Project Education of Roma | History Roma Children Council Conseil of Europe de l´Europe in Europe From India 1.0 to Europe From India

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India | Moving West | The Way to Byzantium – the Lexicon as Map? | Dom, Luri, Roma: Cousins, but not Siblings | Roma in the Byzantine Empire | The Athingani | Roma on Peloponnese

According to the findings of linguistics, cultural anthropology, science of history and, in more recent years, population genetics, the Roma’s Indian origin is considered a fact. How their ancestors came from India to Europe, and when this migration took place, its reasons and who exactly these people were is, however, open to assumptions. For want of direct evidence, the pre-European history of the Roma is a matter of reconstruction.

BYZANTIUM: PELOPONNESE (13th CENT.); ASIA MINOR (10-11th CENT.?) MIgration from india to europe ISTANBUL BAKU Ill. 1 ANKARA ARMENIA? Areas and most likely dates of sojourn. aSHABAD

TEHERAN kABUL

DAMaScUS BAGHDAD PERSIA?

CAIRO Delhi NORTHWEST INDIA (END OF 2nd HALF OF THE 1st MILLENNIUM C.E.)

RIAD CENTRAL INDIA (1st HALF OF THE 1st MILLENNIUM C.E.) nAGPUR mEccA

MuMBAi

Introduction ved in the Byzantine Empire, because Just like linguistics and genetics, all groups of Roma existing today have cultural anthropology assumes that the The Roma’s Indian origin is uncontes- a common linguistic basis, which also Roma originally came from India. It re- ted. By analysing Romani, the langua- includes parts of lexicon and grammar fers, among others, to socio-cultural insti- ge of the Roma, and comparing it with taken from Greek. tutions like the traditional form of jurisdic- other languages, it could be shown that Also according to more recent, tion, or to certain rules within the groups, the Roma migrated from Central India preliminary findings of population ge- such as the commands of cleanness. Both, to the Eastern parts of Northern India, netics, the Roma’s ancestors were In- group-internal jurisdiction and the com- and probably stayed there for some dian. These were supposedly part of a mands of cleanness, can also be found, time. Then, they possibly moved via relatively small homogenous group, as like certain religious notions of some Persia and Armenia to the Byzantine shown by analyses of blood groups. Dif- groups of Roma, on the Indian subcon- Empire, to Asia Minor and later on to ferentiations within this group probably tinent. Direct socio-cultural connections Greece. Linguistic findings point at a only occurred at the time of their arrival between the Roma and Indian groups, fairly homogenous group which arri- and their early spread into Europe. however, have so far not been established. India Moving West The Way to Byzantium – the Lexicon as Map?

Some Important Languages Of The Indian Subcontinent

Central Indo-Aryan languages and some sorrounding other Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Dravida languages. Kashmiri

PAnjabi

Pashto Rajasthani Nepali balochi Sindhi ASSAMESE

Urdu hindi Bengali

Bihari Gujarati

Marathi arabian sea oriya Central Indo-Aryan Languages telugu Other Indo-Aryan Languages Kannada bay of bengal Iranian Languages Malayalam tamil Ill. 2 Dravida Languages Sinhalese From a 16th-century Persian manuscript: Shangul of India entertained by Bahram Gur. Ill. 3 (from Fraser 1992, p. 34)

Science of history has sources at and which have been equated with them us to form a picture of the nomadic popu- its disposal which do not talk about the in the past. None of these assumptions lation in those regions in which the Roma Roma, but about groups which are remi- could be proved; yet such documents travelled in all likelihood in the course of niscent of the Roma in many respects, from Persia and the Arabian region allow their migration from India to Europe.

