Roma people

The Roma people (pronounced "rahma"; singular Rom; sometimes Rroma, Rrom), along with the closely related Sinti people, are commonly known as Gypsies in English. They are a traditionally nomadic people who originated in northern India, but currently live worldwide, chiefly in Europe. Most Roma speak some form of Romany, a language closely- related to the modern Indo-European languages of Europe, northern India and Pakistan http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_family.asp?subid=653, but usually speak the dominant language of a region they live in as well. Modern anthropology has related Romany to Punjabi and Pothohari, spoken in northern India and Pakistan.

Language

Analysis of the Romany language has shown that it is related to languages spoken in northern India and Pakistan, such as Hindi and Punjabi. This is regarded as strong evidence for locating the geographical origin of the Roma, particularly in light of the fact that loanwords in Romany make it possible to trace the pattern of their migration west.

Related Topics:
India - Pakistan - Hindi - Punjabi - Loanword

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Body habitus and ABO blood group distribution is also consistent with northern Indian warrior classes. However, a study recently published in Nature magazine suggests Romany is related to Sinhalese (see footnotes).

Related Topics:
Habitus - Blood group - Nature magazine - Sinhalese

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Some Roma have developed creole languages and/or mixed languages, including:

Related Topics:
Creole language - Mixed language

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• Caló or Iberian-Romany, which uses the Romany lexicon and Spanish grammar (the calé). It is the source of many words of Spanish cant and slang.
• Lomavren or Armenian-Romany
• Angloromani or English-Romany
• Romano-Greek or Greek-Romany
• Traveller Norwegian or Norwegian-Romany
• Romano-Serbian or Serbian-Romany
• Boyash, a dialect of Romanian with Hungarian and Romany loanwords
• Tavringer Romani or Swedish-Romany