There are no records, or historical sources, leading to a direct discovery of the origin of the Gipseys; those which have been thought so, are not genuine. Nothing, therefore, remains, but to seek the truth, through circuitous tracks; by this means, it may certainly be found. A man must not go to tombstones, recently erected, in German church-yards, nor adduce a single custom, or the name of a country bearing a resemblance to that of Gipsey, as grounds of proof; and, on the other hand, overlook a hundred difficulties, or even positive contradictions. But if _the language of the Gipseys_, _their name_, _the conformation of their bodies and minds_, _their customs and religious principles_, _mark a country where it is possible for them to have been indigenous_; _when History and Chronology corroborate the supposition_, _and there is not any other country in the world to which the Gipseys_, _all these particulars taken together_, _could belong_; then the country, where these circumstances meet, must, in all probability, be their true mother country.
Whether their Hindostan origin has so much in its favour, is more than we dare venture to affirm; as it is very possible for the judgment to be so deceived, that we may believe what does not, in fact, exist. However, on perusing the subsequent pages, our readers will judge if, like our predecessors, we have erred, or have discovered the truth.
SECTION I. DESCRIPTION OF THE GIPSEYS, THEIR MANNER OF LIFE, THEIR CUSTOMS AND PROPERTIES.
IT is not uncommon for the same people to be called by different names, in different nations; such is the case with the Gipseys. The French received their first accounts of them from Bohemia; which occasioned their giving them the name of Bohemians (_Bohémiens_); the Dutch, supposing they came from Egypt, called them Heathens (_Heydens_). In Denmark, Sweden, and some parts of Germany, Tartars were thought of: the Moors and Arabians, perceiving the propensity the Gipseys have to thieving, adopted the name _Charami_ (robbers) for them. In Hungary, they were formerly called Pharaohites (_Pharaoh nepek_, Pharaoh’s people); and the vulgar, in Transylvania, continue that name for them. The English do not differ much from these latter (calling them Egyptians—Gipseys); any more than the Portuguese and Spaniards (_Gitanos_). The Clementines, in Smyrnia, use the appellation _Madjub_; and the inhabitants of the lesser Bucharia, that of _Diajii_. The name of Zigeuner has obtained the most general adoption: the Gipseys are so called not only in all Germany, Italy, and Hungary (_Tzigany_), but frequently in Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia (_Cyganis_). Moreover the Turks, and other eastern nations, have no other than this name for them (_Tschingenés_); and perhaps the before-cited Diajii of the Bucharians may be the very same. It has been said, they call themselves Moors; but that is false; Moor is only an adjunct, not the name of any people: it is really a pity, since this name would have been so fair a pretence to make Amorites of them, as some writers have done! It is not by any means proved, that the modern Greeks called them _Athingans_; this opinion is supported more by the arbitrary assertions of some learned men, than by real facts: which is also the case with the rest of the catalogue of names that have been dispersed, in various treatises on the origin of the Gipseys; as will be hereafter demonstrated.