draw conclusions as to earlier origins. ded that the Roma’s ancestors originally India Romani, however, cannot be classified lived in Central India. Already before easily. It has many features of the so- the Common Era, they moved to Nor- called Central Indo-Aryan languages, thwestern India, where they stayed for Linguistic methods make it possible like Hindi-Urdu, Panjabi, Gujarati or a longer period of time, before leaving to determine the spatial and temporal the Rajasthani group, but it also shares this area and moving west. This theory, origin of an Indo-Aryan language. Par- features with Northern Indo-Aryan lan- postulated in 1927 by the British speci- ticularly changes within the sound sys- guages like Kashmiri. From this, and alist in oriental studies Ralph Turner, is tem of a language make it possible to other considerations, it has been conclu- commonly accepted today. [Ills. 1, 3]

“Shahnameh” (The Book of Kings), Similar legends are told by other histo- Moving West written in 1011, the Persian poet Fer- riographers. [Ill. 2] dowsi mentions a legend according During Bahram V’s reign there to which the Indian King Shangul is actual evidence of the immigration of The precise time when the Roma left gave his Persian colleague Bahram V various Northern Indian groups into the India is unknown. Linguistic data can- (420-438) 10,000 so-called “Luri” as Persian area. Some researchers identi- not provide precise dates, and there are a present, to entertain the latter’s peo- fied the “Luri” (called “Zott” or “Jatt” no contemporary documents about the ple with music. Bahram gave the Luri in Arabian sources) with the Roma and Roma’s migration through the Middle crops to sow for their service; they ate consequently assumed that they had left East. It is only later writers who refer the corn and asked for more. Conse- India already in the 5th century. Thus, to events of those times, always from quently, the Shah sent the Luri out into also the lack of Arabian words in the a distance of many centuries. In his the world on the back of their animals. Romani lexicon was explained: during

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ROMANI – A MODERN INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE About the Roma’s Origin – Modern Legends The original Indo-Aryan words in Romani have great mor- phosyntactic potency, which means that it is possible to Quick research on the Internet shows the following: “Sin- create, with a number of specific suffixes, out of one word a ti, Roma and kin groups” originally came from “the Indian number of other words: area”, and were “abducted” by the Arabs in the 9th and 10th centuries, and, in the 11th century, taken “as prisoners” “by romani ENGLISH the Moslems” in their campaigns (namely “about 500,000 bar-o large, big; powerful; elder ‘Gypsies’”) or immigrated – “in smaller groups” – in the th bar-ipen size, distinction, pride 14/15 century “via Northern Africa and the Balkans into bar-ikanipen pretentiousness Europe”, where they had also been “brought as slaves” bar-ikanarel pes to enlarge 200 years before that time, etc. bar-arel to primp and preen, to overdress Rather than in the “facts” they pretend to describe, bar-arel avri to raise children the value of theories or assumptions on the origin of Roma bar-arel pes to brag often lies in the motives out of which they emerge. It has to bar-uvel (barol) to grow be noted, however, that Roma themselves have no myths or bar-eder officer (literally the “bigger” one) legends about the early origins of their people. Their tradi- tion has been and to a large extent still today is preserved orally, and most Roma consider the question of their early Similar to these features, a significant part of Romani gram- origin, if anything, a political one in terms of the various mar is Indo-Aryan; today’s Romani is considered a Modern emancipation processes that started only recently. Indo-Aryan language. Ill. 5 Ill. 4

the 7th century, Persia came under Arabi- after the alleged event. The reliability on, remained Persian even under Arabi- an reign, and Romani included Persian, of such sources can be judged by loo- an reign. The Roma could just as well but no Arabian words in its lexicon. As king at the “legends” about the Roma’s have lived in Persia under Arabian reign a result, it has been concluded that the origin circulating today. If one was to without having adopted Arabian words. Roma had left Persia before the Arabi- search these legends for historical facts, [Ill. 6] an conquest. The legend about the Luri other than the fact that a long time ago a There is no doubt, however, that could thus very well refer to the Roma, then unknown people came to Europe, it already in the 3rd to 5th century mobile who left Persia already in the 5th century, would be in vain. [Ill. 5] groups with service professions came and India even earlier on their westward Also the second argument, the from India to the West. The Roma were journey. lack of Arabian words in Romani is not either among them – or they were not. These conclusions, however, do conclusive. The Arabs constituted only As a consequence, most scientists today not necessarily appear convincing. First- a very small ruling caste; the langua- assume it was over a long period of time ly, there are several versions of the Luri ge spoken in the country, particularly – between the 3rd and 10th century – du- legend, which differ in decisive issues, among the not-so-well educated and ring which the Roma left India, most and which were recorded only 500 years the less influential part of the populati- likely between the 8th and 10th century.

