The Romani people are known by a variety of names, mostly as Gypsies, Romani, Roma, Romanies, Tsinganoi, Bohémiens, with many variants. Numerous subgroups and clans self-designate, such as the Sinti, Kalderash, Boyash, Manouche, Lovari, Lăutari, Machvaya, Romanichal, Romanisael, Calé, Kale, Kaale, Xaladytka, Romungro, Ursari, and Sevlengere. In English, the word gypsy is most common.

In some regions, Roma is the primary term used in political contexts.p. 13 in Illona Klimova-Alexander's The Romani Voice in World Politics: The United Nations and Non-State Actors (2005, Burlington, VT.: Ashgate Because all Romani use Romani as an adjective, Romani became an alternative noun. It is used by organizations such as the United Nations and the US Library of Congress. However, the World Roma Congress, the Council of Europe and other organizations prefer the term Roma, and recommend that Romani be used only as an adjective.Roma, Sinti, Gypsies, Travellers...The Correct Terminology about Roma at In Other WORDS project – Web Observatory & Review for Discrimination alerts & Stereotypes deconstruction The British government uses "Roma" as a sub-group of "White" in its ethnic classification system.

The English word Rom derives from Romani rom, meaning 'man, husband' (plural romá). Rom (with the plural Roma or Roms) and Romani (with the plural Romanies) are nouns and adjectives. Both Rom and Romani have been in use in English since the 19th century as an alternative for Gypsy. Romani is also spelled Romany, or Rommany.* Definition at dictionary.cambridge.org Definition at Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Definition at oxforddictionaries.com Definition at merriam-webster.com Definition at collinsdictionary.com The terms Roma and Romanis are increasingly encountered as generic terms for the Romani people.

Rom's etymology is unclear. The Oxford English Dictionary says it likely derives from Sanskrit ḍomba, meaning 'lower-caste person working as a wandering musician', itself deriving from a Dravidian word, such as domba, ḍomba ('caste of acrobats, jugglers, clowns')."Rom, N. (2) & Adj." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1117377491. The standard assumption is that the demonyms of the Roma, Lom, and Dom, share the same origin.

Romani may serve as the feminine adjective and Romano as the masculine adjective. Some Romanies use Rom or Roma as an ethnic name, while others (such as the Sinti, or the Romanichal) do not.

Sometimes, Rom and Romani are spelled with a double r, i.e. Rrom and Rromani. In this case, Rr is used to represent the phoneme (also written as ř and rh), which in some Romani dialects has remained distinct from the one written with a single r. The double r spelling is common in certain institutions (such as the INALCO Institute in Paris) or used in certain countries, e.g. Romania, to distinguish it from the endonym/homonym for Romanians (sg. român, pl. români).

In English, the exonym Gypsy (or Gipsy) is the most commonly used term."Now sometimes considered derogatory or offensive, the term Gypsy has been steadily replaced in official contexts by Romani or (in plural) Roma. Nevertheless, Gypsy remains the most widely used term for this group among English-speakers." "Gypsy, N. & Adj." Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1201363216. It originates from the Middle English , short for . The Castilian term and the French have similar etymologies. They are ultimately derived from the Greek (), meaning 'Egyptian', via Latin. This designation owes its existence to the belief, common in the Middle Ages, that the Roma, or some related group (such as the Indian Dom people), were itinerant Egyptians. Another designation is Cingane (alternatively Çingene, Tsinganoi, Zigar, Zigeuner, Tschingaren), likely deriving from the Persian word (), itself derived from the Turkic word , meaning poor person. It is possible that the origin of this word is Athinganoi, the name of a Christian sect with whom the Roma (or some related group) could have become associated.

These exonyms may be written with a capital letter, to designate an ethnic group. While some Roma use the term, others consider it derogatory. The Council of Europe rejects the use of "Gypsy" and its variants, as well as administrative terms such as "Gens du Voyage". In Britain, many Roma proudly identify as "Gypsies", and, as part of the Gypsy/Roma/Traveller grouping, it is used to describe all para-Romani groups in official contexts. In North America, the word Gypsy is most commonly used as a reference to Romani ethnicity, though a nomadic lifestyle and fashion are also referenced using this word.

Etymology The demonyms of the Romani people, Lom and Dom share the same etymological origin,The Institute for Middle East Understanding Online Etymology Dictionary – Douglas Harper reflecting Sanskrit "a man of low caste, living by singing and music."McArthur, T. (ed.) The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992) Oxford University Press Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)

The ultimate origin of the Sanskrit term (perhaps from Munda or Dravidian) is uncertain.Abhijit Ghosh, Non-Aryan linguistic elements in the Atharvaveda: a study of some words of Austric origin, Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar, 2000, p. 10, 76. Its stem, , is connected with drumming, linked with the Sanskrit verbal root 'to sound (as a drum)', perhaps a loan from Dravidian, e.g. Kannada ḍamāra 'a pair of kettle-drums', and Telugu ṭamaṭama 'a drum, tomtom'.T. Burrow and M.B. Emeneau, A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), p. 257, entry #2949.

