[HS] Lesson 6: Romany Gypsy names

[Sara L Uckelman <liana@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Today's lesson is going to consist mostly in me saying how little
we know about Romany gypsy names.

Because of various historical reasons, there are few mentions of
gypsies in medieval records, making it hard to research the types
of names and naming practices that they use.  What is known is that
the Romany used at least two names each: One was a private name in
their own language that wasn't used outside of their community, and
the other was a public name, quite often in the language of the
country where they resided.  We have not found any information at
all about the private language and names of the Romany before 1600.
As for the public names, however, the given names are usually ones
that are typical of the country of residence.  The surnames, on
the other hand, are sometimes somewhat uncommon.

The best source for information about Romany Gypsy names is 
"Romany (Gypsy) Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/romany/)
The article has a few resources for further information about Romany
culture in general.  The best guide for chosing a Romany name for
registration is to identify which country the person is living in,
and chose a name that would be typical for that country, and register
that as the person's public name.

There are some useful precedents concerning Romany names:

"As far as we know, Romany names not used amongst outsiders; however, that 
is a matter for consideration by the submitter and not a bar to 
registration. [Kisaiya Zingara, 08/99, A-Atenveldt]

"[registering Karika Cigani] This was also a difficult decision to make. 
This name combines a given name used, to the best of our knowledge, only 
within the Gypsy community, with a word used outside the Gypsy community for 
Gypsies. The combination seems unlikely, but we have decided to give the 
submitter the benefit of the doubt. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR November 1996, 
p. 6)"

"Since Romany has been an unwritten language for most of its 1000-year 
history, the choice is essentially between accepting such documentation and 
assuming that Romany names have not changed too greatly in the last 400 
years, and not accepting Romany names at all; we have chosen the more 
generous course. (Keja Tselebnika, 9/95 p. 14)"

A more recent, more detailed precedent can be found in the August 2003
LoAR:

"Ena Weshen-eskey gav.  Name.

"This name combines an Anglicized Irish feminine given name with a Romany 
placename. However, no evidence was provided showing that Anglicized Irish 
and Romany were spoken in the same location in the same time period. 
Lacking such evidence, this lingual mix is not registerable as it does not 
meet RfS III.1, which states in part "As a rule of thumb, languages should 
be used together only if there was substantial contact between the cultures 
that spoke those languages [...] Each name as a whole should be compatible 
with the culture of a single time and place." Lacking evidence that 
Anglicized Irish speakers and Romany speakers had substantial contact in 
period, this combination is not registerable.

"Additionally, there were problems with each element in this name.

<snip discussion of Ena>

"Weshen-eskey gav was documented as the Romany name for Epping, England. 
However, no evidence was found that this name dates to period. Further, 
no evidence was found that locative bynames were used in Romany in period. 
Either of these issues would be sufficient reason for return of this byname."

So this precedent can be used as a guide when trying to document Romany-
language names: Are the name elements found before 1600?  Is the 
construction one that would have been used before 1600?  Of course, given
the lack of written records in Romany, answering either of these questions
in the affirmative is very difficult, if not impossible.

I'll also note this registration from the October 2004 LoAR:

"Guy du petit Egypte.  Name.

"Submitted as Guy de peu Egypte, the submitter requested authenticity 
for 1420 Roma in France. Combining the byname's intended meaning of 
"of little Egypt" with the submitted name, we assume he wishes to be a 
Gypsy in France around this time. The byname de peu Egypte is not a proper 
descriptive for such a person. Although the words translate literally to 
"little Egypte", this sense of "little" is "few in number" rather than 
"small", which is the usual meaning of this term. Instead, the appropriate 
period French term appears to be du petit Egypte. Philippe Corbie\re has 
transcribed the document "Inquisitions faictes par la court ordinaire de 
Monestiers a\ la reque^te du procureur juridictionel (ayant entendu) sur 
certain exes et bateries faictes par les egipsiens estans lotge/s audict 
Monesties lesquels auroient batus et frape/s les consuls dudict lieu et 
faictz autres exes" (http://membres.lycos.fr/corbiera/prevote/monesties.htm), 
a judicial deposition of a group of Gypsies taken in Monesties in 1563. 
It lists a Jehan Gaspar egyptien habitant du petit Egypte, Jehan Baptista 
egyptien du petit Egypte, and Serge de Palma egyptien du petit Egypte. 
Therefore, we have changed this name to Guy du petit Egypte to match 
the available documentation and to partially comply with his request for 
authenticity."

So, as noted above, the answer to the question "What do we know about
Romany Gypsy names before 1600?" is "not much".

-Aryanhwy



-- 
vita sine literis mors est
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/
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