tion>George Borrow
The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664648259
Table of Contents
THE ZIGÁNI, OR RUSSIAN GYPSIES
THE HUNGARIAN GYPSIES, OR CZIGÁNY
SOME FURTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE ENGLISH GYPSIES
THE GYPSIES OF THE EAST, OR ZINGARRI
MISCELLANIES IN THE GITÁNO LANGUAGE
THE ENGLISH DIALECT OF THE ROMMANY
THE GYPSIES
INTRODUCTION
Throughout my life the Gypsy race has always had a peculiar interest for me. Indeed I can remember no period when the mere mention of the name of Gypsy did not awaken within me feelings hard to be described. I cannot account for this—I merely state a fact.
Some of the Gypsies, to whom I have stated this circumstance, have accounted for it on the supposition that the soul which at present animates my body has at some former period tenanted that of one of their people; for many among them are believers in metempsychosis, and, like the followers of Bouddha, imagine that their souls, by passing through an infinite number of bodies, attain at length sufficient purity to be admitted to a state of perfect rest and quietude, which is the only idea of heaven they can form.
Having in various and distant countries lived in habits of intimacy with these people, I have come to the following conclusions respecting them: that wherever they are found, their manners and customs are virtually the same, though somewhat modified by circumstances, and that the language they speak amongst themselves, and of which they are particularly anxious to keep others in ignorance, is in all countries one and the same, but has been subjected more or less to modification; and lastly, that their countenances exhibit a decided family resemblance, but are darker
