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More numerous are the names applied to the gipsies by the peoples with whom they came in contact. The German word " Zigeuner" is probably derived from the Phrygian-Lycaonian sect of the " Athinganoi," mentioned at the outset of the ninth century by such Byzantine writers as Theophanes. On the other hand, M. J. de Goeje derived the name in 1875 from "tsjengi;" that is, musicians, dancers, etc. According to Dritten the name is connected with the above-mentioned "Čangar " in Nearer India. It is, however, certain that the Germans received the name from the Czechs (cigár, cingin, cikán), who took it from the Magyars (cigány); the latter got it from the Roumanians (cigan), who again borrowed it from the Bulgarians ([a] cigan or [a] ciganin). The root of the word is probably to be found in the medieval Greek άтоíуkavos; Thiyapas is another term usual in the same sense. L. Wiener in 1902 derived both words from a root čik or čink, meaning "hammer" and "metal-working" in Oriental languages, which he connects with the Byzantine Tuкavioтóρiov (house for playing ball); the ball-play in this case consisted of hammer-throwing. The first gipsies, moreover, whose existence in Europe has been demonstrated were workers in metal and braziers (at Modon in the Peloponnese; at the beginning of the fifteenth century). The name "Zigeuner" became general only in Eastern Europe and Italy (zingaro); other names were used by the West Europeans. In Modern Greek the name is Túpτns (a shortened form of AiyúπTIOS, Egyptian), in Spanish and Portuguese Gitano, in Flemish Egyptenær. On their arrival in Central Europe the gipsies announced themselves to be Egyptians, whence their name pharaó népe (Pharaoh's people), still in use among the Magyars. In the LowGerman speaking countries the gipsies were originally known as Suyginer, Zigöner, or even " Hungarians," and afterwards as "Tätern" or Tartars; in France they were called Bohémiens, as they came from Bohemia with letters of protection from King Sigismund of Hungary and Bohemia.

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Since the time of the appearance of the gipsies in Europe, the flood of theories respecting their origin and descent has mounted high. After the interesting linguistic essay of Andrew Boorde in 1542, one of the earliest dissertations "de Cingaris" is to be found in the work of the Netherland Hellenist Bonaventura Vulcanius, "De literis et lingua Getarum" (Leyden, 1542); Job Ludolf also paid some attention to their vocabulary in the commentary to his "Ethiopian History" published in 1691. The majority of scholars agree with Miklosich that the name of the sect of the Athinganer (aiyyavoi the untouched or those of another faith; cf. lāmasāsiyya, the Arab name of the Samaritans) has been transferred to the gipsies (cingani). Others looked for their origin in Zeugitana (Carthage), a province formed under Diocletian and Constantine. Others again identified them with the Zygians, Canaanites, Saracens, Amorites, and Jews, or regarded them as the descendants of Chus, the son of Cham (Genesis x, 6). The Hungarian chronicler Pray made a nearer guess at the truth, in considering their first home to have been the former Seljuk kingdom of Rum, as the gipsies call themselves Rom (Ikonion; cf. Vol. III, p. 353). On their first appearance many assumed that they were pilgrims from Egypt, who were performing a seven years' penitential pilgrimage, in expiation of the refusal of their ancestors to receive the infant Christ in Egypt, when he was fleeing from Herod with his parents. These and similar legends are related at the present day by wandering gipsy tribes in Hungary and in the Balkan territories. Here we have an explanation of the tenacious adherence to the belief in their Egyptian origin. The gipsy leaders also contributed to the spread of this belief;

after 1400 they styled themselves "kings," " dukes," or "counts of Egypt Minor," and appeared as rulers of distinction in every district. In the little town of Fürstneau was a gravestone, erected on the vigil of St. Sebastian (= 19th January), 1445, to the deceased "noble lord Sir Panuel, duke of Egypt Minor and lord of the stag's horn in that country." The coat of arms upon the stone displayed a golden eagle crowned, and above the tilting helmet a crown with a stag. Another monument with a fantastic coat of arms existed in the neighbourhood of Backnang (Wurtemberg), dated 1453, to the " noble count Peter of Kleinschild."

There is no doubt that the gipsies had leaders, and that those who live in tents have leaders at the present day; these leaders have a distinctive sign, such as an embroidered cloak, cloth, or goblet. The several tribes of the nomadic gipsies are also social units in so far as they are under the government of one Voivod. In practice they are nowhere tolerated in large hordes, and have consequently broken up into smaller independent communities or societies (mahlija, from mahlo = friend), under individual chieftains, the schaibidso. In important cases these leaders appeal to the decision of the Voivod, who may be spending his time with one or another tribe. The schaibilso is elected by the tribe, and the Voivod confirms his appointment by eating bread and salt with him in public; he then commands the mahlija in question to regard the schaibidso as his plenipotentiary. Among the nomadic gipsies the position of Voivod is hereditary at the present day; if a minor should inherit, the position is occupied until his majority by one of his nearest relations. The installation of a Voivod is a very simple ceremony. The Voivod recites a form of oath, is lifted up by his tribesmen while the women throw.crab-apple seeds upon him to keep away evil spirits. The Voivod, among the nomadic gipsies. at the present day, occupies a position which is merely honourable; formerly every mahlija paid him a yearly tribute proportioned to the position and the number of its members.

