Erromintxela language

Erromintxela
Erromintxela
Native to	Spain, France
Region	Basque Country
Native speakers	500–1,000 (1997)[1]
Language family	mixed Basque–Romani
Language codes
ISO 639-3	emx
Glottolog	erro1240
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Erromintxela (Basque pronunciation: [eromintʃela] (listen)) is the distinctive language of a group of Romani living in the Basque Country, who also go by the name Erromintxela. It is sometimes called Basque Caló^[2] or Errumantxela^[3] in English; caló vasco, romaní vasco, or errominchela in Spanish; and euskado-rromani^[4] or euskado-romani^[5] in French. Although detailed accounts of the language date to the end of the 19th century, linguistic research began only in the 1990s.

The Erromintxela are the descendants of a 15th-century wave of Kalderash Roma, who entered the Basque Country via France.^[6] Both ethnically and linguistically, they are distinct from the Caló-speaking Romani people in Spain and the Cascarot Romani people of the Northern Basque Country. Erromintxela is a mixed language (referred to as Para-Romani in Romani linguistics^[3]), deriving most of its vocabulary from Kalderash Romani but using Basque grammar, similar to the way the Angloromani language of the Roma in England mixes Romani vocabulary and English grammar. The development of the mixed language was facilitated by the unusually-deep integration of the Erromintxela people into Basque society and the resultant bilingualism in Basque. The language is in decline; most of the perhaps 1000 remaining speakers live on the coast of Labourd and in the mountainous regions of Soule, Navarre, Gipuzkoa and Biscay.^[7]

Name[]

The origin of the name Erromintxela is unclear and may be of relatively recent origin; Basque speakers had previously grouped the Erromintxela under more general terms for Romani such as ijitoak "Egyptians", ungrianok "Hungarians", or buhameak "Bohemians".^[1] However, a number of authors believe it to be a Basque rendering of the French name romanichel or romané-michel,^[3][8] a name attested primarily in the vicinity of the Pyrenees and in particular the Northern Basque Country.^[8] Romanichel is in turn a French rendering of the Romani phrase Romani čel "Romani person".^[9] Though now uncommon in France, it is found in the names of the British Ròmanichal^[10] and the Scandinavian Romanisæl, all descendants, like the Erromintxela, of a group of Roma who had migrated to France.^[11]

Early attestations of the name in Basque include Errama-itçéla, Erroumancel,^[8][12] later errumanzel and erremaitzela.^[13] The initial e- is the Basque prosthetic vowel,^[8] which was added at a time that no Basque word was allowed to begin with an r-. The final -a is the absolutive case suffix, which is used when citing a name. If that etymology is correct, it is a rare case of a native Romani name for themselves (an endonym) being borrowed by another language.

The people identify themselves as ijitoak, Basque for "gypsies", but more specifically as Erromintxela, in contrast to the Caló Romani,^[14] whom they refer to as the xango-gorriak, Basque for "red-legs".^[1][7]

State of the language[]

There are currently an estimated 500 speakers in the Southern Basque Country in Spain, approximately 2% of a population of 21,000 Romanis, and another estimated 500 in France.^[1] In Spain the remaining fluent speakers are elderly people mostly over the age of 80; some are equally fluent in Spanish, Basque, or Caló. Middle-aged Erromintxela are mostly passive bilinguals, and the youngest speak only Basque or Spanish. In the Northern Basque Country, however, the language is still being passed on to children.^[7] The percentage of speakers among Spanish Erromintxela are higher than 2%, as large numbers of Caló-speaking Romanis moved to the Basque Country in the intense period of industrialisation in the 20th century.^[15]

Literary production[]

To date, there has been little literary production in the language. The most notable works are a poem by Jon Mirande entitled "Kama-goli" in his 1997 anthology Orhoituz^[16] and the 1999 novel Agirre zaharraren kartzelaldi berriak by Koldo Izagirre Urreaga with the main character using the language.^[17]

History[]

The Erromintxela arrived in the Basque Country in the 15th century speaking Kalderash Romani. They integrated much more deeply into Basque society than other Romani groups. In the process, they acquired the Basque language and adopted aspects of Basque culture such as increased rights of women and important traditions such as bertsolaritza (extemporaneous poetic song) and pelota (the national Basque ballgame).^[6][14] Muñoz and Lopez de Mungia suspect that the morphological and phonological similarities between Romani and Basque facilitated the adoption of Basque grammar by the bilingual Romanis.^[6]

