Gypsy

      See also gypsy

      English

      Etymology

      From Middle English Gipcyan, Gypcyan (Gyptian), from Old French gyptien. Short for Egyptian, from Latin aegyptius, because when they first appeared in England in the sixteenth century they were wrongly believed to have come from Egypt. The Albanian term Evgit, Greek γύφτος and Spanish gitano have the same origin.

      The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Rom (words related to the Romani people's autonyms) and cognates of tzigane (words derived from Greek); see those entries for more information.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      Gypsy (plural Gypsies)

      1. (sometimes offensive, see usage notes) A member of the Romani people, or one of it sub-groups (Roma, Sinti, Romanichal, etc).
      2. A member of other nomadic peoples, not only of the Romani people; a traveller. Alternative spelling of gypsy.

      Usage notes

      An exonym (external name) based on the mistaken belief that the Romani people came from Egypt, the term Gypsy is loaded with negative connotations.[1][2] Careful speakers and most international organizations therefore use Romani, Roma, or Rom as designations for the people, although narrowly speaking, the last two designate a subgroup. Rrom and Rroma (spellings which represent a trilled ‘r’) also find occasional use.

      However, Gypsy is more common in informal speech than Romani, and is the term used by some British laws and court decisions, such as the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 and the 1989 decision in the case of the Commission for Racial Equality v Dutton. This is because its offensiveness is not always understood by non-Romani, whose use of it is often not intended to cause offense. Further, some Romani organizations use "Gypsy" as a self-designation.

      See also the note about gypsy.

      Synonyms

      Derived terms

      Translations

      For translations of the Romani autonym (term for themselves), see Rom.
      a member of the Romani people
      one of the stateless people

      Proper noun

      Gypsy

      1. (rare, sometimes offensive) The language Romani.

      Usage notes

      See the notes about the noun, above.

      Translations

      • For: translations of the Romani autonym (term for their own language), see Romani.
      the language of the Romani people

      Adjective

      Gypsy (not comparable)

      1. (sometimes offensive) Of or belonging to the Romani people or one of it sub-groups (Roma, Sinti, Romanichel, etc).

      Usage notes

      See the notes about the noun, above.

      Translations

      of or belonging to the Roma people

      See also

      References

      1. ^ 1994, Jean-Pierre Liégeois, Roma, Gypsies, Travellers
      2. ^ 1999, Arthur Kean Spears, Race and ideology: language, symbolism, and popular culture
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      Last modified on 14 June 2013, at 20:30