It is not until recent times that people have began to get an indication into where and whom the Roma derive. This is due to an increase of interest, collaborated with the larger availability of information due to modern times. It has become possible for experts within the relevant fields to come together and narrow down the possibilities of the Romani origin.
It is without doubt that the Roma have an Indian root. This can be proved with a thorough and in-depth study using a combination of language, customs, belief and DNA.
It is from these sources that we must look into to get any true idea.
Language
The Indian origin of Romanis
To understand the Indian origin of the Romani language it is necessary to look at the evolution of languages within India itself. There are two major language types within India, the first, Dravidian, was once spoken over most of India but is now used more significantly in the southern regions. The other, Indo-Aryan, is believed to have had its origin from the Northwest as both its formation and vocabulary are closely related to ancient Iranian languages. The newer Indo-Aryan languages from the Northwest of India have now replaced much of the older Dravidian languages in most regions of India especially in the North. This process of changeover started happening thousands of years ago.
The Indian words that feature within the Romani vocabulary originate from the Indo-Aryan language type.
The earliest Indo-Aryan language recorded within India is Sanskrit. There are different stages of Sanskrit according to its time period, the oldest known being Vedic Sanskrit. All the present Indo-Aryan languages have derived from Sanskrit via Prakrit. Prakrit was the spoken Indo-Aryan language and any adaptations within the language or changes were unique to region. In time the changes became so great that they became identified as separate regional languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu. Hindi is now the primary national language that is identified over most of India. Although Hindi is very similar to all the other Indo-Aryan languages, it is recognised across regions, whereas most of the other dialects are only recognised within specific regions and states.
Learning from the Words and Grammar of Romanis
Looking at the words within the Romani language it is viable to say that they have their origin from Prakrit that is unique to the Punjabi region of Northwest India and Northern Pakistan.
The quickest way to confirm that Romanis is from Punjabi regional Prakrit is to compare it to modern Punjabi, which has also derived from the same Prakrit. There are certain words within Punjabi that are of Sanskrit origin but have changes unique only to Punjabi. Examples of these words are Phrah meaning ‘brother’, Phehn meaning ‘sister’, Khar meaning ‘house’, Kura meaning ‘horse’ and Oteh meaning ‘over there’. [‘Ph’ is pronounced as ‘p’ with a slight ‘h’ after it and not as the English ‘ph’ that has a similar sound as ‘f’]
The equivalent words in Hindi and most other Indo Aryan languages are Bhai, Bahin, Ghar, Gura and Udahr.
Now if we look at the same words in Romanis they are Phrahl, Phehn, Kher, Kuro (meaning ‘Colt’) and lastly Oteh.
From this we can observe that the Romani words are the same as the words that are unique to Punjabi and therefore must have come via Prakrit of the region in which Punjabi developed.
Romanis is a two gender language as it has masculine and feminine. Up until around 1000ad, the languages of India were three genders as it had masculine, feminine and also neuter. Around 1000ad most neuter words became masculine whilst the others became feminine. The Indian words that are now two genders can be seen in Romanis which supports claims that the Roma must have left India after 1000ad.
Punjabi / Panjabi
As already mentioned above, there are words within the Romani language that are only also spoken by speakers of Punjabi. Speakers of Romanis will find they have many similarities with speakers of Punjabi.
Hindi
Some words within Romanis are present within modern day Hindi, yet they are not spoken in Punjabi. This is probably due to the words being spoken in the earlier Punjabi region yet were lost or replaced in the later years.
Words such as hahmahra (Romanis is ‘Ahmahro’) meaning ‘our’ or rhuk meaning ‘tree’ are still spoken in Hindi.
Dardic
In addition to the Punjabi & Hindi words we must also observe the Romani word for white, which is ‘Parno’, apparently this word is from a Dardic word, though I must confess that I myself am not familiar with this language. According to one source the dardic word for white is ‘parna’.
Dardic like Punjabi is a language that is again spoken within the far Northwest of India and Northern Pakistan. The main region that it is spoken is Kashmir and Jammu, which is the region neighbouring to the North of the Punjab.
