Gadjo
Gadjo (feminine: gadji) is a term of Romani philosophy that means a person who has no Romanipen. Usually, that's a person who is not an ethnic Romani, but also it can be an ethnic Romani who does not live within the Romani culture.
It is a term used to address or denote their "outsider" neighbors living within or very near their community, in concept similar to the way the Amish use "English" for their non-Amish neighbors, and somewhat similar to the way African Americans use the terms brothers, sisters and soul, to distinguish from their very near but different or "outsider" neighbors.
Romanies of Western Europe and the Americas often interpret gadjos as "impure" persons because they think that only following Romani Code may make a person be "pure".
Etymology
The exact origin of the word is not known. One theory considers that the word comes from the proto-Romani word for "peasant" and has the same root as the Romani word "gav" (a village). Romani ancestors were nomadic musicians and craftspeople; they did not live in villages[citation needed]. In the Latin world, the derived gachó and gachí, after passing through Caló, have come to mean "man, lover" and "woman, girl".
Derivatives
The slang word 'Gadgie', widely used in Scotland and North East England, is another form of the original Romani word.
'Gadjo' is also used as a slang word in France, notably in the south where it carries the same meaning as 'Gadgie'
An alternate form of "Gadjo" is "Gajo", which is extensively used in Portugal.
The Bulgarian word "гадже" (pronounced GA-djeh), neuter gender, means 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend' and is the most widely used word with this meaning.
Romanian nouns "gagic" and "gagică" mean "boyfriend" and "girlfriend", but they may also mean "guy" and "girl".
See also
- Gadjo dilo ("The crazy gadjo") is a French-Romanian film about a Frenchman who travels to Romania after a Romani musician.
- Romanipen
Bibliography
- Lev Tcherenkov, Stephan Laederich "The Rroma"
- Raymond Buckland "Gypsy Witchcraft & Magic"
External links
- Caravan goes away in Russian
- Excerpts from Roma by WR Rishi: ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD "GAJO" http://web.archive.org/web/20080514005741/http://www.romani.org/rishi/retygajo.html
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