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XLIV. Collections on the Zingara, or Gypsey Language; by Jacob Bryant, Esq. transmitted to O. Salusbury Brereton, Esq. in a Letter from the Rev. Dr. Douglas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Extract
Having been present at the meeting of the Society when Mr. Marsden's letter on the Gypsey language, was read, I recollected that, several years ago, I had heard my friend Mr. Bryant mention his having collected a considerable number of words used by this wandering tribe; several of which words appeared to bear a close affinity to those of the same meaning in the languages of ancient and of distant nations.
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- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1785
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page 393 note * The following passage from this book is worth transcribing. “During my stay (says Mr. Bell) at Tobolsky, I was informed that a large troop of Gypsies had been lately at that place, to the number of sixty or upwards. The Russians call these vagabonds Tziggany. Their sorry baggage was carried upon horses and asses. The Vice Governor sent for some of the chief of the gang, and demanded, whither they were going. They answered to China. He stopped their progress, and sent them back.” Bell's Travels, vol. II. p. 157. Simeon Simeonis seems to have met with some of the Gypsey tribe in Cyprus, in 1332. “Ibidem et vidimus gentem extra civitatem ritu Græcorum utentem, et de genere Chaym se esse asserentem, quæ raro, vel nunquam, in loco aliquo moratur ultra xxx dies; sed semper, velut a Deo maledicta, vaga et profuga post xxx diem de campo in campum, cum tentoriis parvis, oblongis, nigris, et humilibus, ad modum Arabum de cavernâ in cavernam discurrit, quia locus ab his habitatus post dictum terminum efficitur plenus vermibus et immunditiis, cum quibus impossibile est habitare.”
Simeon Simeonis Itin. p. 17.
page 393 note † Herbert says yec curse is one mile, and a league or three miles is tean curse: tean is, therefore, three.
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