It appears that many Romanis chose to stay in the Basque Country to escape persecution elsewhere in Europe.^[6][15] Nonetheless, even here they were not safe from persecution. For example, the Royal Council of Navarre in 1602 passed an edict to round up all "vagabonds" (meaning Romani), who were to be condemned to 6 years of galley duty.^[13] By the 18th century however attitudes had changed, and the emphasis shifted towards integration. In 1780–1781 the Courts of Navarre passed Law 23, which called for "the authorities to take care of them, find them locations for settlement and honest occupations and ways of living..."^[13]

Research[]

The oldest account of the language dates to 1855, when the French ethnographer Justin Cenac-Moncaut located the Erromintxela primarily in the Northern Basque Country. The oldest coherent Erromintxela text, a poem entitled Kama-goli, published by Basque writer Jon Mirande in a collection of Basque poetry, only dates to ca. 1960.^[18]

Alexandre Baudrimont's 40-page study Vocabulaire de la langue des Bohémiens habitant les pays basques français of 1862, the most extensive of the early accounts, covers both vocabulary and aspects of grammar. He worked with two female informants, a mother and her daughter from the Uhart-Mixe area near Saint-Palais, whom he describes as highly fluent. Unfortunately, he was only able to conduct a single session as the women were then told not to cooperate further for the fear of outsiders prying into the secrets of the Romani.^[19] There is a certain degree of confusion in Baudrimont's publication—he himself states that he could not always be certain the correct forms were elicited. For example, most of the verb forms he tried to elicit lack the verbal -tu ending and appear to be participles.^[19]

The French sociologist Victor de Rochas refers to the Romani in the Northern Basque Country speaking Basque, rather than French, in his 1876 Les Parias de France et d'Espagne (cagots et bohémiens). The Canon Jean-Baptiste Daranatz published a wordlist in the periodical Eskualdun Ona in 1906^[20] and in 1921 Berraondo and Oyarbide carried out some research.^[7] Although labelled gitano (Spanish for 'gypsy') or bohémien / gitan (French for 'gypsy'), some data can also be found in Azkue's 1905 dictionary and Pierre Lhande's 1926 dictionary, both of which list a number of words identifiable as Erromintxela.^[7]

Little more was done until the late 20th century. In 1986 Federico Krutwig published a short article in the Revista Internacional de Estudios Vascos entitled "Los gitanos vascos", with a short word list and a brief analysis of the language's morphology.^[21] However, the most detailed research to date was carried out by Basque philologist Josune Muñoz and historian Elias Lopez de Mungia, who began their work in the Southern Basque Country in 1996 at the behest of the Romani organisation Kalé Dor Kayiko, with support from the Euskaltzaindia and the University of the Basque Country.^[7] Kalé Dor Kayiko, who had been working to promote the Romani language, was alerted to the existence of Erromintxela in the 1990s through an article by the historian Alizia Stürtze, Agotak, juduak eta ijitoak Euskal Herrian "Agotes, Jews, and Gypsies in the Basque Country".^[6] Kalé Dor Kayiko intends to continue research into the language, attitudes, identity, and history of the Erromintxela people in the less well researched provinces of Navarre and the Northern Basque Country.^[6]

Linguistic features[]

The research by Muñoz and Lopez de Mungia has confirmed that Erromintxela is not derived from Caló, the mixed Spanish-Romani language spoken throughout Spain, but is instead based on Kalderash Romani and the Basque language.^[7] The vocabulary appears to be almost exclusively Romani in origin; the grammar however, both morphology and syntax, derives from various Basque dialects.^[7] Few traces appear to remain of Romani grammatical structures.^[6] The language is incomprehensible to speakers of both Basque and of Caló.^[7]

Typologically, Erromintxela displays the same features as the Basque dialects it derives its grammatical structures from. Its case marking follows the ergative–absolutive pattern where the subject of an intransitive verb is in the absolutive case (which is unmarked), the same case being used for the direct object of a transitive verb. The subject of a transitive verb is marked with the ergative case. Similarly, auxiliary verbs agree with the subject and any direct object and indirect object present and verb forms are marked for allocutive (i.e. a marker is used to indicate the gender of the addressee).

Since both Erromintxela and Caló derive from Romani, many Erromintxela words are similar to Spanish Caló and Catalan Caló.

