Gadji

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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 pre-Romani word "peasant" and has the same root that the Romani word "gav" (a village). Roma ancestors were nomadic musicians and craftspeople, they did not live in villages.

In Spanish slang, the derived gachó and gachí, after passing through Caló have become to mean "man, lover" and "woman, girl". In Portuguese slang, 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 Roma 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". Roma of Eastern Europe doesn't have such opinion.

[edit] See also

• Gadjo dilo ("The crazy gadjo") is a French-Romanian film about a Frenchman who travels to Romania after a Roma musician.

[edit] Bibliography

• Lev Tcherenkov, Stephan Laederich "The Rroma"
• Raymond Buckland "Gypsy: Witchctaft & Magic"

[edit] External links

• Caravan goes away in Russian