Gypsy Dictionary [35]
above his coffin, Birrandon, birrandon, birrandera! There sings a little swallow: Sleep there, thy toils are o'er, Sleep there, thy toils are o'er."
THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
TUGNEY BESHOR
The Romany Chals Should jin so bute As the Puro Beng To scape of gueros And wafo gorgies The wafodupen.
They lels our gryor, They lels our wardoes, And wusts us then Drey starripenes To mer of pishens And buklipen.
Cauna volelan Muley pappins Pawdle the len Men artavavam Of gorgio foky The wafodupen. Ley teero sollohanloinus opreylis!
SORROWFUL YEARS
The wit and the skill Of the Father of ill, Who's clever indeed, If they would hope With their foes to cope The Romany need.
Our horses they take, Our waggons they break, And us they fling Into horrid cells, Where hunger dwells And vermin sting.
When the dead swallow The fly shall follow Across the river, O we'll forget The wrongs we've met, But till then O never: Brother, of that be certain.
The English Gypsies call themselves Romany Chals and Romany Chies, that is, Sons and Daughters of Rome. When speaking to each other, they say "Pal" and "Pen"; that is, brother and sister. All people not of their own blood they call "Gorgios," or Gentiles. Gypsies first made their appearance in England about the year 1480. They probably came from France, where tribes of the race had long been wandering about under the names of Bohemians and Egyptians. In England they pursued the same kind of merripen {3} which they and their ancestors had pursued on the Continent. They roamed about in bands, consisting of thirty, sixty, or ninety families, with light, creaking carts, drawn by horses and donkeys, encamping at night in the spots they deemed convenient. The women told fortunes at the castle of the baron and the cottage of the yeoman; filched gold and silver coins from the counters of money-changers; caused the death of hogs in farmyards, by means of a stuff called drab or drao, which affects the brain, but does not corrupt the blood; and subsequently begged, and generally obtained, the carcases. The men plied tinkering and brasiery, now and then stole horses, and occasionally ventured upon highway robbery. The writer has here placed the Chies before the Chals, because, as he has frequently had occasion to observe, the Gypsy women are by far more remarkable beings than the men. It is the Chi and not the Chal who has caused the name of Gypsy to be a sound awaking wonder, awe, and curiosity in every part of the civilised world. Not that there have never been remarkable men of the Gypsy race both abroad and at home. Duke Michael, as he was called, the leader of the great Gypsy horde which suddenly made its appearance in Germany at the beginning of the fifteenth century, was no doubt a remarkable man; the Gitano Condre, whom Martin del Rio met at Toledo a hundred years afterwards, who seemed to speak all languages, and to be perfectly acquainted with the politics of all the Courts of Europe, must certainly have been a remarkable man; so, no doubt, here at home was Boswell; so undoubtedly was Cooper, called by the gentlemen of the Fives Court--poor fellows! they are all gone now--the "wonderful little Gypsy";--but upon the whole the poetry, the sorcery, the devilry, if you please to call it so, are vastly on the side of the women. How blank and inanimate is the countenance of the Gypsy man, even when trying to pass off a foundered donkey as a flying dromedary, in comparison with that of the female Romany, peering over the wall of a par-yard at a jolly hog!
Sar shin Sinfye? Koshto divvus, Romany Chi! So shan tute kairing acoi?
Sinfye, Sinfye! how do you do? Daughter of Rome, good day to you! What are you thinking here to do?
After a time the evil practices of the Gypsies began to be noised about, and terrible laws were enacted against people "using the manner of Egyptians"--Chies were scourged by dozens, Chals hung by scores. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth there was a terrible persecution of the Gypsy race; far less, however, on account
THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
TUGNEY BESHOR
The Romany Chals Should jin so bute As the Puro Beng To scape of gueros And wafo gorgies The wafodupen.
They lels our gryor, They lels our wardoes, And wusts us then Drey starripenes To mer of pishens And buklipen.
Cauna volelan Muley pappins Pawdle the len Men artavavam Of gorgio foky The wafodupen. Ley teero sollohanloinus opreylis!
SORROWFUL YEARS
The wit and the skill Of the Father of ill, Who's clever indeed, If they would hope With their foes to cope The Romany need.
Our horses they take, Our waggons they break, And us they fling Into horrid cells, Where hunger dwells And vermin sting.
When the dead swallow The fly shall follow Across the river, O we'll forget The wrongs we've met, But till then O never: Brother, of that be certain.
The English Gypsies call themselves Romany Chals and Romany Chies, that is, Sons and Daughters of Rome. When speaking to each other, they say "Pal" and "Pen"; that is, brother and sister. All people not of their own blood they call "Gorgios," or Gentiles. Gypsies first made their appearance in England about the year 1480. They probably came from France, where tribes of the race had long been wandering about under the names of Bohemians and Egyptians. In England they pursued the same kind of merripen {3} which they and their ancestors had pursued on the Continent. They roamed about in bands, consisting of thirty, sixty, or ninety families, with light, creaking carts, drawn by horses and donkeys, encamping at night in the spots they deemed convenient. The women told fortunes at the castle of the baron and the cottage of the yeoman; filched gold and silver coins from the counters of money-changers; caused the death of hogs in farmyards, by means of a stuff called drab or drao, which affects the brain, but does not corrupt the blood; and subsequently begged, and generally obtained, the carcases. The men plied tinkering and brasiery, now and then stole horses, and occasionally ventured upon highway robbery. The writer has here placed the Chies before the Chals, because, as he has frequently had occasion to observe, the Gypsy women are by far more remarkable beings than the men. It is the Chi and not the Chal who has caused the name of Gypsy to be a sound awaking wonder, awe, and curiosity in every part of the civilised world. Not that there have never been remarkable men of the Gypsy race both abroad and at home. Duke Michael, as he was called, the leader of the great Gypsy horde which suddenly made its appearance in Germany at the beginning of the fifteenth century, was no doubt a remarkable man; the Gitano Condre, whom Martin del Rio met at Toledo a hundred years afterwards, who seemed to speak all languages, and to be perfectly acquainted with the politics of all the Courts of Europe, must certainly have been a remarkable man; so, no doubt, here at home was Boswell; so undoubtedly was Cooper, called by the gentlemen of the Fives Court--poor fellows! they are all gone now--the "wonderful little Gypsy";--but upon the whole the poetry, the sorcery, the devilry, if you please to call it so, are vastly on the side of the women. How blank and inanimate is the countenance of the Gypsy man, even when trying to pass off a foundered donkey as a flying dromedary, in comparison with that of the female Romany, peering over the wall of a par-yard at a jolly hog!
Sar shin Sinfye? Koshto divvus, Romany Chi! So shan tute kairing acoi?
Sinfye, Sinfye! how do you do? Daughter of Rome, good day to you! What are you thinking here to do?
After a time the evil practices of the Gypsies began to be noised about, and terrible laws were enacted against people "using the manner of Egyptians"--Chies were scourged by dozens, Chals hung by scores. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth there was a terrible persecution of the Gypsy race; far less, however, on account