Re: [TIED] Raggle-taggle Gypsies

----- Original Message -----

From: Piotr Gasiorowski

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2000 2:42 PM

Subject: Re: [TIED] Raggle-taggle Gypsies

 

----- Original Message -----

From: John Croft

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2000 1:16 PM

Subject: Re: [TIED] Worm in the Roma language

 

I HAVE checked it now. The ancestral word for Rrom and related terms (Lom, Dom) is Indic Dom (with a retroflex [d.]), feminine Domni, plural Domba. It apparently did refer to a collection of castes, and is usually glossed as 'folk, people'. Specialists also use the term Dombari for the Proto-Romani dialect(s) of NW-Central India (Domari is the modern name or Eastern Romani). Cf. the following web sources (fascinating stuff!):

http://www.romani.org/toronto/diaspora_rl.html

http://209.1.224.11/Paris/5121/pariah-ch1.htm

http://www.patrin.com/

 

Piotr

 

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I wrote:

I remember reading somewhere that Romani (Rroma, Doma, Loma) derives ultimately from Sanskrit d.ama (with a Dravidian etymology), used of low-caste musicians. But I haven't checked it yet.