For several centuries, Gypsies have been living in Russia. They can be found throughout the country - from the borders in the west to the Far East. Not a single equestrian market in the 19th century did without their active participation. The special dance and musical art brought them fame. And what language does this people speak, is there a single gypsy language? After all, gypsies are different. There are Ukrainian servs, Romanian Vlachs, German Sinti, Crimean and Moldavian gypsies. What does gypsy linguistics say about this? Let's try to figure out what language the gypsies speak. What words are borrowed from it in our vocabulary?
Language formation process
Very often, some people are called gypsies. What is the reason for this? Most likely, they cannot sit in one place, they change their place of residence all the time or like to beg for something. Very interesting people are gypsies. Europeans were of the opinion that they originally came from Egypt, so in many languages the word "gypsy" is a derivative of "Egypt".
In fact, a thousand years ago, several tribes from the north and west of India migrated to other countries. So they became gypsies. Some tribes came to Persia, others wandered near the lands of Turkey, some reached Syria, Egypt and North Africa. Being from India, these people have preserved the Indian language for communication.
Later, the gypsies migrated to the Balkans, to Russia, and Hungary. Then they appeared in European countries: Germany, England, France, Spain, Sweden and Finland.
Centuries-old wanderings led to the fact that the gypsy language borrowed words from other languages. After all, the gypsies had classes that allowed them to roam. Some were engaged in woodcarving, others made dishes, others danced, sang, wrote poetry, and divined. They all loved horses and traded them. In Spain, gypsies danced flamenco beautifully.
So, the gypsy language belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of Indo-European languages. This language is also used by residents of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh. This dialect is considered the only Balkan language of Indian origin. The gypsy dialect has two close relatives - the Domaric language (used by the inhabitants of Jerusalem) and the Lomavren (previously used by the Armenians).
Since gypsies traveled around the world, their dialect developed in the form of separate dialects. In each country where the gypsies lived, some of their own dialects formed.
Although the Gypsies separate themselves from other peoples, a single “Gypsy society” has not yet formed. This leads to the extinction of gypsy dialects.
Countries where gypsies live
How common is Gypsy talk? The largest number of representatives of this people lives in Romania - about half a million people. The next country in their numbers is Bulgaria - 370 thousand. About 300 thousand gypsies live in Turkey. Over 250,000 people are in Hungary. The next country is France, with about 215,000 Roma living there. The following list will show you the number of Gypsy users in other countries:
- in Russia - 129,000;
- Serbia - 108,000;
- Slovakia - 106,000;
- Albania - 90,000;
- Germany - 85,000;
- Republic of Macedonia - 54,000;
- Ukraine - 47,000;
- Italy - 42,000;
- Bosnia and Herzegovina - 40,000.
In all other European countries, their number is less than 20,000. In the UK, Spain and Estonia, only 1,000 representatives each.
A bit of grammar gypsy dialect
Gypsy dialect is inherent in the definite article of distinction by gender and number. The presence of seven cases is distinguished: nominative, accusative, dative, depositional, possessive, instrumental, vocative. All nouns have abstract masculine concepts. The pronouns have only six cases, without the vocative. The infinitive of the verb does not exist. Adjectives are inclined when referring to a noun.
Dialects
Sometimes speakers of different dialects of the gypsy language have a poor understanding of each other. Only conversations on everyday topics are generally understood. The modern Gypsy language has three mega-groups:
- Romani.
- Lomavren.
- Domari.
Each large dialect zone is further divided into small groups, including phonetic and grammatical innovations. Borrowing depends on the habitat. The existence of the following largest dialect zones is noted:
- North. These include Scandinavian, Finnish, Baltic Gypsies, Sinti, Russian Roma.
- Central. Austrian, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak dialects.
- Vlaška. Dialects of Lovari, Vlachs, Kelderara.
- Balkan. Serbian, Bulgarian, Crimean gypsies.
- Servitskaya. Received a strong influence of northeastern dialects.
In Russia, the most widespread is the Vlach dialect borrowed from the language of Romanian gypsies. From it came the local North Russian dialect. It is similar to the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lithuanian dialect. It is important to note that, on the basis of the Kelderara dialect, a project of a superdialect koyne was compiled - a common gypsy language.
Moldovan and Romanian gypsies
In 2002, the first International Day of Roma was celebrated in Moldova . For the first time, Moldovan gypsies were mentioned in 1428. Representatives of this people in Moldova, as in Romania, obey their baron. For many years, Moldovan gypsies were harassed. Indeed, in the nineteenth century it was still possible to buy a whole family of gypsies and use it as slaves.
The baron of the gypsies of Moldova today is Arthur Cherare. Here, these people are mainly engaged in handicraft. Roma houses can be recognized from afar, as well as their clothes. They colorfully paint them, whole pictures are applied to the walls. Most often, the owners have enough skills for landscapes and flowers. There are also rich representatives of this people. Their houses look like mansions, churches or temples.
