The Pariah Syndrome
XVII. Appendix A: Definition of Terms
ATHINGANOI. A heretic Byzantine group with which Gypsies were confused, hence the various names such as Zigeuner, Cigan, &c. (Greek).ANGLOROMANI. The variety of Romani spoken by the Romanichals or British Gypsies, wherever they have gone to live. It differs considerably from the inflected Romani of the Vlax Rom, and is not mutually intelligible with it.
AURARI. Goldwashers. Also called ZLATARI (Rumanian).
BALKAN. As applied to dialects of Romani, includes those which developed south of Moldavia and Wallachia. They are spoken today mainly in Greece and Bulgaria.
BALKANS. An area of south-eastern Europe which includes continental Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Jugoslavia, Rumania and sometimes Hungary.
BITCHADY PAWDEL (or BITCHENO PAWDEL). Transported to the American or Australian penal colonies, lit. 'sent across'. A term used by the Romanichals or British Gypsies (Angloromani).
BITCHERIN' MUSH. Magistrate, lit. 'sending man'. A term used by the Romanichals or British Gypsies (Angloromani).
BOSHA. Gypsies in Armenia who call themselves LOM; speakers of Central Gypsy dialects (Armenian).
BOYARS (also BOIARS, BOYARDS). The landed gentry; barons (Rumanian).
BOYASH (also BAYASH, BEYASH, BEASH). A Vlax Romani population, wide spread throughout Europe and the Americas, who descend from the RUDARI and who have a Rumanian dialect as their native language instead of Romani (deriv. from preceding).
BYZANTINE EMPIRE. A Christian empire incorporating what are today Turkey and parts of south-eastern Europe, which lasted from the sixth to the fifteenth century.
BYZANTIUM (later CONSTANTINOPOLIS, CONSTANTINOPLE, ISTANBUL). The capital of the Byzantine Empire; sometimes wrongly applied to the empire itself.
CALDERARI (or KALDERASHA). Makers of copper vessels (Rumanian).
CANGUE. A spiked harness used as a restraining device around the neck (French).
CETE. A group of Gypsies to be sold in a single lot (Rumanian).
CHIVUTSE (CHIVUTSELE, SPOITORESELE). Whitewashers (Rumanian).
CIOCOI (also VATAVE). An overseer (Rumanian).
COSTORARI. Tinners (Rumanian).
CHURARI. Sievemakers (Rumanian).
DANUBIAN. A branch of European or Western Romani: also called VLAX.
DESROBIREJA. Emancipation from slavery (Romani, from Rumanian).
DOM. Speakers of Eastern Gypsy dialects.
DOM. A menial class in India whose occupations include musicians, slaughterers, janitors, &c., and members of the SHUDRA caste. Believe by some to be the ancestors of the Gypsies.
DOMARI. The language of the DOM; speakers of the dialects of Eastern Gypsy, inhabiting Syria and other parts of the Middle East (Domari).
DOMBA. Hypothesized ancestors of all three branches of Gypsy.
DOMBARI. The Proto-Gypsy language.
ENDLÖSUNG. During Hitler's Nazi regime, his policy of exterminating all unwanted racial, ethnic and social elements from his new society. The 'Final Solution' (German).
FALAGUE. Flaying the soles of the feet as a means of punishment (French).
FERARI (or HERARI). Workers in iron (Rumanian).
GADZHIKANO. Masculine singular adjective meaning "non-Gypsy" (Romani).
GADZHO. Male non-Gypsy, plural GADZHE. The feminine form is GADZHI, plural GADZHJA (Romani).
GORNIK. In Hungary, a title meaning Gypsy overseer (Hungarian).
HOSPODAR (or GOSPODAR). A word meaning 'lord', formerly born as a title of dignity by the governors of the Ottoman PORTE for the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia.
JEKHIPE (or JEKHETHANIBE). Unity, lit. 'one-ness' (Romani).
KIRPACHI. Basketmakers (Rumanian).
KOVACHI. Blacksmiths (Rumanian).
KSHATRIYAS. A member of the military caste, the second highest of the four castes among the Hindus.
LAIESHI (or LAIETSI). Slaves who were allowed to move about on the estates, an who did a variety of jobs (Rumanian).
LAUTARI. Musicians; strictly, fiddlers (Rumanian, from Turkish/Arabic).
LINGURARI. Makers of wooden spoons (Rumanian).
LOMAVREN. The language of the Bosha (Lomavren).
LOWBEY. A people inhabiting The Gambia in West Africa which, it has been suggested, descended from the French Gypsies abandoned on that coast in 1802. Known locally as Lawbe or Laybe (Peul).
MAMALIGA. Cornmeal porridge, commonly eaten throughout Rumania and other parts of eastern Europe. A staple diet for the slaves (Rumanian).
MESTERE-LACATUCHI. Makers of keys, locks and burglar-bars (Rumanian).
MONGOLS. Invaders from central Asia, some of whom had begun to be converted to Islam by the late 1200s.
NAJU (also NAYU, NAIU). A pan-pipe; musical instrument fashioned from reeds cut to different lengths fastened side by side, the tops of which are blown across.
NETOCI (or NETOTSI). Plural of NETOTO, q.v.
NETOTO. A slave who escaped to the mountains and who lived as a fugitive. The word is said to mean "not complete" (Rumanian).
OTTOMAN. The Turkish dynasty belonging to Othman (Osman) I, founded ca. AD 1300.
