See LITURGIES.
GYPSIES, The.
"Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of
intimacy with these people, I have come to the following
conclusions respecting them: that wherever they are found,
their manners and customs are virtually the same, though
somewhat modified by circumstances, and that the language they
speak amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly
anxious to keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one
and the same, but has been subjected more or less to
modification; and lastly, that their countenances exhibit a
decided family resemblance, but are darker or fairer according
to the temperature of the climate, but invariably darker, at
least in Europe, than the natives of the countries in which
they dwell, for example, England and Russia, Germany and
Spain. The names by which they are known differ with the
country, though, with one or two exceptions, not materially;
for example, they are styled in Russia, Zigani; in Turkey and
Persia, Zingarri; and in Germany, Zigeuner; all which words
apparently spring from the same etymon, which there is no
improbability in supposing to be 'Zincali,' a term by which
these people, especially those of Spain, sometimes designate
themselves, and the meaning of which is believed to be, 'The
black men of Zend or Ind.' In England and Spain they are
commonly known as Gypsies and Gitanos, from a general belief
that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words
are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the
circumstance that Bohemia was the first country in civilized
Europe where they made their appearance; though there is
reason for supposing that they had been wandering in the
remote regions of Sclavonia for a considerable time previous,
as their language abounds with words of Sclavonic origin,
which could not have been adopted in a hasty passage through a
wild and half populated country. But they generally style
themselves and the language which they speak, Rommany. This
word … is of Sanscrit origin, and signifies, 'The Husbands,'
or that which pertaineth unto them. From whatever motive this
appellation may have originated, it is perhaps more applicable
than any other to a sect or caste like them, who have no love
and no affection beyond their own race; who are capable of
making great sacrifices for each other, and who gladly prey
upon all the rest of the human species, whom they detest, and
by whom they are hated and despised. It will perhaps not be
out of place to observe here, that there is no reason for
supposing that the word Roma or Rommany is derived from the
Arabic word which signifies Greece or Grecians, as some people
not much acquainted with the language of the race in question
have imagined. … Scholars have asserted that the language
which they speak proves them to be of Indian stock, and
undoubtedly a great number of their words are Sanscrit. …
There is scarcely a part of the habitable world where they are
not to be found; their tents are alike pitched on the heaths
of Brazil and the ridges of the Himalayan hills, and their
language is heard at Moscow and Madrid, in the streets of
London and Stamboul."
_G. Borrow,
The Zincali,
volume 1, pages 2-5._
"One day, 450 years ago, or thereabouts, there knocked at the
gates of the city of Lüneburg, on the Elbe, as strange a
rabble rout as had ever been seen by German burgher. There
were 300 of them, men and women, accompanied by an
extraordinary number of children. They were dusky of skin,
with jet-black hair and eyes; they wore strange garments; they
were unwashed and dirty even beyond the liberal limits
tolerated by the cold-water-fearing citizens of Lüneburg; they
had with them horses, donkeys, and carts; they were led by two
men whom they described as Duke and Count. … All the
Lüneburgers turned out to gaze open-mouthed at these pilgrims,
while the Duke and the Count told the authorities their tale,
which was wild and romantic. … Many years before, they
explained, while the tears of penitence stood in the eyes of
all but the youngest children, they had been a Christian
community, living in orthodoxy, and therefore happiness, in a
far-off country known as Egypt. … They were then a happy
Christian flock. To their valley came the Saracens, an
execrable race, worshipping Mahound. Yielding, in an evil
hour, to the threats and persecutions of their conquerors,
they—here they turned their faces and wept aloud—they
abjured Christ. But thereafter they had no rest or peace, and
a remorse so deep fell upon their souls that they were fain to
arise, leave their homes, and journey to Rome in hope of
getting reconciliation with the Church, They were graciously
received by the Pope, who promised to admit them back into the
fold after seven years of penitential wandering. They had
letters of credit from King Sigismund—would the Lüneburgers
kindly look at them?—granting safe conduct and recommending
them to the protection of all honest people. The Lüneburg folk
were touched at the recital of so much suffering in a cause so
good; they granted the request of the strangers. They allowed
them to encamp, … The next day the strangers visited the
town. In the evening a good many things were missed,
especially those unconsidered trifles which a housewife may
leave about her doorway. Poultry became suddenly scarce; eggs
doubled in price; it was rumoured that purses had been lost
while their owners gazed at the strangers; cherished cups of
silver were not to be found. … While the Lüneburgers took
counsel, in their leisurely way, how to meet a case so
uncommon, the pilgrims suddenly decamped, leaving nothing
behind them but the ashes of their fires and the picked bones
of the purloined poultry. … This was the first historical
appearance of Gipsies. It was a curious place to appear in.
The mouth of the Elbe is a long way from Egypt, even if you
travel by sea, which does not appear to have been the case;
and a journey on laud not only would have been infinitely more
fatiguing, but would, one would think, have led to some notice
on the road before reaching Lüneburg. There, however, the
Gipsies certainly are first heard of, and henceforth history
has plenty to say about their doings. From Lüneburg they went
to Hamburg, Lübeck, Rostock, Griefswald, travelling in an
easterly direction. They are mentioned as having appeared in
Saxony, where they were driven away, as at Lüneburg, for their
thievish propensities. They travelled through Switzerland,
headed by their great Duke Michael, and pretending to have
been expelled from Egypt by the Turks, Their story in these
early years, though it varied in particulars, remained the
same in essentials.