Erromintxela	Caló[22]	Root	Meaning
baro	varó/baró	baró	large, big
dui(l)	dui	dúj	two
guruni	guruñí	gurumni	cow
kani(a)	casní, caní	khajní	hen, chicken
latxo, latxu	lachó (fem. lachí)	lačhó	good
mandro(a)	manró, marró	manró	bread
nazaro, lazaro	nasaló (fem. nasalí)	nasvalí	bread
panin(a)	pañí	paní	water
pinro(a), pindru(a)	pinrró	punró	foot
trin, tril	trin	trin	three
zitzai(a)	chichai	čičaj	large, big

Phonology[]

According to Baudrimont's description of 1862^[19] and modern southern sources, Erromintxela appears to have, at maximum, the sound system below. Southern speakers appear not to have the rounded vowel /y/ or the consonant /θ/, in line with north-south differences in Basque, and it is not clear if the northern distinction between /ɡ/ and /ɣ/ also exists in the south.

Table of consonant phonemes of Erromintxela

		Labial				Coronal								Dorsal				Glottal
		Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental		Lamino- dental		Apico- alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Nasal		m /m/								n /n/				ñ /ɲ/
Plosive		p /p/	b /b/					t /t/	d /d/							k /k/	g /ɡ/
Affricate								tz /ts̻/		ts /ts̺/		tx /tʃ/
Fricative				f /f/		/θ/		z /s̻/		s /s̺/		x /ʃ/				j /x/	/ɣ/	h /h/
Lateral										l /l/				ll /ʎ/
Rhotic	Trill									rr /r/
	Tap									r /ɾ/

		Front		Back
		unrounded	rounded
Close		i /i/	ü (/y/)	u /u/
Close-mid		e /e/		o /o/
Open		a /a/

Baudrimont uses a semi-phonetic system with the following diverging conventions:

Baudrimont	u	ȣ	y	Δ	Γ	χ	sh	tsh	z
IPA	/y/	/u/	/j/	/θ/	/ɣ/	/x/	/ʃ/	/tʃ/	/z/

Morphology[]

Examples of morphological features in Erromintxela:^{[1][6][18][21][23]}

Erromintxela	Basque	Root	Function in Erromintxela	Example
-a	-a	Basque -a	absolutive suffix	phiria "the pot"
-ak	-ak	Basque -ak	plural suffix	sokak "overcoats"
-(a)n	-(a)n	Basque -(a)n	locative suffix	khertsiman "in the tavern"
-(a)z	-(a)z	Basque -(a)z	instrumental suffix	jakaz "with fire"
-(e)k	-(e)k	Basque -(e)k	ergative suffix	hire dui ankhai koloek "your two black eyes"
-ena	-ena	Basque -ena	superlative suffix	loloena "reddest"
-(e)ko(a)	-(e)ko(a)	Basque -(e)ko(a)	local genitive suffix	muirako "of the mouth"
-(e)rak	-(e)rat (Northern Basque)	Basque -(e)ra(t)	allative suffix	txaribelerak "to the bed"
-pen	-pen	Basque -pen	1 suffix denoting act or effect 2 under
-ra	-ra	Basque -ra	allative suffix	penintinora "to the little stream"
-tu	-tu	Basque -tu	verb forming suffix	dekhatu "to see"
-tzea	-tzea	Basque -tzea	nominalizer
-tzen	-t(z)en	Basque -t(z)en	imperfect suffix	kherautzen "doing"

Verb formation[]

Most verbs have a Romani root plus the Basque verb forming suffix -tu. Examples of Erromintxela verbs are given below.^[1][18][21] (Forms given in angle brackets indicate spellings in the sources which are no longer in use. Basque is included for comparison.)

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	English translation
brikhindu[20]	euria izan	brišínd	to rain
burrinkatu[20]	harrapatu	(astaráv)	to catch
dikelatu, dekhatu[18]	ikusi	dikháv	to see
erromitu (eŕomitu)[25]	ezkondu		to marry
gazinain kheautu[25]	haur egin		to give birth (lit. make a child)
goli kherautu, goli keautu[25]	kantatu	(gilábav)	to sing (lit. make a song)
kamatu[18]	maitatu	kamáv[26]	to love
kerau, keau, kherautu,[18] keautu[21][25]	egin	keráv	1 to do, make 2 auxiliary[25]
kurratu	lan egin	butjí keráv	to work; J.M. de O. glosses this as "hit"[27] but compare various Basque expressions using jo in the sense of "getting down to, making an effort"
kurrautu ⟨kuŕautu⟩[25]	jo		to hit
kuti[18][25]	begiratu	dikáv	to look
letu[18][25]	hartu	lav	to take
mahutu,[25] mautu[25]	hil	mu(da)ráv	to die, kill
mangatu[21][25]	eskatu	mangáv	to ask for, beg
mukautu[25]	bukatu		to end
najel-egin[27]	ihes egin		to escape
najin[25]	bukatu		to end
papira-keautu[25]	idatzi	(skirív, ramóv)	to write (lit. make paper)
parrautu ⟨paŕautu⟩[25]	ebaki		to cut
pekatu[21][25]	egosi	pakáv	to cook
pekhautu[18]	erre		to burn
piautu[21][25]	edan	pjav	to drink
tarautu,[25] tazautu[25]	ito		to strangle
teilaitu[25]	jan	xav	to eat
tetxalitu, texalitu[25]	ibili		to walk
txanatu[21]	jakin	žanáv	to know
txiautu[25]			to ram in, push in
txoratu,[21] xorkatu[25] ⟨s̃orkatu⟩,[23] txoatu[27]	lapurtu, ebatsi, harrapatu	čoráv	to steal/swipe
ufalitu[25]	ihes egin		to flee
xordo keautu[25]	lapurtu, ebatsi		to steal (lit. "make theft")
zuautu[21][25]	lo egin	sováv	to sleep

