THE ENGLISH GYPSY LANGUAGE



The Gypsies of England call their language, as the Gypsies of many
other countries call theirs, Romany or Romanes, a word either derived
from the Indian Ram or Rama, which signifies a husband, or from the
town Rome, which took its name either from the Indian Ram, or from
the Gaulic word, Rom, which is nearly tantamount to husband or man,
for as the Indian Ram means a husband or man, so does the Gaulic Pom
signify that which constitutes a man and enables him to become a
husband.

Before entering on the subject of the English Gypsy, I may perhaps be
expected to say something about the original Gypsy tongue. It is,
however, very difficult to say with certainty anything on the
subject. There can be no doubt that a veritable Gypsy tongue at one
time existed, but that it at present exists there is great doubt
indeed. The probability is that the Gypsy at present exists only in
dialects more or less like the language originally spoken by the
Gypsy or Zingaro race. Several dialects of the Gypsy are to be found
which still preserve along with a considerable number of seemingly
original words certain curious grammatical forms, quite distinct from
those of any other speech. Others are little more than jargons, in
which a certain number of Gypsy words are accommodated to the
grammatical forms of the languages of particular countries. In the
foremost class of the purer Gypsy dialects, I have no hesitation in
placing those of Russia, Wallachia, Bulgaria, and Transylvania. They
are so alike, that he who speaks one of them can make himself very
well understood by those who speak any of the rest; from whence it