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Gadjo (feminine: gadji) is a term of Romani philosophy that means a person who has no Romanipen. Usually, that's a person who is not an ethnic Romani, but also it can be an ethnic Romani who does not live in the Romani culture.

The exact origin of the word is not known. One theory considers that the word comes from the proto-Romani word for "peasant" and has the same root as the Romani word "gav" (a village). Romani ancestors were nomadic musicians and craftspeople; they did not live in villages.

In the Latin world, the derived gachó and gachí, after passing through Caló, have become to mean "man, lover" and "woman, girl".

The slang word 'Gadgie', widely used in Scotland and North East England, is another form of the original Romani word.

Romanies of the Western Europe and Americas often interpret gadjos as "impure" persons because they think that only following Romani Code may make a person be "pure".

See also

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

Bibliography

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

External links

• Caravan goes away in Russian

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