Most Erromintxela verbal inflections are virtually identical to those found in Basque dialects:

Erromintxela[18]	Basque (Lapurdian)[28]	Translation
ajinen duk[29]	izanen duk	you will have
dekhatu nuen	ikusi nuen	I saw it
dinat	diñat	I am (familiar female addressee)
erantzi nauzkon	erantzi nauzkan	I had taken them off
...haizen hi	...haizen hi	...that you are
kamatu nuen	maitatu nuen	I loved it
letu hindudan	hartu hintudan	You (familiar) took me
nintzan	nintzan	I was
pekhautzen nina	erretzen naute	They are burning me
pekhautu nintzan	erre nintzen	I (intransitive) burnt
pekhautzen niagon	erretzen niagon	I (intransitive) was burning (female addressee)
tetxalitzen zan	ibiltzen zan	I was going
zethorren	zetorren	It came
zoaz	zoaz	You go!

Negations are formed with na/nagi^[20][21] (Romani na/níči); cf Basque ez/ezetz. The word for "yes" is ua^[20] (Romani va); cf Basque bai/baietz.

Nouns[]

The majority of nouns have Romani roots, but frequently attested with Basque suffixes. The variation of nouns cited with or without a final -a is likely due to informants supplying them with or without the absolutive ending. (Forms given in angle brackets indicate spellings in the sources which are no longer in use.)

