The Zincali Part 24

As I was a jawing to the gav yeck divvus, I met on the dron miro Rommany chi: I puch'd yoi whether she com sar mande; And she penn'd: tu si wafo Rommany,

And I penn'd, I shall ker tu miro tacho Rommany, Fornigh tute but dui chave: Methinks I'll cam tute for miro merripen, If tu but pen, thou wilt commo sar mande.

TRANSLATION

One day as I was going to the village, I met on the road my Rommany la.s.s: I ask'd her whether she would come with me, And she said thou hast another wife.

I said, I will make thee my lawful wife, Because thou hast but two children; Methinks I will love thee until my death, If thou but say thou wilt come with me.

Many other specimens of the English Gypsy muse might be here adduced; it is probable, however, that the above will have fully satisfied the curiosity of the reader. It has been inserted here for the purpose of showing that the Gypsies have songs in their own language, a fact which has been denied. In its metre it resembles the ancient Sclavonian ballads, with which it has another feature in common - the absence of rhyme.

Footnotes:

(1) QUARTERLY REVIEW, Dec. 1842

(2) EDINBURGH REVIEW, Feb. 1843.

(3) EXAMINER, Dec. 17, 1842.

(4) SPECTATOR, Dec. 7, 1842.

(5) Thou speakest well, brother!

(6) This is quite a mistake: I know very little of what has been written concerning these people: even the work of Grellmann had not come beneath my perusal at the time of the publication of the first edition OF THE ZINCALI, which I certainly do not regret: for though I believe the learned German to be quite right in his theory with respect to the origin of the Gypsies, his acquaintance with their character, habits, and peculiarities, seems to have been extremely limited.

(7) Good day.

(8) Glandered horse.

(9) Two brothers.

(10) The edition here referred to has long since been out of print.

(11) It may not be amiss to give the etymology of the word engro, which so frequently occurs in compound words in the English Gypsy tongue:- the EN properly belongs to the preceding noun, being one of the forms of the genitive case; for example, Elik-EN boro congry, the great Church or Cathedral of Ely; the GRO or GEIRO (Spanish GUERO), is the Sanscrit KAR, a particle much used in that language in the formation of compounds; I need scarcely add that MONGER in the English words Costermonger, Ironmonger, etc., is derived from the same root.

(12) For the knowledge of this fact I am indebted to the well-known and enterprising traveller, Mr. Vigne, whose highly interesting work on Cashmire and the Panjab requires no recommendation from me.

(13) Gorgio (Spanish GACHO), a man who is not a Gypsy: the Spanish Gypsies term the Gentiles Busne, the meaning of which word will be explained farther on.

(14) An Eastern image tantamount to the taking away of life.

(15) Gentes non multum morigeratae, sed quasi bruta animalia et furentes. See vol. xxii. of the Supplement to the works of Muratori, p. 890.

(16) As quoted by Hervas: CATALOGO DE LAS LENGUAS, vol. iii. p.

306.

(17) We have found this beautiful metaphor both in Gypsy and Spanish; it runs thus in the former language:-

'LAS MUCHIS. (The Sparks.)

'Bus de gres chabalas orchiris man dique a yes chiro purelar sistilias sata rujias, y or sisli carjibal dinando trutas discandas.

(18) In the above little tale the writer confesses that there are many things purely imaginary; the most material point, however, the attempt to sack the town during the pestilence, which was defeated by the courage and activity of an individual, rests on historical evidence the most satisfactory. It is thus mentioned in the work of Francisco de Cordova (he was surnamed Cordova from having been for many years canon in that city):-

'Annis praeteritis Iuliobrigam urbem, vulgo Logrono, pestilenti laborantem morbo, et hominibus vacuam invadere hi ac diripere tentarunt, perfecissentque ni Dens O. M. cuiusdam BIBLIOPOLAE opera, in corum, capita, quam urbi moliebantur perniciem avertisset.' DIDASCALIA, Lugduni, 1615, I vol. 8VO. p. 405, cap.

50.

(19) Yet notwithstanding that we refuse credit to these particular narrations of Quinones and Fajardo, acts of cannibalism may certainly have been perpetrated by the Gitanos of Spain in ancient times, when they were for the most part semi-savages living amongst mountains and deserts, where food was hard to be procured: famine may have occasionally compelled them to prey on human flesh, as it has in modern times compelled people far more civilised than wandering Gypsies.

(20) England.

(21) Spain.

(22) MITHRIDATES: erster Theil, s. 241.

(23) Torreblanca: DE MAGIA, 1678.

(24) Exodus, chap. xiii. v. 9. 'And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand.' Eng. Trans.

(25) No chapter in the book of Job contains any such verse.

(26) 'And the children of Israel went out with an high hand.'

Exodus, chap. xiv. v. 8. Eng. Trans.

(27) No such verse is to be found in the book mentioned.

(28) Prov., chap. vii. vers. 11, 12. 'She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.' Eng. Trans.

(29) HISTORIA DE ALONSO, MOZO DE MUCHOS AMOS: or, the story of Alonso, servant of many masters; an entertaining novel, written in the seventeenth century, by Geronimo of Alcala, from which some extracts were given in the first edition of the present work.

(30) O Ali! O Mahomet! - G.o.d is G.o.d! - A Turkish war-cry.

(31) Gen. xlix. 22.

(32) In the original there is a play on words. - It is not necessary to enter into particulars farther than to observe that in the Hebrew language 'ain' means a well, and likewise an eye.

(33) Gen. xlviii. 16. In the English version the exact sense of the inspired original is not conveyed. The descendants of Joseph are to increase like fish.

(34) Exodus, chap. xii. v. 37, 38.

(35) Quinones, p. 11.

(36) The writer will by no means answer for the truth of these statements respecting Gypsy marriages.