Chapter 7

An Old Gipsy Proverb--Common Proverbs in Gipsy Dress--Quaint Sayings--Characteristic Rommany Picture-Phrases.

Every race has not only its peculiar proverbs, sayings, and catch-words, but also idiomatic phrases which constitute a characteristic chiaroscuro, if not colour. The Gipsies in England have of course borrowed much from the Gorgios, but now and then something of their own appears. In illustration of all this, I give the following expressions noted down from Gipsy conversation:--

_Tacho like my dad_. True like my father.

_Kushto like my dad_. Good like my father.

This is a true Gipsy proverb, used as a strongly marked indication of approbation or belief.

_Kushto bak_. Good luck!

As the Genoese of old greeted their friends with the word _Guadagna_! or "Gain!" indicating as Rabelais declares, their sordid character, so the Gipsy, whose life is precarious, and who depends upon chance for his daily bread, replies to "Sarishan!" (good day!) with "Kushto bak!" or "Good luck to you!" The Arabic "Baksheesh" is from the same root as bak, _i.e_., bacht.

_When there's a boro bavol_, _huller the tan parl the waver rikk pauli the bor_. When the wind is high, move the tent to the other side of the hedge behind it.

That is to say, change sides in an emergency.

"_Hatch apre! Hushti! The prastramengro's wellin! Jal the graias avree! Prastee_!"

"Jump up! Wide awake there! The policeman's coming! Run the horses off! Scamper!"

This is an alarm in camp, and constitutes a sufficiently graphic picture. The hint to run the horses off indicates a very doubtful title to their possession.

_The prastramengro pens me mustn't hatch acai_.

The policeman says we mustn't stop here.

No phrase is heard more frequently among Gipsies, who are continually in trouble with the police as to their right to stop and pitch their tents on commons.

_I can hatch apre for pange_ (_panj_) _divvuses_.

I can stop here for five days.

A common phrase indicating content, and equivalent to, "I would like to sit here for a week."

_The graias have taddered at the kas-stoggus_--_we must jal an durer_--_the gorgio's dicked us_!

The horses have been pulling at the hay-stack--we must hurry away--the man has seen us!

When Gipsies have remained over night on a farm, it sometimes happens that their horses and asses--inadvertently of course--find their way to the haystacks or into a good field. _Humanum est errare_!

_Yeck mush can lel a grai ta panni_, _but twenty cant kair him pi_.

One man can take a horse to water, but twenty can't make him drink.

A well-known proverb.

_A chirrico 'dree the mast is worth dui_ '_dree the bor_.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (hedge).

_Never kin a pong dishler nor lel a romni by momeli dood_.

Never buy a handkerchief nor choose a wife by candle-light.

_Always jal by the divvus_.

Always go by the day.

_Chin tutes chuckko by tute's kaum_.

Cut your coat according to your fancy. This is a Gipsy variation of an old proverb.

_Fino ranyas kair fino trushnees_.

Nice reeds make nice baskets.

_He can't tool his kokerus togetherus_ (_kettenus_).

He can't hold himself together. Spoken of an infirm old man.

_Too boot of a mush for his kokero_.

Too much of a man for himself; _i.e_., he thinks too much of himself.

_He_'s _too boot of a mush to rakker a pauveri chavo_.

He's too proud too speak to a poor man. This was used, not in depreciation of a certain nobleman, whom the Gipsy who gave it to me had often seen, but admiringly, as if such _hauteur_ were a commendable quality.

_More_ (_koomi_) _covvas the well_.

There are more things to come. Spoken of food on a table, and equivalent to "Don't go yet." _The_ appears to be used in this as in many other instances, instead of _to_ for the sake of euphony.

_The jivaben has jawed avree out of his gad_.

The life has gone out of his shirt, _i.e_., body. This intimates a long and close connection between the body and the under garment. "Avree out of," a phrase in which the Gipsy word is immediately followed by its English equivalent, is a common form of expression for the sake of clearness.

_I toves my own gad_.

I wash my own shirt.

A saying indicating celibacy or independence.

_Mo rakkerfor a pennis when tute can't lel it_.

Don't ask for a thing when you can't get it.

_The wongurs kairs the grasni jal_.

Money makes the mare go.

_It's allers the boro matcho that pet-a-lay 'dree the panni_.

It is always the largest fish that falls back into the water.

_Bengis your see_! _Beng in tutes bukko_!

The devil in your heart. The devil in your body, or bowels.

This is a common form of imprecation among Gipsies all over the world.

