Why we use “Roma” and “Romani” instead of “Gypsy”
The word “Gypsy” holds a powerful charge - both positive and negative. Many people equate Gypsy with freedom-loving and “Bohemian.” Neither of these associations is wrong - in fact, they are both directly tied with the “Gypsy” or Roma culture and identity. Other people use Gypsy as a slur. To be “gypped” - meaning tricked or mugged - is a verb that stems from the stereotype that Gypsies are petty thieves. There are people of Gypsy origins who see the term as a slur and don’t want it used by outsiders. There are people of Gypsy origins who prefer the term Gypsy and cringe at the terms Roma or Romani as forced, too politically correct, and factually wrong - since not all people of the Gypsy ethnos are Roma.
There are two reasons Roma and Romani are widely accepted as official terms:
Within the Gypsy ethnos, the Romani are the largest sub-group.
The term stems from the Romanes language and is used as a self-descriptor. In Romanes, rom means “man” and romni means “woman.”
The term Gypsy comes from a misconception during the Middle Ages that these foreign, dark-skinned, and “exotic” newcomers that traveled across Europe came from Egypt. The Romani themselves didn’t fight this perception - in fact, most of them embraced it. True to their nature, they didn’t share the European obsession with broadcasting ancestry, titles, and pridefulness in who-comes-from-where. Their sense of identity and culture has always been strong but also strictly internal. The Romani were mostly nomadic artisans, tradesmen, and musicians, so if being seen as descendants of Pharaohs worked for business, then they went with that.
While they’re mostly known as Gypsies in Western Europe and America, they are known by a different term - and slur - both in Western Europe and in Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Balkans: tzigane/ tsigane. The term is Greek and comes from Byzantium, which was the entry point of the Romani into Europe. It is widely translated as “untouchable” but a deeper and more nuanced translation would also include “unreachable.” It’s the perfect word to describe how outsiders see and experience the Romani - as dangerous, chaotic, both enchanting and repulsive, too wild and freedom-loving to be “civilized.”
In Bulgaria, as well as other Eastern European and Balkan countries, the words tziganin and tziganka are used as slurs. Unlike the term Gypsy which carries some positive connotations, the Byzantine term in use today is mostly negative.
The Romani in Bulgaria and the Balkans:
are all part of the Roma sub-group of the wider “Gypsy” ethnos
officially prefer to be referred to by the terms Roma and Romani
For those reasons, since we mostly focus on sharing the realities of Roma life here in Bulgaria, we will stick to using the terms Roma and Romani.
If any writers of Roma origins would like to publish a piece with our publication, we encourage them to use whichever terms they prefer.