star achlo pdni — When he with a rod
struck that rock, immediately out from
the rock came water. M. Har les
tsidelas tses oda kdre, auka leske oda
kdro zhi pixnil'as anda leste — When
he drew him through the thorns, that
thorn pierced into his body (lit. him).
Barangos, harango, K., s. m. (Mag.
harang), bell.
Harangozinau, S., -nav., K., vb. (Mag.
harangozni) ; 1. to ring (a bell) ; 2.
to sound (bell). Nitranska harangi
harangozinena — The bells of Nitra
will ring, K.
Hart'as, hdrt'as, S. (Gr. not noted, Hng.
hart'a ; Bhm. hart'as, cf. Ptt. n. 168),
blacksmith.
Havo, K., S., savo, M. W., S., pron.
interr. rel. (Gr., Hng., savo ; Bhm.
havo). ]. Who? K. 2. Who, which
(seldom). Bare svireha, savo tsidel
trianda funti — With a large hammer,
which weighs thirty pounds.
Havoro, S., saro, M. W., savoro, M. W.,
S., s., adj. (Gr., Hng., Bhm. savoro),
all ; havorejene, a., S., all. Viberind'as
havore jenendar — He chose from all (of
them).
Hay, a., *M., intj. (Slov. haj), why !
hey !
Haydukos, M. W., s. m. (Slov. hajduch ;
Mag. hajdu, pi. hajduk), watch-man.
Haynav. M. W., vb. itr. ? (Serb, hajav,
Mikl.), to care.
Hazdau, S., vb.. tr. pt. pf. hazdindo (Gr.
lazdava, pi. pf., lazdino ; Hng. vazdau ;
Bhm. hadav), to lift, to raise.
Hazika, harika, K. (a misprint ? Slov.
hazuka ; Bhm. hazika, Jes. 62. I
supposed therefore that the SI. word
might be hazika), vest.
He, K., S., the (seldom), S., conj. adv.
1. And : Xuditias peskre phrales he
igen les chumidelas—He embraced his
brother and kissed him much. 2.
Also, even ; He me Java tuha — I also
shall go with thee. Me tut akanak
probdlinau he tra kora daha — Imme-
diately 1 (shall) try thee even with
thy blind mother. You he le bengeha
pes xndinahas — He would scuffle even
with the devil.
Hegedushis, M. W., s. m., pi. hegedusha
(Mag. hegediis, fiddler), musician.
Helos, K., s. m. (Mag. hely ; Hng. helo ;
Bhm. helos, Jes. 62, place, spot),
place.
Hem, M., S., intj. (In my grammar,
quoted in the introduction, as also in
my texts, I have always written hem •
but now I think that I ought to write
hen, for that intj. seems to be the
Slov. hen, here ! there !), here !
Heslos, a., S., s. m. (Slov. heslo, device,
motto), advertisement.
Hintova, S., s. f. (Mag. hinto ; Hng.,
Bhm. hintova, hlintdva, Jes. 62),
coach, carriage.
Hiyaba, S., ydbahi, a., S., adv. (Mag.
hijaban, hidban ; Hng. hijdba ; Bhm.
hiaba), in vain.
HI' el a., S., intj. (Slov/ hi' a], Hl'e dade,
yepash shel!— Look father, fifty florins !
Hnoyos, S., s. m. (Slov. hnoj), dung,
dunghill.
Hodno, M. W., adj. (Slov. hodny),
worthy.
Hod'ina, S., s. f. (Slov. hodina), hour.
Hoi, M., S., heu, K. hogy (pron. hod'),
*M., conj. (Mag. hogy ; 1. that ; 2. so
that ; 3. because, for ; 4. that (final),
in order to (1-4 as in Mag.) ; 5. in-
troducing the speech of another, not
to be translated (like the Greek on),
0 chdvo phend'as, hoi n-avla feder
mange — The boy said : It will not go
better with me (I shall not succeed
better than now) ; hoi ka, hoi kai, S.,
so that ; Pes yon auka kerde, hoi k-o
drakos les andre chivlas — They so
did that the dragon threw him in ;
hoi tf, hoi kai te, S., that (final) ;
Auka les mol'inlas pre mro sovnakuno
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
365
devel, hoi te na basJiavel—So (much)
he begged him, for the sake of (my
golden) God, that he may not play.
Yoi leske phend'as, oda printsezno, hoi
kai leske mashkdre and o shdro te
chinel — She said to him, that princess,
that he may strike him on the middle
of the head.
Holubos, M. W., s. m. (Slov. holub),
dove, pigeon.
HomoUta, S., s. f. (Slov. homdl'ka), whey,
cheese.
Hordrisy M. W., s. m. (Slov. hordr),
forester, woodman.
Horniatsko, a., K., adj. (Slov. horniacky),
of the highlands. Horniatska romorc
— the Gypsy lads of the mountains.
Hoske, soske, K., S., hoske, M., adv. (Gr.,
Hng. sosJce; Bhm. = Sl.) why? how?
Hoske, phend'as, na rovavas pal mro
Idcho phral — how, he said, should I
not bewail niy good brother ?
Host'intsa, S., s. f., and
Host'intsos, a., S., s. m. (Slov. hostinec)
inn.
Hrabinav, K., vb. itr. tr. (Slov. hrabat'),
to rake.
Hrabli, K., s. f. pi. (Slov. hrable\ rake ;
cf. s., tsidau.
Hraxos, a., S., s. m. (Slov. hrach), pea.
Hrainau, S., hrayinav, M. W., vb. itr.
(Slov. hrat'}, to play (at cards). 0
karti hrainenas — They played at
cards.
Hrminel, M. W. (hrmilas, M. W.=
hrminlas), vb. imp. (Slov. hrmet'), it
thunders.
Hromada, M. W., s. f. (Slov. hromada),
heap.
Hruda, S., s. f. (Slov. hruda), cheese-
pudding.
Hrustos, S., s. m. (Slov. chnist, may-
bug), beetle.
Husenitsos, a., S., s. m. (Slov. husenica),
caterpillar.
Husto, M. W., adj. (Slov. husty\ dense.
X.
Xdben, S., xaben, M. W., s. m. (Gr.
xabe ; Hng. xdbe ; Bhin. = SI.), food.
Xachovav, M. W. (Kal. 107, writes hac-
hav\ vb. itr. (Gr., Hng. wanting ;
Bhm. only the tr. xachdrav is known),
to burn. Savore jande, heu mar
hachil'as — All thought that he had
already perished, K.
Xal'ovau, M., S., vb. tr. itr. (Gr. aghal'o-
vava, axal'ovava, Pa. 128 ; Hng. hay-
ovav ; Bhm. xal'ovav, Jes. 62), to
understand.
Xanau, a., M., S. hanav, K., vb. itr.
(Gr. xandava ; Hng. hanavav ; Bhm.
.canav, Jes. 62), to dig, cf. s. mdt'hi.
Xanig, M. W., S., xanik, xanik, xahing,
S., s. f. (Gr. xaning, xaing ; Hng.
hanik, hdnik ; Bhin. =S1.), fountain,
spring.
Xanigori, xangori, M. W., s. f. (dim. of
xatiig}, fountain.
Xanori, M. W., s. f. (dim. of xaiii),
fountain.
Xarkom, M. W., s. in. (Gr. xarkoma,
kitchen utensils ; Hng. harkum-,
Bhm. = SI.), brass, copper.
Xarkomdlo, a., M. W., adj. (Gr., Hng.,
Bhm. wanting, there being formed Gr.
xarkomako, xarkuno ; Bhm. xarkuno),
brazen, copper (adj.).
Xaro, M. W., s. m. (Gr. xando,' xanro ;
Hng. hdro ; Bhm. xdro), sabre.
Xau, M., S., hav, K., vb. tr. pt. pf.
xalo (Gr. xava ; Hng. hav ; Bhm.
xav), to eat.
Xeroi, xeroi, S., xero, M. W., s. f. obi.
sg. xera, S. (Gr., ger, thigh ; Hng.
hero, foot ; Bhm. = SI.), leg.
Xeu, M. W., S., xev ; M. W., hev
K. (Gr., Bhm. xev ; Hng. hev) ;
1. hole, abyss ; 2. cavern. Thus in
the tale 0 Drakos is said : Odoi has
ande yekh yaskina (q. v.), bdro dra-
kos ; and afterwards : Kana avlas ki-
oda isto xeu, porddphend'as: drako na!
ja mange atar avri / — When he went
to that cavern, he continually said :
Dragon, come out from there : 3.
window, K., S., Phand), e xeu andre,
shut the window ! S., cf. s. murvano.
Xiba, a., S., s. f. (Slov. chyba), loss?
damage.
Xinav, M. W., ob. itr. (Gr. xinava,
xiava; Hng. hiyav, Bhm. = Sl.), ca-
care.
Xoxavau, M. W., S., vb. tr. (Gr. xoxa-
366
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
vava ; Hng. hohavav ; Bhm. xoxavav),
to lie, to deceive. Xoxad'as tut, hoi
you tut lela — He deceived thee (when
saying) that he will take (marry) thee.
Xolov, K., S., s. m. (Slav. orig. cf. Mikl.
M. W., I. 14, viz. 64 ; Hng. holav ;
Bhm. xolov), trousers.
Xol'amen, S., adj. (Gr., Hng., Bhm,
wanting), angry.
Xoli, a. (r. xol'i), M. W., s. f. (Gr.
xolin; Hng. holi, holi ; Bhm. xdli),
anger.
Xolisal'ovav, a., (r. xol'is — ), M. W.,
vb. itr. (Gr. xolasarava ; Hng., Bhm.
wanting), to fret.
Xol'ovav, M. W., vb. itr. (Gr. wanting ;
Hng. holovav ; Bhm. only the tr.
ol'dvav is known), to fret.
Xorusis, S., s. m. (Germ. Chor), choir.
Xrixil, S., s. in. (Slavon. cf. Ptt. n. 167 ;
Bhm. xrrixil), pea.
Xrobdkos, S., s. m. (Slov. chrobdk),
beetle.
Xropisal'ovav, M. W., vb. itr. (Rum.
hrapire, to be torn asunder), to be in-
attentive ?
Xudau, M. W., S., hudav, K., vb. tr.,
pi. pf. xudino, S. (Gr., Hng. want-
ing ; Bhm. xudav). 1. (a) To seize
to apprehend, to ravish, to embrace :
Xuden Us sh'erestar — They take him
by the head, M. W. ; Yon phende
mashkar peske ( — te ?), hoi yon la
xudena — They concerted, that they
would ravish her ; Xudinas peskre
phrales he igen les chumidelas — He
embraced his brother and kissed him
much. (b) (with the reflective pro-
noun) To wrestle : You he le bengeha
pes xudinahas—H.Q would wrestle
even with the devil. 2. To hire :
Xudava mange shtdren mursha (? — en)
he phirava lentsa and -o them — I shall
hire (for me) four lads, and wander with
them in the country. 3. To obtain
(to buy) : Tre dadestar chudinom
love — From thy father I obtained
money ; K-aver rai xudava lo'keder
than — At another merchant's I shall
buy cloth at a more reasonable price.
Xudipen, a., M. W. (not yet stated in
another dialect), gaol, prison.
Xudoba, S., s. f. (Slov. chudoba), poor
people.
Xumer, S., s. m. (Gr. xomer ; Hng.
humer ; Bhm. = SI.), dough, paste.
Xurdo, S., adj. (Gr, Bhm. xurdo, but
Bhm. meaning : mellow ; Hng. hurdo),
little, young, only in xurde chdvore,
little children.
Xurdes, S., adv., seldom. Tsuza ma-
nusha auka xurdes 2)es sikl'on ro-
manes — Strange people so seldom
learn the Gypsy language.
Xutilav, a., M. W. (Gr., Hng., Bhm.
wanting ; Rm. xutilau), to seize.
Xutno, adj. (Slov. chutny), savoury ;
inferred from xutnones, M. W.. adv.
id.
Xutrinau, a., S., vb. itr., to scrape (a
horse with its hoof) ; Mind'ar la xera-
ha xutrind'as — At that moment it
scraped with its foot.
Xut'au, S., hutav, xutav, M. W., hutav,
K, vb. itr. p. t. p. f. xut'il'om, S.,
hutil'om K. (Gr. wanting; Rm. xutau,
xutau; Hng., Bhm. xut'aii), to jump.
Xvala, S., s. f. (Slov. chvdla), praise,
only in the phrase : xvala devleske ! —
God be praised ! Thank God ! Slov-
Chvdla Bohu!
I.
// K. intj., ah! oh!
Id'a, M. W., S., s. m. ? (cf. Ptt. n. 65),
clothes.
