Name

Endonyms

Endolinguonym - romani ćhib, in a variety of dialectal forms: romani czib, romani tschib, romani tschiw, romani tsiw, romani sib, rromani chib (Bartosz 2004: 115Bartosz 2004 / komentarz/comment/r /
Bartosz A., Nie bój się Cygana, Sejny 2004.
)

Endoethnonyms:

• Rom
• Sinti
• Manuśa
• Cale

Exonyms

Exolinguonyms:

• język romski (Roma language)
• język cygański (Gypsy language)
• język romani (Romano language)

Exoethnonyms:
- which associated Egypt as the place of origin of Gypsies (e.g. the English Gypsies, the Spanish Gitanos, the French Gitan, the Dutch Gyptenares, the Greek Jifitos, the Albanian Qifto, the Bulgarian Agupti and so on).

• which are derived from the name Athiganoi which was used in Byzantium to describe the members of some itinerant religious sects who were involved in fortune-telling, juggling and magic. Gypsies became associated with such groups being that they, too, led a nomadic lifestyle and earned their living future-telling, for example. Hence the wide array of such names as the Polish Cygan, the Bulgarian and Serbian Ciganin, the Ukrainian Cyhan, the German Ziguener, the Italian Zingan, the Swedish Zigenare, the French Tsigane, etc.
• which derive from the names of distant peoples whose  land of origin became associated with the direction from which the Gypsies arrived to a given country (e.g. the French Bohemiens - the Czechs).
• which are derived from the traits with the Gypsies were associated (e.g. the Finnish Mustalainen - Dark skinned, the Dutch Heydens - Pagan).

Since the 1980s (in Poland the 1990s), the term Roma (in Poland - Romowie) has been increasingly used in public discourse. Being one of the endoethnonyms, it is politically correct and is devoid of any negative connotations that the terms Cyganie/Gypsies, or any other exoethnonyms, are marked with in different languages. This change is lobbied by the representatives of a number of Roma organizations. Not to delve too deeply into the topic, it should be noticed that the endoethonym Roma is not used by every single person that identifies themselves as Gypsy.

History and geopolitics

The Roma people come from India. It is unknown when or why did they emigrate from their first homeland, which was probably Punjab. It is, also, a mystery who they were before their migrations had begun. Many hypotheses have been put forward regarding this issue but none, as so far, has been unambiguously confirmed.
The only thing that we can be certain of is their Indian heritage which was linguistically confirmed by analysing their language, Romani. It became obvious that many Romani words are related to words which exist in some dialects of the Hindustani language. By analysing Romani dialects and the lexical items they have absorbed during their many centuries-long migration to the West, it was possible to recreate the path the Gypsies had taken to arrive to Europe.
This movement can be dated back probably to the 9th/10th century. It led through Persia and Armenia where the Gypsies became influenced by the Byzantine Empire, as suggested by letters and chronicles found in the 11th century.
Since the half of the 14th century more and more information can be found regarding Gypsies. Based on research on the Romani language, scholars contend that they have stayed for a longer period in Greece, after which they moved to the Balkans and, then, at the beginning of the 14th century, they made their way through Hungary and Wallia to finally reached Central and Western Europe in the 15th century. Numerous written evidence in chronicles, town acts and church documents suggests so.
This evidence states that in 1416 Gypsies arrived to Germany and the Czech Republic; in 1418-1419 to Zurich, Bern and Basel, in 1419 to France, in 1422 they appeared in Italy and the Netherlands, in the 1420s in Spain and, between 1430 and 1440, they sailed to the British Isles. In 1450 the Roma people could be found in Scandinavia. Soon after the discovery of the New World, the first Gypsies reached both South and North America.
At first European communities welcomed the Roma people, especially given that often they passed themselves as pilgrims who travelled the world as penance for the sin of renouncing Jesus Christ, a punishment that was administered by the pope himself. This often was backed up by covering letters, for example from Pope Martin the V. The authenticity of these items is doubtful. Nevertheless, they served their purpose and were of great benefit to Gypsies. Other times, the Roma people would pass themselves as Egyptian who were banished from their lands by pagans or as pilgrims who headed to Rome to become christened.
This initial kindness towards the Gypsies began to fade, and, later on, turned into reluctance and hostility, a change which accompanied major transformations in Europe at the downturn of the Middle Ages: consolidation of country borders, the increase of importance of national languages, variation in the religion of the society as a result of the Reformation or the emergence of social classes. The value of farming and settlement increased more than ever and the "people of the highway" became treated with suspicion at best. The dislike towards Gypsies continued to develop, particularly given that their sources of income were not always honest. Of course, initially, they earned their living by being merchants and providing various services, mainly connected with blacksmithing. As time passed, however, once they became driven away from everywhere, they had to resort to theft.
Most European countries would soon issue antigypsy edicts: 1417 - Switzerland, 1526 - England, 1430s - France, 1541 - Scotland, 1559 - Finland, and so on. The only places of Europe where the law was not so harsh on the Roma people were Gascony, Languedoc and a part of Provence.
Most laws issued against the Roma forbade them "from being Gypsy". What that meant was that they should refrain from their nomadic lifestyle but that, also, that they should cease to speak the Romani language. Lack of compliance with the law met resulted in severe punishment - Gypsies could be whipped, their beards, hair or ears could be cut, their lips and nostrils torn, publicly humiliated or, even, sentenced to death. Gypsies were treated particularly brutally in German-speaking countries. Between the years 1500-1800 over 148 anti-gypsy edicts were passed in these countries and Gypsies could be hunted like animals. In Transylvania and Wallachia, up until the half of the 19th century, Gypsies were slaves. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, apart from administering severe punishment, also was involved in the attempt of bringing "civilization" to the Roma people. This was done by creating farming districts for Gypsies. Gypsies in Prussia and Russia were tracked down and held in prisons or divided into smaller groups and settled in faraway villages.
The repressive politics towards Gypsies began to weaken by the end of the 19th century when work houses were established as well as education and Christianisation services were offered. These endeavours escalated in the 1920s.
Gypsies were considered to be a suspicious element, one that is potentially dangerous for public order. As such, they were an object of particular interest to the German government in 1905 when they published a Gypsy Book which served its police forces to keep the Gypsy population under surveillance, to record them and supervise. After Hitler came to power, the Roma people became to be considered as an asocial and criminal people. During the II World War, alongside Jews, Gypsies were condemned for total annihilation. Historians estimate that the Nazi Germans murdered over 500 thousand Gypsies in concentration camps and mass executions. It was half of the Gypsy population in Europe at that time.
Those who managed to survive the war attempted to return to their normal way of life. It was not until a couple of years later, however, that the Eastern Block countries enforced settlement campaigns, which, in turn, forced Gypsies to abandon their nomadic way of living. In Eastern Europe attempts were made to persuade the Gypsy population to change their ways by creating systems of economic benefits, providing medical care and offering comprehensive education.
Nonetheless, these settlement processes were slow and ineffective. While it is difficult in most countries to witness travelling trains of Gypsy caravans (with the exception of Romania and France, for example), it is clear that movements of Roma people still exist given the waves of emigration that began after 1989 and which did not stop to this day, although their levels vary.
According to contemporary estimations, there are 8 to 15 million Gypsies in Europe. This makes them the most numerous ethnic minority on our continent.

