CHAPTER XII.

_Their Language_, _Sciences_, _and Arts_.

BESIDES that the Gipseys understand and speak the language of the country where they live, they have a general language of their own, in which they always converse with each other. Writers differ in opinion concerning this language, being undecided whether it be really that of any country, and who are the people from whom it originates. Some pronounce it a mere jargon, others say it is gibberish. We can by no means agree with the supporters of the first opinion, as the only ground for the assertion is barely, that they do not know any other language correspondent to that of the Gipseys. But they do not seem to have considered how extravagant a surmise it is, to believe a whole language an invention; that too of people rude, uncivilised, and hundreds of miles distant from each other. This opinion is too absurd to employ more time to controvert it. Neither can the Gipsey language be admitted for gibberish; unless by those who know nothing of the former, or are totally ignorant of the latter, which is corrupt German; whereas the former has neither German words, inflexions, nor the least affinity in sound. No German, were he to listen a whole day to a Gipsey conversation, would comprehend a single expression. A third party allow that the language of the original Gipseys was really vernacular, and that of some country; but assert it to be so disguised and falsified, partly by design of the Gipseys themselves, partly by adventitious events, through length of time, and the continual wandering of these people, that it is entirely new formed, and now used by the Gipseys only. This opinion contains much truth; but carries the matter too far, in not allowing that any traces remain to prove any particular dialect to be the Gipseys’ mother tongue. Perhaps the great Büsching means the same thing, when he says, “the Gipsey language is a mixture of corrupt words from the Wallachian, Sclavonian, Hungarian, and other nations.” Among these, the best-founded notion may be, that it is the dialect of some particular country, though no longer so pure as in the country whence it originated. This opinion meets the greatest concurrence of the learned: and will, we hope, be fully proved in another part of this book, where the subject will be again discussed, more fully, in order to corroborate the other proofs of the origin of this people. It will then be certified, in what country this is the native mother tongue. This is a point concerning which most writers think differently. Sometimes the Gipseys are Hebrews, then Nubians, Egyptians, Phrygians, Vandals, Sclavonians, or, as opinions vary, perhaps some other nation.

It appears extraordinary, that the language of a people who have lived for centuries among us, and has been matter of enquiry almost ever since, should still remain an affair of so much uncertainty. Gipseys are to be found every-where, and might be very easily examined, as closely and often as any body pleased, about their language. It would have been attended with no great trouble, to have made so near an acquaintance as to bring them to converse with variety of people, and thereby, by means of comparison, to have attained some degree of certainty. This observation sounds plausibly; but on a closer examination the case is found to be very different. First, it is not so easy as people may imagine, to gain much information from the Gipseys concerning their language. They are suspicious, apprehending an explanation might be attended with danger to themselves; and are therefore not very communicative. To this must be added, their natural levity, and consequent seeming inattention to the questions put to them. A writer, who had frequent experience of this behaviour, expresses himself to the following effect: “Suppose any person had an inclination to learn the Gipsey language, he would find it very difficult to accomplish his purpose. Intercourse with these people is almost insufferable; and very few of them have sense enough to teach any thing, or even to give a proper answer to a question. If you ask about a single word, they chatter a great many, which nobody can understand. Others have equally failed of success, not being able, by any means whatever, to obtain from them the paternoster in their own language.” Secondly, suppose the language of the Gipseys had been perfectly understood soon after their arrival in Europe, variety of opinions would nevertheless have been maintained among the learned. It would still have been necessary, in order to ascertain truth, to have revised the original languages of all the inhabitants both in and out of Europe, or at least a general sketch of them. By such a review, the Gipseys’ mother tongue might easily have been discovered. But many there are, as Büttner, Schlözer, Gibelin, and Bachmeister, who have taken great pains in the minute investigation of the languages, as well as manners, of different people, and reckon those they have learned by dozens. How was it, indeed, possible for the learned of former centuries to be competent to the enquiry, as they had not the aids which now so copiously occur to the historical etymologist? Many dialects have been discovered, and our knowledge of others greatly increased, within the last fifty or sixty years. During that term, the treasures of the farthest north have been opened; and the most eastern idioms become more familiar to us: we even know how the Otaheitian expresses himself. All this information did not exist before; knowledge in this science was much more confined than at this period: nor was it possible for the most learned man, so circumstanced, to point out the country in which the Gipsey language was spoken.

The Gipseys have no writing, peculiar to them, in which to express their language. {87} Writing, or reading, is, in general, a very uncommon accomplishment with any of them; nor must either of these attainments be at all expected among the wandering sort. Sciences and the refined arts are never to be looked for amongst people whose manner of living and education are so irregular. Twiss does, indeed, mention, that the Spanish Gipseys have some knowledge of medicine and surgery; but woe betide the person who confides in their skill! It is absurd to suppose that they are possessed of any secret for extinguishing fire: superstition formerly gave the Jews credit for this art; in process of time, the Gipseys also were believed to be gifted with it. Music is the only science in which the Gipseys participate, in any considerable degree: they likewise compose, but it is after the manner of the eastern people, extempore. In Wallachia, no other people possess this talent; and, like the Italian _improvisatori_, they always accompany their verses with singing and music. The quality of the poetry of these ready composers may be appreciated, when it is known that the rhyme is the part most considered: to accomplish this, they are frequently guilty of the most glaring solecisms in grammar; besides their ideas are usually of the most obscene kind, and these expressed in the gross style of rude unpolished people. It is not necessary, therefore, to be a master, to hold their art in the greatest contempt. {88}