Igen, M., S., adv. (Mag. igen, yes), very.
Ikerau, M. W., *M., S., inkerav, M. W.,
vb. tr. (Gr. wanting ; Hng. = SI.,
Bhm. ikerav) ; 1. to hold. Iker chaye
le ketova — Hold, girl, the apron ; *M.,
2. to keep. Java and-o vildgos he
tre bakren na-y-ikerava — I shall go
into the world, und will not keep thy
sheep; cf. s. avri.
Ilav, s. lau.
Ilo, s. yilo.
Imdr, S., mar, K. adv. (Mag. immdr),
already.
Inach, S., adv. (Slov. indc, otherwise),
else, otherwise.
Indra, s. I'indra.
Indral'ovav, s. lindral'ovav.
A VOCABULARY OF THE SLOVAK-GYPSY DIALECT.
367
InJce, M., adv. (cf. Mag. inkdbb, rather ;
Bhm. = SL), yet, still.
Irimen, a., M. W., adj. (cf. the follow-
ing), turned.
Irinau, M. W., S., vb. tr. (cf. Ptt. n.
65 ; Hng., Bhin. irinav}, to turn ;
irinau upre, to subvert, to destroy.
You amenge havoro fdros irinlas upre
xerentsa — He would us overthrow the
whole town with his feet.
Irinau man, to be transmuted.
Irinde pes pre chiriklende — They
were transformed into birds, M. W.
Ispidau, M. W., vb. tr., to thrust, to
stick.
Isto, M., S., pron. dem. ace. sg., istones,
S. (Slov. isty"), certain (of which men-
tion has been made already). It is
never used without the def. article or
the dem. pron. oda. Kai pes il'as o
isto zhebrdkos Jci-o sasos — When that
beggar betook himself to the soldier.
Pale you gel' as ole raske te phenel, ole
istone raske — Then he went to say
(that) to the gentleman (mentioned
above).
Itsiya, M. W., itsia, SI., etsiya K.
(Mag. itcze ; Bhm. itsi, Jes. in. 82),
a half pot of beer or wine (Germ.
Halbe).
lu, s. u.
Izdrav, M. W., ob. itr. (Gr. lisdrava ;
Hng., Bhm. wanting), to tremble.
J.
Jdnau, S., janav, M. W., K., dchanav,
K., vb. tr. pt. pf. jdnlo,jando, M. W.,
S. (Gr. janava ; Hng., Bhm. janav) ;
1. to know ; 2. jdnau mange, to mean.
Me mange jdnd'om hoi hi chdcho — I
meant that it is true.
Jang, s. chang.
Jaw, M., S., jav, K. vb. itr., pt. pf. gelo,
S., pf. gel'om, S., geyom, M. W.,
yal'om, *K. — to go, to fly. Har so
naifeder chirihlo Jcana jal and-o luftos
— Like the best bird, when it flies
through the air.
Jeno,jeno, M., K., pi. m. jene, f. jetia,
S. (Gr. jeno, s. m. person ; Hng.,
Bhm. = SI.), only in aver-jeno (s. s.
aver) used sg. elsewhere, only pi.
forming collectives — viz. dui-jene,
dujene, trinjene, (q. v.), bish the shtdr-
jene— All the twenty-four together;
ostatnajene— The rest, all the others.
Jido, S., jido, M. W., zhido, M. W.
(Gr. jivdo, pt. pf. of jivava ; Hng.
jivdo, zhivdo, Bhm. = SI.), alive; som
jido, to live. Te na mule, pochilku hi
jide—If they did not die, they live
(are alive) now.
Jid'drau, S., zhid'drav, M. W., vb. tr.
(Gr. not noted ; Hng. jivd'drau, to
incend ; Bhm. jid'drav, to feed), to
vivify, to animate.
Jid'ovau, S., jid'ovav, M. W., vb. itr.
(Gr. jivd'ovava; Hng., Bhm. not noted),
to revive.
Jil, s. T'hil.
Jukel, S., s. m. (Gr., Bhm. = SI. Gr.
zhukel ; Hng. jukal, juklo}, dog.
Jukloro, M. W., K., jukloro, M. W., s.
m. (dim. ofjukel), dog.
Jungdlo, M. W., S., jungalo, M. W.,
adj. (Gr., chungalo, zungalo, bad,
miserable ; Hng. = SI. dirty, ugly,
Bhm. = SI.), ugly. Indch hi rdkl'a
jungdleder h-o romes Zen— In other
cases girls are uglier and marry never-
theless.
Juv, M. W., s. m. (Gr., Bhm. = SI. Hng.
jit), louse.
EEVIEWS.
Die Zigeuner. By DR. A. WEISBACH. Vienna, 1889.
THIS treatise, originally contributed to the Anthropological Society
of Vienna, appeals specially to those whose interest in the Gypsies is
that of the anthropologist. Selecting fifty-two Gypsy soldiers from a
368 KEVIEWS.
Hungarian regiment, Dr. Weisbach has, with the greatest precision
and minuteness, applied to each individual the same method of mea-
surement and observation, the results of which may be seen at a
glance in the tabular record appended to his pamphlet. Of the 52
Gypsies, 39 were Hungarian, and the remaining 13 were from
Transylvania ; but this does not seem to imply any marked physical
difference. The table shows that of the whole number 33 were
black-haired, 16 had hair of a dark brown, and 3 were brown-haired.
The colour of the skin was in this proportion : — brown, 1 8 ; inclined
to brown, .20 ; light brown, 8 ; inclined to yellow, 6 ; while the
hue of the eyes was as follows : — dark brown, 28; brown, 15 ; light
brown, 5 ; greyish brown, 2 ; and grey, 2, — from which it will be
seen that the darkest type prevailed. The men, who were all young,
were of medium height. Dr. Weisbach sums up generally the result
of his observations to this effect : " These Gypsies are of middling
bulk and weight. . . . Their distinctly mesocephalic head is small
and moderately contracted towards its base. . . . The short neck,
of average thickness, is placed upon a short, tapering body. . . .
They have very short arms, with the upper part short and slen-
der. . . . Their legs are long, much longer than their arms." Such,
briefly, are some of the leading characteristics. But a perusal of the
pamphlet itself is necessary for a proper appreciation both of the
results obtained from these measurements, as well as of the care and
precision therein displayed. Such work as Dr. Weisbach has here
undertaken helps much towards a proper estimate of the ethnological
position of the Gypsies.
Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn, I. Jahrgang, 1887-89 ;
III. Heft. Budapest, 1889.
Notice has already been taken in our Journal (July number,
pp. 302-4), of the Gypsy contributions to the first section of this
part of the Ethnologische Mitteilungen, and these are followed up,
in the instalment which completes the Part, with others equally
interesting. Dr. Wlislocki's Beitrdge zu den Stammesverhdltnissen
der siebenburgiscken Zigeuner, which supplements his previous article
in Globus, 1888, contains, along with much kindred information, the
oath taken by the Woiwode of the Kukuya tribe ; which is as fol-
lows : —
Sat'arav tumenge pale bacht te pale bibacht, sat'arav tumenge pale
REVIEWS. 369
na$valvpen te pale sascipen, sat'arav tumenge kere te sakotancstc ! Ko
tumen akamel, man akamel ; ko man kamel, tumen kamel ! Odoj me
som, odoj tumen san ; odoj tumen san, odoj me som ! 0 kam sat'ar
man, cumut avel mange ! (I will help you in good fortune and in ill
fortune, I will help you in sickness and in health, I will help you at
home and abroad ! Who offends you, offends me ; who befriends me,
befriends you ! Where I am, there shall you be ; where you are,
there will I be ! May the Sun help me, may the Moon go
with me !)
Under Heimische Volkerstimmen there are twelve Gypsy examples
from Dr. Wlislocki's collection, delightfully rendered into German by
Professor Herrmann. In the bibliographical section there is a pre-
liminary list of Gypsy publications ; and we are promised a critical
survey of Zigeunerphilologie in Hungary. Dr. Herrmann has also a
very full and instructive note on the term " Little Egypt," in which
he states the various localisations, by various writers, of that name.
Lastly, there is a complete account of the newly formed Ethnogra-
phical Society of Hungary, its aims, and its organisation. As this
Society will publish, under the name Folk-lore, a journal in which
the Etlinologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn will be incorporated, the
latter will cease to exist as a separate publication. That it will
practically be continued, however, may he seen from the fact that
Folk-lore will be edited by Dr. Herrmann conjointly with Dr.
Louis Katona. The new journal will be very wide in its scope,
taking in everything that relates to ethnology, folk-lore, and kindred
themes; and, as it is thoroughly international, it invites articles
written in any of the chief languages of Europe. Its Gypsy section,
which ought to be the most interesting to members of our Society,
will be presided over by His Imperial Highness the Archduke Joseph.
Les Mysteres du Nouvel-An a Geneve: par AARON MANASSE". Geneva.
Curiously contrasting with either of the preceding publications is
this unpretending little brochure, which offers itself to the reader for
the modest sum of 15 centimes. But since it was transmitted
through the post by the President of the Gypsy Lore Society, one
naturally expects it to explain why it has been so distinguished. And
this it does, for it devotes itself to a description of the various kinds
of vagabonds who assemble at the chief Swiss fairs. And, of course,
among these are Les Eomanitchels. Under the heading Les Banquistes
is comprised, we learn, "all those nomads, of doubtful occupation,
370 KEVIEWS.
who travel from village to village pour roustir lespantes (simpletons)."
And, in proceeding to classify those Banqinstes, M. Manasse begins
with the mountebanks, from whom he very naturally passes to the
Eomanitchels. These he refers to as " birds of prey," " tarantulas,"
and as being in general thoroughpaced scamps. It is interesting to
note that they are chiefly remarkable, in the eyes of this gentleman,
as mesmerists ; although their alleged clairvoyance is, he states, the
merest trickery. But this feature is noteworthy, as Gypsies have
long been associated with mesmerism.1 It is, moreover, interesting
to compare this description of the clairvoyante, " Mademoiselle Irma
(ou tel autre nom de fantaisie)," with that of an American Gypsy
woman, whose circular (sent to us by a lady-member of Outre-Mer,
and which nothing but want of space prevents us quoting) sets forth
her prophetic powers and her accomplishments in terms almost
identical. Our author, who shows a remarkable intimacy with the
various forms of trickery he describes, then passes on to the card-
sharpers, and other gamesters, and after them the charlatans, or quack-
doctors, the itinerant ballad-singers, and the pedlars. As in other
cases, it is difficult to decide as to the exact degree in which Gypsies
ought to be identified with such people ; but they cannot be disso-
ciated from them. The kind of life here described is said to be fast
disappearing at Geneva, as elsewhere, but the glimpses obtained in
these " flying leaves " have a decided value ; and the picture there
sketched suggests to one's mental vision the great fairs of the Middle
Ages, when such people were in all their glory.
Among other notices of recent Gypsy publications, we have the
following (somewhat belated) items from Italy : — Gli Zingari, article
in the Eivista di Filosofia Scientifica, by Professor Morselli (Turin, Feb.
No., 1889); Gli Zingari, in the Cuore e Critica, by G. Eosa (Bergamo,
31st March 1889); Gli Zingari, in the Nuova Antologia, by
Ernesto Mancini (Rome, 16th May 1889); and an article by Eomeo
Lovera in the Cuore e Critica (Bergamo, 5th No. of current year),
entitled, Ebrei e Zingari in Rumania. Professor von Sowa has con-
tributed to the Zeitschrifl fur Volkerpsychologie und Sprachwissen-
schaft, vol. xix., an article on the Dialect of the Westphalian Gypsies,
which, as may be seen from the reprint with which we have been
favoured, is characterised by the same admirable qualities as his
Slovak vocabulary, presently appearing in our pages. The Bulletin
1 See references to this in our Journal of July 1888, p. 42.
KEVIEWS. 371
de la SociAtg d' Anthropologie (t. xii. 2) contains a French version of
M. Bataillard's "Gypsy Immigration." No. 3 of Pastor Jesina's
Slovnik cesko-cikansky has recently appeared : also Miss Laura A.
Smith's Through Romany Songland (London, D. Stott), a miscellane-
ous collection of verses and music attributed, not always correctly, to
Gypsies. La France of July 15, 1889, contained an article on
Les Gitanos (evoked by the presence of Spanish Gypsies at the Paris
Exhibition), by M. Henry Girard ; and, similarly, M. Eene" de Pont-
Jest, in writing upon Les Femmes exotiques a V Exposition in Figaro,
devoted his instalment of 3d August 1889 to Les Gitanas.
