Roma and “Gypsies” Definitions and Groups in Sweden there are both Romer and Resande (Roma and Traveller) The term “Gypsy” is commonly used as designation for the people whose correct ethnic name is Roma. However, the same word is employed also to indicate different non-Roma groups whose lifestyle is apparently similar; like some “Travellers” and other itinerant people. We are not dealing here with the derogatory implications that are ascribed to this term, but only with the respectful meaning of the word which may be acceptable as a popular term to define a community of people having distinguishable cultural features. There are also other applications of this word which are not of our interest, as for example, in reference to people whose lifestyle is regarded as unconventional ‒ in a similar way as “Bohemian” ‒ or as it is applied mainly in America, to artists who have actually not any ethnic relationship with any Gypsy group, neither Romany nor non-Romany. Therefore, we can say that there are ethnic Gypsies who are Roma, and other Gypsies who are not ethnically Roma. In this essay we intend to briefly expose about both: Romany and non-Romany Gypsies. Romany Gypsies The Roma are a well defined ethnic community, composed by groups and sub-groups having a common origin and common cultural patterns ‒ that in many cases have been modified or adapted, according to the land of sojourn and other circumstances along history. There is a common Romany Law, which several groups do not keep any longer, but still recognizing that their ancestors have observed such complex of laws until not too long time ago. It is not easy to classify the distinct Romany groups and sub-groups. There are different patterns to be considered in order to establish a relationship between them: for example, the language and the degree of observance of the “Zakono” (the Romany Law) are essential for the largest group of Roma worldwide, while many other groups do not speak Romany at all and take account of other facts in order to consider a person to be a true Rom/Romni or not. Obviously, the prevailing concepts should be those defined or accepted by the Romany community rather than those invented by the Gadje (non-Roma) in their attempt to classify the Roma groups (see: About Roma Group Denominations). It is clear that Roma do not hold any tradition or social feature related with a caste system, as some students suggest. It is not even appropriate their classification according to traditional professions, as such pattern may be applied only to a limited geographic area, namely Wallachia and Moldavia, in which Roma were subject to slavery and consequently had to develop a family profession that passed on from generation to generation. In fact, non-Romanian Roma usually do not call the other groups by their traditional work activity, but according to other cultural characteristics. Whenever it is possible, we will present here a classification considering the Romany self-definitions and the terms used within the Roma community to define the other groups. We will discard the artificial and arbitrary definitions established by Gadje. Taking account of the geographic areas and the population, we can define three main blocks and some autonomous groups that cannot be included in any of them: 1. Eastern Roma, mainly represented (by number and geographic distribution) by Kalderaš/Čurari/Lovari-related groups; 2. Central European Roma: Sinti and Romanichel families; 3. Calé (Spanish and Portuguese Roma). Other groups: Khoraxané, Boyaš, Carpathian Roma, Kaale, Southern- Italian Roma, Balkan Roma, Greek Roma, Armenian Lom, etc. This first general classification refers to European Roma, who are the overwhelming majority (the communities in the American Continent and some other areas of the world descend from European Roma). Eastern Roma Not being possible to find a specific definition for this group besides the term “Rom” that they apply exclusively to themselves and excluding most of the other Roma groups, the most suitable way to call this block, the most numerous in the world, is just the geographic area of historical development, Eastern Europe (including the whole Russia, that is Asia). There is a term coined by some Gadje which is generally used in reference to the majority of this group, which is utterly unsuitable and must be abolished: that is the term "Rom Vla", which is contradictory by itself, since Vla or Vlach is the name of a non-Romany people and an equivalent to the Romany word “gažo”. In fact, there is not a single Rom in the whole universe that would recognize himself as a "Vla Rom". The actual meaning of the term Vlach is "Walachian", "Romanian", historically "Latin- speaking Albanian". It is the national ethnic name of Romanians, which was turned into "Romanian" in the later 18th century c.e. for political reasons (see Vlach). The origin of the word Vlax/Vlach is very