Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/185

Rh forms, whereas the gitanas have adopted those of the Castihan tongue. Nevertheless, some words are an exception, as though to prove that the language was originally common to all. The preterite of the German dialect is formed by adding ium to the imperative, which is always the root of the verb. In the Spanish Romany the verbs are all conjugated on the model of the first conjugation of the Castilian verbs. From jamar, the infinitive of "to eat," the regular conjugation should be jamé, "I have eaten." From lilar, "to take," lille, "I have taken." Yet, some old gipsies say, as an exception, jayon and lillon. I am not acquainted with any other verbs which have preserved this ancient form.

While I am thus showing off my small acquaintance with the Romany language, I must notice a few words of French slang which our thieves have borrowed from the gipsies. From Les Mystères de Paris honest folk have learned that the word chourin means "a knife." This is pure Romany—tchouri is one of the words which is common to every dialect. Monsieur Vidocq calls a horse grès—this again is a gipsy word—gras, gre, graste, and gris. Add to this the word romanichel, by which the gipsies are described in Parisian slang. This is a corruption of