The following scraps of " Gypsy Lore " have also been chronicled
during the past quarter: — The Manchester Courier of 13th July
relates how Jane Penfold, at Dalston, was convicted of telling the
fortune of Mary Aldows, cook, and was sentenced to one month's
imprisonment. " She had told Aldows that she had a lucky face, and
if she lent Penfold a watch she should have next day ' a full descrip-
tion of her planet.'" "Hunting for Gypsies" (The Graphic, 13th
July) describes a visit to Ellen Faa, at Yetholm, " a decent, grey-
haired, dingy-looking woman of about sixty." The same tribe is
indicated in the "Yetholm Gypsy Eomance" (Scottish Leader, 10th
August), referring to Florence Blythe's claim to the large fortune left
by her father, Thomas H. Blythe, of San Francisco. In this article
mention is made of " the Blythes of Kentucky." The Oldham
Standard of 10th August records the "blocking" of Mr. George
Smith of Coalville's Bill for educational facilities for Gypsy and van-
dwelling children. Mr. Eitchie stated in the House of Commons
that the number of these children returned in the Census in 1881,
as sleeping in canvas tents and in the open air, on April 1, 1881, was
4658 males and 3901 females. In the Daily Telegraph of 15th
August there is a full account of a recent Gypsy wedding in the
Viennese suburb of Nuszdorf. The Star of 20th August has a para-
graph giving a special instance of " How some Gypsies live." And
both the Manchester Courier of 19th August and the Manchester
Guardian of 1 7th September refer to a recent communication by Mr.
Edgar L. Wakeman, on the subject of " American Gypsies."
It is with much regret that we here record the death, on 21st
August 1889, of the eminent Gypsy scholar, Pastor Josef Jesina.
Born at 2itnoves, in Bohemia, on 17th August 1824, he was ordained
on 25th July 1850, and he has long been known to his brother
372 REVIEWS.
students as pastor of Golden- Oels, in Bohemia, where he died. He
was, writes a correspondent, " a warm friend of the Gypsies, by whom
he was much trusted. He had a most thorough knowledge of the
Gypsy language (in which it was his great delight to correspond, as
he could do with complete facility). His works are the valuable and
now very rare book Romani Gib (in Bohemian, 1880 ; 3d ed. in
German, 1886), and a great many supplementary treatises recently
composed and published. He followed literature with entire disin-
terestedness, for the publication of his books not only brought him in
nothing, but caused him much outlay. It is well known that one of
his works (Cry psy- Bohemian Tales) is in course of appearing; but only the
first five numbers of this had been issued at the time of his death."
NOTES AND QUEEIES.
i.
"EGYPTIAN DAYS."
ON the article '; Egyptian Days " in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society,
vol. i. p. 310, 1 beg leave to remark that the naming of the disastrous days Egyptian
days is explained by lines 5-6 of the Versus de diebus ^Egyptiacis, which are to
be found in the Poetce Latini Minores, v. page 354, edited by Baehrens.
The lines in question are these —
" Si tenebrse ^Egyptus Greece sermone vocantur,
Inde dies mortis tenebrosos iure vocamus."
But I think the real reason of it was found out by Mommsen, who enumerates
those days in the Corpus Inscript. Lat. i. p. 374, and says the origin of the
superstition was as follows : — " Superstitio hrec ab ^Egyptiis nomen tradit non
aliam ob causam opinor, quam quod mathematicani doctrinam omnem bonain
malam .^Egyptiis acceptam referre solebant veteres ; hoc certissimum est ortam esse
in ipsa urbe neque ante cetatem imperatoriam, cum miruin in rnodurn dico ^Egyptiaci
senatus legitimi ab Augusto demum ordinatos sequantur," etc.
Recently Dr. Wilhelm Schmitz and Jules Soiseleur occupied themselves with
this matter. The latter did so in the Memoires de la Societe Nationale des Anti-
quaires de France, Paris, 1872, xxxiii. pp. 198-253, and Schmitz in the volumes
1867 xxii., 1868 xxiii., 1874 xxix., 1876 xxxL, of the Ehein. Mus., and again in the
Beitrdge zur lateinischen Sprache und Literatur Kunde, von Dr. Wilhelm Schmitz,
Leipzig, 1877, pp. 307-320.
I myself published a list of the Dies j^gyptiaci that I found in the Codex
Vossianus, N. 116, in the Egyptemes Philologiai Kodony (Universal Philological
Advertiser), 1879, iii. p. Ill and foil.
The Egyptian days were, according to the Codex Paris, N. 1338, the following :
—January 1 and 25, February 4 and 26, March 1 and 28, April 10 and 20, May 3
and 25, June 10 and 16, July 13 and 22, August 1 and 30, September 3 and 21,
October 3 and 31, November 5 and 28, December 12 and 15.
It were needless to demonstrate, after what has been said, that the Gypsies
have nothing at all to do with the naming of these days.
BUDAPEST. EMIL THEWREWK DE PONOR.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 373
Mr. Archibald Constable's question, concerning the inauspicious days called
" Egyptian Days " (Number of July, p. 310), has at once called to my mind an
article that I had formerly seen on this subject in the great Glossarium of Du
Cange. I have consequently had recourse to this admirable collection (consult in
preference Didot's edition in 7 vols. in 4to, 1840-1850 ; or the editions of Favre,
more recent, published at Niort in 1 0 vols. in 4to). The article is to be found at
the word Dies (Dies dttgyptiaci), and it comprises nearly two columns of quota-
tions and of references, which furnish very valuable elements concerning the his-
tory of this superstition, but which do not throw much light on its origin. This
origin is naturally attributed to the Egyptians, which is not unlikely, Egypt and
Chaldea having had much to do with Grecian astrology, which afterwards spread
itself over the whole of the Roman world (see Histoire de la divination dang
VAntiquite1, par Bouche'-Leclercq, Paris, 1879-1882, vol. iii. et iv. passim}. But
this is a very vague indication. It may be more particularly asked whether this
superstition may not have been imported into Greece at the epoch, dating from
Alexander (332 ans B.C.), when the Macedonians, the Greeks, the Romans succes-
sively reigned in Egypt. I observe that, even before 333, the Egyptians had built
a temple to Isis in the Piraeus, and that the worship of Isis was introduced in the
same manner into Corinth, etc. (Bouche-Leclercq, work quoted, vol. iii. p. 388).
At all events, it does not appear at first sight that the superstition is connected
with the Gypsies ; but better information would be necessary to be certain that
they had nothing to do with it.
There are assuredly other collections than that of Du Cange to be consulted on
this subject. I have neither looked into the Thesaurus of Henri Estienne, nor into
the Glossarium medice et infimce Gr&citatis of the same Du Cange, nor into the
Bibliotheque Orientale of D'Herbelot, etc. But I can refer to a passage of the Dis-
sertation of Muratori upon superstitions, in the Antiquitates italicce medii cevi
vol. v., Mediolani, 1741, in. fol., col. 71, a passage in which the learned Italian him-
self refers to one of his previous publications. P. BATAILLARD.
2.
THE CHINGAN^ROS.
With reference to the two songs given in the Notes and Queries of our last
number (p. 307), " The Chinganeros of Venezuela," a correspondent writes : —
Some thirty years ago I passed a winter in Montevideo, and made what
inquiries I could about the Indian and native tribes of the region. I was happy in
meeting some of those who were best informed on these subjects : one who kindly
helped me was the executor of Bonpland, the companion of Humboldt, and the
possessor of his papers. He believed, and it was believed by others, that at certain
seasons parties of Indians from Peru and Ecuador crossed the Andes, traversed the
Gran Chaco, passed through Paraguay, Corrientes, and Entre Rios to the Atlantic
at the northern embouchure of La Plata, seeking herbs and simples, and returning
by almost the same route.
Is there any indication in the work whence these songs are extracted as to where
they were really heard and taken down ? If they were sung by wandering Indians
north or west of the Andes, they would be some corroboration of the opinion above
stated, for they contain unmistakable allusions to Buenos Ayres and to Montevideo.
In La Montanera the term " Porteiio " is the usual name for an inhabitant of
Buenos Ayres, as " Oriental " is of those of the Banda Oriental (Montevideo). In
La Zambulliddra China, Chinita, is a term of endearment applied to children in
La Plata. It is taken from the Chino or China Indians, who inhabited the
extreme south-east of the Banda Oriental, and who were favourite servants and
374 NOTES AND QUERIES.
nurses to the earlier Spaniards. I was told that no perfectly pure-blooded Indians
of that race were now to be found, only mixed breeds and mestizos. A lad, whose
mother was said to be one of the purest of these Indians left, was a servant in the
family whom I was visiting. The translator has certainly misunderstood this song ;
and I do not pretend to explain it all. " Zambullida " does not only mean the act
of diving, but is also a term for a fatal stroke in fencing, and may perhaps be used
in a more general sense, as fighting. I see nothing of " Chinganero's fairy spells "
in the original. " Guacamayo " is the " red macaw," and is often applied to the
scarlet-clad English soldiers ; thus " Para ver los guacamillos con fusil y bayone'ta "
might refer to General Whitelock's expedition against Buenos Ayres, or to General
Auchmuty's occupation of Montevideo. Anecdotes of both were current in the
country when I was there. " La caleta " might be the shore of the Bay of Monte-
video. "Los temblores ya dormidos " may be merely a drum or trumpet call, the
reveille. "La chata rnia," "my snub-nosed darling," or " my female monkey," is a
term of endearment. " Las cartas de Montezuma " is, I believe, a slang term, but
for what I cannot now explain. The whole song seems to be simply that of one
called from his mistress's side to go on guard in some beleaguered town. The style
of the translation is singularly like the poetical translations, from many languages,
done by Miss Louisa Stuart-Costello.
If the periodical journeying of parties of Indians or other tribes from the north-
western almost to the south-eastern extremity of South America can be proved, the
fact would be of capital importance in the diffusion or transmission of folk-lore. I
cannot see that such a journey involves less physical difficulties than a journey
across the more temperate regions of the Old World, and consequently folk-lore and
tales might have been thus transmitted from one end of the Old- World continent to
the other, in ages when the conditi6n of its inhabitants was not very unlike that of
the Indians of the New World ; and certainly more probable in later times when
emphatically " all roads led to Eome."
Perhaps some of your readers can throw more light on this point, as well as on
the origin and meaning of the two songs mentioned above.
3-
GYPSY COLONIES IN CARNIOLA.
I have been informed by a gentleman who has visited Carniola that he met
with Gypsies when staying at Gropp, at the foot of the Tdouc forest, on the banks
of the small river Podnart (?). He was there told that there is a rather large
colony of Gypsies, who are nail-smiths. He was also told that there is another
Gypsy colony in Althammer, at the base of the Triglav mountain, near the
Wocheiner lake. It would be interesting to learn whence those Gypsies came, and
which dialect they speak. EUDOLF vox SOWA.
4-
THE SEVEN LANGUAGES.
I lately paid a visit to an encampment at Leith of Gypsies, and non-Gypsies,
when the following conversation took place : —
Frampton Boswell (desirous, apparently, of parading our joint erudition). —
Now, what might you call that, Mr. Groome ? (Pointing to the kettle-prop.)
Myself. — That ? Oh ! a saster, I suppose.
NOTES AND QUERIES. 375
Frampton.— H'm ! well, yes ! that 's not so bad, but Icekavislco saster would be
properer.
Mrs. Cunningham (a brush and basket hawker).— There, now ! Mr. Boswell,
and I ain't no Gypsy woman, but I've know'd saster for a kettle-stick since I
weren't no higher than one.
Frampton. — There's plenty Gypsies don't know it, Mrs. Cunningham, but,
Gypsy or no Gypsy, you 're a very old-fashioned sort of a traveller, I 'in thinking.
Old Henry Cunningham, (philosophically). — It's just like this, you see.
There 's the Romany caint, and there 's the Gaelic caint [cant], and they 're both on
'em no better than a jibberidge.
Myself. — Well, I'm not quite so certain of that. Gaelic, of course that's gib-
berish ; but wouldn't you say, Frampton, Romani was a kind of a language ?
Fram.pton (authoritatively). — No, I shouldn't, Mr. Groome. Leastwise, it isn't
one of the Seven Languages.
So said Frampton ; but what lie meant thereby, Goodness alone knows.
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME.
THE SIN OP " CONSULTATION WITH WITCHES " AND ITS PUNISHMENT, IN
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SCOTLAND.
The following is one of several " Extracts from the Records of the Kirk-Session
and Presbytery of Aberdeen from 1562 to 1657," quoted in Turreffs Antiquarian
Gleanings from Aberdeenshire Eecords (Aberdeen, 1859, p. 28) : —
" Patrick Bodie, tailor, confessed that he made enquiry at the Egyptians for a
gentlewoman's gown which was stolen out of his booth ; and therefore, in respect of
his consultation with witches, the bishop and session ordain him to com pear before
the pulpit on Sunday next, and there, immediately after sermon, before noon, sit
down on his knees before the pulpit, and confess his offence in presence of the con-
gregation, and crave God and his congregation pardon."