well-defined: it is the term by which the Germanic peoples referred to the Celts (and survives today in the English name of Wales). Since most of the Celtic tribes were Romanized, this denomination began to be applied to the Latin- speaking peoples (like the Belgian Walloons, to distinguish them from the Flemish-speaking Belgians). Subsequently, the term was taken by the Slavs and Hungarians with the meaning of Roman-like, Italian, French or Balkan Vlach (Romanian); hence the present-day Polish word for Italian, Włoch (a variation of Wołoch, Walachian) and the Hungarian word for Italian, Olasz (a variation of Olah, Walachian). The Sinti groups, historically dwelling in Germanic-speaking lands, later settled also in France, and they called that country Valči ‒ namely, Wallachia, or else, Gallia ‒ following the terminology applied by Germans to the Romanized Celts. To complete the paradox, the same term conveyed also the meaning of "shepherd", an occupation that has never been typical of European Roma people... Actually, such a term has no meaning at all for Roma, and does not even exist in Romany. Of course that it is not an easy task to make an appropriate classification of Roma groups, but at least we should try to find more suitable terms, that would be recognized also by Roma or with which they may in some way feel identified themselves. The first word to abolish is, of course, Vlax! The upholders of this designation argue that these Roma were once under slavery in Wallachia and Moldavia, an assertion that is not true for the largest majority of them: in fact, Russian Kalderaša, Serbian Kalderaša, Polish-Baltic Roma, Czech-Slovakian Roma, Greek Roma, Hungarian Roma and Even historic Transylvanian Roma have never been under Romanian rule ‒ in the case of the last ones, they have been always under Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Actually, none of the main sub-groups (Kalderaš, Čurarya, Lovarya) is numerous in Romania, while predominant or relevant by number in the above mentioned countries. So, the members of this group call themselves simply “Rom”, and even the other communities refer to them in this way, for example, the Sinti call them “Sinti Rom” ‒ so as to distinguish them from the other “Sinti” groups, because they call Sinti to all Roma (see below). These are the most conservative and exclusivist among Roma. Their strict patterns are strongly founded on Romany language and Romany Law, so that they do not consider Roma to the groups who do not speak Romanés or speak a dialect of it that is not intelligible for them (such as the Sinti dialects, Abruzzese Romany or British Gypsies' Romany), and establish differences between themselves according to the degree of observance of the Romany Law (in the same way as Jews consider the degree of kosher keeping). The most important indicators of such observance are the marimé laws (the Romany kashrut) and the women's clothing, closely related to these laws. They ae primarily defined according to dialectal patterns, and furtherly by “nationality”, meaning the country where they sojourned during the longest period, until the end of the 19th century c.e. Of the Eastern Roma, we present here in a more detailed way the following groups: Kalderaš-Čurari, Lovari-Mačvaya, Ruska Roma, Servitka Roma and Gurbeti. · Kalderaš-Čurari Group This community is the most numerous worldwide, being the largest Romany group in Serbia, Argentina and Mexico, and significant within Romany population in Russia, Transylvania, Sweden, France, Brazil, the United States and the whole American Continent, as well as in most European countries and Israel. In the lands where they emigrated, they usually are overnumbered only by the local Romany groups. Kalderašitsko is the most complete Romany language, both gramatically and lexically, and it is also the tongue spoken by the largest number of Roma worldwide, so that it can be considered the official standard Romany, both for purity and diffusion. Čurari Roma are usually regarded as a separate group from the Kalderaš Roma, although related to them. Actually, it is only an offshoot of the Kalderaš group, having the same language and following the same laws and traditions. Many families who are considered (also by themselves) as Čurari in one country are regarded as Kalderaš in another, as the examples we will see later about the nationalities. Contrary to what is usually stated, both these denominations have nothing to do with professions, as most scholars suggest attempting to find an etymology in Romanian language. One of the evidences is that both Kalderaš and Čurari practise the same business activities, share common ancestry traditions and, as already said, there are families who claim both ethnonyms. On the other side, the Čurari Roma are of Russian and Ukrainian “nationality”, often called simply “Rhusia” (Russians), and not from Romania or elsewhere in the Balkans.