Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in EuropeGrellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
History
Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in Europe
Grellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
Romanies
little appearance of being Hindostan. With respect to the construction
and inflexions of the two languages, they are evidently the same. That
of Hindostan has only two genders; the Gipsey the same. In the former
every word ended in _j_ is feminine, all the rest masculine; in the
latter the same rule is observed. That makes the inflections entirely by
the article, adding it at the end of the word; the Gipsey language
proceeds exactly in the same manner. Finally, likewise, bating a
trifling variation, this identical similarity is evident in the pronouns.
So much for the language of the Gipseys. As this is indubitably
Hindostan, it would be sufficient of itself to prove the descent of those
people from Hindostan. But we shall now proceed to other grounds, which,
united with the proofs from the language, will leave us less reason to
doubt concerning this matter.
That the Gipseys, and natives of Hindostan, resemble each other in
complexion and shape, and are equally timorous and cowardly, is
undeniable. But we shall pass over these, together with some other
circumstances; as, perhaps, neither the one nor the other are such
distinguishing marks as not to be met with among other Oriental people.
The name of Polgar, likewise, carries some weight with it, which we find
among the Gipseys in the earliest times, before they began to change the
names they brought with them for those used in Europe. Polgar, as we may
remember, was the name of the leader who, in the year 1496, obtained a
safe-conduct from the Hungarian king Uladislaus II. by virtue of which
he, with his horde, consisting of twenty-five tents or families, had the
liberty of travelling about where he pleased. This name Polgar
originates in India, where it is the appellation of a deity presiding
over marriages and matrimonial concerns: the Indians are very fond of
bearing this name, as well as the names of their other deities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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