Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/464

* GYPSIES. ■412 GYPSIES. to their real origin. .s earl_y as 1776 a certain Captain Szt'kely j)ul)lished a letter in a Viennese review, in which he mentioned that an Hungarian clergyman named ':'ilyi. during his student days at the University of Leyden, had become acquaint, ed with some lelluw students from ilalabar, in India, and had acquired from them a small vo- cabulary of Malabar words. On his return to Hungary he read his list to some gypsies, who understood almost every word. In 1783 two Ger- mans. Eiidigcr and Grellmann, writing on the gypsies, arrived independently at the conclusion oit their Indian origin. The growing study of Sanskrit and the modern Indian languages drew further attention to that of the gypsies, and in 1844-45 Pott published a monumental work. Die Zigeuner in Eiiropa tiiid Asia, in which was fully set forth the Hindu origin of 'romani.' There can be no further question of the fact that the gypsies are an Indian race, and every step in the study of their language and racial type tends still more to confirm the fact. It is un- necessary here to treat in detail the many inves- tigations of Bataillard, JIacRitchie. De Goeje, Miklosich. and others, that seek to connect them closely with one or another of the wild tribes of Northwestern India. A few words taken at random will serve sufficiently to show the Hindu origin of their lanjruage: Eoglisb fiypsr Sanskrit Modern Hind. coal angar (wAugar) ansara UDgara. vangar two flni dva. fivi do to do ker kr kurna man inanush (mush) manushya. manus mouth mui mukba m ukh nose link nasa nak five paucb pa u Chan pa urh gentleman rai raja. ra,)a lady rani raj Hi rani golden sonakai svarna sonakai four shtor cbatur cbar three triu tri tin hand wast basta bath fire ^'•'iff agui ysg eye rak akshi avkb one j-ek eka xek In appearance, the full-blooded gypsy is rather undersized, with swarthy complexion, oval face, and regular features, often very handsome. He has very black hair, piercing dark eyes, white teeth, a lithe figure, and small hands and feet. Kopernicki studied twenty gypsy crania in a hospital at Budapest, and found a very striking resemblance to the Hindu crania of low caste. The gypsy marries early. The young girls are often very beautiful, but their beauty soon fades. As a race the gypsies are long-lived: it is not unusual to find very aged men and women, exceedingly wrinkled, but robust and active. They retain their deep-black hair until a great age. Sketch of Theik !Migr.tioxs. At precisely what jx'riod the gvpsy hordes left their early home in Kortliwestern India and commenced their long migration into the west cannot be determined. Historical information on this point is entirely wanting: but their language affords sure evi- dence of the course of their wanderings, for their sojourn in each country has left its impress on their vocabulary. In addition, we are so for- tunate as to have some slight records of their early apparition among the nations of Europe. They must have left their original home not later than the year 000, and how much before it is quite impossible to say. Perhaps the irruption of the hordes of Genghis Khan moved them from their earlier abode and started them on their long march of centuries. They evidently took the direction of Kabulistan and Persia, and made a lengthy stay in each of these countries, as the presence of Kabul and Persian words in their language amply proves. Here they seem to have split into two main divisions, the one striking south through Syria into Egv'pt and Northern Africa, where their descendants are still to be found in considerable numbers; the other migrat- ing west through Asia iHnor into Turkey in Europe. Here they receive from the contem- porary Byzantine writers the appellation of Athiiiganoi, or Atsinkanoi. the origin of the vari- ous names by which the}' are familiarly known in the different countries of Eastern Europe and in Germany. Greece Rnd the Greek-speaking coun- tries of Southeastern Europe were their earliest abiding place on the European Continent, and there is no way of deciding how many decades or centuries they roamed about here before push- ing their restless way still farther to the west. As early as 1398 we have mention of a gypsy chief named John as established with certain feudal priwleges at Nauplia. in the Peloponnesus, under 'enetian rule : and numerous ruined castles in that country still bear the name rv<p76Ka(!Tpov, or gv'ps.v castie, from the name by which they are known in Greece, rv(pToi, or 'Kopts.' Earlier still, in 1370. we find feudal settlements of gyp- sies in certain parts of the island of Corfu — a sort of gypsy 'ghetto,' or reservation. Early in this same century large bands of gyp- sies began to stream north from Greece and Tur- key into the wild and scantily populated Balkan coanitries, especially Wallnchia, where they found anijde room to gratify their nomadic instincts unmolested, and throve and increased in num- bers amazingly. From here they readily found their way in vast numbers into Transylvania and Hungary. They were settled in these coun- tries already before 1417. and the plains of Hun- gary and the mountains of Transylvania may be regarded as the second important station in their European wanderings. They form an important and not useless part of the population, devoting themselves to a limited number of nomadic occu- pations, notably the simpler kinds of smith work and music, and are neither maltreated nor de- spised by the people. The first appearance of the gypsies in Germany is recorded in 1417. At about the same time other bands passed through the whole of Europe. They are recorded in Switzerland in 1418; in Denmark. 1420; in Italy. 1422; in France and Spain. 1447; in Poland and Russia, about 1500; in Enuland shortly after. At first they were treated kindly, and assisted in their poverty alike by people and Government; but their thievish habits soon caused them to be driven from place to place, and stringent laws were frequently passed against them. This probably explains their sudden appearance in such distant parts of Europe at about the same period. The curious notion that they were of Egyptian origin was alreadv widespread, and the g^-psies themselves found it to their purpose to lend credence to it. They invented an imaginary 'Little Egypt,' and their chiefs, ridinc their well-kept horses, clad in many-colored garments and coin-bedecked, and followed by the miserable rabble of their tribe, posed as 'counts' and 'dukes' and 'kings' of that land ; or gave out that they were pilgrims on