The European lexicon was formed only Scientists often – explicitly or The Way to Byzantium in the course of individual groups’ migra- implicitly – correlate the relative num- – the Lexicon as Map? tion to Europe to become what it is today, ber of borrowed words with the length of and thus developed differently within dif- the Roma’s stay in the various regions. The lexicon of Romani (that is the voca- ferent groups of Romani speakers. In con- Consequently, the large number of Greek bulary of the Roma’s language) is divided trast, the native lexicon in a way shows words could point to a relatively long into an older, pre-European lexicon, and the pre-European history of the Roma: stay in the Byzantine sphere of influence, a younger, European lexicon by linguis- from India via Persia and Armenia into and the small number of Armenian words ts. The pre-European lexicon comprises Byzantine Asia Minor and finally Greek to the assumption that the Roma only the Indo-Aryan, Persian, Armenian and Byzantium. It might seem reasonable to passed through Armenia on their way Greek words in Romani. It is more or less derive the Roma’s route through Europe to Europe. The facts, however, could shared by all Romani-speaking people. in a similar way. [Ills. 1, 9] also be interpreted differently.

  Dom, Luri, Roma: Cousins, but not Siblings Roma in the Byzantine Empire

Jutes The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) and the Sassanide Empires, about 550. britons saXonS Eastern Roman Empire by Justinian’s accession to throne 527: A angelS slaVS Recapture by Justinian: B Sassanide Empire: C bulgarS Vasalls of the Sassanide Empire: D frankS LangobardS aVARS B HepHtalites basques OSTROGOTHS A D suebeS VISIGOTHS EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE sassanide EMPIRE

B A C

vandalS B lachmideS A D Ill. 6

The linguist, Yaron Matras, argues in favour of a connection tions rather easily by allowing for repeated ventures by individual between the Roma and castes of commercial nomads in India itself, groups seeking employment opportunities in special trades. […] the “Ḍom”: What makes the Dom hypothesis attractive however is pre- cisely the fact that it can explain similarities in social organisati- “The Dom hypothesis allows us to attribute the socio-ethnic pro- on and ethnic identity while allowing for linguistic diversity: Cas- files shared by groups like the řom, lom, dom, luti, or kurbati with te origin need not at all overlap with geographical or linguistic the ḍom of India to ancient traditions, rather than view them as origin, beyond the mere fact that all groups concerned come from coincidal similarities or as features acquired by the respective India and speak Indo-Aryan languages. Thus the ancestors of the groups separately in different places and at different times. It can Rom, Dom, Lom and others may well have been a geographically also account for ethnonyms that are derived from caste names, dispersed and linguistically diverse population, sharing a socio- some of them shared (řom, dom, lom), and for shared terms for ethnic identity.” outsiders, and it can furthermore accommodate westward migra- Ill. 7 (from Matras 2002, p. 16)

The fact that Romani shows more tually, linguists today assume that apart in one single region, and are thus not a loan words from Persian than from Ar- from the length of stay it is mainly the representation of their migration. Re- menian does not necessarily mean that means of contact between different po- cently the linguist, Yaron Matras, has the Roma lived longer in Persia than in pulation groups which determine their pointed to Southern Anatolia in this Armenia. Perhaps their contact with the linguistic relationship. It could even be respect: In the Antioch area the Roma majority population was – for instance possible that the non-Indo-Aryan parts could have come into contact with spea- because of economic reasons – more in the Romani inherited lexicon reflect kers of all languages which influenced intense in Persia than in Armenia. Ac- various influences the Roma underwent Romani in Asia.

