extent abashed and humbled before the bright rising sun of Islam.
The Persian language, which the conquerors (68) of
whateverdenomination introduced with them to Hindustan, and which their
descendants at the present day still
retain, though not lords of
the ascendant,
speedily became widely
extended in these regions,
where it had
previously been unknown. As the language of the
court, it was of course
studied and acquired by all those natives
whose
wealth, rank, and influence
necessarily brought them into
connection with the ruling powers; and as the language of the camp,
it was carried into every part of the country where the duties of
the soldiery sooner or later conducted them; the result of which
relations between the conquerors and conquered was the adoption
into the popular
dialects of India of an infinity of modern Persian
words, not merely those of science, such as it exists in the East,
and of
luxury and
refinement, but even those which serve to express
many of the most common objects, necessities, and ideas, so that at
the present day a knowledge of the Persian is
essential for the
thorough understanding of the
principaldialects of Hindustan, on
which
account, as well as for the
assistance which it affords in
communication with the Mahometans, it is
cultivated with peculiar
care by the present possessors of the land.
No surprise,
therefore, can be entertained that the speech of the
Gitanos in general, who, in all
probability,
departed from
Hindustan long
subsequent to the first Mahometan invasions,
abounds, like other Indian
dialects, with words either purely
Persian, or
slightly modified to
accommodate them to the
genius of
the language. Whether the Rommany
originally" target="_blank" title="ad.本来;独创地">
originally constituted part of
the natives of Multan or Guzerat, and
abandoned their native land
to escape from the torch and sword of Tamerlane and his Mongols, as
Grellmann and others have
supposed, or whether, as is much more
probable, they were a thievish caste, like some others still to be
found in Hindustan, who fled
westward, either from the
vengeance of
justice, or in
pursuit of
plunder, their
speaking Persian is alike
satisfactorily
accounted for. With the view of exhibiting how
closely their language is connected with the Sanscrit and Persian,
we subjoin the first ten numerals in the three tongues, those of
the Gypsy according to the Hungarian
dialect. (69)
Gypsy. Persian. Sanscrit. (70)
1 Jek Ek Ega
2 Dui Du Dvaya
3 Trin Se Treya
4 Schtar Chehar Tschatvar
5 Pansch Pansch Pantscha
6 Tschov Schesche Schasda
7 Efta Heft Sapta
8 Ochto Hescht Aschta
9 Enija Nu Nava
10 Dosch De Dascha
It would be easy for us to adduce a thousand instances, as striking
as the above, of the
affinity of the Gypsy tongue to the Persian,
Sanscrit, and the Indian
dialects, but we have not space for
further
observation on a point which long since has been
sufficiently discussed by others endowed with abler pens than our
own; but having made these
preliminary remarks, which we deemed
necessary for the elucidation of the subject, we now
hasten to
speak of the Gitano language as used in Spain, and to determine, by
its evidence (and we again repeat, that the language is the only
criterion by which the question can be determined), how far the
Gitanos of Spain are entitled to claim
connection with the tribes
who, under the names of Zingani, etc., are to be found in various
parts of Europe, following, in general, a life of wandering
adventure, and practising the same kind of thievish arts which
enable those in Spain to
obtain a
livelihood at the expense of the
more honest and
industrious of the community.
The Gitanos of Spain, as already stated, are generally believed to
be the descendants of the Moriscos, and have been asserted to be
such in printed books. (71) Now they are known to speak a language
or jargon
amongst themselves which the other natives of Spain do
not understand; of course, then, supposing them to be of Morisco
origin, the words of this tongue or jargon, which are not Spanish,
are the relics of the Arabic or Moorish tongue once
spoken in
Spain, which they have inherited from their Moorish ancestors. Now
it is well known, that the Moorish of Spain was the same tongue as
that
spoken at present by the Moors of Barbary, from which country
Spain was invaded by the Arabs, and to which they again retired
when
unable to
maintain their ground against the armies of the
Christians. We will,
therefore, collate the numerals of the
Spanish Gitano with those of the Moorish tongue,
preceding both
with those of the Hungarian Gypsy, of which we have already made
use, for the purpose of making clear the
affinity of that language
to the Sanscrit and Persian. By this collation we shall at once
perceive whether the Gitano of Spain bears most
resemblance to the
Arabic, or the Rommany of other lands.
Hungarian Spanish Moorish
Gypsy. Gitano. Arabic.
1 Jek Yeque Wahud
2 Dui Dui Snain
3 Trin Trin Slatza
4 Schtar Estar Arba
5 Pansch Pansche Khamsa
6 Tschov Job. Zoi Seta
7 Efta Hefta Sebea
8 Ochto Otor Sminia
9 Enija Esnia (Nu. PERS.) Tussa
10 Dosch Deque Aschra
We believe the above specimens will go very far to change the
opinion of those who have imbibed the idea that the Gitanos of
Spain are the descendants of Moors, and are of an
origin different
from that of the wandering tribes of Rommany in other parts of the
world, the specimens of the two
dialects of the Gypsy, as far as
they go, being so strikingly similar, as to leave no doubt of their
original
identity,
whilst, on the
contrary, with the Moorish
neither the one nor the other exhibits the slightest point of
similarity or
connection. But with these specimens we shall not
content ourselves, but proceed to give the names of the most common
things and objects in the Hungarian and Spanish Gitano,
collaterally, with their equivalents in the Moorish Arabic; from
which it will appear that
whilst the former are one and the same
language, they are in every respect at variance with the latter.
When we consider that the Persian has adopted so many words and
phrases from the Arabic, we are at first disposed to wonder that a
considerable
portion of these words are not to be discovered in
every
dialect of the Gypsy tongue, since the Persian has lent it so
much of its
vocabulary. Yet such is by no means the case, as it is
very
uncommon, in any one of these
dialects, to discover words
derived from the Arabic. Perhaps, however, the following
consideration will help to solve this point. The Gitanos, even
before they left India, were probably much the same rude, thievish,
and
ignorant people as they are at the present day. Now the words
adopted by the Persian from the Arabic, and which it
subsequently
introduced into the
dialects of India, are sounds representing
objects and ideas with which such a people as the Gitanos could
necessarily be but scantily acquainted, a people whose
circle of
ideas only embraces
physical objects, and who never
commune with
their own minds, nor exert them but in devising low and vulgar
schemes of pillage and
deceit. Whatever is
visible and common is
seldom or never represented by the Persians, even in their books,
by the help of Arabic words: the sun and stars, the sea and river,