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
angi[30]	ezti	(avdžin)	honey
ankhai[18]	begi	(jakh)	eye
anput̄a[27]	buru		head
asinia[20]	botila	(fláša)	bottle
balitxo,[20] balitxua[27]	txerriki	baló "pig" plus a Basque suffix	pork
barki[19][20]	ardi	bakró	ewe, sheep
barkitxu,[6] barkotiñu,[20] barkixu ⟨barkicho⟩,[19] barrketxua ⟨baŕketxua⟩[27]	arkume	bakró "sheep", plus Basque diminutive -txu, tiñu	lamb; J.M. de O. glosses it as "sheep"
barku[20]	ardi	bakró	sheep
basta,[19][27] baste[20][21]	esku	vas(t)	hand, arm
bato,[1] batu[20]	aita	dad	father
bedeio (bedeyo)[19]	erle	(daraši)	bee
bliku[20]	txerri	from balikanó mas "pork"	pig
bluiak,[20] brruttak ⟨bŕut̄ak⟩[27]	poliziak	(policájcur)	policemen
budar,[21] budara,[20] buldara[27]	ate	vudár	door
burrinkatzea[20]	harrapatze		act of catching
butxa[27]	arropa		clothing
dantzari[18]	dantzari	(Basque root)	dancer
dibezi[18][25]	egun	djes	day
duta[21][25]	argi	udút	(natural) light
egaxi[20][21][25]		gaží	a non-Romani woman
egaxo,[25] ogaxo,[21][25] egaxu[25]		gažó	a gadjo, anyone not Romani
elakri,[21] ellakria[31]	neska(til)	raklí	girl
elakri-lumia[20][23]			woman of ill repute
eramaite[18]	erama(i)te		bringing
eratsa,[20][25] erhatsa,[25] erhatza,[20] erratsa ⟨erratça⟩[19]	ahate	(goca)	duck
erromi (eŕomi),[21][25] errumi,[23] errumia[20]	senar	rom	1 husband 2 wedding[32]
erromiti, errumitia[20]	emazte	romní	wife
erromni	emazte, emakume	romní	woman, wife
erromitzea[21]	eskontza	(bjáv)	wedding
erromitzeko ⟨eŕomitzeko⟩,[25] erromitzekoa[21]	eraztun	(angruští)	(the) ring (lit. "the one of marrying")
fula[25]	kaka	khul	excrement
futralo[20][25]			eau-de-vie
gata[18][20][25]	ator	gad	shirt
gazin[18][25]	haur		child
giltizinia[25]	giltza	(čája)	key
goani[20][21][25]	zaldi	(grast)	horse
goia[20]	lukainka	goj	sausage
goli[18][25]	kanta	gilí	song
grasnia,[20][23] gasnia,[23][25] grasmiña[33] ⟨gŕasmiña⟩,[27] gra[21]	zaldi	gras(t)	horse
guru,[21] gurru ⟨guŕu⟩,[25] grumiña ⟨gŕumiña⟩[27]	idi	gurúv	ox
guruni[21]	behi	gurumni	cow
gurutiño[20][23]	txahal	gurúv plus a Basque diminutive -tiño	calf (animal)
haize[18]	haize	(Basque root)	wind
jak,[21] jaka,[20][23][25] zaka,[25] aka[21]	su	jag	fire
jakes[23][25]	gazta	(királ)	cheese
jelua[27]	soka		rope
jera,[25][34][27] kera ⟨kéra⟩[19]	asto	(esa)	donkey
jero[25]	buru	šeró	head
jeroko[25]	buruko		beret (lit. "of the head")
juiben,[23] juibena[20]	galtzak	(kálca)	trousers
kalabera[20][25]	buru	(šeró)	head. Compare Spanish calavera, "Skull"
kalleria ⟨kaĺeria⟩[25]			silverware. Compare Spanish quincallería, "hardware"
kalo,[25] kalu,[23] kalua[20]	kafe	(káfa)	coffee. Compare Caló calé ("black") and Kali, the dark blue goddess.
kalo-kasta[18]	ijito-kastaro		Romani borough. Compare Caló calé ("Spanish Romani").
kamatze[18]	maitatze	< kamáv	loving
kangei[20][25][34][27] ⟨kangey⟩;,[23] kangiria[19]	eliza	kangerí	church; Baudrimont glosses this "altar"
kani,[20] kania,[23][25] kañiña[27]	oilo	khajní	hen, chicken
kaxta,[19][20][21][25] kasta (casta),[19] kaixta ⟨kaïshta⟩[19]	zur	kašt	wood, stick
kaxtain parruntzeko ⟨paŕuntzeko⟩[25]	aizkora		axe
kher,[18] khe,[25] kere,[23][25] khere,[21] kerea,[20] kera[27]	etxe	kher	house
kereko-egaxia[20] ⟨kereko-egas̃ia⟩[23]	etxeko andre		lady of the house
kereko-egaxoa ⟨kereko-egas̃oa⟩,[23] kereko-ogaxoa[20]	etxeko jauna		master of the house
ker-barna[25]	gaztelu	(koštola)	castle
ker,[21] ⟨qer⟩,[21] kera[20]	asto	(esa)	donkey
kero, keru,[25] kerua[20]	buru	šeró	head. See before jero.
khertsima[18][25]	taberna	Compare Old Slavonic кърчьма, кръчьма	tavern
kiala,[20][23][25] kilako[23][25]	gazta	királ	cheese
kilalo[25]			cold air
kirkila[20][25]	babarruna	(fusúj)	bean
konitza,[25] koanits,[25] koanitsa[20]	saski	kóžnica	basket
laia[20][23][25]	jauna		mister, sir
lajai,[25] olajai,[25] lakaia,[20] orajaia[27]	apaiz	(rašáj)	priest
laphail,[23][25] lakhaia[23]	apaiz	(rašáj)	priest
