Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies) - Scarecrow Press

Introduction
Describing the early history of the Gypsies is like putting together a jigsaw
puzzle when some of the pieces are missing and parts of another
puzzle have been put into the box. The Gypsies suddenly appeared in
Europe speaking an Indian language, yet there is no sure trace of their
passage across the Middle East. But their language is the key to the
route of their travels as they borrowed words from the various peoples
they met as they journeyed west.
The Gypsies, or Romanies, are an ethnic group that arrived in Europe
around the 14th century. Scholars argue about when and how they left
India, but it is generally accepted that they did emigrate from northern
India sometime between the 6th and 11th centuries, then crossed the
Middle East and came into Europe. Some stayed in the Middle East.
The Nawwar in particular are mentioned in the dictionary. Their language
(closely related to European Romani) also belongs to the North
Indian group, alongside Hindi and Punjabi.
The word Gypsy is an abbreviation of “Egyptian,” the name by
which the Romany immigrants were first called in western Europe because
it was believed they came from Egypt. The French word gitan
and Spanish gitano also come from this etymology. The German word
Zigeuner and Slav tsigan or cigan have a different source. They come
from the Greek word athinganos, meaning “heathen.” This term was
originally used of a heretical sect in Byzantium and, because the Gypsies
who arrived in Europe were not Christians, they were given the
name of this sect.
The Gypsies’ name for themselves is Rom (with the plural Roma in
most dialects). This is generally considered to be cognate with the Indian
word dom, whose original meaning was “man.” Even groups (such
as the Sinti) that do not call themselves Rom still preserve this word in
their dialect in the sense of “husband.”
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