' - JOHNSON.
THE Gypsy dialect of Spain is at present very much shattered and
broken, being rather the fragments of the language which the
Gypsies brought with them from the remote regions of the East than
the language itself: it enables, however, in its actual state, the
Gitanos to hold conversation amongst themselves, the import of
which is quite dark and mysterious to those who are not of their
race, or by some means have become acquainted with their
vocabulary. The relics of this tongue, singularly curious in
themselves, must be ever particularly interesting to the
philological antiquarian, inasmuch as they enable him to arrive at
a satisfactory conclusion respecting the origin of the Gypsy race.
During the later part of the last century, the curiosity of some
learned individuals, particularly Grellmann, Richardson, and
Marsden, induced them to collect many words of the Romanian
language, as spoken in Germany, Hungary, and England, which, upon
analysing, they discovered to be in general either pure Sanscrit or
Hindustani words, or modifications thereof; these investigations
have been continued to the present time by men of equal curiosity
and no less erudition, the result of which has been the
establishment of the fact, that the Gypsies of those countries are
the descendants of a tribe of Hindus who for some particular reason
had abandoned their native country.
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