_Their Language_, _Sciences_, _and Arts_.
BESIDES that the Gipseys understand and speak the language of the country
where they live, they have a general language of their own, in which they
always converse with each other. Writers differ in opinion concerning
this language, being undecided whether it be really that of any country,
and who are the people from whom it originates. Some pronounce it a mere
jargon, others say it is gibberish. We can by no means agree with the
supporters of the first opinion, as the only ground for the assertion is
barely, that they do not know any other language correspondent to that of
the Gipseys. But they do not seem to have considered how extravagant a
surmise it is, to believe a whole language an invention; that too of
people rude, uncivilised, and hundreds of miles distant from each other.
This opinion is too absurd to employ more time to controvert it. Neither
can the Gipsey language be admitted for gibberish; unless by those who
know nothing of the former, or are totally ignorant of the latter, which
is corrupt German; whereas the former has neither German words,
inflexions, nor the least affinity in sound. No German, were he to
listen a whole day to a Gipsey conversation, would comprehend a single
expression. A third party allow that the language of the original
Gipseys was really vernacular, and that of some country; but assert it to
be so disguised and falsified, partly by design of the Gipseys
themselves, partly by adventitious events, through length of time, and
the continual wandering of these people, that it is entirely new formed,
and now used by the Gipseys only. This opinion contains much truth; but
carries the matter too far, in not allowing that any traces remain to
prove any particular dialect to be the Gipseys’ mother tongue. Perhaps
the great Büsching means the same thing, when he says, “the Gipsey
language is a mixture of corrupt words from the Wallachian, Sclavonian,
Hungarian, and other nations.” Among these, the best-founded notion may
be, that it is the dialect of some particular country, though no longer
so pure as in the country whence it originated. This opinion meets the
greatest concurrence of the learned: and will, we hope, be fully proved
in another part of this book, where the subject will be again discussed,
more fully, in order to corroborate the other proofs of the origin of
this people. It will then be certified, in what country this is the
native mother tongue. This is a point concerning which most writers
think differently. Sometimes the Gipseys are Hebrews, then Nubians,
Egyptians, Phrygians, Vandals, Sclavonians, or, as opinions vary, perhaps
some other nation.
It appears extraordinary, that the language of a people who have lived
for centuries among us, and has been matter of enquiry almost ever since,
should still remain an affair of so much uncertainty. Gipseys are to be
found every-where, and might be very easily examined, as closely and
often as any body pleased, about their language. It would have been
attended with no great trouble, to have made so near an acquaintance as
to bring them to converse with variety of people, and thereby, by means
of comparison, to have attained some degree of certainty. This
observation sounds plausibly; but on a closer examination the case is
found to be very different. First, it is not so easy as people may
imagine, to gain much information from the Gipseys concerning their
language. They are suspicious, apprehending an explanation might be
attended with danger to themselves; and are therefore not very
communicative. To this must be added, their natural levity, and
consequent seeming inattention to the questions put to them. A writer,
who had frequent experience of this behaviour, expresses himself to the
following effect: “Suppose any person had an inclination to learn the
Gipsey language, he would find it very difficult to accomplish his
purpose. Intercourse with these people is almost insufferable; and very
few of them have sense enough to teach any thing, or even to give a
proper answer to a question. If you ask about a single word, they
chatter a great many, which nobody can understand. Others have equally
failed of success, not being able, by any means whatever, to obtain from
them the paternoster in their own language.” Secondly, suppose the
language of the Gipseys had been perfectly understood soon after their
arrival in Europe, variety of opinions would nevertheless have been
maintained among the learned. It would still have been necessary, in
order to ascertain truth, to have revised the original languages of all
the inhabitants both in and out of Europe, or at least a general sketch
of them. By such a review, the Gipseys’ mother tongue might easily have
been discovered. But many there are, as Büttner, Schlözer, Gibelin, and
Bachmeister, who have taken great pains in the minute investigation of
the languages, as well as manners, of different people, and reckon those
they have learned by dozens. How was it, indeed, possible for the
learned of former centuries to be competent to the enquiry, as they had
not the aids which now so copiously occur to the historical etymologist?
Many dialects have been discovered, and our knowledge of others greatly
increased, within the last fifty or sixty years. During that term, the
treasures of the farthest north have been opened; and the most eastern
idioms become more familiar to us: we even know how the Otaheitian
expresses himself. All this information did not exist before; knowledge
in this science was much more confined than at this period: nor was it
possible for the most learned man, so circumstanced, to point out the
country in which the Gipsey language was spoken.
The Gipseys have no writing, peculiar to them, in which to express their
language. {87} Writing, or reading, is, in general, a very uncommon
accomplishment with any of them; nor must either of these attainments be
at all expected among the wandering sort. Sciences and the refined arts
are never to be looked for amongst people whose manner of living and
education are so irregular. Twiss does, indeed, mention, that the
Spanish Gipseys have some knowledge of medicine and surgery; but woe
betide the person who confides in their skill! It is absurd to suppose
that they are possessed of any secret for extinguishing fire:
superstition formerly gave the Jews credit for this art; in process of
time, the Gipseys also were believed to be gifted with it. Music is the
only science in which the Gipseys participate, in any considerable
degree: they likewise compose, but it is after the manner of the eastern
people, extempore. In Wallachia, no other people possess this talent;
and, like the Italian _improvisatori_, they always accompany their verses
with singing and music. The quality of the poetry of these ready
composers may be appreciated, when it is known that the rhyme is the part
most considered: to accomplish this, they are frequently guilty of the
most glaring solecisms in grammar; besides their ideas are usually of the
most obscene kind, and these expressed in the gross style of rude
unpolished people. It is not necessary, therefore, to be a master, to
hold their art in the greatest contempt. {88}