Reader's Note

For typographical reasons, Romani words cited are spelled in accordance with general international usage, not in the standard alphabet adopted by the fourth World Romany Congress for writing the language.

c = ch, pronounced as in church

s = sh, as in ship

z = zh, as in leisure

x as in loch or German doch

rr is a guttural or retroflex r (as opposed to trilled or flapped r), depending on the dialect

It has regrettably not been possible to reproduce in one font all the accents used in all the languages of Europe.

Gypsy and Traveler have been capitalized and spelled thus-except in citations, names of organizations, and book titles. This volume uses the term Romani for the Gypsy language and Romany (Roma) for the people. Gypsy and Romany are used as synonyms throughout the text except in entries referring to Asia; here the term Gypsy implies an industrial or commercial nomad (a so-called peripatetic) not necessarily of Indian origin.

The definition of who is a Gypsy varies. This dictionary includes as Gypsies those who are accepted as such by the community or who proclaim themselves to be Gypsies. A number of non-Gypsy organizations and non-Gypsies whose life or works are relevant to Gypsy history have also been included in the dictionary. They are identified by the name in the entry header being in italics, for example, Shakespeare, William.

Cross-references in the text are in bold type. The terms Gypsy, Rom, Roma, Romani, and Romany on their own are, however, never printed in bold.