There is every reason for believing that this last is a genuine
Gypsy name, brought with them from the country from which they
originally came; it is compounded of two words, signifying, as has
been already observed, horseshoe fellows, or people whose trade is
to manufacture horseshoes, a trade which the Gypsies ply in various
parts of the world, - for example, in Russia and Hungary, and more
particularly about Granada in Spain, as will subsequently be shown.
True it is, that at present there are none amongst the English
Gypsies who manufacture horseshoes; all the men, however, are
tinkers more or less, and the word Petul-engro is applied to the
tinker also, though the proper meaning of it is undoubtedly what I
have already stated above. In other dialects of the Gypsy tongue,
this cognomen exists, though not exactly with the same
signification; for example, in the Hungarian dialect, PINDORO,
which is evidently a modification of Petul-engro, is applied to a
Gypsy in general, whilst in Spanish Pepindorio is the Gypsy word
for Antonio. In some parts of Northern Asia, the Gypsies call
themselves Wattul (12), which seems to be one and the same as
Petul.
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