Word Wednesday : Gypsy (EXTENDED VERSION)

So I was checking the "comments" on my site, and saw that someone commented on Wednesday's gypsy blog. They were from England, and informed me about the following:

"Hi from England, here in the UK Gypsy travellers are one of the most persecuted ethnic minority's with some of the lowest health and educational achievements, gypsies are still pushed from pillor to post. when Gypsies do try and buy land and settle down 95% of planning applications are turned down compared to 85% past for the settled community despite being here in the uk for over 500 years it is a banded about term but in the UK the term Gypsy implies ethnic status and protection under law. kusti bok."

I had no idea that the Gypsies live such a difficult life and are/were subject to such prejudice. I started doing some digging, and found some GREAT information at BBC's site. The link is http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/romany_roots - and it really has every bit of information about Roman Gypsies Roots - their language, their struggle, their traditions - their history to present day.

You can read personal stories about Gypsies here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/romany_roots/people/

To read about their AMAZING history:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/romany_roots/history/

A gypsy without a horse is not a gypsy:

The changing relationship between Gypsies and their horses epitomises the profound changes that have occurred in the Traveller lifestyle in the course of one short generation.

When the horses and caravan gave way to the lorry and trailer something changed forever. A way of life that had remained essentially unchanged for centuries suddenly came to an end, and with it went centuries of tradition and culture.

Today horse ownership amongst Gypsies is on the increase and the relationship is being rekindled in a modern context.

Older Romany Travellers recall the days when the horse was virtually a member of the family and when life was led at the steady slow pace reflected by the sound of hooves echoing along country lanes.

On the day before hitching up and moving on, the caravan would be washed down, harness cleaned, brasses polished and horses groomed. No one who saw this proud cavalcade pass by would dare whisper the words 'Dirty Gypsies' under their breath.

The horse drawn days came to an end in the 1960s when Gypsy Travellers became motorised and the lorry and trailer replaced the old traditional painted wooden Gypsy caravan. It was a pivotal time as the old ways came to a close and the Gypsies embarked on a new journey which would eventually lead to sedentarisation and fears for the very survival of the Romany culture.

The 70s were dark days for the Romany Gypsies, there were not yet any official council sites and the round of agricultural work was drying up.

Lorries and trailers were now the norm and for a while the horse passed from the Traveller experience, but in recent years as the Romany culture has begun to find it's feet in new circumstances, horses are again very much in evidence.

"Kusti Bok" means "Good Luck" in Romany

Word Wednesday : Gypsy

Today's word is "Gypsy". I have been called many things, and recently I have been hearing 'gypsy' more and more. I'm going to take it as a compliment, but I thought that I'd like to narrow down the definition of and the history of Gypsies.

Main Entry: gyp·sy

Pronunciation: \ˈjip-sē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): gyp·sied; gyp·sy·ing plural Gypsies

Etymology: by shortening & alteration from Egyptian

Date: circa 1537

1: a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India and now live chiefly in south and southwest Asia, Europe, and North America
2: romany
3 not capitalized : one that resembles a Gypsy ; especially : wanderer

: to live or roam like a Gypsy

The definition of Gypsy uses "gypsy" as a description, and "Romany" uses "gypsy" as it's definition...so I looked up 'WANDERER' which is a bit more clear on what a gypsy is:

intransitive verb1
a: to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal
b: to go idly about : ramble <wandering around the house>2: to follow a winding course : meander3 a: to go astray (as from a course) : stray <wandered away from the group> b: to go astray morally : err
c: to lose normal mental contact : stray in thought wandered>transitive verb: to roam over <wandered the halls>

So YES, I do think that calling me a gypsy would be correct. I do roam {suggests wandering about freely and often far afield} and meander {mean to go about from place to place usually without a plan or definite purpose}.

Wikipedia says this of the History of "Gypsy":

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that a gypsy is a "member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of Hindu origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from Egypt". The OED records the first usage of the word in English as 1514, with several more in the same century, and that both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used the word.^[1]

The word derives from the word for "Egyptian" in Latin, the same as the Spanish Gitano or the French Gitan. It emerged in Europe, in the 15th century, after their migration into the land of the Romani people (aka Roma) in that continent.^[2] They received this name from the local people either because they spread in Europe from an area named Little Egypt, in Southern Balkans or because they fitted the European image of dark-skinned Egyptians skilled in witchcraft. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, 'gipcian, 'gypcian^[3]. As the time elapsed, the notion of Gypsy evolved including other stereotypes, like nomadism, exoticism.^[4]

Gypsies are associated with fortune-telling, free-spirits, boisterous music {percussion, violins, etc.,}, and dancing.

Flamenco has its roots in the melting pot of Moorish, Jewish and Christian cultures of Andalusia, into which gypsies entered five hundred years ago. The gypsies brought with them their own abundant tradition of song and dance from India, their original home. Flamenco was a folk art of the poor, and reflected the hard, raw reality of life on the margins of society. Love and loss, grief and death are typical themes of flamenco song, but there is also a lighter side, a joy in being alive, a love of family, home, land and the simple details of daily life.

Gypsy's traveled with all of their belongings in their "gypsy wagons"...

Here is MY gypsy wagon...


There have been art about gypsies, fairytales about gypsies, movies about gypsies ("Chocolat") and music (look up Martin Sexton's "Gypsy Woman"...you will not be disappointed).

One of my favorite bands, Beirut, take inspiration from Gypsy music and the Gypsy lifestyle. Here is a live video of them playing as street performers: