What is the history of gypsies?

Question

I was told my great great grandmother was a Turkish Gypsy. I cant help but ponder about gypsies now. What do you know?

Answer 1

I've been told by someone who is part gypsy that the Roma (people native to Romania, in much the same way Native Americans are native to America) were at some point believed to have come from Egypt, thus they were called "little Egyptians" and this term soon evolved into "gypsies."

Answer 2

Would you be interested in buying my children? The boy is skinny and small but quite strong and very smart. The girl is very pretty.

I've told them, if they don't behave we'll sell them to the gypsies, but have been having a devil of a time finding willing buyers.

Answer 3

Check out Cher's song Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves. That might give you some insight.

Answer 4

Wolfmano has the right answer. They originally came from India, hence the dark hair, skin, and eyes. I love that old Sonny and Cher song,"Gypsies".

Answer 5

http://www.muzeum.tarnow.pl/cyganie/przew_jang.html
this should get you started looking in the right direction.
i myself have been looking into my families history.
you find some amazing things. for example my blood lines follow back to being Boermicians. Boermicians were a mixture of Scottish Picts, Angles, and Vikings. you might also want to search for "[your last name] family coat of arms" this may also help you find what you are looking for

Answer 6

Didn't they originally come from Romania?

I know Milan and Rome are full of them...they like to steal wallets from tourists.....

Answer 7

The Roma people (singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), often referred to as gypsies, are a heterogeneous ethnic group who live primarily in Southern and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, Latin America, the southern part of the United States and the Middle East. They are believed to have originated mostly from the Rajasthan region of India. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago.

Traditionally most Roma spoke Romani (Romany), an Indo-Aryan language. Today, however, most Roma speak the dominant language of their region of residence.

Most Roma refer to themselves as Rom. In the Romani language, Rom (man) derives from the Sanskrit dom (man). Alternate spellings of "Rroma" for the people and "Rromanes" for the language, were rejected by the last World Romani Congress, which defined the universal Romani alphabet.

The English term gypsies (or gipsies), originates from the Greek word Αιγύπτοι (Aigyptoi), modern Greek γύφτοι (gyphtoi), in the erroneous belief that the Roma originated in Egypt, and were exiled as punishment for allegedly harboring the infant Jesus[12]. This ethnonym is not used by the Roma to describe themselves, and is often considered pejorative. However, the use of "gypsy" in English is now so pervasive that many Roma organizations use the word gypsy in their own names. In North America, the word "gypsy" is often misunderstood as a reference to lifestyle or fashion, and not to the Roma ethnicity. The Spanish term gitano and the French term gitan may have the same origin[13].

In most of continental Europe, Roma are known by many names, most of them similar to the Hungarian cigány (pronounced IPA /ˈʦiɡaːɲ/). Some notable examples are:

Bulgarian and Serbian цигани (pronounced IPA /'ʦiɡəni/)
Dutch & German Zigeuner
Low Saxon Taters
Swedish zigenare (mixed: tattare)
Italian zingari or gitani
Portuguese cigano
Romanian ţigani
Russian цыгане
Turkish çingene
Ukrainian цигани
The Hungarian root, cigány may stem from the word szegény (pronounced IPA /sɛɡeːɲ/), Hungarian for "impoverished". In some archaic Hungarian dialects, szegény very closely resembles Cigány in pronunciation. Alternatively, Angus Fraser traces the earliest historical mentions of cigány, cygan and cingari to a "very limited zone" in northwestern Transylvania, where a noble Hungarian family named Zygan lived. Fraser does not imply that Roma share Hungarian ethnicity, only that the name cigány likely originates from this small Hungarian-speaking enclave.[12]

Another possibility, suggested by early Byzantium literature and Dimitrina Petrova[14] of the European Roma Rights Centre, is that the various names which the gypsies are called now, such as tzigane, zincali, gitani, cigány, etc., are derived from the Greek ατσίγγανοι (atsinganoi, Latin adsincani), applied to Roma during Byzantine times,[15] or from the Greek term αθίγγανοι (athinganoi)[16] in reference to a ninth century heretical sect that had been accused of practising magic and fortune-telling.[17] In modern Greek, aside from the term Rom (Ρομ), the terms gyphtoi (Greek:γύφτοι) and tsigganoi (Greek:τσιγγάνοι) are interchangeable and both are used when referring to gypsies.

Outside Europe, Roma are referred to by more varied names, such as کولی (Kowli) in Iran; as Lambani,Labana Lambadi, or Rabari as well as Banjara in India; as Ghajar غخري or Nawar نوار' in Arabic; as tzoanim צוענים in Hebrew (after an ancient city in Egypt and the biblical verb tsoan - roaming); and as Qereçí or Dom in Kurdish.

There is no linguistic connection between the name Roma (ethnicity) and the city of Rome, ancient Rome, Romania, the Romanian people or the Romanian language.

The Roma people, often referred to as Gypsies, are an ethnic group who live primarily in Europe. They are believed to have originated in the northern part of the Indian Subcontinent. They began their migration to Europe and North Africa via the Iranian plateau about 1,000 years ago. The reason for their diaspora remains an enigma.

Both linguistic and genetic evidence indicate that the Roma originated on the Indian Subcontinent. Turner postulates Roma origins in central India before migrating ca. 250 B.C. to the Punjab region where they resided until beginning a massive exodus ca. 1000 A.D..

Answer 8

I think they are originally from Romania

Answer 9

people who lied and said that they were Egyptian fortune tellers

Answer 10

Bohemians. they were a nomadic people.