the midst of these people exist vast numbers of Gypsies, amounting,
I am disposed to think, to at least two hundred thousand. The land
of the Roumouni, indeed, seems to have been the hive from which the
West of Europe derived the Gypsy part of its population. Far be it
from me to say that the Gypsies sprang originally from Roumouni-
land. All I mean is, that it was their grand resting-place after
crossing the Danube. They entered Roumouni-land from Bulgaria,
crossing the great river, and from thence some went to the north-
east, overrunning Russia, others to the west of Europe, as far as
Spain and England. That the early Gypsies of the West, and also
those of Russia, came from Roumouni-land, is easily proved, as in
all the western Gypsy dialects, and also in the Russian, are to be
found words belonging to the Roumouni speech; for example,
primavera, spring; cheros, heaven; chorab, stocking; chismey,
boots; - Roum - primivari, cherul, chorapul, chisme. One might
almost be tempted to suppose that the term Rommany, by which the
Gypsies of Russia and the West call themselves, was derived from
Roumouni, were it not for one fact, which is, that Romanus in the
Latin tongue merely means a native of Rome, whilst the specific
meaning of Rome still remains in the dark; whereas in Gypsy Rom
means a husband, Rommany the sect of the husbands; Romanesti if
married. Whether both words were derived originally from the same
source, as I believe some people have supposed, is a question
which, with my present lights, I cannot pretend to determine.



THE ENGLISH GYPSIES