t the Dom, mentioned as
a caste even in the Shastras, gave the name to the Rom. The Dom calls
his wife a Domni, and being a Dom is "Domnipana." In English gypsy, the
same words are expressed by _Rom_, _romni_, and _romnipen_. D, be it
observed, very often changes to _r_ in its transfer from Hindoo to
Romany. Thus _doi_, "a wooden spoon," becomes in gypsy _roi_, a term
known to every tinker in London. But, while this was probably the origin
of the word Rom, there were subsequent reasons for its continuance.
Among the Cophts, who were more abundant in Egypt when the first gypsies
went there, the word for man is _romi_, and after leaving Greece and the
Levant, or _Rum_, it would be natural for the wanderers to be called
_Rumi_. But the Dom was in all probability the parent stock of the gypsy
race, though the latter received vast accessions from many other sources.
I call attention to this, since it has always been held, and sensibly
enough, that the mere fact of the gypsies speaking Hindi-Persian, or the
oldest type of Urdu, including many Sanskrit terms, does not prove an
Indian or Aryan origin, any more than the English spoken by American
negroes proves a Saxon descent. But if the Rom can be identified with
the Dom--and the circumstantial evidence, it must be admitted, is very
strong--but little remains to seek, since, according to the Shastras, the
Doms are Hindoo.

Among the tribes whose union formed the European gypsy was, in all
probability, that of the _Nats_, consisting of singing and dancing girls
and male musicians and acrobats. Of these, we are told that not less
than ten thousand lute-players and minstrels, under the name of _Luri_,
were once sent to Persia as a present to a king, whose land was then
without music or song. This word _Luri_ is still preserved. The
saddle-makers and leather-workers of Persia are called Tsingani; they
are, in their way, low caste, and a kind of gypsy, and it is supposed
that from them are possibly derived the names Zingan, Zigeuner, Zingaro,
etc., by which gypsies are known in so many lands. From Mr. Arnold's
late work on "Persia," the reader may learn that the _Eeli_, who
constitute the majority of the inhabitants of the southern portion of
that country, are Aryan nomads, and apparently gypsies. There are also
in India the Banjari, or wandering merchants, and many other tribes, all
spoken of as gypsies by those who know them.

As regards the great admixture of Persia