Romanies

found: Letter from Ian Hancock, The Romani Archives and Documentation Center, Nov. 1, 2000 ("... the most often-proposed alternative [to Gypsies], Roma, presents problems. It does seem to be becoming the usual term in the press, but it is neither a singular noun nor an adjective ... The singular noun is Rom, its plural Roma, and its adjectival form Romani. While the two principal Romani organizations ... agree that Rom(a) be used as the preferred self-ascription for all populations of Romani descent, there are ... numbers of such populations which do not use the ethnonym for themselves. However, even these populations use the adjectival form Romani to describe themselves, their language and their culture ... My suggestion ... is to follow the pattern of referring to the group by its adjective ... and create a new subject heading 'Romanies' (though singular Romani, not Romany). Referring to Romanies is already long established in Britain ...")

found: LC Collections Policy Statements, Gypsy Studies, June 2000 (Preferred terminology among many scholars and Gypsy groups is now 'Roma' or 'Romanies' (plural noun) and 'Romani' or 'Romany' (adjective))

found: OED, 2nd ed. ("Rom (r#m) Also pl. Roma(s), Rom."; "Romani fem. & pl. of Romano f. Rom gypsy")

found: Encyc. Britannica ("Gypsiologists have delineated three main tribal groups: (1) the Kalderash ... (2) the Gitanos ... (3) the Manush ... also known as Sinti")

found: The story of Karl Stojka, c1992: glossary, p. 52 (Gypsies: a collective term for Roma and Sinti)

found: OED online, Aug. 16, 2006 (Bohemian: The transferred senses are taken from French, in which bohême, bohémien, have been applied to the gipsies, since their first appearance in the 15th c., because they were thought to come from Bohemia, or perhaps actually entered the West through that country. Thence, in modern French , the word has been transferred to vagabond, adventurer, person of irregular life or habits, a sense introduced into Eng. by Thackeray)

Suggest terminology

The LC Linked Data Service welcomes any suggestions you might have about terminology used for a given heading or concept.

Would you like to suggest a change to this heading?

Please provide your name, email, and your suggestion so that we can begin assessing any terminology changes.

Fields denoted with an asterisk (*) are required.