jobs in the service sector, mainly in metal use a variety of Rajasthani, the Inku and Dom, Luri, Roma: Cousins, processing and entertainment. They are Jat in Afghanistan use a Central Indo-Ary- but not Siblings excluded from the majority population and an language, just like the Doma from the their contact with the latter is typically re- Hunza-valley in Northern Pakistan. A whole lot of population groups with stricted to economic relations only. Some Other population groups, from the close contact to India lived – and still live of these groups (still) speak Indo-Aryan Caucasus to Sudan, know secret langu- – in the Middle East – today’s Eastern Tur- languages: the Dom, Karači or Kurbati of ages whose lexicon is completely or par- key, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan. They all tend, the Middle East (Syria, Palestine, Jorda- tially of Indo-Aryan origin; among them like some of today’s and probably most of nia, in the past also Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan) the Karači and Luti in Iran, the Nawar earlier Roma, to itinerant professions and speak Domari, the Parya in Tadzhikistan from Egypt, the Bahlawan in Sudan and

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Legacy of sojourn of Roma in Byzantium Layers Of the PRE-EUROPEAN in THE Roma‘s language, Romani Lexicon Of Romani

The sojourn of Roma in Byzantium was reflected in the Roma‘s language. All di- Indo-Aryan alects spoken by the various groups of Roma in the world contain a great number jekh, duj, trin one, two, three of words taken from Greek. daj, dej mother bokh, bok hunger Examples of words of Greek origin thud milk vast, vas, va hand

romani amoni, amoji, lamoni, amuni english anvil Iranian drom, drumo road foros, foro town, city ambrol, brol pear karfin, krafin, karfi, krafni nail baxt, bax, bast luck angalin, angali, jangali, gani embrace phurt bridge cipa, cipo, cepa skin angušto, anguš finger xolin, xoli, xoj, holi anger, grief, passion Armenian kurko, kurke sunday sviri, sivri, svirind, sfiri hammer dudum pumpkin skamin, skami, štamin chair, bench čekat, čikat front grast, gra, graj horse

Greek In the Byzantine Empire, Roma came in contact with other ethnic groups, too. efta, oxto, enja seven, eight, nine Words from other languages – especially Armenian – penetrated Romani on By- papin, papni goose, duck zantine soil. The Armenian minority in Byzantium was quite substantial. Specialists ora hour reflect, for example, on how the Alani word “verdan” (car) came into the Roma zumi soup language. Alania (today’s Ossetia) was a rather small kingdom in the Northern Caucassus. Roma probably never got there during their stay in the Middle East. The Alani, like members of other ethnic groups, were hired into Byzantine armies and their word “verdan” could have easily become a Romani word either directly Ill. 9 or through another of the other languages spoken in Byzantium. Words from the pre-European lexicon Ill. 8 common to all Romani varieties.

the Boša or Lom in Armenia, whose lan- belong to their group: Romani “gadžo” points to different source languages, and guage is called Lomavren. (“non-Rom”), Domari “kažža”, Lomav- certainly to different periods of migrati- Also in India itself, there are ren “kača”; in India Dom “kājwā”, Kanja- on for Rom, Dom and Lom. Whichever groups of nomads in various regions ri “kājarō”, Sasi “kajjā”, Nati “kājā”. This argument is thought right, it remains a which are specialised in certain services, word additionally has – e.g. in Romani – fact that there are population groups in such as smiths, basket weavers, knackers, the meaning “settled” or “farmer”, which the Middle East whose social and eth- musicians and dancers. Within the caste shows that they identified themselves as nic roots probably lie in a specific Indian system, these nomads are called “Dom”. non-settled groups early on. caste: the “Dom”. A caste is defined neit- This term is related to the autonym of the The striking similarities of these her in a linguistic nor in a closer ethnic “Dom” in the Middle East, the “Doma” in different Indian or former Indian popu- sense; even if in this caste, the Roma and Pakistan, the “Lom” in Armenia – and the lation groups in social and linguistic re- all other ethnic groups mentioned above Roma (“Řom”, “Rom”) in Europe. Many gards made some researchers assume a belonged together at some point in time of these nomads, living this life because common source for all or most of these (which would be quite possible), this does of economic reasons, in and out of India groups. In fact, notwithstanding all lin- not necessarily presuppose a common ge- have similar names for people who do not guistic similarities, recent research rather netic or linguistic-genetic origin. [Ill. 7]

