A gadji or gadjo is a term of Romani philosophy that means a person who has no romanipe. Usually, that's a person who is not an ethnic Romani, but also it can be an ethnic Rom who doesn't follow the Romani Code.
This word comes from the pre-Romani word for "peasant" and has the same root as the Romani word "gav" (a village). Romani ancestors were nomadic musicians and craftspeople; they did not live in villages.
In Spanish gitanos, the derived gachó and gachí, after passing through Caló, have become to mean "man, lover" and "woman, girl". In Portuguese ciganos, a more direct version is used with the same meaning, gajo and gaja (but usually used as a depreciative term). The slang word 'Gadgie', widely used in Scotland and North East England, is another form of the original Romani word.
Romanies of the Western Europe and Americas often interpret gadjies as "impure" persons because they think that only following Romani Code may make a person be "pure".
See also
- Gadjo dilo ("The crazy gadjo") is a French-Romanian film about a Frenchman who travels to Romania after a Romani musician.
Bibliography
- Lev Tcherenkov, Stephan Laederich "The Rroma"
- Raymond Buckland "Gypsy Witchcraft & Magic"
External links
- Caravan goes away in Russian
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