In the case of a people like the gipsies, whose early traditions have practically disappeared, the only means of establishing their origin is the study of their language. This attempt was made in 1697 by Joh. Chr. Wagenseil (1633-1705); but what he considered in his preface to his "De libera civitate Norimbergensi commentatio" as a gipsy language was the German-Jew thieves' language or jargon. Similarly Laur. Hervas confused the Italian thieves' language with the gipsy language (1787). The investigations of Joh. Chr. Chr. Rüdiger (1751-1822) in 1782 were based upon inadequate material and weakened by inadequate linguistic knowledge; but both he and Heinr. Mor. Gottl. Grellmann (1756-1804), whose work, the "Zigeuner," is historic, arrived independently at the conclusion that the gipsy language is allied to the Indian. It is not generally known that this opinion was shared by Immanuel Kant.1 Previously, however, in 1776 the Vienna "Anzeigen aus sämtlichen k. k. Erbländern" (6th series, No. 94) had published a letter by one Hauptmann Székely, of importance for its bearing upon the origin of the gipsies; it stated that Vályi, the priest at Almás (Hungary), had made the acquaintance of Malabar students while at the University of Leyden, had compiled a small Malabar glossary and read it aloud to the Hungarian gipsies of his district, who had understood almost every word. Investigation in this direction was continued by August Friedr. Pott in 1844, and the fact was scientifically proved that the original home of the gipsies was in the northwest of Nearer India. "Notwithstanding its unusu1 "Berliner Monatschrift" of November, 1785.

VOL. V-27

ally debased and corrupted character," their language in some degree may still pride itself" on its relationship to the most perfectly constructed of all languages, the proud Sanskrit." Further investigations have definitely settled the fact that the gipsy language belongs to the same group as the Dardu languages spoken in Kafiristan, Dardistan, Kashmir, and Little Tibet.

B. THEIR MIGRATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS

THE science of comparative philology has clearly proved the gipsies to be a branch of the Hindu nationality; it has also shown us by what route the gipsies left India, and in what countries their migrations have been interrupted for a longer or shorter period. This demonstration was the work of the Viennese philologist Franz Miklosich,1 who collected the words of foreign origin in the gipsy language and examined their relative numerical proportion. The causes which drove the gipsies to migration and the date at which their wanderings began are shrouded for ever in obscurity. It is, however, tolerably certain that more than one migration took place. Possibly we have here the explanation of the fact that in many countries where they are now naturalised they are divided into two or more castes. Individual advances or disruptions may have taken place at an early date, though hardly in the age of Herodotus (cf. the remarks on the word "Sindoi,” p. 415), while the first great movement or movements did not begin before the Christian era. The round number 1000 A. D. was given by Miklosich as the result of his philological investigations, but he has now withdrawn it (Dissertation of February 9, 1876). The Persian and Armenian elements in the European dialects clearly show that the gipsies must have made their way first through Armenia and Persia, and have remained a considerable time in those countries. They entered Persia under the Sassanid dynasty, and were given the marshy districts on the Lower Euphrates as a settlement. They readily made common cause with the Arab conquerors; but after the death of the Caliph Mamun (833) they left their setttlements, and disturbed the country by their plundering raids, until Ojeïf ibn Ambassa was obliged to bring them to reason by force of arms. Karsten Nieubhr in 1784 (in the "Teutschen Merkur," II,) and Ulr. Jasp. Seetzen in 1854 have treated of the gipsies in Diarbekr and about Haleb. The Armenian " Bosha" (that is, vagabonds), the gipsies of the Armenian faith (the Mohammedan gipsies of Asia Minor are known as "Chingene," or "Chinghiané "), who are chiefly to be found at Bujbat in the vilayet of Sivas (see the map facing p. 203), when not engaged in their favourite occupation of wandering, speak a language which possesses an unusually sparse vocabulary (about six hundred words in all; no songs!), but undoubtedly belongs to the Indian branch of the Aryan family of languages; their chief occupation is sieve-making. Neither in Turkish nor in Russian Armenia, whither part of them have migrated since 1828, do they bring their disputes before the state tribunals, but before the council of their elders, presided over by the Athopakal (expressly confirmed in office by the Porte, formerly called Jamadar); in Russian Armenia he is associated with an Ustadar or secular caste-chieftain.

From Armenia members of the gipsy nationality may have migrated to North

1 "Über die Mundarten and die Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europas," III, 2; laid before the Academy of Vienna on February 21, 1872, and published in 1874.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

AN ENCAMPMENT OF THE FIRST GIPSIES IN CENTRAL EUROPE (From an engraving by Jacques Callot of 1604, now in the Dresden Cabinet of Engravings)

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