Origins in the Republic of Poland

It was by the end of the 14th century that the Gypsies have probably arrived to Poland from Hungary and Moldavia. The earliest known evidence of their presence can be read in the records of Kazimierz, one of Cracow’s districts. These were the ancestors of the so called Bergitka Roma (Polish Highlander Gypsies, berga meaning "mountain"), known also as Carpathian Roma, or, in the terms of Jerzy Ficowski, Cyganie Wyżynni (Upland Gypsies).
Many Roma would also escape from the 17th century Germany, fearing prosecutions, and settle in Poland. The Gypsies that immigrated at that time, today describe themselves as the Polska Roma (the Polish Gypsies).
In the 16th century, following the lead of other European countries, the Republic of Poland also issued anti-gypsy laws. Nonetheless, they were inefficient as the gentry did not accept them. It was particularly the gentry of the Great Duchy of Lithuania that rejected the new laws as they employed Gypsies as skilled and valued craftsmen, and even as soldiers.
In the mid-17th century, king John II Casmir Vasa established the institution the "Gypsy king" who had the clout to judge his "subjects" and, also, to collect poll tax. Although this type of office was known in other countries as well, it was in Poland that it survived so long - up until Poland's fall in 1795. Polish Gypsies would be subjected to the laws of the Romani who were living in the partitioned territories. This changed only in 1918, after Poland regained its independence.
In the 1860s the Kalderash and Lovari Gypsies began to settle in Poland. Being outstandingly expansive, after the abolishment of slavery in Romania in 1855 they quickly spread over the entire Europe, and soon afterwards, they reached both the South and North American continents. While some of them treated Poland as a stop on their long journey, others decided to settle in.
The II Republic of Poland did not undertake any official attempts to interfere in the life of the Roma people. However, only after a few years of communist rule in Poland, in 1952, the People’s Republic of Poland engaged in its firsts attempts to settle and "productive" the wandering Gypsy population. While initially ineffective, these attempts were being repeated once in a while and became much more strict and consistent by 1964. In the end, thus, the Gypsy trains of caravans could no longer be seen on Polish roads.
It is estimated that, currently, 16 to 25 thousand Gypsies/Roma live in Poland. They can divided into four groups:

• Polska Roma,
• Bergitka Roma,
• Kelderash (polonized as Kałdereasze or Kałderasze),
• Lovari (polonized as Lowarzy).

Other localizations

The four main Romani dialects which are used in Poland are also spoken by those Gypsies (and their descendants) who emigrated from Poland in the 1960s (mass emigration started in the mid-1990s and continues to date) to such countries as the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, the USA and Canada. The Polska Roma Gypsies who currently inhabit Baltic countries and Northern Russia use this dialect as well.

Origin myths

Gypsies possess a very short historic memory, one that reaches two or three generations backward. It is, thus, difficult to encounter any myths or legends that revolve around their origins.