Holocaust
Survivors and
Remembrance Project:
"Forget You Not"
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Editor's
Questions on the Origin
of Terms Employed in the
Romani Holocaust
Studies
with Answers by Texas
University Professor,
Dr. Ian
Hancock
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February
7, 2006
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Q:
Why the Holocaust of the
Romanies is being
referred as the
Porajmos? If the word
'Porajmos' is the
literal translation from
the Romani language, how
then this particular
word came into
existence?
A:
This comes from the
verb "to devour", and
is the noun form
meaning "the
devouring" (of
life).
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Q:
In many articles, I have
noticed that the
Romanies --as a people--
are separated into 2
apparently distinct
groups, Roma AND Sinti
instead of Roma OR
Sinti. Why is
this?
A:
This is complicated.
"Sinti" is the name
that the Romanies in
northern Europe
(especially Germany
and the Netherlands)
call themselves. They
will tell you that
they are Romani
people, but not
"Roma." For them, and
for many groups,
"Rom" means "married
man" and isn't the
name of the whole
group. The Roma from
Romania, however, do
use the word for the
whole group. After
1989 when a lot of
Roma from souther
Europe began to go to
Germany, the Sinti
didn't like being
confused with them,
and insisted that
they be named
separately. Something
like a Litvak not
wanting to be called
a Galitsyaner,
although both are
Jewish. My own
practice is to use
the adjective as the
noun (Romani/es),
which no Romani group
objects to, and which
all groups use.
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Q:
In places like Romania
(my country of birth),
Romanies are being
called as Rromi (with 2
'R's). Why not
everywhere, the European
Gypsies are being called
Romanies?
A:
The two Rs
distinguish a sound
in our language from
another sound spelt
with just one R. It
is a "throat" R as in
French or German,
while a single R
represents the more
common R sound as in
Romanian or Italian.
Thus RAI is
"gentleman" but RRAI
is "twig". Secondly,
some Romanians are
not happy about the
fact that ROMANI and
ROMANIAN sound very
similar, and so
support a different
spelling. Not so long
ago, the government
wanted to use TSIGAN
as the official
ethnic label, but
this is (as you know)
offensive.
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Q:
In a number of
mainstream reputable
dictionaries, I have
noticed that the word
'Romani" is being
spelled with an 'y' in
the end as 'Romany." Is
this an acceptable
derivative and
why?
A:
It is an older
British spelling. The
spelling recognized
and used by the UN
and by the EU, as
well as in our own
documents, is with
the -i.
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Q:
A basic article on
the etymology of various
Romani words as related
to the Holocaust would
be an extremely
interesting addition,
wouldn't ?
A:
It would be handy --
though there aren't
that many words.
We're still trying to
figure out the most
suitable word for
"survivor". 'Final
Solution' is
'Agorutno Iripe.'
.
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