Features of the dialects of Russian gypsies
The ancestors of the Russian gypsies came to the country from Poland. They were engaged in horse trading, fortune telling, music and were Orthodox Christians. Now they can be found throughout the Russian Federation. People especially like their songs and dances. With the advent of the October Revolution, the gypsy merchants were completely destroyed, and the equestrian markets closed. The Gypsies also subjected the Nazis to genocide .
The dialect of Russian Roma is filled with tracing-paper from Polish, German, Russian. Suffixes and prefixes were borrowed. The most important feature of the Russian dialect is the use of the ending -s. It is used in feminine nouns and adjectives and is similar to -and. Examples: romny (gypsy), paired (white), lola (red). But with the ending -i: Khurmi (porridge), Churi (knife).
Here are examples of words with common Gypsy roots: dad (father), dai (mother), gray (horse), vast (hand), yakh (eye), yag (fire), pans (water). We also give examples of words with borrowings from the Russian language: reka (river), rodo (genus), Vesna (spring), bida (trouble), color (color). The following words were taken from the Polish language: sando (court), indaraka (skirt), scampo (mean). The following borrowings were taken from the Germans: felda (field), fancra (window), things (apartment).
Gipsy words in Russian
Borrowings not only penetrate into the gypsy dialect, but also come out of it. Especially they fill the street, criminal, restaurant and music vocabulary. Everyone knows that the word "lave" means money, because many gypsies often ask for their fortune-telling. "Stick" also came from a gypsy dialect and means "steal." Often, instead of "eat and eat", the slang "haw" is used. To play a musical instrument, they sometimes use “crap”. And very often young people use the word "dude", meaning "your boyfriend."
The most common gypsy phrases
If you want to learn the most popular phrases of the nomadic people, you can turn to the gypsy dictionary. The phrase "gypsy language" itself is recorded in it as "Romano Rakirebe." Here are the most commonly used welcome phrases:
- bakhtales - hello;
- dubridin - hello;
- Mishto Yavyan - welcome;
- deves lacho - good afternoon.
In addition to greetings, you may be interested in other standard phrases:
- yaven saste - be healthy;
- nais - thanks;
- latchi ryat - good night;
- Kharen cheese here - what is your name;
- sorry - sorry;
- me here kamam - I love you;
- me here mangava - I ask you;
- me sukar - I am fine;
- miro devel - my god!
In literature and art
Gypsy is often used as a spoken word. Nevertheless, some books are written in this particular dialect. The following writers used it to write works: Lexa Manush, Papusha, Mateo Maksimov. Also worth noting is Georgy Tsvetkov, Valdemar Kalinin, Janusz Panchenka, Djuru Mahotin, Ilona Mahotin. There are a number of other writers who used gypsy dialect in their works.
Mostly small prose forms and verses were written on it. Poetry has always been a traditional entertainment for these people. But a prose work without specific preparation cannot be written.
There is the Pralipe Theater, where performances are performed in a gypsy dialect. The first gypsy operetta theater by Nikolai Shishkin also staged productions in the Roma language.
Two directors making films in this language are widely known. This is Emir Kusturica and Tony Gatlif. The language of Roma was used in the films Strange Alien, Lucky, Exiles, Time of the Gypsies.
Gypsies in the USA
In Canada and the USA, you can also find Roma, but there are very few. They are represented by all three branches of European gypsies: kale, Sinti, Roma. How did the representatives of gypsy nationalities get to America ? They came there in different years. These were mainly Roma artists from the countries of the former USSR, as well as from the Czech Republic and Romania.
For American gypsies, there is no single way of life and no single culture; they have disappeared among the most diverse sections of the population. Some became marginalized, others became big businessmen. In North America, virtuoso guitarist Vadim Kolpakov, professor Ronald Lee, writer Emil Demeter, and musician Eugene Gudz became famous.
Most Americans have vague ideas about this people. Gypsy culture seems distant and exotic to them. It is estimated that about one million Roma live in the United States. Some of them have to suffer from stereotypes in the field of employment.
The threat of extinction of gypsy dialects
Some European gypsies still roam, but most are used to a sedentary lifestyle. The dialect of this people was strongly influenced by Slavic and other languages. Therefore, there is a high probability of its loss. Across all European countries, there are about 3-4 million native speakers of the Roma language. The main obstacle to its spread is considered to be the low literacy rate of Roma. Although Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Germany, Finland, Hungary recognize it as the language of national minorities.
A big disadvantage of gypsy dialect is neglect. The grammar and vocabulary are in a rather primitive state. Maintaining identity at the everyday level is even easier for this people, but at the level of speech, it’s really bad. There are very few gypsy prefixes and particles, so the language is littered with Russian elements. However, today in some countries groups are working to standardize the Roma language. In Romania, there is even a unified system of teaching the Gypsy language. In Serbia, it broadcasts some channels and broadcasts.