latzi,[20] latzia[18][23][25]	gau		night
lona[20][23][25]	gatz	lon	salt
mahutzea,[21] mautzia[20]	hiltze	mu(da)ráv (v.), plus the Basque nominalizing suffixex -tze-a	killing (see mahutu v.)
malabana[20][25]	gantzu	(thuló mas)	lard
mandro,[18][25] mandroa,[20] manrua ⟨manŕua⟩[27]	ogi	manró	bread
mangatzia[20]	eske	mangáv (v.), plus the Basque nominalizing suffixes -tze-a	act of begging
marrun[23] (maŕun)[25]	senar		husband
mas,[21] maz,[21] maza,[25] masa,[20][27] ⟨māsa⟩[19]	haragi	mas	meat
megazin,[25] megazina[20]	haur		child (see before gazin)
milleka[23] ⟨miĺeka⟩[25]	arto		corn (maize)
milota[25]	ogi	(manró)	bread
milotare-pekautzeko[25]	labe		oven
Mimakaro[23][25]	Ama Birjina, Andra Mari		the Blessed Virgin
miruni[23][25]	emakume		woman
mitxai,[18][25] ⟨mits̃ai⟩[23]	alaba	čhaj	daughter
mol,[18] mola[20][25][27]	ardo	mol	wine
mullon ⟨muĺon⟩,[20][25] mullu ⟨muĺu⟩[25]	mando		mule
ñandro,[20][23][25] gnandro[25]	arraultz	anró	egg
oxtaben,[25][30] oxtaban ⟨os̃taban⟩,[23] oxtabena[20]	gartzela	astaripe	prison
paba,[25] phabana,[23] pabana[20]	sagar	phabáj	apple
paba-mola[25]	sagardo		cider (lit. apple-wine)
panin,[21][25] panina,[20][23] pañia[1]	ur	pají	water
panineko,[25] paninekoa[21][27]	pitxer; euritakoa		(the) jug (lit. one for water), J.M. de O. glosses it as euritakoa "umbrella", literally "one for rain"
paninekoain burrinkatzeko ⟨buŕinkatzeko⟩[25]			net(?) ("for catching [...] of the water", Lhande gives French filet)
paninbaru,[25] panin barua[21]	ibai, itsaso	(derjáv, márja)	river, ocean (lit. "big water")
panintino,[25] panin tiñua,[21] penintino[18]	erreka	(len)	small stream (lit. "small water")
pangua[6]	larre		meadow
panizua[20][23][25]	arto		corn (maize). Compare Spanish "panizo"
papin,[25] papina[20][23]	antzar	papin	goose
papira[25]	paper	papíri	paper
pindru, pindrua,[20][23][25] pindro,[18] prindo[25]	hanka, oin	punró	foot
pindrotakoa[21]	galtzak	kálca	trousers ("the one for the foot")
piri, piria[20][23][25]	lapiko	pirí	saucepan
pora[20][23][25]	urdaila	per	stomach
potozi[25]	diruzorro		wallet
prindotako[25]	galtzerdi	pinró (trousers)	sock (lit. "the one for the foot"). See also pindrotakoa
puxka[27] (pushka)[19]	arma	puška. Compare Slavic pušĭka	gun, weapon
soka[18][20][23][25]	gaineko		overcoat
sumia[20]	zupa	zumí	soup
thazautzia[20]	itotze	taslaráv (v.), plus the Basque nominalizing suffixes -tze-a	act of throttling
tejala[27]	jana(ria)		food
tekadi,[23][25] tekari[20][25]	hatz	(naj)	finger
ternu[25]	gazte		young person
tiñua[27]		the Basque diminutive tiñu; see also under barkitxu above)	J.M. de O. glosses it as "lamb" and "chick"
txai[18][25] ⟨ts̃ai⟩[23]		čhaj	young person of either gender.
txaja[25]	aza	(šax)	cabbage
txara[25]	belar	čar	grass
txaripen,[21] txaribel[18]	ohe	(vodro)	bed
txau,[25] xau[29]	seme	čhavó	son. Compare English chav.
txipa[6]	izen	(aláv)	name
txiautu[25]	ijito		a Romani person
txiautzia[20]		?, plus the Basque nominalizing suffixes -tze-a	act of ramming in
txohi,[25] txoki[18]	gona		skirt
txohipen,[25] txohipena[20]		čoripé	petty theft
txor,[21] txora[20][25] ⟨ts̃ora⟩[23]	lapur	čor	thief
txuri,[21][25] txuria[20]	aizto	čhurí	knife
xordo,[25] txorda[20][25] ⟨ts̃orda⟩[23]	lapurketa	čoripé	theft
xukel[25] ⟨s̃ukel⟩,[23] txukel,[21] txukela[20][25] ⟨ts̃ukela⟩,[23] xukela[27] (shȣkéla)[19]	txakur	žukél	dog; J.M. de O. glosses this as "magistrate" and "dog"
xukelen-fula ⟨s̃ukelen-fula⟩,[23] txukelen fula[20]	txakurren kaka		dogshit
xukel-tino keautzale[25]			female dog (lit. "little dog maker")
zuautzeko,[25] zuautzekoa[21]	estalki		(the) bedcovers
zitzaia,[25] zitzai,[30] txitxai[25] ⟨ts̃its̃ai⟩,[23] txitxaia,[20] sitzaia (sitçaia),[19] txitxaia[27]	katu	čičaj[22]	cat
zume,[23][25] sume[25]	zupa	zumí	soup
zungulu,[23][25] sungulu,[25] sungulua[20]	tabako	(duháno)	tobacco
zut,[21] zuta,[25] xut,[21] txuta,[25] txuta ⟨ts̃uta⟩[20][23]	esne	thud	milk

