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The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain. Borrow George
Читать онлайн.Название The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
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isbn 4057664648259
Автор произведения Borrow George
Жанр Языкознание
Издательство Bookwire
George Borrow
The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664648259
Table of Contents
THE ZIGÁNI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES
THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIGÁNY
SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI
MISCELLANIES IN THE GITÁNO LANGUAGE
THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
THE GYPSIES
INTRODUCTION
Throughout my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar interest for me. Indeed I can remember no period when the mere mention of the name of Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard to be described. I cannot account for this—I merely state a fact.
Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of their people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis, and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by passing through an infinite number of bodies, attain at length sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of perfect rest and quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they can form.
Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy with these people, I have come to the following conclusions respecting them: that wherever they are found, their manners and customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker or fairer according to the temperature of the climate, but invariably darker, at least in Europe, than those of the natives of the countries in which they dwell, for example, England and Russia, Germany and Spain.
The names by which they are known differ with the country, though, with one or two exceptions, not materially for example, they are styled in Russia, Zigáni; in Turkey and Persia, Zingarri; and in Germany, Zigeuner; all which words apparently spring from the same etymon, which there is no improbability in supposing to be ‘Zincali,’ a term by which these people, especially those of Spain, sometimes designate themselves, and the meaning of which is believed to be, The black men of Zend or Ind. In England and Spain they are commonly known as Gypsies and Gitános, from a general belief that they were originally Egyptians, to which the two words are tantamount; and in France as Bohemians, from the circumstance that Bohemia was one of the first countries in civilised Europe where they made their appearance.
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