In this we have one of many evidences showing how the Gypsies have been
identified with the practice of what has become known as " witchcraft."
DAVID MACRITCHIE.
THE GYPSY IN THE MOON.
The Athenaum of September 14, 1889, quotes from L 'Illusion of Dr. Henry
Cazalis (Paris, 1885, re-issued in 1888 under the pseudonym of Jean Lahor), the
following poem : —
Le Tsigane dans la Lune.
C'est un vieux conte de Boheme :
Sur un violon, a minuit,
Dans la lime un Tsigane bleme
Joue en faisant si peu de bruit,
Que cette musique tres tendre,
Parmi les silences du bois,
Jusqu'ici ne s'est fait entendre
Qu'aux amoureux baissant In voix.
376 NOTES AND QUEKIES.
Mon amour, Pheure est opportune :
La lune eclaire le bois noir ;
Viens ecouter si dans la lune
Le violon chante se soir !
This bit of Gypsy folk-lore may be thus roughly rendered : —
'Tis a Romany tale
That up in the moon,
Each midnight a Gypsy
Is playing a tune.
The melodies sweet
From his fiddle that flow,
Are heard but by lovers
As silent they go.
Then, love, let us try,
While the moonlight is clear,
Amid the dark forest
That fiddle to hear. — WILLIAM E. A. AXON.
NOTICES.
THE Second Volume of the Journal will commence with the January number
1890. With that number Members will receive the Index, Title-page, and Errata
of the first volume.
OWING to the increasing scarcity of the back numbers of the Journal, the price
of each number of Volume I. will be raised to 7s. 6d. (instead of 5s., as at present)
after 31st December 1889.
All Contributions must be legibly written on one side only of the paper;
must bear the sender's name and address, though not necessarily for publica-
tion; and must be sent to DAVID MACRJTCHIE, Esq., 4 Archibald Place,
Edinburgh.
INDEX.
The separate articles are printed in italics under their author's mum-.
G. = Gypsy; anrl Gs. = Gypsies.
ABERDEENSHIRE, Gs. in, 375.
Accent, G., 62, 96.
Adriatic, Gypsying by the, 132.
Afghan Gs., 171.
African Gs., 54, 220.
American-G. Letter, 174.
Gs., South, 57, 232, 306, 373.
-amus, cryptic ending, 50.
AnconaGs., 213.
Anglo-Romany Gleanings, 102.
Arabian Jugglers, 310.
Arabic Elements in Romani, 234.
-asdr, cryptic ending, 50.
Asia Minor, Gs. of, 249.
Austrian Gs., 171.
Romanes, South, 33, 132.
Axon, W. E. A., reviewed, 167.
Chinganeros of Venezuela, 306,
373.
La Tsigane dans la Lune,
375.
BAHRAM GAUR, 73.
Barbu Constantinescu, Dr., folk-tales,
25, 345.
Basques and Gs., 76.
Bataillard, Paul, The Immigration of the
Gs., 185, 260, 324.
" Egyptian Days," 373.
Bemische, 207.
Beng, "devil," 118.
Bibliography of English books on Gs.,
153.
Borrow, George, 102, 150.
Bosnian-G. Dialect, 125.
Brazilian Gs., 57, 232.
Bread and Salt, oath by, 173.
Buffaloes, 3.
Burial, 5, 54.
CAIRDS (Caird, John, the tinkler, etc).,
52, 303, 355-6.
Caldarari, 203.
Carniola, Gs. of, 374.
Carols, Christmas, 135.
Cascarrots, 76.
Catalonian Gs., 35.
Ceylon, Gs. of, 312.
VOL. I.
Charms, G., Ill, 118.
Chinganeros of Venezuela, 306, 373.
Chnri, " knife," 105.
Ciboure, Cascarrots of, 76.
Colocci, Marquis, Gs. in the Marches of
Ancona, 213.
The Gitanos of To-Day, 286.
reviewed, 241.
Colour-sense of Gs., 167.
Constable, Archibald (Lucknow), Gs. of
Oudh, 170.
(Edinburgh), " Egyptian
Days," 310.
Corfu, 204.
Coronation, G., 174.
Crofton, H. T., Early Annals ofihe Gs.
in England, 5.
Additions to O. - English
Vocabulary, 46.
Orthography and Accent, 96.
Hand-list of English Books on
Gs., 153.
Cufic Coins, 234.
DANCING, G., 79-83.
Davidson, T., Mr. Groome's Theory of the
Diffusion of Folk- Tales by Gs., 113.
review of Wlislocki, 242.
Dayton, Ohio, 174.
Devil, G. word for, 118.
Dialects, G. See Language.
Djatts. See Jats.
Doms, 71.
Dowojno-Sylwestrowicz, The Lithuanian
Gs., 251.
Dynamitters, 50.
Dzeka, "pleasure," 120.
" EGYPT" as European place-name, 52.
" Egyptian Days," 310, 372.
"Egyptians," name, 201, 226, 253, 268.
Elliott, Ebenezer, 309.
Elysseeff, A., The Gs. of Asia Minor,
249.
England, Early Annals of Gs. in, 5.
English-G. dialect, 46, 102.
-engro, -eskro, 97.
•2 I!
378
INDEX.
FELKIN, R. W., Central African Gs., 220.
Folk-lore, G., 105, 118, 120.
Folk-tales, Diffusion of, by Gs., 113.
G., from Roumania, 25, 345 ;
Poland, 84, 145, 227 ; Moravia, 89 ;
Slovak, 258.
Fortune-telling, 175, 253, 371.
Funeral Rites, 5, 54.
GAMBIA, Lowbeys of, 54.
Genitive, G., 97.
German Gs., 29, 50, 134.
Gitanos, 286.
"Greek" Gs., 204.
Grierson, G. A., Doms, Jdts, and Origin
of Os., 71.
G. Genitive, 97.
Groome, F. H., The Bad Mother: A
Roumanian G. Folk-tale, 25.
The Princess and the Forester's
Son : a Moravian G. Folk-tale, 89.
Anglo - Romany Gleanings,
102.
Diffusion of Folk-tales by Gs.,
113.
The Red King and the Witch:
a Roumanian G. Folk-tale, 345.
Gurko, "Sunday," 169,245.
Gutturals, G., 45, 96.
HAIR, colour of G., 368.
Harpists, Welsh-G., 180.
Hawick, G. fray at, 175.
Hedgehog, how to cook, 177.
Hermann, A., Transylvanian G. Songs,
131.
G. Songs of Mourning, 289.
reviewed, 368.
Hungarian Gs., 105, 118, 121, 203, 305,
367, 368.
Music, 313.
IBBETSON, W. J., Origin of the Gs., 223.
Immigration of the Gs. into Western
Europe, 185, 260, 324.
Indian Gs., 71, 170, 224.
Irish Tinkers and their Language, 350,
Italian Gs., 213, 248, 308, 358.
Italian G. Song, 212.
JATS, 71, 191, 225.
Jesina, J., death of, 371.
John, King, and the Tinkers, 244.
Joseph, Archduke, reviewed, 48.
Jusserand, J. J., reviewed, 167.
KHORASAN, Gs. of, 171.
Knapp, Professor, 174.
Kopernicki, I., A Foolish Brother and a
Wonderful Bush : a Polish-G. Folk-
tale, 84.
— Bosnian-G. Dialect, 125.
A Girl who was sold to the.
Devil: a Polish G. Folk-tale, 145.
Kopernicki, I., A Wise Young Jew and
a Golden Hen : a Polish G. Folk- talc,
227.
on Uniformity of Ortho-
graphy, 169.
LANGUAGE, G. : Bosnian, 125.
Brazilian, 57.
English, 46, 1 02.
Lithuanian, 251.
Slovak, 160, 235, 296, 362.
— Spanish, 177, 289.
Leland, C. G., Review of Archduke
Josef's " Czigdny Nyelvatan," 48.
Review of Hermann's "Ethno-
logische Mitteihmgen," 105.
G. Charms, 118.
A Letter from Hungary, 121.
An Italian G. Song, 212.
— Notes on the Three Magi, 246.
Paris Congress of Popular
Traditions, 317.
Lithuanian Gs., 251.
Ljuli, 51.
Luli, 51.
Luri, 51.
MAcRiTCHiE, D., Gs. of Catalonia, 35.
Review of Hermann's " Ethno-
logische Mittdlungen" 107.
Christmas Carols: the Three
Magi, 135.
Irish Tinkers and their Lan-
guage, 350.
Magi, The Three, 135, 246.
Manasse, Aaron, reviewed, 369.
Marriage, G., 177, 179.
Masaniello a G., 308.
Mayadds, 170.
Members, List of (as at 1st January
1889), 181.
Mesmerism, 42, 370.
Moor, Major, 104.
Moraes, Mello, reviewed, 57, 232.
Music, G., 173, 180.
Transylvanian G., 100, 122, 313.
NAILS of Crucifixion, 253.
Norway, English Gs. shipped to, 11.
OATHS, G., 173, 368.
Origin of Gs., 71, 223.
Orthography, G., 62, 96, 161, 169.
Oudh, Gs. of, 170.
PASPATI, Dr. A. G., Turkish Gs., 1.
Persian Gs., 51.
Physique, G., 250, 367.
Pincherle, J., South Austrian Romanes,
33.
Gypsy ing by the Adriatic, 132.
Italian Gs., 308.
INDKX.
3Ti
Polish G. Folk-tales, 84, 145, 'I'll.
Prostitutes, G., 4, 288.
QUEEN, American G., 174.
ROMANI-CHAL, meaning of, 50.
Roumanian G. Folk-tales, 25, 345.
Roumelian Gs. , 4.
Rowmais or Rowmanis, King of, 54.
SCOTTISH G. Fray, 175.
Gs., 179, 233, 375.
John Bimyan, A, 52.
Seven Languages, the, 374.
Shelta, 253.
Shetland, Gs. in, 233.
Sigismund, Emperor, 261.
Simo, 1 69, 245.
Slovak Gs. See Sowa.
Smith, G., of Coalville, his "heirloom,"
176, 311.
Solf, Dr., on German Gs., 50.
Songs, Gs., 131, 212, 289, 306.
Sowa, R. von, Statistical Account of
German Gs., 29, 134.
Dialect of Brazilian Gs., 57.
Slovak-G. Vocabulary, 160 ;
B-Chi, 235 ; Cho-F, 296 ; G-J, 362.
0 Minaris : a Slovak G. Tale,
258.
Spanish-G. Vocabulary, 177.
— — Gs., 36, 178, 286, 309.
Spells, G., Ill, 118.
Statistics, G., 29, 120, 134.
Surrey G., 176.
Switzerland, Gs. enter, 275.
THEWREWK DE PONOR, E., Origin of
Hungarian Mttsic, 313.
Tinkers, 52, 244, 309, 350.
Transylvanian Gs., 242.
- G. Songs, 131, 349.
Tent-Gs., Melodies of, 100.
Turkestan, Gs. in, 51.
Turkish Gs., 3.
VENETIAN Gs., 358.
Venezuela, Chingane'ros of, 306, 373.
WATTS, THEODORE, 120.
Wealthy Gs., 173, 177.
Webster, Wentvvorth, Cascarrots of
Ciboure, 76.
Christmas Carols .- The Three
Magi, 135.
George Bomou) in Spain, lf>0.
Weisbach, A., reviewed, 367.
Welsh-G. Harpists, 180.
Whiter, Walter, 102.
Wlislocki, H. von, 106-112.
Laments for the Dead, 293.
Transylvanian - G. Ballad,
349.
reviewed, 242.
ZOTTS, 73.
ERRATA.
PAGE
30, 3d line from foot of p. For " have shooting galleries," read "are rat-catchers."
37, note 2. For " p, 3," read " p. 4."
40, line 1 . Insert " the " at end of line.
67, line 16. The examples naque, naki, naqui should be transferred to list at
foot of page, and be inserted after chibe, etc.
82, line 25. For "Maurique," read "Manrique."
92, line 16. For " prazki," read " przazki."
92, line 22. For " lie'as," read " lil'as."
92, line 25. For " cheroi," read " xeroi."
92, line 28. For " lelas," read " lel'as."
92, line 29. For "kaithar," read "kathar."
132, line 5. For " Roman," read " Komani."
134, line 28. For " Wirtemberg," read " Wiirtemberg."
