| Gypsy |
Please spell with a capital “G” or you risk offending many people! This is the most commonly understood label, although it is disliked by many of those whom it describes, partly because of its derogatory connotations and partly because it is a misnomer.”Gypsy” is an abbreviation of Egyptian (‘gyptian) because of the mistaken belief that these people camefrom Egypt or a part of Europe once known as Little Egypt. (Comparable to calling Native Americans “Indians”) |
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| Rom |
noun, sing. or plural e.g. “He is a Rom”, “200 Rom came to the wedding.” collective noun, e.g. “The Rom originally came from India.” [ May also be spelled with two R’s ] |
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| Roma |
noun, plural or collective e.g. “200 Roma came to the wedding”; “The Roma originally came from India.” [ May also be spelled with two R’s ] |
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| Romani |
Adjective, e.g. “There are about one million Romani people in North America” Noun,”the language spoken by Romani people is called Romani or Romanès.” [ May also be spelled with two R’s ] |
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| Baró |
noun, male community leader (literally means ‘big man’ in Romani) |
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| Bashaldé |
noun (plural), e.g. Bill Duna is descended from the Bashaldé, who are Hungarian Slovak Roma. (This word shares a common root with the Romani word for music). |
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| Gaje, Gadje |
noun, a Romani word used to refer to outsiders. Plural: gajé/gadjé; masc. sing: gajó/gadjó; fem. sing.: gají/gadjí. |
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| Kris |
noun, a form of court tribunal overseen by Romani elders |
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| Marimé |
adjective, a state of ritual impurity resulting in ostracism. (noun: marimos) |
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| Porrajmos |
noun, Romani Holocaust, literally: devouring. (Pronounced paw-rye-MAWSS) |
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| Romanichal |
noun (sing. & plural), e.g Many Romanichal(s) have settled in Northern Europe. |
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| Vlax |
noun, e.g. “the Vlax are descended from Roma who were slaves in the Romanian province of Wallachia” Adjective, e.g. “Vlax Roma are descended from….” (final ‘x’ pronounced like a hard ‘h’, as in German ‘ch’ in “Achtung”) |