Time[]

According to Baudrimot, the Erromintxela have adopted the Basque names of the months. Note that some of the Basque names represent pre-standardisation names of the months, e.g. August is Abuztua in Standard Basque rather than Agorrila.

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
Otarila[19]	Urtarrila	(januáro)	January
Otxaila (Otshaïla)[19]	Otsaila	(februáro)	February
Martxoa (Martshoa)[19]	Martxoa	(márto)	March
Apirilia[19]	Apirilia	(aprílo)	April
Maitza (Maïtça)[19]	Maiatza	(májo)	May
Hekaña (Hékaña)[19]	Ekaina	(júni)	June
Uztailla (Uçtaïlla)[19]	Uztaila	(júli)	July
Agorilla[19]	Agorrila	(avgústo)	August
Burula[19]	Buruila	(septémbro)	September
Uria[19]	Urria	(októmbro)	October
Azalua (Açalȣa)[19]	Azaroa	(novémbro)	November
Abendua (Abendȣa)[19]	Abendua	(decémbro)	December

Baudrimont claims that subdivisions of the year (apart from the months) are formed with the word breja (bréχa) "year": breja kinua "month" and breja kipia "week".^[19]

Numerals[]

Numerals (Basque included for contrasting purposes):^[1][18][21]

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
jek,[25] jeka,[21] eka,[21][25] jek (yek),[19] jet (yet)[19]	bat	jék	one
dui,[18][19][21] duil[19]	bi	dúj	two
trin,[18][21] trin,[19] tril[19]	hiru	trín	three
higa[25]	higa (variant form)	(trín)	three
estard[19]	lau	štar	four
pantxe,[21] pains,[19] olepanxi (olepanchi)[19]	bost	panž	five

Adjectives and adverbs[]

Adjectives and adverbs are also mostly derived from Romani forms:^[1][18][21]

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
baro,[18] baru[20][21]	handi	baró	large, big
bokali[21]	gose	bokh	hungry
buter[21]	asko, ainitz	but	much, a lot
dibilo[21]		dilino	crazy
dibilotua[18]	erotua	< dilino (adj.)	gone crazy
gabe[18]	gabe	(Basque root)	without
eta[18]	eta	(Basque root)	and
fukar[30]	ederra	šukar	beautiful
geroz[18]	geroz	(Basque root)	once
hautsi[18]	hautsi	(Basque root)	broken
kalu[21]	beltz	kaló	black. Compare "" and Kali, the dark blue goddess.
kaxkani[25]	zikoitz		stingy
kilalo[20]	hotz	šilaló	cold
latxo,[25] latxu[21]	on	lačhó	good
londo[18]	samur		soft
nazaro,[20][21][23][25] lazaro[25]	eri	nasvaló	sick
palian[6]	ondoan		nearby
parno[18]	garbi	parnó (white)	clean
telian[21]	behean	téla	under
tiñu,[21][23] tiñua[20]	txiki	cignó	small
upre[18][21]	gain(ean), gora	opré	on top, up

Pronouns & demonstratives[]

Pronouns are derived from both languages:^[18][21]

Erromintxela	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
aimenge[21]	ni	mánge "me", possibly aménge "us" (dative forms)	I
ene[18]	ene	(Basque root)	my (affectionate)
harekin[18]	harekin	(Basque root)	with it (distal)
hari[18]	hari	(Basque root)	to you (familiar)
hartan[18]	hartan	(Basque root)	in it (distal)
heure[18]	heure	(Basque root)	your (familiar emphatic)
hi[18]	hi	(Basque root)	you (familiar)
hire[18]	hire	(Basque root)	your (familiar)
hiretzat[18]	hiretzat	(Basque root)	for you (familiar)
mindroa[18]	nirea	miró	my
neure[18]	neure	(Basque root)	my (emphatic)
ni[18]	ni	(Basque root)	I (intransitive)

Baudrimont's material[]

Much of Baudrimont's wordlist is easily related to other Erromintxela sources. However, some of the material collected by Baudrimont deserves a more detailed overview due to its peculiarities. Most of these relate to the verbs and verb forms he collected but some include nouns and other items.

Nouns[]

His material contains a relatively high number of Basque-derived items.