135, line 31. Add as a note to " It was composed by le Sieur Nicolas
Saboly" : — M. Mary Lafon in his Tableau Historique et Litterature de la
langue parlee dans le Midi de la France, Paris, 1842, in the Appendice Biblio-
graphique, p. 308, under the name Puech, writes : " His noels have been joined
to those of Saboly, and are better, as maybe judged by that of the Bohemians,
which d'Argens and Lame"trie used to sing, en petit comitc, at the court of
Frederick the Great. Moreover, Puech translated this song of the Bohemians
from the Spanish of Lope de Vega." The author (Puech), Millin asserts was
380 ERRATA.
TAGE
a beneficier of the Cathedral of Aix, and that the song was composed in 1680.
I have only a few of the voluminous works of Lope de Vega, and cannot find
mention of this song in any of these. — WENTWORTH WEBSTER.
138, line 41. For " Seguro," read " Segarra."
138, footnote \ Add — "No. 71 is also a pretended Gypsy ballad, too long to
quote."
139, line 4. For " quier en," read " quieren."
139, line 8. For " el," read " al."
139, line 11. For "joyous," read " light."
139, line 12. "Y vaga de baile" This line ought not to be distinguished from
the three lines which follow it.
139, lines 16 and 17 ought also to be more closely united.
139, line 21. For " puestar," read " puestas."
139, line 24. For " alegrad," read " alegrad."
139, line 26 (both Span, and Eng.) ought not to be separated from the following
lines.
139, line 36. For " y-a," read " ya,"
139, line 39. For " soltar," read " saltar."
139, footnote. For " snapping," read " click."
161, line 12. For "solna," read "Zsolna."
162, line 8. For "once only once occurring," read " occurring only once."
164, line 4 a. For " akyarav," read " akydrav."
164, line 49 a. For " ale'bo," read " al'ebo."
164, line 24 &. For " ani susie," etc., read " ani tuJce, mri pimni, basaviben
n-anavas — I should not even serenade thee, my beloved. — K."
164, line 52 b. For " avl'ais," read " avl'as."
165, line 16 a. Insert " forenoon " before M.W.
166, line 30 b. Insert " averjeno " before " a., S., adj."
236, line 15 b. For "pa," read "pal."
237, line 1 b. Insert " sit " after " to."
241, lines 14, 15 6. For " tobacco, pipe," read "tobacco-pipe."
259, line 3. For " Irkea," read " Jcerla."
301, line 23. For " lerga," read "Jerga."
360, lines 4, 5. For "proveder. L'Andera parte," read "proveder da nostra
parte."
372, lines 5, 6. For "the valuable," etc., substitute "the revision and republica-
tion of the valuable and now very rare work, Eomani (Jib of P. Puchmajer
( Jesina's version appearing in Bohemian, 1880 ; 3d ed. in German, 1886)."
374, note 3. For " Telouc," read " Jelouc."
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty,
at the Edinburgh University Press.
VOL. I.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
JULY 1888.
Content^
PREFACE.
PAGE
i
By DR. ALEXANDER G.
I. TURKISH GYPSIES.
PASI vn, ATHENS, ..... 3
II. EARLY ANNALS OF THE GYPSIES IN ENG-
LAND. By HENRY ,T. CROFTON, . . .5
III. A ROUMANIAN- GYPSY FOLK-TALE. TRANS-
LATED FROM THE ROMANY OF DR. BARBU CON-
STANTINESCU. By FRANCIS HlNDES GROOME, . 25
IV. STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES
IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE. By I'Kon
RUDOLF VON SOWA, HRUXN, . . . .29
V. ILLUSTRATIONS OF SOUTH AUSTRIAN -
ROMANICS. HyJ. PINCHKRLK, TRIESTE, .. . 33
VI. THE GYPSIES OF CATALONIA. By DAVID MAC -
RITCHIE, . . 35
VII. ADDITIONS TO GYPSY - ENGLISH VOCABU-
LARY. By HKNKY T. CKOFTOX. , . .46
VIII. REVIEW OF THE ARCHDUKE JOSEF'S
' C/IGAXY \YELV ATANV By CHARLES G.
LELAXD, . . . . . .48
NOTES AND QUERIES, 50
Printed by T. & A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
GEORGE BORROW.
" The career ami works of George Borrow are well worthy of study ; lie may have been ' a vagabond '
by taste and habil, but he was eminently a Christian and a gentleman, and many men have earned
greater name and fame without half his claims to the gratitude of society."- Sutunhnj RKVIVV.
Now Ready, A NEW AND CHEAPER RE-ISSUE of the following Works of the late
GEORGE BORROW. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. each.
The Bible in Spain : Or, The Journeys and Imprisonments of an
Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula.
With Portrait.
II.
The Zincali : An Account of the Gypsies of Spain ; their Manners,
Customs, Religion, and Language.
in.
LavengrO : The Scholar, the Gypsy, and the Priest.
IV.
The Romany Rye : A Sequel to Lavengro.
v.
Wild Wales : Its People, Language, and Scenery.
Also, uniform with the above, Post 8vo, 5s. Cloth.
Romano LavO-Lil : With Illustrations of English Gypsies, their
Poetry and Habitations.
LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
VOL. I. No. 2.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
OCTOBER 1888.
Ccmttntg.
PAGE
I. THE DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF BRAZIL.
By PROFESSOR RUDOLF VON SOWA, . . .57
II. DOMS, jATS, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE
GYPSIES. By G. A. GRIERSON, . . .71
III. THE CASCARROTS OF CIBOURE. BY THE REV.
WENTWORTH WEBSTER, . . . -76
IV. TWO GYPSY FOLK-TALES. By PROFESSOR ISIDORE
KOPERNICKI and FRANCIS .KINOES GROOME, . 84
V. ORTHOGRAPHY AND ACCENT. By H. T.
CROFTON, . . . . . .96
VI. THE GENITIVE IN GYPSY. By G. A. GRIERSON, 97
VII. ORIGINAL POPULAR MELODIES OF THE
TRANSYLVANIAN TENT-GYPSIES, . . 100
VIII. ANGLO -ROMANY GLEANINGS. By FRANCia
HINDES GROOME, ..... 102*
REVIEWS. By CHARLES G. LELAND, DAVID MAC-
RITCHIE, and THOMAS DAVIDSON, . . .105
NOTES AND QUERIES 118
Printed by T. & A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
THE GYPSIES.
WITH SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH, WELSH, RUSSIAN, AND
AUSTRIAN ROMANY.
Including Papers on the Gypsy Language.
BY CHARLES G. LELAND.
Crown Svo, red top, $2.00.
" Since literature became a profession, there has been an increasing rarity of
those books which bear internal evidence of the fact that their writers enjoyed writing
them, and that they were written for the sake of enjoyment ; but Mr. Leland's books
do provide such evidence, and they are accordingly very refreshing. The book is
crammed with interesting matter. . . . We have no hesitation in saying that this is the
most delightful Gypsy book with which we are acquainted." — The Spectator, London.
" Mr. Leland thoroughly understands the love of the Gypsy for the free and pic-
turesque life out-of-doors ; he feels it too ; his pages glow with it ; his fragments of
description borrow from it an irresistible charm. He brings therefore to the writing of
these fascinating chapters the rare qualifications of an exquisite sympathy with his sub-
ject and a poetic intuition of its inner character. But his enthusiasm is tempered by
his shrewdness, and saved from extravagance by his keen sense of humour. It is im-
possible to read such a book without sharing the author's delight in the queer and not
over reputable, but highly romantic company to which it introduces us ; and yet it is a
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*** For sale by all booksellers. Sent by mail, post paid, on receipt of price
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by taste and habit, but he was eminently a Christian and a gentleman, and many men have earned
greater name and fame without halt his claims to the gratitude of society."— Saturday Review.
Now Ready, A NEW AND CHEAPER RE-ISSUE of the following Works of the late
GEORGE BORROW. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. each.
I.
The Bible in Spain : Or, The Journeys and Imprisonments of an
Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula.
With Portrait.
II.
The Zincali : An Account of the Gypsies of Spain ; their Manners,
Customs, Religion, and Language.
III.
Lavengro : The Scholar, the Gypsy, and the Priest.
IV.
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V.
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Also, uniform with the above, Post 8vo, 5s. Cloth.
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LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
VOL. I. No. 3.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
JANUARY 1889.
Conttntg,
PAGE
I. A LETTER FROM HUNGARY. By CHARM
LELAND, . . . . > xai
II. THE DIALECT OF THE BOSNIAN GYPSlKs.
By PROFESSOR ISIDORE KOPERNICKI, . . 125
III. TRANSYLVANIAN GYPSY SONGS. By PROFESSOR
ANTON HERRMANN, . . . . . 131
IV. GYPSYING BY THE ADRIATIC. ByJ. PINCHERLE, 132
V. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON THE GERMAN
GYPSIES. By PROFESSOR RUDOLF VON SOVVA, . 134
VI. CHRISTMAS CAROLS : THE THREE MAGI. By
THE REV. WENTWORTH WEBSTER and DAVID
MACRlTCHIE, . . . . . -135
VII. TALE OF A GIRL WHO WAS SOLD TO THE
DEVIL. By PROFESSOR ISIDORE KOPERNICKI, . 145
VIII. GEORGE EORROWr IN SPAIN. By THE REV.
WENTWORTH WEBSTFR, . . . .150
IX. HAND-LIST OF ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING
TO GYPSIES. Compiled by H. T. CROFTON, . 153
X. SLOVAK-GYPSY VOCABULARY. By PROFESSOR
RUDOLF VON SOWA, ..... 160
REVIEWS : NOTES AND QUERIES, . . 167
Printed by T. & A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
President — ANDREW LANG.
Vice-Presidents— RIGHT HON. THEEARLOFSTRAFKORD; W. R S. RALSTON, M. A ; E.B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.
Director — G. LAUKENCE GOMME. Treasurer— EDWARD CI.ODD.
THIS Society was established in 1878, for the purpose of collecting and preserving the
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nected with material things ; Local Customs ; Festival Customs ; Ceremonial Customs ;
( James ; Jingles, Nursery Rhymes, Riddles, etc. ; Proverbs ; Old Saws, rhymed and
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The first duty of the Society is to collect the remains of Folk-Lore still extant. There
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The second, and, from a scientific stand-point, the most important duty of the Society,
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By these means the Society will doubtless be able to show more conclusively how much
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•• The career and works of George Borrow arc well worthy of study ; In- m:iy have been ' n vai;:ili.in'l '
by taste and habit, but he was eminently a Christian and a gentleman, and many men I.
greater name and tame without half his claims to the gratitude of society.
Now Ready, A NEW AND CHEAPER RE-ISSUE of the following Works of the late
GEORGE BORROW. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. each.
I. — The Bible in Spain: Or, The Journeys and Imprisonments of an
Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Penin-
sula. With Portrait.
II. — The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain; their Manners,
Customs, Religion, and Language.
III. — LavengrO : The Scholar, the Gypsy, and the Priest.
IV.— The Romany Rye: A Sequel to Lavengro.
V.— Wild Wales : Its People, Language, and Scenery.
Also, uniform with the above, Post 8vo, 5s. Cloth.
Romano LavO-Lil: With Illustrations of English Gypsies, their
Poetry and Habitations.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMAKLE STREET.
THE GYPSIES.
WITH SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH, WELSH, RUSSIAN, AND
AUSTRIAN ROMANY.
Including Papers on the Gypsy Language.
BY CHARLES G. LELAND.
Crown 8vo, red top, $2.00.
"Since literature became a profession, there lias been an increasing rarity of those books which bear
internal evidence of the fact that their writers enjoyed writing them, and that they were written for tin'
snke of enjoyment ; but Mr Leland's bonks do provide such evidence, and they are accordingly vci y
refreshing. The book is crammed with interesting matter. . . . We have no hesitation in saj ing that tli;s
is the most delightful Gypsy book with which we are acquainted/' — The Sjxctator, London.
" Mr. Leland thoroughly understands the love of the Gypsy for the free and picturesque life out-of-
doors ; he feels it too ; his pages glow with it ; his fragments of description borrow from it an irresistible
charm. He brings therefore to the writing of these fascinating chapters the rare qualifications <>t ;,n
exquisite sympathy with his subject and a poetic intuition of its inner character. But his enthusiasm is
tempered by his shrewdness, and saved from extravagance by bis keen sense of humour. It is impossible
to read such a book without sharing the author's delight in the queer and not over reputable, but highly
romantic company to which it introduces us ; and yet it is a great storehouse of serious and recondite
information." — New York Tribune.
%* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, post paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A.
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"A valuable and scholarly book on the subject."—- Scotsman.
•LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO.