Gypsy and gipsy

The English term gypsy or gipsyFrom the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989; online version December 2011) Etymology section for the word gipsy: is commonly used to indicate Romani people, and use of the word gipsy in modern-day English is pervasive (and is a legal term under English law—see below), and some Romani organizations use it in their own organizational names, particularly in the United Kingdom. In the UK, the word Gypsy forms part of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller designation, to represent Romani people from groups who have resided in the UK since the 16th century, as opposed to Roma, who are understood to be linked to more recent migrations.

The word, while sometimes positively embraced by Romani persons, is sometimes rejected by other Romani persons and considered a racial slur with a pejorative connotation implying illegality and irregularity,

and some modern dictionaries either recommend avoiding use of the word gypsy entirely or give it a negative or warning label.

A British House of Commons Committee parliamentary inquiry, as described in their report "Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities" (published 2019), stated about their findings in the United Kingdom that: "We asked many members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities how they preferred to describe themselves. While some find the term "Gypsy" to be offensive, many stakeholders and witnesses were proud to associate themselves with this term and so we have decided that it is right and proper to use it, where appropriate, throughout the report."

The Oxford English Dictionary states a 'gipsy' is a The first usage of the word in English found by the OED was 1514, with several more usages in the same century, and both Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare used this word.Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Edition 1989. "Gipsy, gypsy, n."

This exonym is sometimes written with a capital letter, to show that it designates an ethnic group. The Spanish term gitano, the French term and the Basque term have the same origin.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the name was written in various ways: Egipcian, Egypcian, gypcian. The word gipsy/gypsy comes from the spellings which had lost the initial capital E, and that is one reason that it is often spelled with the initial g in lowercase. As time elapsed, the notion of "the gipsy/gypsy" altered to include other associated stereotypes such as nomadism and exoticism. John Matthews in The World Atlas of Divination refer to gypsies as "Wise Women". Colloquially, gipsy/gypsy is used refer to any person perceived by the speaker as fitting the gypsy stereotypes.

Use in English law The term gipsy has had several overlapping meanings under English Law. In the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, gipsies (not capitalised) were defined as "persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showmen, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such".Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 (c.62) The UK Statute Law Database. This particular definition included non-Romani groups as Irish Travellers.Ravi Low-Beer Challenging Gypsy planning policies occasional discussion paper number 1 , Traveller Law Research Unit, Cardiff Law School, P O Box 427, Cardiff CF1 1XD. Retrieved 2008-10-09.Thomas Acton. Human Rights as a Perspective on Entitlements: The Debate over 'Gypsy Fairs' in England , Essex Human Rights Review Vol. 1 No. 1. July 2004, pp. 18–28, ISSN 1756-1957. See footnote 5 page 19 (page 2 of the PDF document). However, it is commonly understood that the term is etymologically an exonym. It originates from Egyptian (a historical name for Romani people in Britain).

Romani "gipsies" have been a recognised ethnic group for the purposes of Race Relations Act 1976 since Commission for Racial Equality v Dutton 1989, as have Irish Travellers in England and Wales since O'Leary v Allied Domecq 2000 (having already gained recognition in Northern Ireland in 1997).Traveller Law Research Unit, Cardiff University, (From March 1995 to December 2002). Retrieved 2008-10-09. Archived from original 2008

List of names Gypsy/Gipsy In several languages and historical cultures, Romani people were thought to come from Egypt. Basque: English: Spanish:

In Crimean Tatar and Nogai they were called in a derogatory way as "Pharaoh" (; ).Segmentation_vs_consolidation_The_example_of_four_<Roma>_groups_in_CIS, p. 149-150

Tsinganoi

In much of continental Europe, they are known by names related to the Greek term (), from Byzantine Greek ἀθίγγανος (athínganos), which combines ἀ- (a-, "not") + θιγγάνω (thingánō, "touch"); compare to untouchable.

The name originates with Byzantine Greek (atsinganoi, Latin adsincani) or (athinganoi, literally "untouchables"), a term applied to the sect of the Melchisedechians. The Adsincani appear in an 11th-century text preserved in Mt Athos, The Life of Saint George the Athonite (written in the Georgian language), as "a Samaritan people, descendants of Simon the Magician, named Adsincani, who were renowned sorcerers and villains". In the text, emperor Constantine Monomachos employs the Adsincani to exterminate wild animals, who were destroying the game in the imperial park of Philopation.P. Peeters, 'Histoire monastiques géorgiennes', Analecta Bollandiana, 36–37, 1917–19.