{1621}
In Provence they called themselves Saracens; in Swabia they
were Egyptians doomed to everlasting wanderings for having
refused hospitality to the Virgin and Joseph; at Bâle, where
they exhibited letters of safe conduct from the Pope, they
were also Egyptians. Always the Land of the Nile; always the
same pretence, or it may be reminiscence, of sojourn in Egypt;
always, to soothe the suspicions of priests, faithful and
submissive sons of the Church. From the very first their real
character was apparent. They lie, cheat, and steal at
Lüneburg; they lie and steal everywhere; they tell fortunes
and cut purses, they buy and sell horses, they poison pigs,
they rob and plunder, they wander and they will not work. They
first came to Paris in the year 1427, when more people went to
see them, we are told, than ever crowded to the Fair of
Laudet. … They remained at St. Denis for a month, when they
received peremptory orders to quit for the usual reason. …
In the 16th century trouble began for the Roman folk. By this
time their character was perfectly well known. They were
called Bohemians, Heathen, Gitanos, Pharaohites, Robbers,
Tartars, and Zigeuner. They had abandoned the old lying story
of the penitential wanderings; they were outcasts; their hand
was against every man's hand; their customs were the same then
as they are described now by Leland or Borrow."
_Gipsies and their Friends
(Temple Bar, volume 47), pages 65-67._
"Since the publication of Pott's book upon the gypsies [_Die
Zigeuner in Europa und Asien_]—about 30 years ago—we have
come to regard the origin of this singular people with
considerable unanimity of opinion. Almost nobody doubts now
that they are Indians; and the assumption that all the gypsies
scattered throughout Europe are descended from one parent
stock meets with little contradiction. Both of these beliefs
are the outcome of the investigation of their language. …
Pott, in the introduction to his book, and quoting from the
'Shah-Name' of Firdousi, informs us that, during the 5th
century of our era, the Persian monarch, Behram Gour, received
from an Indian king 12,000 musicians of both sexes, who were
known as Luris. Now, as this is the name by which the gypsies
of Persia are known even at the present day, and as, moreover,
the author of the Persian work 'Modjmal at-tawarikh'
emphatically says that the Luris or Lulis of modern Persia are
the descendants of these same 12,000 musicians, there is no
hazard in the assumption that we have here the first recorded
gypsy migration. Confirmation of this is afforded by the
Arabian historian, Hamza of Ispahan, who wrote half a century
before Firdousi, and who was well versed in the history of the
Sassasinides. It is related by this author that Behram Gour
caused 12,000 musicians, called Zott, to be sent from India
for the benefit of his subjects. And 'Zott' is the name by
which the gypsies were known to the Arabs, and which they even
bear in Damascus at the present day. In the Arabic dictionary
'al-Kamus' this entry occurs: 'Zott, arabicized from Jatt, a
people of Indian origin. The word might be pronounced Zatt
with equal correctness.' … For the fatherland of these Zott,
or Jatt, we have not long to seek. Istakhri and Ibn-Haukal,
the celebrated 10th-century geographers, recount as follows:—
'Between al-Mansura and Mokran the waters of the Indus have
formed marshes, the borders of which are inhabited by certain
Indian tribes, called Zott; those of them who dwell near the
river live in huts, like the huts of the Berbers, and subsist
chiefly on fish and water-fowl; while those occupying the
level country further inland live like the Kurds, supporting
themselves on milk, cheese, and maize.' In these same regions
there are yet two more tribes placed by these geographers,
namely, the Bodha and the Meid. The former are properly,
according to Ibn-Haukal, a subdivision of the Zott. … In
course of time the Meds (to adopt the spelling favoured by Sir
Henry Elliott) overcame the Zotts, whom they treated with such
severity that they had to leave the country. The Zotts then
established themselves on the river Pehen, where they soon
became skilful sailors"; while those living farther to the
north, known as Kikan, became famed as breeders of horses and
herders of buffalos. When the Arabs, in their career of
conquest, came in contact with the Zotts, the latter joined
them, and large colonies of them were removed, for some
reason, to western Asia, and settled with their herds on the
lower Euphrates and Tigris, and in Syria. The Zotts on the
Tigris became strong and troublesome in time, and in 834 the
khalif Motacem, after subjugating them by force, removed them
from the country, to the number of 27,000, sending them to
Ainzarba, on the northern frontier of Syria. In 855, Ainzarba
was captured by the Byzantines, who carried off the Zotts,
with all their buffalo herds. "Here, then, we have the first
band of gypsies brought into the Greek Empire. … As regards
the destinies of the Zotts after they had been brought to Asia
Minor from Ainzarba, in the year 855, I have been unable—in
the course of a hurried search—to discover anything. But, now
that we know the year in which they entered Byzantine
territory, others may be more successful. Whether the name
Zott, or rather its Indian form Jatt (or Jaut), has also been
brought with them into Europe, I am, of course, as little able
to say."
_M. J. de Goeje,
A Contribution to the History of the Gypsies
(In "Accounts of the Gypsies of India,"
edited by D. MacRitchie)._
"Students of the gipsies, and especially those who have
interested themselves in the history of the race, will have
read with regret the announcement of the death, at Paris, on
March 1st, of the veteran 'tsiganologue,' M. Paul Bataillard.
For the last half century he had devoted his leisure time to
the study of the early notices of the presence of gipsies in
Europe. … It was his opinion that there have been gipsies in
Eastern Europe since prehistoric times, and that it is to them
Europe owes its knowledge of metallurgy. Heterodox although
this opinion may be, it has recently been observed by Mr. F.
H. Groome that 'Bataillard's theory is gaining favour with
foreign archæologists, among whom MM. Mortillet, Chantre, and
Burnouf had arrived independently at similar conclusions.'"
_The Athenæum,
March 31, 1894._
ALSO IN:
_C. G. Leland,
English Gipsies,
chapters 8-10._
_W. Simson.
History of the Gipsies._