ETHNOLOGISCHE IVjITTEILUNCEN AUS UNGARN:
Zeitschrift fiir die Volkskunde der Bewolmer Ungarns und seiner
Nebenlander. Redigiert und herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. ANTON
1 1 E R EMANN, Budapest.
Of the two parts of this work which have already appeared, a detailed account is
given in No. 2 of the present volume of the Gypsy Lore Society's Journal (p. 105 et seq.),
where the varied and interesting nature of its contents can be seen. The third part will
appear this month. The cost of each number is two marks (or two shillings) ; but the sum
of five marks, paid in advance, secures the subscriber the first five numbers. The Editor
will gladly exchange the Ethnoloyische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn with the publications
of other similar Societies ; and, if requested, will send copies gratis to those desiring it.
He also requests that all Authors and Societies dealing with this question will be good
enough to send him review copies of their works.
A ddress —
PROF. DR. ANTON HERRMANN, I. Attila-utcza 47, Budapest.
SOCIETE DBS TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
REVUE DES TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
(3eme ANN£E)
Recueil mensuel paraissant par fascicules de 48 a, 64 pages
avec musique gravee et illustrations.
PUBLIEE PAR
M. PAUL SEBILLOT,
Secretaire general de la Societe.
Abonnement: 15 fr. pour la France, 17 fr, pour 1' Union postale.
(S'adresser a M. A. CEETEUX, tresorier, 167 rue de Jacques.)
La cotisation des Societaires est de 15 fr sans distinction de
irationalite : elle donne droit a 1'envoi gnituit de la Eevue et de
1' Annual re. Adresser les manuscilts a M. Sebillot, 4 rue de 1'Odeon.
ORIENTALISGHE BIBLIOGRAPHIE
unter stiindiger Mitwirkung von Dr. Bezzenberger (Konigsberg),
Dr. Gleiniger (Berlin), Dr. Gottheil (New York), Dr. Z. Miiller
(Berlin), Dr. Strack (Berlin), Dr. Vollers (Cairo), Dr. Wijnmalen
(Haag), und mit gelegentliehen Beitriigen von Mag. Salemann
(St. Petersburg), P. Kalemkiar (Wien), Schiikri Efendi (Constanti-
iiopel), und Anderen herausgegeben von Dr. A. Miiller (Konigsberg).
Jahrlich 4 Hefte zu je 5 Bogen ; Subscription, 6 J/. p. A.
t>ei der Buchhandlung H. REUTHER, Berlin, Charlottenstrasse, 2 ;
London, Messrs. WILLIAMS & NORGATE ; New York, B. WESTERMANN & Co.
Erschienen sind Vol. I. (1887); Vol. II. (1888), Heft 1, 2.
Vol. II. Heft 3 erscheint zum 1 Januar.
Jedes Heft enthiilt einen Abschnitt iiber die auf die Zigeuner beziigliche Litteratnr ;
die Bibliographic umfasst ausserdem die auf Ethnographic, Sprache, Geschichte, Kunst
und Litteratur der asiatischen, australischen und at'nkanischen Volker beziiglichen
Werke und Abhandlungen, welche zur Kenntnis der Herausgeber gekommen sind.
Zahl der angefiihrten Titel : Vol. I. : 4635 Nummern ; Vol. II., 1, 2 : 2929 Nummern,
die beigefiigten Angaben iiber Recensionen ungerechnet.
VOL. I. No. 4.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
APRIL 1889.
PAGE
I. BEGINNING OF THE IMMIGRATION OF THE
GYPSIES INTO WESTERN EUROPE IX
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. By PAUL
BATAILLARD, . . . . . .185
II. AN ITALIAN GYPSY SONG. By CHAKLKS G.
LELAND, ...... 212
III. THE GYPSIES IN THE MARCHES OF ANCONA
DURING THE i6TH, IJTH, AND i8ra CEN-
TURIES. By the MARQUIS COLOCCI, . . 213
IV. CENTRAL AFRICAN GYPSIES. By DR. R. W.
FELKIN, ...... 220
V. THE ORIGIN OF THE GYPSIES. By W. J.
IBBETSON, ...... 223
VI. TALE OF A WISE YOUNG JEW AND A
GOLDEN HEN. By PROFESSOR ISIDORE KOPER-
NICKI, ....... 227
VII. BRAZILIAN AND SHETLAND GYPSIES. By
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME, .... 232
VIII. SLOVAK-GYPSY VOCABULARY: BAB— CHI. By
PROFESSOR RUDOLF VON Sow A, . . . 235
REVIEWS : NOTES AND QUERIES, . . 241
Printed by T 6- A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
President — ANDREW LANG.
Vice-Presidents— RIGHT HON. THEEARLOFSTRAFFORD ; W. R. S. KAI.STON, M.A. ; E.B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.
Director — G. LAURENCE GOMME. Treasurer — EDWARD C..ODD.
THIS Society was established in 1878, for the purpose of collecting and preserving the
fast-perishing relics of Folk- Lore amongst our own and other peoples.
The Annual Subscription is One Guinea, payable in advance on the first of January
in each year, which will entitle Members to receive the publications of the Society for
such year. Members joining during the present year, and desirous of subscribing for the
publications of the Society already issued, several of which are becoming scarce, may do
so by paying the subscriptions for the back years.
A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A., 8 Oxford Road, Kilburn, London, N. W. \ Hon.
J. J. FOSTER, 36 Alma Square, St. John's Wood, London, N.W. jSecs,
M E L U S I N E
REVUE DE MYTHOLOGIE, LITTERATURE POPULAIRE,
TRADITIONS ET USAGES
FONDEE PAR H. GAIDOZ & E. ROLLAND, 1877-1887
DIRICEE PAR HENRI CAIDOZ.
La Revue parait le 5 de chaque mois par livraisons de 12 pages in -4°. Prix de
1'abonnement pour un an, port compris France et Union Postale : 12 francs.
On s'abonne pour la France en envoyant un mandat-poste (ou un mandat-carte) a M.
Emile LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands- Augustins, Paris. Le talon du mandat
servira de recu. On s'abonne pour 1'etranger en envoyant un mandat-poste international
ou par 1'intermediaire d'un libraire.
Toutes les communications relatives a la redaction, lettres, livres pour compte rendu,
etc., devront etre adressees, franc de port, & M. GAIDOZ, directeur de Me'lusine,
& la librairie E. LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands- Augustins, a Paris.
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
rriHIS JOURNAL, published for the AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, is designed for
JL the collection and publication of the FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE
AMERICAN CONTINENT.
The JOURNAL appears quarterly, in the months of February, May, August, and
September.
The Contents of the JOURNAL for the quarter January— March 1889, are as
follows : —
1. Introduction.
2. Death and Funeral Customs among the Omahas. — Francis La Flesche.
3. Current Superstitions :
I. Omens of Death.— Fanny D. Bergen and W. W. Newell.
4. Folk-Lore of the Pennsylvania Germans (II.). — W. J. Ho/man.
5. Louisiana Nursery Tales (II.). — Alcee Fortier.
6. Reports of Voodoo Worship in Hayti and Louisiana. — W. W. Newell.
7. Popular Rimes from Mexico. — Albert S. Gatschet.
8. Legends of the Cherokees. — H. ten Kate.
9. European Folk-Lore in the United States. — Jeremiah Curtin.
10. English Folk -Tales in America (II.).
11. Waste-Basket of Words.
12. Folk-Lore Scrap-Book.
13. Notes and Queries.
14. Records of American Folk-Lore.
15. Notices of the Folk-Lore of other Continents.
16. Bibliographical Notes.
The JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE for 1888 forms a volume of 256 pages,
8vo. A limited number of copies are still to be obtained.
Subscribers desirous of becoming Members of the Society are requested to address*
the Secretary.
Annual Subscription, $3.00. In the British Isles, 12s. 60?.'
The JOURNAL is published for the Society by Hough ton, Mifflin and Co., Boston
and New York; London: Triibner and Co., 57 Ludgate Hill; who will receive
subscriptions.
GEORGE BORROW.
" The career and works of Oorge Borrow arc well worthy ofsindy ; In- may have l,r,-n 'a v;e-.-ih.,nd
By taste and habit, but In- was eminently a Christian ami a grntlem.-iii, and many men !
_real IT name ami tame without hall' his claims to t lie urrat itmle of -
Now Ready, A NEW AND CHEAPER RE-ISSUE of the following Works of the late
GEORGE BORROW. Post 8vo, 2s. ed. each.
I- — The Bible in Spain: Or, The .Journeys and Imprisonments of an
Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Penin-
sula. With Portrait.
II- — The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain; their Mann, i
Customs, Religion, and Language.
Ill— Lavengro : The Scholar, the Gypsy, and the Priest.
IV.— The Romany Rye: A Sequel to Lavengro.
V. — Wild Wales : Its People, Language, and Scenery.
Also, uniform with the above, Post 8vo, 5s. Cloth.
Romano LavO-Lil : With Illustrations, of English Gypsies, then
Poetry and Habitations.
LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
THE GYPSIES.
WITH SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH, WELSH, RUSSIAN, AM)
AUSTRIAN ROMANY.
Including Papers on the Gypsy Language.
BY CHARLES G. LELAND.
Crown 8vo, red top, $2.00.
"Since literature became a profession, there has been an increasing rarity of those books which hear
internal evidence of the fact that their writers enjoyed writing thfin, and that they were written for tin-
.sake of enjoyment; bnt Mr, Leland's books do provide such evidence, and they are accordingly vei \
refreshing. The book is crammed with interesting matter. . . . We have no hesitation iu saying that this
is the most delightful Gypsy book with which we are acquainted." — The $i"<-><it<,r, /.«/«/««..
"Mr. Leland thoroughly understands the love of the Gypsy for the free and picturesque life out-of-
doors ; he feels it too ; his pages glow with it ; his fragments of description boiTow from it an irresistible
charm. He brings therefore to the writing of these fascinating chapters the rare qualifications of an
exquisite sympathy with his subject and a poetic intuition of its inner character. But his enthusiasm is
tempered bf his shrewdness, and saved from extravagance by his keen sense of humour. It is impossible
to read such a book without sharing the author's delight in the queer and not over reputable, but high!)
romantic company to which it introduces us; and yet it is a great storehouse of serious and recomliif
information." — New York Tribune.
%* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, post paid, on receipt ofj>ri'-<
by the Publishers*
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO,, BOSTON, U.S.A.
With Map and Two Illustrations.
ACCOUNTS OF THE GYPSIES OF INDIA
Collected and Edited by DAVID MAoRiTCHiE, author of " Ancient and Modern Britons. "
Crown 8vo, doth, 3s. Qd.
" We welcome the ' Gypsies of India ' as a real contribution to Romani Literature.
— Athenaeum.
"Mr. MacRitchie's knowledge of what we suppose we may call Gypsiology is pro-
found. " — Guardian.
" Mr. David MacRitchie has collected some valuable matter from various source?
which throws considerable light upon the subject, and forms a very readable and enter-
taining book. . . . Mr. MacRitchie's book is one which commends itself to the careful
attention and study of Englishmen. "—Morning Poxl.
" A valuable and scholarly book on the subject." — Scotsman.
LONDON : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO.
ETHNOLOCISCHE D/IITTEILUNGEN AUS UNGARN:
Zeitschrift fiir die Volkskunde der Bewohner Ungarns und seiner
Nebenlander. Kedigiert und herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. ANTON
HE RK MANN, Budapest.
Of the two parts of this work which have already appeared, a detailed account is
given in No. 2 of the present volume of the Gypsy Lore Society's Journal (p. 105 et seq.),
where the varied and interesting nature of its contents can be seen. The third part will
appear this month. The cost of each number is two marks (or two shillings) ; but the sum
of five marks, paid in advance, secures the subscriber the first five numbers. The Editor-
will gladly exchange the Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn with the publications
of other similar Societies ; and, if requested, will send copies gratis to those desiring it.
He also requests that all Authors and Societies dealing with this question will be good
enough to send him review copies of their works.
A ddress —
PROF. DR. ANTON HERRMANN, I. Attila-utcza 47, Budapest.
SOCIETE DBS TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
REVUE DES TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
(3*me ANNEE)
Eecueil mensuel paraissant par fascicules de 48 a 64 pages
avec musique gravee et illustrations.
PUBLIEE PAR
M. PAUL SEBILLOT,
Secretaire general de la Societe.
Abonnement: 15 fr. pour la France, 17 fr. pour 1'Union postale.
(S'adresser a M. A. CEETEUX, tre'sorier, 167 rue de Jacques.)
La cotisation des Socie"taires est de 15 fr. sans distinction de
nationalite : elle donne droit a 1'envoi gratuit de la Eevue et de
1'Annuaire. Adresser les manuscrits a M. Se"billot, 4 rue de 1'Odeon,
Paris.