Erromintxela[19]	Basque	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
aitza (aitça)	aritz		oak
aizia (aicia)	haize	(diha)	air
egala	hegal	(phak)	wing
itxasoa (itshasoa)	itsaso	(derjáv)	sea
keia (kéïa)	ke	(thuv)	smoke
muxkera (mȣshkera)	musker	(gusturica)	lizard
orratza (orratça)	orratz	(suv)	needle
sudura (sȣdȣra)	sudur	(nakh)	nose
ulia (ȣlia)	euli	(mačhin)	fly (insect)
xuria (shȣria)	(t)xori	(čiriklí)	bird

Certain items are peculiar. Baudrimont lists mintxa as "tooth". The Kalderash term is dand (daní in Caló) but the term given is immediately more reminiscent of Northern Basque mintzo "speech" or mintza "skin" (with expressive palatalization). This, and other similar items, raise the question of whether Baudrimont was simply pointing at items to elicit forms.

The forms he attempted to elicit are questionable in some cases as well. For example, he attempted to agricultural terms such as plough, harrow and aftermath from his (female) informants and records the suspiciously similar sasta "plough" and xatxa (shatsha) "harrow".

Verb system and pronouns[]

The verb systems and pronouns recorded by Baudrimont is peculiar in several ways. Apart from his problem of eliciting the citation form of verbs as opposed to participles, he lists pronouns and possessive pronouns that appear to contain Romani roots and an unexpected auxiliary.

The verb ajin for "to have" attested elsewhere although Basque derived forms appear more common overall. Kalderash Romani employs the 3rd person of "to be" and a dative pronoun to express ownership:

Erromintxela[19]	Basque (allocutive forms)	Romani[24]	Erromintxela translation
mek ajin (mec aχin) tuk ajin (tȣc aχin) ojuak ajin (oχuac aχin) buter ajin (bȣter aχin) tuk ajin (tȣc aχin) but ajin (bȣt aχin)	(nik) di(n)at (hik) duk1/dun (hark) dik/din (guk) di(n)agu (zuek) duzue (haiek) ditek/diten	si ma si tu si les/la si amé si tumé si len	I have you have he/she has we have you have they have
mek najin (mec naχin) tuk najin (tȣc naχin) ojuak najin (oχuac naχin) buter najin (bȣter naχin) tuk najin (tȣc naχin) but najin (bȣt naχin)	(nik) ez di(n)at (hik) ez duk/dun (hark) ez dik/din (guk) ez di(n)agu (zuek) ez duzue (haiek) ez ditek/diten	naj/nané ma naj/nané tu naj/nané les/la naj/nané amé naj/nané tumé naj/nané len	I don't have you don't have he/she doesn't have we don't have you don't have they don't have
mek naxano (mec nashano) tuk naxano (tȣc nashano) ojuak naxano (oχuac nashano) buter naxano (bȣter nashano) tuk naxano (tȣc nashano) but naxano (bȣt nashano)	(nik) izanen di(n)at (hik) izanen duk/dun (hark) izanen dik/din (guk) izanen di(n)agu (zuek) izanen duzue (haiek) izanen ditek/diten	ka si ma ka si tu ka si les/la ka si amé ka si tumé ka si len	I will have you will have he/she will have we will have you will have they will have

¹Note that forms like duk (3rd pers-have-2nd per (male)) are the verbal part whereas Erromintxela tuk is a pronoun.

The negative particle na is fairly clear in the forms above. Buter, as Baudrimont notes, is the word for "much, many" and may not be a true pronoun. Kalderash uses the accusative pronouns to express possession but the forms above are more reminiscent of wrongly parsed Kalderash dative forms mangé, tuké, léske, léke etc. and perhaps a different case of "to be" (the full Kalderash paradigm being sim, san, si, si, sam, san/sen, si).

On the whole, it raises questions about the level of communication between Baudrimont and his informants and the quality of (some of the) material elicited.

Connected examples[]

Examples with interlinear versions (lexical items of Romani origin marked in bold):

Bibliography[]

• Baudrimont, A. (1862) Vocabulaire de la langue des Bohémiens habitant les Pays Basque Français Academie Impérial des Sciences, Bordeaux
• Berraondo, R. (1921) La euskera de los gitanos in Euskalerriaren Alde - Revista de Cultura Vasca
• Macritchie, D. (1886) Accounts Of The Gypsies Of India New Society Publications, New Delhi; 2007 Reprint ISBN 978-1-4067-5005-8
• Michel, F. (1857) Le Pays Basque Paris

Notes[]

External links[]

• Kalé Dor Kayiko
• Full version of the Erromintxela poem with Basque translation
• Gitano in the Spanish-language Auñamendia Encyclopedia.