PORTE. The Ottoman court at Constantinople (French).
POTCOVARI. Ironworkers and shoers of horses (Rumanian).
RABI GOSPOD. Name given to Gypsy slaves in Russia (Russian).
RAJASTHANI. The language of the Rajputs (Indic).
RAJPUTANIA (or RAJASTHAN). Part of north-western India inhabited by the RAJPUTS.
RAJPUTS. A predominantly military north-western Indian people, who claim to be descended from the KSHATRIYAS. Believed by some scholars to have been the ancestors of the Gypsies.
ROBI. Slaves. In European Vlax Romani, Rrobo means "captive" or "prisoner"; in American Vlax it means "one unwilling to work" (Rumanian, from Slavic. Cf. RABI GOSPOD).
RROM. In all varieties of Western Romani this word is found meaning "husband" or "Gypsy man" (as opposed to GADZHO or non-Gypsy man); for Vlax-speaking Gypsies, it is further used to define themselves as opposed to other, non-Vlax-speaking Gypsy groups. The feminine is RROMNI (Romani).
RROMANES. Adverbial form meaning "in the Gypsy manner"; sometimes used to mean the Romani language.
ROMANI. Feminine singular adjective meaning "Gypsy." Often applied to the language, and used also as a noun (older spelling ROMANY, plural ROMANIES).
ROMANICHAL (also ROMNICHAL, ROMNICHEL). Designation for those Gypsy populations from northern Europe, and especially the British Isles, as opposed to, e.g., the RROM.
RUDARI (also RUDARS, LUDARI, BLIDARI, LINGURARI). Makers of wooden spoons, troughs, plates, spindles, &c. The name RUDARI was also applied to those engaged in goldwashing.
SALAHORI. House-builders (Rumanian).
SALASH. A job-lot of slaves sold together (Rumanian).
SHATRA. A Gypsy village. Also used to refer to a job-lot of slaves sold together (Rumanian).
SCLAVI. Slaves (Rumanian).
SCLAVI COEVESHTI. Slaves of the barons, also called SCLAVI BOIARESHTI (Rumanian).
SCLAVI CURTE. Slaves of the court (Rumanian).
SCLAVI DE MOSHII. Slaves belonging to the petty landowners (Rumanian).
SCLAVI DOMNESHTI. Slaves of the gentry (Rumanian).
SCLAVI GOSPOD. Slaves of the householders (Rumanian).
SCLAVI MONASTIVESHTI. Slaves of the Church (Rumanian).
SCINDROME. Slave (plural SCINDROMI) (Rumanian).
SELJUKS. Members of a Turkish dynasty ruling between the 11th and 13th centuries, prior to the OTTOMANS.
SKOPICA (also SCOPITSA, plural SCOPITSI). A eunuch; one of a caste of coachdrivers castrated as children and used to transport the female gentry (Rumanian).
SLOBUZENJA. Freedom (Romani, from Slavic).
SPOITORESELE (or CHIVUTSE, KIVOUTSE, CHIVUTSELE). Whitewashers (Rumanian).
SUDRA. Lowest of the four Hindu castes, believed by some to have been the ancestors of the Gypsies (Sanskrit).
TATARS (sometimes TARTARS). Name applied to various Turkic peoples, including the Turki and Kirghiz, who overran the Byzantine Empire. It was also applied indiscriminately to the MONGOLS, who are not a Turkic people.
TSIGAN (plural TSIGANI). Gypsy (Rumanian).
TSIGANI DE CASATSI. House slaves (Rumanian).
TSIGANI DE OGOR. Field slaves (Rumanian).
TRIBUT. Taxes (Rumanian).
URSARI. Bear trainers (Rumanian).
VATAVE (or CIOCOI). Overseer (Rumanian).
VATRASHI (or VATRARI). Slaves who did a variety of jobs, including those of groom, stable keeper, coachman, &c. (Rumanian).
VAXUITORI DE GHETE. Cobblers and leather-workers (Rumanian).
VICA (or VITSA; plural VICI, VITSI). A clan or social division within Vlax Romani society. Literally "vine" or "tendril" (Rumanian, from Slavic).
VINZATOARE DE FLORI. Flower-sellers and sellers of sheaves of grain (Rumanian).
VLAX (also VLACH, WALLACHIAN or DANUBIAN). A branch of European Gypsy consisting of those dialects which developed in the Balkans during slavery time. They are characterized by massive lexical and structural influence from Rumanian.
VRAJITOARELE (or GICHISORI). Fortune-tellers. This was not a legitimate category within slavery but provided amusement for the gentry; these women were among the LAIESHI, and moved all over the estates (Rumanian).
YANSERS. Name applied to Gypsies in 19th century New York.
ZLATARI (also called AURARI). Goldwashers (Slavic); not slaves.
A collage of newspaper headlines, comics, cartoons, &c., mainly taken from American and British sources, depicting Gypsies.
| [Collage 1] | [Collage 4] | [Collage 7] | [Collage 10] | [Collage 13] | [Collage 16] |
| [Collage 2] | [Collage 5] | [Collage 8] | [Collage 11] | [Collage 14] | [Collage 17] |
| [Collage 3] | [Collage 6] | [Collage 9] | [Collage 12] | [Collage 15] | [Collage 18] |
![Collage 2]](images/pariah-38.gif){kind=link}
![Collage 3]](images/pariah-39.gif){kind=link}