Apart from Indian, the biggest part of the mani adopted completely new and very Roma in the Byzantine lexicon common to all Romani varieties characteristic parts of its grammar from Empire derives from Greek. Even more so: Ro- Greek. [Ills. 8, 9]

  The Athingani Roma on Peloponnese

Tax collection

The following correspondence is of importance to the history of royed, and open it so that he grant me the favour of forgiveness the Roma in Byzantium for two reasons. In the first place, it is the and take away my anxiety, so that I do not again fall into danger first clear proof of the presence of Roma in the Byzantine Empire when I have already gone through so much which is beyond the because both texts use the Greek name of this contemporary limits of justice (…)’” ethnic group. Secondly, it is the oldest mention of the taxation of the “Egyptani and Athingani”, which by then must have already The patriarch asked the Megas Logothetes to grant a hearing to become common practice; thus, Roma had already been included the supplicant and help him. The Megas Logothetes answered the in Byzantine society by that time, the late 13th century. patriarch (letter 118, published in Eustratiades): A letter from the Patriarch Gregory II Cyprus of Constan- tinople (1283-1289) to the Megas Logothetes Theodor Muzalon, “(…) With respect to this request to his most merciful emperor a high imperial official (letter 117, published in Eustratiades), concerning the tax collector who has suffered an injustice: If an concerning his mediation in a request made by a particular Mo- injustice is perpetrated against a tax collector and he is robbed of nembasan: what he has previously collected, the one who keeps most of what the tax man collected is not always perpetrating an injustice, and “(…) A certain Monembasan, who is getting ready to collect taxes it is better if someone sometimes wrongs him so that he himself from the so-called Egyptani and Athingani, strongly entreated me, cannot perpetrate an injustice (…)”. saying, ‘Put in a word for me somehow, my lord, and ask, and Ill. 10 quickly move the imperial heart for me who am completely dest-

The pilgrim Arnold von Harf recorded in 1497: It was very strange to see an anvil right on the floor. A blacks- mith sat at it in the same way that tailors sit at work in our country. “We headed for the outskirts. Many poor, black, naked people live there. Near him, also on the ground, sat his wife, and she spun so that there Their dwellings are small homes with roofs covered with reeds; alto- would be fire between them. Two pairs of leather bellows half buried gether about hundred families live in them. They are called Gypsies in the ground by the fire lay next to them. From time to time, the spin- [“Sujginer”], known in our country as pagans from Egypt [“Heiden”] ning woman picked up one pair of bellows from the ground and wor- travelling through our lands. They work at many trades such as, for ked them. Thus a stream of air moved along the ground to the fire and example, shoemaking, cobbling and smithery. the blacksmith was able to work.

