Note 171 — Chapter VI · THE GYPSY IN AFRICA

The origin of the term is a Persian jeu de mots. “Bermek'am” would mean I am a Barmak; Bar-maken, I sup it up. These were the words spoken by Ja'afar the “Barmekide” when his poisoned ring caused the stones upon the arm of the Ommiade Caliph (Abd el Malik) to rattle—a general and popular superstition. It is quite possible that this memorable family belonged to the Gypsy tribe so common in Persia. According to Ibn Khálikán, the first great ancestor was the principal, or the grand prior, of the convent in Balkh called Nan-buhar (young spring), a palpable corruption of Nava bihára, in Sanskrit the “new monastery.”