Sanskrit
As mentioned earlier Sanskrit is an old language and had the largest hand in contributing to the making of the newer Indo-Aryan languages, so it is easy to understand how there are words directly from Sanskrit present in Romanis. Shahveh meaning ‘children’ is from Sahveh meaning ‘youth’. Kam meaning ‘love’ and Dev meaning ‘God’ are also examples of words that have arrived directly from Sanskrit.
Singhalese
In one recent report, it states that Romanis is closely related to Sinhala, the Singhalese language spoken in Sri Lanka. I myself am sceptical of this comment as it may be that the same similarities can be drawn with most Indo-Aryan languages and from my own experience when talking to Singhalese, I didn’t find a large deal of exchange when comparing language unlike when with Punjabis who I usually find are shocked with disbelief with some of our words.
The Singhalese people who are the largest percentage of the people living on the Island of Sri Lanka are like the Romani people as much as it is a mystery to how they arrived to being where they are today. Their origins are unclear but it is absolute certain that they came from Northern India as can been seen by genetic makeup and also there beliefs, customs and language and they are believed to have arrived around 5bc. The language itself has many loan words from the Dravidian language group that is spoken by their Tamil neighbours whom they share the island of Sri Lanka with and Pali also influences it, which is a language similar to Sanskrit that was invented by Buddhists for use with Buddhism, which is the main Singhalese religion. Like Romanis, Singhalese has its earliest roots and influences from Sanskrit, however it does not share a common likeness with Romanis by having many Punjabi spoken words.
Persian & Urdu
There are also a lot of Persian words that are absorbed into the Romani language. Interestingly there is a large match with the Persian words within Romani to that of the Persian words within Urdu. So great is the match that it could suggest that many of the Persian words within Romanis were picked up whilst still living within India. This could suggest that the Roma lived towards the border region of India that had previously had much Persian influence such as towards the Northwest frontier region prior to having any Arabic rule and influence taken place.
Other Indian Languages
Someone comparing Romanis with someone who speaks Bengali will discover that there are many similar words such as Pahni meaning ‘water’. This does not mean Romanis has come from Bengali as the same word is also used in most Indian languages.
It is without doubt that the Roma have an Indian root. This can be proved with a thorough and in-depth study using a combination of language, customs, belief and DNA.
It is from these sources that we must look into to get any true idea.
Language
The Indian origin of Romanis
To understand the Indian origin of the Romani language it is necessary to look at the evolution of languages within India itself. There are two major language types within India, the first, Dravidian, was once spoken over most of India but is now used more significantly in the southern regions. The other, Indo-Aryan, is believed to have had its origin from the Northwest as both its formation and vocabulary are closely related to ancient Iranian languages. The newer Indo-Aryan languages from the Northwest of India have now replaced much of the older Dravidian languages in most regions of India especially in the North. This process of changeover started happening thousands of years ago.
The Indian words that feature within the Romani vocabulary originate from the Indo-Aryan language type.
The earliest Indo-Aryan language recorded within India is Sanskrit. There are different stages of Sanskrit according to its time period, the oldest known being Vedic Sanskrit. All the present Indo-Aryan languages have derived from Sanskrit via Prakrit. Prakrit was the spoken Indo-Aryan language and any adaptations within the language or changes were unique to region. In time the changes became so great that they became identified as separate regional languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu. Hindi is now the primary national language that is identified over most of India. Although Hindi is very similar to all the other Indo-Aryan languages, it is recognised across regions, whereas most of the other dialects are only recognised within specific regions and states.
Learning from the Words and Grammar of Romanis
Looking at the words within the Romani language it is viable to say that they have their origin from Prakrit that is unique to the Punjabi region of Northwest India and Northern Pakistan.
The quickest way to confirm that Romanis is from Punjabi regional Prakrit is to compare it to modern Punjabi, which has also derived from the same Prakrit. There are certain words within Punjabi that are of Sanskrit origin but have changes unique only to Punjabi. Examples of these words are Phrah meaning ‘brother’, Phehn meaning ‘sister’, Khar meaning ‘house’, Kura meaning ‘horse’ and Oteh meaning ‘over there’. [‘Ph’ is pronounced as ‘p’ with a slight ‘h’ after it and not as the English ‘ph’ that has a similar sound as ‘f’]
The equivalent words in Hindi and most other Indo Aryan languages are Bhai, Bahin, Ghar, Gura and Udahr.