ORIENTALISGHE BIBLIOGRAPHIE
unter standiger Mitwirkung von Dr. Bezzenberger (Konigsberg),
Dr. Gleiniger (Berlin), Dr. Qottheil (New York), Dr. Z. Mtiller
(Berlin), Dr. Strack (Berlin), Dr. Vollers (Cairo), Dr. Wijnmalen
(Haag), und mit gelegentlichen Beitragen von Mag. Salemann
(St. Petersburg), P. Kalemkiar (Wien), Schukri Efendi '(Constanti-
nopel), und Anderen herausgegeben von Dr. A, MUller (Konigsberg).
Jahrlich 4 Hefte zu je 5 Bogen ; Subscription, 6 M. p. A.
bei der Buchhandlung H. REUTHER, Berlin, Charlottenstrasse, 2 ;
London, Messrs. WILLIAMS & NORGATE ; New York, B. WESTERMANN & Co.
Erschienen sind Vol. I. (1887) ; Vol. II. (1888-89).
Jedes Heft enthalt einen Abschnitt iiber die auf die Zigeuner beziigliche Litteratur ;
die Bibliographic umfasst ausserdem die auf Ethnographic, Sprache, Geschichte, Kunst
und Litteratur der asiatischen, australischen und at'rikanischen Volker beziiglichen
Werke und Abhandlungen, welche zur Kenntnis der Herausgeber gekommen sind.
Zahl der angefiihrten Titel : Vol. I.: 4635 Nummern ; Vol. II., Uefte 1,2: 2929
Nummern, die beigefiigten Angaben iiber Recensionen ungerechnet.
VOL. I.
No. 5.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
JULY 1889.
Contents
PAGE
I. THE GYPSIES OF ASIA MINOR. By DR. A.
ELYSSEEFF, ...... 249
II. THE LITHUANIAN GYPSIES AND THEIR
LANGUAGE. By M. DowojNO-SYLWESTROWicz, 251
III. O MINARIS: A SLOVAK - GYPSY TALE. By
PROFESSOR RUDOLF VON SOVVA, . . .258
IV. THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY— (Continued). By PAUL BATAILLARD, 260
V. THE GITANOS OF TO-DAY. By the MARQUIS
CoLoccr, . . . . . .286
VI. GYPSY SONGS OF MOURNING— i. PRISONERS'
LAMENTS. By PROFESSOR ANTON HERRMANN.
2. LAMENTS FOR THE DEAD. By DR. HEIN-
RICH VON WLISLOCKI, .... 289
VII. SLOVAK-GYPSY VOCABULARY: CHO-F. By
PROFESSOR RUDOLF VON SOWA, . . . 296
REVIEWS : NOTES AND QUERIES,
301
Printed by T. & A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
President— ANDREW LANG.
Vice-Presidents— RIGHT HON. THEEARLOFSTRAFKORD; W. R. S. RALSTON.M.A.; E.B.Tyum, LL.D., F.R.S.
Director — G. LAURENCE GOMME. Treasurer — EDWARD CLODD.
THIS Society was established in 1878, for the purpose of collecting and preserving the
fast-perishing relics of Folk- Lore amongst our own and other peoples.
The Annual Subscription is One Guinea, payable in advance on the first of January
in each year, which will entitle Members to receive the publications of the Society for
such year. Members joining during the present year, and desirous of subscribing for the
publications of the Society already issued, several of which are becoming scarce, may do
BO by paying the subscriptions for the back years.
A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A., 8 Oxford Road, Kilburn, London, N.W.) Hon.
J. J. FOSTER, 36 Alma Square, St. John's Wood, London, N.W. j Sees.
M E L U S I N E
REVUE DE MYTHOLOGIE, LITTERATURE POPULAIRE,
TRADITIONS ET USAGES
FONDEE PAR H. GAIDOZ & E. ROLLAND, 1877-1887
DIRIGEE PAR HENRI GAIDOZ.
La Revue parait le 5 de chaque mois par livraisons de 12 pages in -4°. Prix de
1'abonnement pour un an, port compris France et Union Postale : 12 francs.
On s'abonne pour la France en envoyant un mandat-poste (ou un mandat-carte) a M.
Emile LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands-Augustins, Paris. Le talon du mandat
servira de recu. On s'abonne pour 1'etranger en envoyant un mandat-poste international
ou par 1'intermediaire d'un libraire.
Toutes les communications relatives a la redaction, lettres, livres pour compte rendu,
etc., devront etre adressees, franc de port, a M. GAIDOZ, directeur de Melusine,
a la librairie E. LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands-Augustins, a Paris.
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
rpHIS JOURNAL, published for the AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, is designed for
J_ the collection and publication of the FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE
AMERICAN CONTINENT. It appears quarterly, in the months of February, May, August,
and September.
The JOURNAL for 1888 forms a volume of 256 pages, 8vo. A limited number of
copies are still to be obtained.
Subscribers desirous of becoming Members of the Society are requested to address
the Secretary.
Annual Subscription, $3.00. In the British Isles, 12?. Qd.
The JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE is published for the Society by Hough ton,
Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York ; London : Triibner and Co., 57 Ludgate Hill ;
who will receive subscriptions.
JL.JHL TRADITION.
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR TALES, LEGENDS, SONGS, MUSIC,
ARTS, AND FOLK-LORE.
EDITORS:— m. E. BLEMONT & HENRY CARNOY.
Monthly, 32 to 48 pp. in 8° with Music, Drawings, Portraits, etc.
SUBSCRIPTION : 12 SHILLINGS.
Members of the GYPSY LORE SOCIETY will, receive " La Tradition" for 8 sh., and the
two first vols.for 12-s. =£lfor years 1887-88-89.
All Letters, Essays, Money-orders, etc., to be addressed to M. HENRY CARNOY,
Editor of "La Tradition," 33 rue Vavin, Paris.
GEORGE BORROW.
" The career and works of Gcorg*' HOITOW arc well worthy of s* inly ; }«• may hn\e ln-.-n ' a va-ahon.l '
by taste and lialiit, but lie was eminently a Christian and a gentleman, and many men hare earned
greater name and fame, without hall his claims to the gratitude ,,| ft
Now Ready, A NEW AND CHEAPER RE-ISSUE of the following Works of the late
GEORGE BORROW. Post 8vo, 2s. 6<L each.
I.— The Bible in Spain: Or, The Journeys and Imprisonments of »n
Englishman in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Penin-
sula. With Portrait.
II. — The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain; their Manners.
Customs, Religion, and Language.
TIL — Lavengro : The Scholar, the Gypsy, and the Priest.
IV7.— The Romany Rye: A Sequel to Lavenero,
V. — Wild Wales: Its People, Language, an<l Scenery.
Also, uniform with the above, Post 8vo, 5s. Cloth.
Romano LavO-Lil : With Illustrations of English Gypsies, their
Poetry and Habitations.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
THE GYPSIES.
WITH SKETCHES OF THK ENGLISH, WELSH, RUSSIAN, AND
AUSTRIAN ROMANY.
Including Papers on the Gypsy Language.
BY CHARLES G. LELAND.
Crown 8vo, red top, $2.00.
"Since literature became a profession, there has been an increasing rarity of those books which b*-a
internal evidence of the fact that their writeis enjojed writing them, and that they wen; written fur tli
sake of enjoyment; but Mr. Lel.md's books do provide such evidence, and they are accordingly vei
refreshing. The book is crammed with interesting matter. . . . We have, no hesitation in sajing that tli
is the most delightful Gypsy book with which we are acquainted." — The Spectator, London.
"Mr. Leland thoroughly understands the love of the Gypsy for the free and picturesque life ont-o
doors ; he feels it too ; his pages glow with it ; his fragments of description borrow from it an irresistiM
charm. He brings therefore to the writing of these fascinating chapters the rare qualifications of a
exquisite sympathy with his subject and a poetic intuition of its inner character. But his enthusiasm i
tempered by his shrewdness, and saved from extravagance by his keen sense of humour. It is impossible
to read such a book without sharing the author's delight in the queer and not. over reputable, but highly
romantic company to which it introduces us ; and yet it is a great storehouse of serious and recondite
information." — New York Tribune.
%* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, post paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A.
With Map and Two Illustrations.
ACCOUNTS OF THE GYPSIES OF INDIA
Collected and Edited by DAVID MAcRiTCHiE, author of " Ancient and Modern Britons."
Crown 8vo, doth, 3s. Gel.
11 We welcome the ' Gypsies of India ' as a real contribution to Roman! Literature. "
— Alhenixum.
11 Mr. MacRitchie's knowledge of what we suppose we may call Gypsiology is pro-
found. " — Guardian.
"Mr. David MacRitchie has collected some valuable matter from various sources
which throws considerable light upon the subject, and forms a very readable and enter
taining book. . . . Mr. MacRitchie's book is one which commeuds itself to the careful
attention and study of Englishmen. "—Morning Post.
"A valuable and scholarly book on the subject."— Scotsman.
LONDON : KEG AN PAUL, TRENCH & CO.
ETHNOLOCISCHE IV|ITTEILUNGEN AUS UNCARN :
Zeitsclirift ftir die Volkskunde der Bewohner Ungarns und seiner
Nebenlander. Kedigiert und herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. ANTON
HERRMANN, Budapest,
Of the two first numbers of this work, a detailed account is given in No. 2 of the
present volume of the Gypsy Lore Society's Journal (pp. 105 et seq.), where the varied and
interesting nature of its contents can be seen. The third number, issued in separate parts,
is now appearing. The cost of each number is two marks (or two shillings) ; but the sum
of five marks, paid in advance, secures the subscriber the first five numbers. The Editor
will gladly exchange the Ethnologische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn with the publications
of other similar Societies ; and, if requested, will send copies gratis to those desiring it.
He also requests that all Authors and Societies dealing with ethnological and kindred
matters will be good enough to send him review copies of their works.
Address —
PROF. DR. ANTON HERRMANN, I. Attila-ufccza 47, Budapest.
SOCIETE DBS TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
REVUE DES TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
Recueil mensuel paraissant par fascicules de 48 a 64 pages
avec nmsique gravee et illustrations.
PUBLIEE PAR
M. PAUL SEBILLOT,
Secretaire general de la tfociete.
Abonnement: 15 fr. pour la France, 17 fr. pour I'Unioii postale.
(S'adresser a M. A. CERTEUX, tresorier, 167 rue de Jacques.)
La cotisation des Societaires est de 15 fr. sans distinction de
nationalite : elle donne droit a 1'envoi gratuit- de la Revue et de
1'Animaire. Adresser les manuscrits a M. Se"billot, 4 rue de 1'Odeon,
Paris.
ORIENTALISCHE BIBLIOCRAPHIE
ivnter stiindiger Mitwirkung von Dr. Bezzenberger (Konigsberg),
Dr. Gleiniger (Berlin), Dr. Gottheil (New York), Dr. J. Miiller
(Berlin), Dr. Strack (Berlin), Dr. Vollers (Cairo), Dr. Wijnmalen
( Haag), und mit gelegentlichen Beitragen von Mag. Salemann
(St. Petersburg), P. Kalemkiar (Wien), Schiikri Efendi (Constanti-
nopel), und Anderen herausgegeben von Dr. A. Miiller (Konigsberg).
Jahrlich 4 Hefte zu je 5 Bogen ; Subscription, 8 M. p. A.
bei der Buchhandlung H. REUTHER, Berlin, Charlottenstrasse, 2 ;
London, Messrs. WILLIAMS & NORGATE ; New York, B. WESTERMANN & Co.
Erschienen sind Vol. I. (1887); Vol. II. (1888-89); Vol. III., Fasc. i. (1889).
Jedes Heft enthalt einen Abschnitt iiber die auf die Zigeuner beziigliche Litteratur ;
die Bibliographic umfasst ausserdem die auf Ethnographic, Sprache, Geschichte, Kunst
und Litteratur der asiatischen, australischen und at'rikanischen Volker beziiglichen
Werke und Abhandlungen, welche zur Kenntnis der Herausgcber gekommen sind.
Zahl der angefiihrten Titel : Vol. I. : 4635 Nummern ; Vol. II. : —6318 Nummern,
die beigefiigten Angaben iiber Recensionen ungerechnet.
VQL- I. No. 6.
JOURNAL OF THE
GYPSY LORE
SOCIETY
OCTOBER 1889.
