What race are Roma?

Roma, singular Rom, also called Romany or Gypsies (considered pejorative), an ethnic group of traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India but live in modern times worldwide, principally in Europe.

Are the Roma Caucasian?

Studies based on genome-wide autosomal single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data determined the source of South Asian and European ancestries of the Romani people, and concluded that Roma are an admixed ethnic group with West Eurasian and South Asian ancestry [14, 15].

Are Roma an ethnic minority?

Today Roma are the largest—around 12 million people—and most disadvantaged ethnic minority in Europe.

What is the difference between a Gypsy and a Roma?

“Roma” is the word (ethnonym) that the Roma use to describe themselves: it is the term for the members of that specific people and it is Romani for “man”. “Gypsy” is a derogatory, disparaging term – for many an insult — used by the majority population to define the Roma people.

Are Roma and Romanian people the same?

So no, Roma does not mean Romanian. It is quite a common mistake. Roma or Romani represent the ethnic group that started the migration from India more than 1000 years ago. The Romanians are another ethnic group, the majority inhabitant of today's Romanian territories and successors of the Ancient Dacians and Romans.

The Struggle for Survival of the Roma People: Europe's Most Hated

How do you know if you have gypsy blood?

Old family photos can help to identify Gypsy heritage. Photographs taken at gatherings such as hop picking or fairs might be a sign, although these were often annual events which brought together families from many backgrounds, not just Gypsies and Travellers.

Are Romani from India?

The Roma or Romani are a travelling people who live mostly in Europe and America, and whose origins are widely accepted by anthropologists, historians and geneticists as lying in northern India.

What language do the Roma speak?

Romani, the common language of the Roma, the Sinti, the Kale and other European popula- tion groups summarised by the pejorative denomination gypsies, belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family and is the only New-Indo-Aryan language spo- ken exclusively outside of the Indian subcontinent.

Why did Roma leave India?

The Romani began to leave India about 1,000 years ago. They probably left to escape the invasion of Afghan general Mahmud of Ghazni early in the 11th century. Mahmud's troops likely pushed the Romani out of northern India and into the area that is now Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.

Are Irish Travelers Romani?

They are one of several groups identified as "Travellers", a closely related group being the Scottish Travellers. They are often incorrectly referred to as "Gypsies", but Irish Travellers are not genetically related to the Romani, who are of Indo-Aryan origin.

What does Roma mean on census?

Roma are considered to be those who, while also having ancestry stretching back to the Indian subcontinent, migrated to the UK much more recently from Eastern and Central European countries – from 1990 onwards. Travellers are distinguished as traditionally nomadic people of Irish origins.

What are Gypsy surnames?

Common Gypsy names. You may have Romani, Traveller or Gypsy ancestry if your family tree includes common Romani or Gypsy surnames such as Boss, Boswell, Buckland, Chilcott, Codona, Cooper, Doe, Lee, Gray (or Grey), Harrison, Hearn, Heron, Hodgkins, Holland, Lee, Lovell, Loveridge, Scamp, Smith, Wood and Young.

What is Europe's largest ethnic minority?

1. Roma are Europe's largest ethnic minority, with up to 12 million living across the continent, most of them in Central and Eastern Europe.

What is Roma DNA?

Up to 63% of Roma show a founder lineage, and from those 30% show founder non-H Indian lineages. More than 44% of the Roma individuals belonged to the Indian H-M52 haplogroup (including H-M82), ranging from 64% in the Balkan Peninsula to 21% in Spain (Supplementary Figure S1).

What is a black blood Gypsy?

True Romany Gypsies were regarded as being of the pure “black blood” and the word “black” was regularly used as a compliment, particularly in people's names, meaning a gypsy of the purest type.

Are Gypsies classed as white?

The figures do not add to the 57,680 classified as White: Gypsy/Traveller because Roma is included as White Other, and some people in the other categories shown will have classified themselves in an ethnic group other than White.

Are peaky blinders Romani?

Tommy Shelby, the gang's leader, along with his siblings, Arthur, John, Ada, and Finn, have Irish-Romani heritage on both sides and consider themselves Gypsy. Their paternal aunt, Helen McCrory's irreplaceable Polly Gray, is the daughter of “Gypsy Princess” Birdie Boswell, and their mother comes from the Lee family.

Are Romani Romanian?

Romani people (Roma; Romi, traditionally Țigani, often called "Gypsies") constitute one of Romania's largest minorities. According to the 2011 census, their number was 621,573 people or 3.3% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians.

What is the nationality of a Gypsy?

Roma (Gypsies) originated in the Punjab region of northern India as a nomadic people and entered Europe between the eighth and tenth centuries C.E. They were called "Gypsies" because Europeans mistakenly believed they came from Egypt. This minority is made up of distinct groups called "tribes" or "nations."

What religion are Gypsies?

Formally, Islam is the religion that these communities align themselves with, and the people are recognized for their staunch preservation of the Romani language and identity. Most Eastern European Roma are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Muslim.

Are Gypsies Indian origin?

DNA research is also said to have established the European gypsies' genes to Northern India. It is believed that the various invasions in India led to the exodus of this tribe in three waves which led to the spread of the tribe across Persia, Turkey, Greece, Europe, Spain, Russia, Finland, Egypt and Morocco.

What is a male Gypsy called?

Many Roma refer to themselves by one generic name, Rom (meaning “man” or “husband”), and to all non-Roma by the term Gadje (also spelled Gadze or Gaje; a term with a pejorative connotation meaning “bumpkin,” “yokel,” or “barbarian”).

What does a Gypsy call a non Gypsy?

A gorger is a Romani word for a non-Romani person.