“Notwithstanding the resemblance to the Hindostanie, is the predominant feature in the Gypsey dialect, yet there are words interspersed, which evidently coincide with other languages. Besides the Mahratta, and Bengalese, which I have marked in the comparative specimen, it is not a little singular that the terms for the numerals seven, eight, and nine, are purely Greek: although the first five, and that for ten, are indisputably Indian. It is also a curious observation, that although the Indian term for seven is saath, yet that for a week, or seven days; is the Eftan of the latter.
“One word only among those I have examined, bears a resemblance to the Coptic, which is rom, the same with romi, a man.
“In comparisons of this nature, a due allowance must be made, not only for the various modes of spelling adopted by different persons, and different nations, but also for the dissimilar manner in which the same individual sound, strikes the organs of the hearers; of which some pointed instances may be given.
“Should any be inclined to doubt, which I scarcely suppose possible, the identity of the Gypsey, or Cingari, and the Hindostanie languages, still it will be acknowledged as no uninteresting subject, that tribes wandering through the mountains of Nubia, or the plains of Romania, have conversed for centuries in a dialect precisely similar to that spoken at this day, by, the obscure, despised, and wretched people in England, whose language has been considered as a fabricated gibberish, and confounded with a cant in use among thieves and beggars; and whose persons have been, till
within the period of a year, an object of the persecution, instead of the protection of our laws.”
William Marsden.
In the 386th page of the 7th Vol. of Archæologia, is the comparative view of the English Gypsey, Turkish Gypsey, and Hindostanie dialects; a specimen of which will be presented in this section.
In page 387 of the same volume, are collections on the Zingara, or Gypsey language, by Jacob Bryant, Esq. transmitted to G. Salusbury Brereton, Esq. in a letter from Doctor Douglas, read 1785: This learned traveller, when in Hungary, had taken from the mouths of Gypsies, specimens of their language, which occupy seven pages. It is remarkable, that of seventeen words obtained and enumerated in the letters of Coxe, the learned traveller, fourteen appear to resemble most exactly those of the same signification, collected by Jacob Bryant
John Douglas.