It is assumed that the Roma the Caucasus in the East over Asia Mi- also lack explicit documents from By- spent a longer, and in any case forma- nor to Greece in the West. But up to the zantium. The first clear proof of Roma tive, period of time in the Byzantine 13th century, when we can assume the in Byzantium dates from the 1280s and Empire. In the 10th century, the Byzanti- Roma’s presence on the Peloponnese appears in a letter commenting on tax ne Empire stretched from Armenia and with a high degree of probability, we collection from “Egyptani.” [Ill. 10]

exonym for Roma: according to some re- be found in the commands of cleanness, The Athingani searchers, the exonyms for Roma in Sla- as they are common in India and which vic languages (Czech “Cikán”, Slovakian are respected in some Roma groups; thus “Cigán”, etc.) and German “Zigeuner” or the Athingani, like some Roma groups Similarly, there were population groups Italian “Zingaro” derive from “Athinga- today, distanced themselves from the rest in the Byzantine Empire which were ni”; the term “Aiguptos” is assumed to be of the population in certain respects or, at equated with Roma by scientists. In the at the basis of English “Gypsy”, Spanish least, were found to be different. But these first place, these were the Athinganoi or “Gitano” or French “Gitan”. conclusions are not generally accepted. Athingani, the Aigupti, and the Mando- The Greek word “Athingani” For example, Yaron Matras has derived polini, Katsibeli and Lori. Similarly to means “people who do not want others “Cigán” etc. from the old-Turkish term the groups in the Middle East, social par- to touch them, who do not want to be “cighan” (poor) and rightly points out allels to the Roma were drawn based on touched, who are untouchable”. The late the scanty state of sources which would the Indian caste system. The term “Athin- Prague indologist and Roma specialist, corroborate the “Athingani”-hypotheses. gani” and “Aiguptos” later developed, as Milena Hübschmannová, suggested, that In fact, we do not know, who the Athin- is often assumed, into the commonly used the origin of the name “Athingani” might gani really were.

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Ill. 11 The Utrecht painter Erhard Reuwich accompanied Bernhard von Breydenbach on his pilgrimage to Palestine in 1483-4. He sketched several cities, among them Methoni, and had woodcuts of his sketches printed for the first time in 1486. (1486, Modoni, by Erhard Reuwich, woodcut; from the book by Bernhard von Breydenbach (1486) Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam; digitalised by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The Jewish National and University Library)

These people came from a land called Gyppe, lying about Christian faith. However, not one of the princes who were addressed forty miles from Methoni. The Turkish ruler occupied it sixty years helped. And so they died in poverty, leaving Papal letters to their ago, but many noblemen and lords refused to submit to his will and domestic staff and descendants who still wander around the coun- escaped to our country, to Rome, to the Holy Father, looking to him try, calling themselves Little Egyptians. Naturally, this is not true, for safety and support. Upon their request he dispatched letters to for their parents were born in the region of Gyppe, called Tzingania, the Roman emperor and all the princes of the empire with a recom- which lies not even halfway on the road from Cologne on the Rhine mendation that they guarantee the safety of movement and support to Egypt.” of these people because they were expelled from their land for their Ill. 12 (from Gilsenbach 1994, p. 114)

Around 800, the Athingani vated texts warn about the Athingani’s wardly to make assumptions about the were mentioned in religious texts for fortune telling. In the 13th century, the people they describe. In the Athingani’s the first time. They speak of people who Athingani were for the first time equa- case it seems at least plausible that the tell fortunes, hold ceremonies and try to ted with the so-called “Egyptani” in a term referred to Roma – and perhaps influence others with their “reprehen- correspondence about tax matters in the other groups as well. If we accept this, sible” – that is unchristian – teachings. town of Monemvasia (former Malva- then the Roma could have lived in the One source from Mount Athos, dated sia) in the Peloponnese; this term is still Byzantine Empire as early as the 8th or back to 1068, mentions the “Adsincani” used in Greece as an exonym for Roma. 10th century. The only thing we know (the Georgian version of the name) as [Ill. 10] for sure, however, is that from the 13th “magicians and charlatans”; in the 12th Exonyms, that is terms used century on Roma lived on the western and early 14th century, religiously moti- by others, cannot be used straightfor- coast of today’s Greek Peloponnese.

