Photos

A portrait of a young nomad with a small Tattoo on his neck.
The Romani people are also known by a variety of other names, in English as Gypsies and Roma, in Greek, in Central and Eastern Europe as Tsigani (and variants), in France as gitans besides the dated bohémiens and manouches. Self-designation also varies: In Central and Eastern Europe, Roma is common. The Romani of England call themselves (in Angloromani) Romanichal, those of Scandinavia (in Scandinavian romanidialect) Romanisæl. In German-speaking Europe, the self-designation is Sinti, in France Manush, while the groups of Spain, Wales and Finland use Kalo/Kale (from kalo meaning "black"). There are numerous subgroups and clans with their own self-designations, such as the Kalderash, Machvaya, Boyash, Lovari, Modyar, Xoraxai, Lautari, etc.
In the Romani language, rom is a masculine noun, meaning "man, husband", with the plural romá. Romani is the feminine adjective, while romano is the masculine adjective. Some Romanies use Romá as an ethnic name, while others (such as the Sinti, or the Romanichal) do not use this term as a self-ascription for the entire ethnic group. In the English language, Rom is a noun (with the plural Romá or Roms) and an adjective, while Romani (Romany) is also a noun (with the plural Romanies or Romanis) and an adjective. Both Rom and Romani have been in use in English since the 19th century as an alternative for Gypsy. Romani was initially spelled Rommany, then Romany, while today the Romani spelling is the most popular spelling. Sometimes, rom and romani are spelled with a double r, i.e., rrom and rromani, particularly in Romania in order to distinguish from the Romanian endonym (români). This is well established in Romani itself, since it represents a phoneme (/?/ also written as r and rh) which in some Romani dialects has remained different from the one written with a single r. Although Romá is used as a designation for the branch of the Romani people with historic concentrations in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, it is increasingly encountered during recent decades as a generic term for the Romani people as a whole. Because all Romanies use the word Romani as an adjective, the term began to be used as a noun for the entire ethnic group. Today, the term Romani is used by most organizations—including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the US Library of Congress. However, some organizations use the term Romá to refer to Romani people around the world. The demonyms of the Romani people, Lom and Dom share the same etymological origin, reflecting Sanskrit ?oma "a man of low caste, living by singing and music". The English term Gypsy originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien. It is ultimately derived from the Greek ????pt???, via Middle French and Latin. It was once believed that the Romanies, or some other Gypsy groups (such as the Balkan Egyptians), originated in Egypt, and in one narrative were exiled as punishment for allegedly harbouring the infant Jesus. The Oxford English Dictionary states a 'gipsy' is a member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Indian origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. According to the OED the word was first used in English in 1514, with several more uses in the same century, and that both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used this word. This exonym is sometimes written with a capital letter, to show that it designates an ethnic group. The Spanish term gitano and the French term gitan have the same origin. During the 16th and 17th centuries the name was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, 'gypcian. The word gipsy/gypsy comes from the spellings which had lost the initial capital E, and this is one reason why it is often spelled with the initial g in lowercase.[17] As time elapsed, the notion of 'the gipsy/gypsy' altered to include other associated stereotypes such as nomadism and exoticism. John Matthews in The World Atlas of Divination refer to gypsies as "Wise Women." Colloquially, gipsy/gypsy may refer to any person perceived as fitting the Gypsy stereotypes. 'Gipsy/gipsy' is a common word used to indicate Romani people, Tinkers and Travellers. It may or may not be considered to carry pejorative connotations by those so described, and use of the word "Gipsy" in English is so pervasive (and is a legal term under English law—see below) that many Romani organizations use it in their own organizational names.