Content^
PAGE
I. ORIGIN OF HUNGARIAN MUSIC. By PROFESSOR
EMIL THEWREWK DE PONOR, . . . 313
II. THE PARIS CONGRESS OF POPULAR TRADI-
TIONS. By CHARLES G. LELAND, . . . 317
III. THE IMMIGRATION OF THE GYPSIES INTO
WESTERN EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY— (Continued). By PAUL BATAILLARD, 324
IV. THE RED KING AND THE WITCH : A ROUMA-
NIAN GYPSY FOLK-TALE. Translated from the
Romani of DR. BARBU CONSTANTINESCU, by
FRANCIS HINDES GROOME, .... 345
V. A TRANSYLVANIAN-GYPSY BALLAD. By DR.
HEINRICH VON WLISLOCKI, .... 349
VI. IRISH TINKERS AND THEIR LANGUAGE. By
D'AVID MACRlTCHIK, ..... 350
VII. VENETIAN EDICTS RELATING TO THE
GYPSIES OF THE SIXTEENTH, SEVEN-
TEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES, 358
VIII. SLOVAK-GYPSY VOCABULARY: G—J. By PRO-
FESSOR RUDOLF VON SOWA, .... 362
REVIEWS : NOTES AND QUERIES. . 367
Printed by T. & A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press.
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
President — ANDREW LANG.
Vice-Presidents— RIGHT HON. THEEARLOFSTRAFFORD; W. R. S. RALSTON, M. A. ; E.B. TYLOR, LL.D., F.R.S.
Director — G. LADBEXCE GOMME. Treasurer— EDWARD CLODD.
THIS Society was established in 1878, for the purpose of collecting and preserving the
fast-perishing relics of Folk-Lore amongst our own and other peoples.
The Annual Subscription is One Guinea, payable in advance on the first of January
in each year, which will entitle. Members to receive the publications of the Society for
such year. Members joining during the present year, and desirous of subscribing for the
publications of the Society already issued, several of which are becoming scarce, may do
so by paying the subscriptions for the back years.
A. GRANGER HUTT, F.S.A., 8 Oxford Road, Kilburn, London, N.W.|#ow.
J. J. FOSTER, 36 Alma Square, St: John's Wood, London, N.W. ) Sees.
M E L U S I N E
REVUE DE MYTHOLOGIE, LITTERATURE POPULAIRE,
TRADITIONS ET USAGES
FONDEE PAR H. GAIDOZ & E. HOLLAND, 1877-1887
DIRIGEE PAR HENRI CAIDOZ.
La Revue parait le 5 de chaque mois par livraisons de 12 pages in-4°. Prix de
I'abonnement pour un an, port compris France et Union Postale : 12 francs.
On s'abonne pour la France en envoyant uu mandat-poste (ou un mandat-carte) a M.
Emile LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands- Augustins, Paris. Le talon du mandat
servira de recu. On s'abonne pour l'e"tranger en envoyant un mandat-poste international
ou par 1'intermediaire d'un libraire.
Toutes les communications relatives a la redaction, lettres, livres pour compte rendu,
etc., devront etre adressees, franc de port, a M. GAIDOZ, directeur de Melusine.
a la librairie E. LECHEVALIER, 39, quai des Grands-Augustins, a Paris.
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
rTlHIS JOURNAL, published for the AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY, is designed for
± the collection and publication of the FOLK-LORE AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE
AMERICAN CONTINENT. It appears quarterly, in the months of February, May, August,
and September.
The JOURNAL for 1888 forms a volume of 256 pages, 8vo. A limited number of
copies are still to be obtained.
Subscribers desirous of becoming Members of the Society are requested to address
the Secretary.
Annual Subscription, $3.00. In the British Isles, 12-9. Qd.
The JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE is published for the Society by Hough ton,
Mifflin and Co., Boston and New York; London : Trubner and Co., 57 Ludgate Hill :
who will receive subscriptions.
TRADITION.
INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR TALES, LEGENDS, SONGS, MUSIC,
ARTS, AND FOLK-LORE.
ED/TORS:— MM. E. BIEMONT & HENRY CARNOY.
Monthly, 32 to 48 pp. in 8° with Music, Drawings, Portraits, etc.
SUBSCRIPTION : 12 SHILLINGS.
Members of the GYPSY LORE SOCIETY will receive " La Tradition " .for 8 *7t., and the
two first vols.for 12s. = £1 /or years 1887-88-89.
All Letters, Essays, Money-orders, etc., to be addressed to M. HENRY CARNOY,
Editor of " La Tradition," 33 rue Vavin, Paris.
With many //lustrations, and a Map showing Gypsy Routes and Localities in Europe.
GLI Z I N G A R I
I'.Y AD1II ANO COLO(J< I
(ERMANNO LoKsniKu, Turin, 1888. 8vo, 420 pp. ; 7 fr. :>0. )
"Tliis book of Sig. Colocci's forms an excellent introduction to such a study
["a scientific study" of the Gypsies]. To personal investigation he adds a rlosV
knowledge of the already wide literature on the subject. . .'. Colocci'a !•(•«, k is so
full of information that it has seemed more useful to describe it than tn dfecn
contents. Those who want to obtain the data for a discuss'on of the iJniimny probli m
will find the materials ready to their hand .in this well-printed and hamlsom.U
illustrated volume."— T/ie Academy, June 1, Kss«.».
„ (Sine litcrnrifdje 9Zcul)cit fcon Sntereffe ift ' (ill Zhxjari ' (, 3Me Stfjcuuer'). Mm-in
d\m popolo en-ante (Uurt'n, Sbfdpcr'3 33ertag), etn re^cnteS Serf bctf rii(;mtirf) bcfaimten
italienifdjen SHetfenben unb ©dmftfteUerS SWarc&efe Slbriano (lolecei. Q3 tft etn
2Betf, ftetdjeS fid) »on anbcren beffetben ©cnreS angenef;m unterfdjcibct tit reft clcganton
©til. £)ie <Sprad;e ift fo naturttn) unb unge$uMtngcn, tute bie gctflooUe ftonperfation
eineS cornermen SBeltmanneS. 9)?an merft eg bem £nt*e an, bafi ber 3?crfaiTcr fetn
SOSer! au^ n)trflid;em 3»tercffe fiir btcfen eigentt*umltd?en unb »em ^ri'inuncr ctnc?
nn;fiifd?en 3aubery umftofTencn »fet»er(aflerten Sot^flamm gefc^affen. Hub iva* rein
SBerfe nod; einen bcfonbercn 9?etj oerleil^t, ift, ba^ ifwt ber Stempet ber 23al;r(Ktt anf
gebru'cft ift unb man au3 tebcr 3eite beuttid; erfennt, ba£ e^ fetn (Songtomerat trccfener
Saten, fonbern bie Siebergabe t»on ©clbftcrtebtcm ift, unb tro^ feinee grajtofcn Stil^
tiefe^ (Stubiitm unb ret.te^ 23iffcn ocrra'tt). 5}ie Arbeit fiittt eine ?iirfe au^, ja, tva$J bie
3ftetd?I;attigfeit be^ 2)?ateriat^ betrifft, gebiil^rt tOr »or anberen Serfen ber 33orrang.
2)a^ geiftt»otte S5ud; fei alien greunben auf3 Sarmfte cmpfo^Ien."— Ntuer Drt*dn< /•
Tageblatt, No. 6, January G, 1889.
"II Colocci, nato nelle March e, dove gli Ziugari abbondano piu che in qualumjue
altra regione Italian a, avendo poi molto viaggiato nell' Europa orientale dove si trovano
le piu grandi agglomerazioni di tribu zingaresche, tra potuto studiare la loro lingua,
impratichirsi nei loro costumi, e raccogliere poi le osservazioni proprie e quelle dei piu
reputati zingaristi, in un libro attraentissimo nel quale 1'erudizione va di pari passo con
1'osservazione del vero." — Illustrazione Italiana, 1889, N". G.
" II libro del Colocci e uno di quelli che si leggono con pari interesse dagli eruditi e
clai dilettanti di letture amene e ricreative. II volume, riccamente edito dal Loescher,
contiene olti-e la storia degli zingari, numerose fine illustrazioni di tipi, di costumi, di
paesaggi, di ritratti del popolo descritto. V'e una raccolta di voci e frasi del dialetto
zingai'o-italiano ; un lessico italiano tsiganies, una carta a colori della diflusione del
popolo zingaresco in Europa e periino della mubica di arie tzigane." — Corriere della Sera,
1889, N. 5.
dirsi che nulla sia sfuggito di quanto fu scritto intorno all' argomento in tutti gli
La sola Bibliografia zinyaresca che e poeta in fine del volume e contiene non meno di (i4.S
citazioni, costituira di per se, un lavoro per il quale gli studiosi di questa intere.<sante
parte della storia naturale dell' umanita, dovrebbero essere grati all'autore. " — La Trilnum.
25th December 1888.
" L'opera che 1'egregio autore offre al pubblico italiano viene non solo a spargere
luce su di un argomento atto a pascere il desiderio e la curiosita dell' ignoto ; ma andi. -.
e piu essenzialmente, a riempire una lacuna storica ed etnologica. Infatti si sono raccolte
ed ordinate non solo le notizie piu accertate intorno a^questo ' strano popolo ' conu- il
Oolocci lo chiama ; ma per mezzo di opportuni raffronti e con logica serrata e stringfutt-
scaturiscono fuori dall' infinita ma morta suppellettile di una vasto, erudizione
menti eificacissimi a sbarazzare viete opinion! e pregindizi sulla onginr, sulla diffusion e,
sul casattere, sulle costumanze di un popolo dtsprezzato e maltrattato sempre, quantnnque
non sempre a ragione."— // biblioflo, 1889, No. 1.
FOLK-LORE
THE Journal of the new " Ethnographical Society of Hungary " will be conducted
by Professor Louis KATONA and Professor ANTON HERRMANN (who will merge his
Ethnolorjische Mitteilungen aus Ungarn in the new periodical). FOLK-LORE will be
published at Budapest every month, and it will admit articles written in French.
English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Hungarian. The yearly Subscription
will be 7 florins =12 marks =14 francs = lls. 3d. ; but to members of all Societies
devoted to Folk-lore, Ethnology, and kindred subjects the yearly subscription will
only be about one-fourth of the above sum. (In all cases outside of Austria-Hungary
the expense of transmission by post will form an additional charge. )
The Ethnographical Society of Hungary has been formed under the Presidency of
M. PAUL HUNFALVY of Budapest. For further information with regard to it (or to
Folk-lore) address the Secretary, —
PROF. DR. ANTON HERRMANN, I. Attila-utcza 47, Budapest.
SOCIETE DBS TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
REVUE DES TRADITIONS POPULAIRES
Recueil mensuel paraissant par fascicules de 48 a 64 pages
avec inusique gravee et illustrations.
PUBLIEE PAR
M. PAUL SEBILLOT,
Secretaire general de la Societe.
Abonnement: 15 fr. pour la France, 17 fr. pour I'Union postale.
(S'adresser a M. A. CERTEUX, tresorier, 167 rue de Jacques.)
La cotisation des Societaires est de 15 fr. sans distinction de
nationalite : elle donne droit a 1'envoi gratuit- de la Revue et de
1'Annuaire. Adresser les manuscrits a M. Se billot, 4 rue de 1'Odeon,
Paris.
ORIENTALISGHE BIBLIOCRAPHIE
unter standiger Mitwirkung von Dr. Bezzenberger (Konigsberg),
Dr. Gleiniger (Berlin), Dr. Gottheil (New York), Dr. J. Miiller
(Berlin), Dr. Strack (Berlin), Dr. Vollers (Cairo), Dr. Wijnmalen
(Haag), und mit gelegentlichen Beitragen von Mag. Salemann
(St. Petersburg), P. Kalemkiar (Wien), Schukri Efendi (Constanti-
nopel), und Anderen lierausgegeben von Dr. A, Miiller (Konigsberg).
Jahrlich 8 Hefte zu je 2 Bogen ; Subscription, 8 M. p. A.
bei der Buchhandlung H. RETJTHER, Berlin, Charlottenstrasse, 2 ;
London, Messrs. WILLIAMS & NORGATE ; New York, B. WESTEBMANN & Co.
Erschienen sind Vol. I. (1887); Vol. II. (1888-89); Vol. III., Fasc. i.-iv. (1889).
Jedes Heft enthalt einen Abschnitt liber die auf die Zigeuner beziigliche Litteratur :
die Bibliographie umfasst ausserdem die auf Ethnographic, Sprache, Geschichte, Kunst
und Litteratur der asiatischen, australischen und at'rikanischen Volker beziiglichen
Werke und Abhandlungen, welche 7,ur Konntnis der Iterausgeber gekommen sind.
Zahl der angefiihrten Titel : Vol. I. : 4635 Nummern ; Vol. II. : —6318 Nummern,
die beigefiigten Angaben iiber Recensionen uugerechnet.
DX
101
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Gypsy Lore Society
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