was half-way between Venice and Jaf- denbach, the Dean of the cathedral in Roma on Peloponnese fa, and was an anchorage appreciated Mainz, on the return journey from a by travellers because of its safe natural pilgrimage to Palestine wrote that the- harbour. [Ill. 11] re were 300 huts around the city, where We owe many indications to Italian In 1381, the Venetian Leonar- “Egyptians, black and ugly” lived. He and German travellers, who stopped do di Niccolo Frescobaldi wrote that added that the “Saracens” in Germany, off in the city of Methoni on Pelopon- he had seen a number of “Romnites” who allegedly claimed that they were nese during their pilgrimage to the outside of the Methoni city walls. A from Egypt originally in fact came from Holy Land Palestine. Methoni (Modon) hundred years later Bernhard von Brey- “Gyppe” near Methoni and that they

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Sojourn of Mazaris In Hades

In a work drafted as a fictional letter of August 21, 1415, and loponnesians, Slavs, Illyrians, Egyptians and Jews (and among addressed to Holobol from the Underworld, Mazaris describes them there are quite a few people of mixed blood), of all the the existing conditions on the peninsula: seven main (nations).”

“On Peloponnesus, as you very well know yourself, oh, my On the basis of Mazaris’ mentioning that “Roma” were one friend, there live a miscellany of numerous nations; it is not of the main Peloponnesian nations at that time and that they simple or too necessary to trace the borders between them, but spoke their own language in public, we may suppose that every ear can easily distinguish them through their languages. they were numerous on the peninsula. Here are the most important ones: Lakedaimons, Italians, Pe- Ill. 13

were spies and traitors (“Saracens” The traveller Arnold von Harf querors. However, evidence about the was a European umbrella term for also reports in his notes, in 1497, about Roma of that time does not only come Turks and Arabs). In 1491 a Dietrich the Methoni “Sujginer” (“Gypsies”). from pilgrims. There are also allusi- von Schachten reports that there were According to von Harf, these people ons in 13th century poems of Byzanti- many poor huts outside of Methoni’s called themselves “Little Egyptians”; ne folklore which most probably refer city walls, on a hill, the home of “Zi- however, they had not come from to Roma. One of those works mentions geuner” (“Gypsies”), as these people Egypt, but from a region near “Gyp- the “Egyptians” on Peloponnese in were called in Germany; according to pe”, called “Tzingania”, about 40 miles such a natural way that we can assume von Schachten, many of them were from Methoni. Allegedly, they had fled that these people were well-known in smiths with great skill. in 1440 because of the Turkish con- the Byzantine Empire. [Ills. 12, 13]

Conclusion hypotheses. The scant facts allows century, and also that they did so in ample space for the predilections, the 3rd. None of these assumptions are Ever since the Roma’s first appearance motives and goals of those who deal “true”; at best more or less conclusi- in Europe, the question of their origin with these questions. For instance, the ve. And even if the scientific recons- has been asked repeatedly. It has led Roma’s Indian ancestors were warri- truction of the Roma’s pre-European to hair-raising answers. Modern sci- ors or scholars, Brahmans or Pariahs history did not yield many irrefutable entists are by no means in agreement. in the more recent history of science; results, it created scientific discus- But the fact that up to this day there one could read that “the Roma” did sions about the conclusiveness of the are no unambiguous sources about not exist at all, that they were solely a possible hypotheses. Linguistics and pre-European history of the Roma, construction by non-Roma; it has been cultural anthropology played the main still encourages new assumptions and said that they left India in the late 12th part in that development.

Bibliography

Fraser, Angus (1992) The Gypsies. Oxford / Cambridge: Blackwell | Gilsenbach, Reimar (1994) Weltchronik der Zigeuner, Teil 1. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang | Hübschmannová, Milena (1972) What can Sociology suggest about the Origin of Roms. In: Archiv orientální 40/1, pp. 51-64 | Kenrick, Donald (2004) Gypsies: from the Ganges to the Thames. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press | Kenrick, Donald / Taylor, Gillian (1998) Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies). Lanham: The Scarecrow Press | Matras, Yaron (2002) Romani. A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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