Note 116 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

A reference to the gypsies who had made their appearance in Italy as early as 1422, where they practiced various deceptions upon the credulous people. The name “Cingani” or Zingari, as they are generally called in Italy, comes from the Greek word τἀσιγχανοι, by which they were called by Byzantine writers of the ix–xii centuries; the same name appearing also in slightly different forms in Turkey, Bulgaria, Roumania, Hungary, Bohemia, and Germany. Their ancestral home was probably in northwestern India, whence they emigrated in successive waves. In many countries extreme and harsh measures were taken against them, especially in Germany, where they had appeared as early as 1417. They were never allowed a foothold in France, but have become a significant part of the population in Russia, Hungary, and Spain. In the latter country, where they are called Gitános (Egyptians), in spite of many severe laws passed against them until the reign of Cárlos III, they continued, more fortunate than the Jews, to thrive. They are mentioned by Cervantes in his Don Quixote (pt. i, chap, xxx), but the name Gitáno had first appeared in a Spanish document of 1499, where their customs are described. The few in Italy have been allowed to remain, and those in the Slavic countries and England were generally treated kindly. Their language is Aryan and was highly inflected; and while they have been given many names by the nations among whom they have lived, their own appellation is “Rom” “the man.” See New International Encyclopedia (New York, 1903).