Gypsy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"'My good fellow,' said he, 'I am a Gypsy, and can read baji. Do you know where you will be at this time to-morrow?'"--The Zincali (1841) by George Borrow "To be sure you see I can tell Baji, as you gipsies call fortune telling,"--Juanita. A Peninsular Story for Young People (1868) by Alfred Harold Engelbach |
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A Gypsy can refer to a Rom, member of the Romani people. This term is considered pejorative, especially among the Roma themselves. It can also refer to a stateless people, whose communities, traditionally thought to have been originally from India, entered Europe in 14th or 15th century, and are now widely distributed over Europe, Russia, Turkey, the Americas. In general, the term can refer to any itinerant person; any person suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft; a member of a nomadic people, not necessarily Romani; a carny.
Etymology
Earlier gipcyan, gyptian, short for Egyptian; when they first appeared in England in the sixteenth century they were believed to have come from Egypt.
See also