_Jawin sar a mush mullerin adree the boro naflo-ker_.

Going like a man dying in the hospital.

_Rikker it adree tute's kokero see an' kek'll jin_.

Keep it a secret in your own heart, and nobody will know it.

_Del sar mush a sigaben to hair his jivaben_. Give every man a chance to make his living.

_It's sim to a choomer, kushti for kek till it's pordered atween dui_.

It's like a kiss, good for nothing until it is divided between two.

_A cloudy sala often purabens to a fino divvus_.

A cloudy morning often changes to a fine day.

_Iuzhiou panni never jalled avree from a chickli tan_.

Clean water never came out from a dirty place.

_Sar mush must jal to the cangry, yeck divvus or the waver_.

Every man must go to the church (_i.e_., be buried) some day or other.

_Kek mush ever lelled adusta mongur_.

No man ever got money enough.

_Pale the wafri bak jals the kushti bak_.

Behind bad luck comes good luck.

_Saw mushis ain't got the sim kammoben as wavers_.

All men have not the same tastes.

_Lel the tacho pirro, an' it's pash kaired_.

Well begun is half done.

_Whilst tute's rakkerin the cheiruses jal_.

While you are talking the _times_ (hours) fly.

_Wafri bak in a boro ker_, _sim's adree a bitti her_.

There may be adversity in a large house as well as in a small one.

_The kushtiest covvas allers jal avree siggest_.

The best is soonest gone.

_To dick a puro pal is as cammoben as a kushti habben_.

To see an old friend is as agreeable as a good meal.

_When tuti's pals chinger yeck with a waver_, _don't tute jal adoi_.

When your brothers quarrel don't you meddle.

_Pet up with the rakkerin an' mor pen chichi_.

Endure the chattering and say nothing.

_When a mush dels tute a grai tute man dick 'dree lester's mui_.

When a man gives you a horse you must not look in his mouth.

_Man jal atut the puvius_.

Do not go across the field. Intimating that one should travel in the proper road.

_There's a kushti sovaben at the kunsus of a duro drum_.

There is a sweet sleep at the end of a long road.

_Kair the cammodearer_.

Make the best of it.

_Rikker dovo adree tute's see_.

Keep that a secret.

_The koomi foki the tacho_.

The more the merrier.

_The pishom kairs the gudlo_.

The bee makes the honey. _Id est_, each does his own work.

_The pishom lels the gudlo avree the roozhers_.

The bee gets honey from flowers. _Id est_, seeks it in the right place.

_Hatch till the dood wells apre_.

Wait till the moon rises. A very characteristic Gipsy saying.

_Can't pen shukker atut lendy_.

You cannot say aught against them.

_He's boccalo ajaw to haw his chokkas_.

He's hungry enough to eat his shoes.

_The puro beng is a fino mush_!

The devil is a nice character.

_Mansha tu pal_!

Cheer up, brother. Be a man! Spoken to any one who seems dejected. This corresponds partially to the German Gipsy _Manuschwari_! which is, however, rather an evil wish and a curse, meaning according to Dr Liebich (_Die Zigeuner_) the gallows, dire need, and epilepsy. Both in English and German it is, however, derived from Manusch, a man.

_He's a hunnalo nakin mush_.

He is an avaricious man. Literally, a spiteful nosed man.

_Tute can hair a covva ferridearer if you jal shukar_.

You can do a thing better if you go about it secretly.

_We're lullero adoi we don't jin the jib_.

We are dumb where we do not understand the language.

_Chucked_ (_chivved_) _saw the habben avree_.

He threw all the victuals about. A melancholy proverb, meaning that state of irritable intoxication when a man comes home and abuses his family.

_A myla that rikkers tute is kushtier to kistur than a grai that chivs you apre_.

An ass that carries you is better than a horse that throws you off.

_The juva_, _that sikkers her burk will sikker her bull_.

"Free of her lips, free of her hips."

_He sims mandy dree the mui_--_like a puvengro_.

He resembles me--like a potato.

_Yeck hotchewitchi sims a waver as yeck bubby sims the waver_.

One hedgehog is as like another as two peas.

_He mored men dui_.

He killed both of us. A sarcastic expression.

_I dicked their stadees an langis sherros_.

I saw their hats on their heads. Apropos of amazement at some very ordinary thing.

_When you've tatti panni and rikker tutes kokero pash matto you can jal apre the wen sar a grai_.

When you have brandy (spirits), and keep yourself half drunk, you can go through the winter like a horse.