Now if we look at the same words in Romanis they are Phrahl, Phehn, Kher, Kuro (meaning ‘Colt’) and lastly Oteh.
From this we can observe that the Romani words are the same as the words that are unique to Punjabi and therefore must have come via Prakrit of the region in which Punjabi developed.
Romanis is a two gender language as it has masculine and feminine. Up until around 1000ad, the languages of India were three genders as it had masculine, feminine and also neuter. Around 1000ad most neuter words became masculine whilst the others became feminine. The Indian words that are now two genders can be seen in Romanis which supports claims that the Roma must have left India after 1000ad.
Punjabi / Panjabi
As already mentioned above, there are words within the Romani language that are only also spoken by speakers of Punjabi. Speakers of Romanis will find they have many similarities with speakers of Punjabi.
Hindi
Some words within Romanis are present within modern day Hindi, yet they are not spoken in Punjabi. This is probably due to the words being spoken in the earlier Punjabi region yet were lost or replaced in the later years.
Words such as hahmahra (Romanis is ‘Ahmahro’) meaning ‘our’ or rhuk meaning ‘tree’ are still spoken in Hindi.
Dardic
In addition to the Punjabi & Hindi words we must also observe the Romani word for white, which is ‘Parno’, apparently this word is from a Dardic word, though I must confess that I myself am not familiar with this language. According to one source the dardic word for white is ‘parna’.
Dardic like Punjabi is a language that is again spoken within the far Northwest of India and Northern Pakistan. The main region that it is spoken is Kashmir and Jammu, which is the region neighbouring to the North of the Punjab.
Sanskrit
As mentioned earlier Sanskrit is an old language and had the largest hand in contributing to the making of the newer Indo-Aryan languages, so it is easy to understand how there are words directly from Sanskrit present in Romanis. Shahveh meaning ‘children’ is from Sahveh meaning ‘youth’. Kam meaning ‘love’ and Dev meaning ‘God’ are also examples of words that have arrived directly from Sanskrit.
Singhalese
In one recent report, it states that Romanis is closely related to Sinhala, the Singhalese language spoken in Sri Lanka. I myself am sceptical of this comment as it may be that the same similarities can be drawn with most Indo-Aryan languages and from my own experience when talking to Singhalese, I didn’t find a large deal of exchange when comparing language unlike when with Punjabis who I usually find are shocked with disbelief with some of our words.
The Singhalese people who are the largest percentage of the people living on the Island of Sri Lanka are like the Romani people as much as it is a mystery to how they arrived to being where they are today. Their origins are unclear but it is absolute certain that they came from Northern India as can been seen by genetic makeup and also there beliefs, customs and language and they are believed to have arrived around 5bc. The language itself has many loan words from the Dravidian language group that is spoken by their Tamil neighbours whom they share the island of Sri Lanka with and Pali also influences it, which is a language similar to Sanskrit that was invented by Buddhists for use with Buddhism, which is the main Singhalese religion. Like Romanis, Singhalese has its earliest roots and influences from Sanskrit, however it does not share a common likeness with Romanis by having many Punjabi spoken words.
Persian & Urdu
There are also a lot of Persian words that are absorbed into the Romani language. Interestingly there is a large match with the Persian words within Romani to that of the Persian words within Urdu. So great is the match that it could suggest that many of the Persian words within Romanis were picked up whilst still living within India. This could suggest that the Roma lived towards the border region of India that had previously had much Persian influence such as towards the Northwest frontier region prior to having any Arabic rule and influence taken place.
Other Indian Languages
Someone comparing Romanis with someone who speaks Bengali will discover that there are many similar words such as Pahni meaning ‘water’. This does not mean Romanis has come from Bengali as the same word is also used in most Indian languages.
Comment