ANUARUL

SOCIET IIPRAHOVENE
DE ANTROPOLOGIE
GENERAL
Anul 1 num rul1
PLOIETI EDITURA MYTHOS 2015
The Summer Christian Camp of Cultural Anthropology from Maliuc, from the general pages of
Antropologie Reviste

By Bogdan-Costin Georgescu and Sebastian tefnuc

The material by Marian Nuu, Between an Exonym and an Antonym, Or a Medieval

Superimposition, resumes the conference held in Camp Maliuc held one morning in 2012.
The importance and sensitivity of the subject treated, framed in the broad debate about using a
correct ethnonym - rom or igan (for Gypsy), have resulted in an extension in writing of what
was exposed that morning, to the dimensions of an academic article. By way of linguistics,
cultural history, and socio-cultural anthropology (ethnic membership and a good knowledge of
Romani language, recommending him as a socio-cultural anthropologist in the variant of
anthropology at home in ones own culture), the author irrevocably argues that the correct
ethnonym can only be that of rom. The autonomous origin of Rom from Hinduism was replaced
in the medieval period with the igan exonym, associating Roma with the Athingani Byzantine
sect. This replacement was perpetuated until today. This pairing with Athinganoi was not unique;
according to the author this phenomenon has occurred with other populations, tangentially
analyzed to be associated with the gavaons, of avar origin according to the author.
__
Between an Exonym and an Antonym, Or a Medieval Superimposition
ByMarianNu uCrpaci
Translation by Erin McElroy
Roma were always called Rom. 2,500 years ago in India, the caste called Dom/Rom was
excluded from traditional caste (Jati), because Domi dealt with work considered impure, such as
the supply of wood for the mortuary pyres, the removing of dead bodies, sweeping, etc.
Their chief occupation was music, for which they were and are still highly respected in India.
Incidentally, in ancient India, domba meant drummer or musician.
A nation with many exonyms
First mention of the Roma as Egyptians (Gypsy) is found in the book of Andrew Boorde, The
Fyrst Boke of the Introduction Of Knowledge, published in 1547. The first time Boorde met
Roma in Egypt, he collected language from them, comprising the first brief Romani language
dictionary, namely thirteen sentences that can be easily understood by Roma today. Boorde
called Roma Gypsies because he met them in Egypt. In the Orthodox zone, Roma have been
called igani,from the sect name of the pre-bogomile ATHINGANOI. In Old Slavonic it appears

in the feminine form as Cyganka and in the masculine form as Cyganin. Looking at the
wealth of feminine nouns ending in the suffix -ca in the Romanian language, we conclude that
the pair igan-iganc dates long before Roma emerged in Europe; in Romanian monastery
documents from 1385, there is mention of igani slaves. It is certified that the voivod Dan I gives
forty rooms of A IGANI to the Tismana monestary. It is hard to believe that for 162 years,
between 1385 (the first mention in Romania of igani slaves) and 1547 (first attested in the world
of Romani, via Andrew Boorde), that one of the enlightened people of Europe did not notice the
strange language spoken by a migratory people, and didnt try to obtain some language
specimens of them. Roma are also called agupti, apart from the popular tsingani in Modon,
Greece.1 This observation raises a question because the term igan comes from the old Byzantine.
Why should we have two terms, if only one is supposed to be the name of ethnicity? It's clearly
an epithet, not an autonym. In the Nordic countries, Roma are named tatar or heathen. Old
Romanian has kept the synonyms of arap (arab), magraon (blackamoor), cioar (crow), or more
archaic, gavaon.
Confusing Roma with Gypsy
There are rich bibliographic references about Indian Doms, a caste that exists today. But it is not
known that Athinganoi (lit. untouchables) were a sect theologically based in Melchisedechians
heresy, not as a race, but as a sect described in Teophaness Chronographia as being in collusion
with Paulicians heretical engagement, in support of Nikephoras I., called Logothetes (Kohen,
2007: 75).We are situated in the iconoclastic period of Byzantine Christian history. So we talk
about identification based on religion, not caste/ethnicity. Supporting my last statement, Ellie
Kohen observes that any Athingani family had to accept a Jew or Jewess as master of the house,
business, and spirituality (ibid). Athinganii Byzantines were associated with Novatians heretics
and sabbathals. The sabbathal heretics motto was Do not touch me, for I am pure (ibid, 76).
Against this motto, an anathema against Athingani cited by Ellie Kohen specifies, I
anathematized those who preach under the pretext of purity misanthropy, considering those
outside of their religion impure (ibid).2 (Roma never conceived of reaching across of ethnic
boundaries as indicative of impurity, so again we can say that Roma is an erroneous
identification with Athingani). If this was the case in Byzantium, it is easy to understand
vocalized contempt against the Athingani religion, especially because their Gnostic theology was
contrary to the Christian Orthodox Byzantine court. In the way that it was percieved at that time,
Jews were seen as a cursed race by Jesus as per the parabol of the dried fig tree. Numerous
pogroms against Jews are well known throughout history. It is very likely that the pro-Jewish
Gnostic sect of Athingani could have been the exonomous source igan of the Roma people,
because of magical practices of Roma witches called drabarni (sg. Fem.). In antiquity and in the
Middle Ages, this was a strong religious identity identifier. People of those times, already having
the model of Athingani Gnostic wizards, thus identified any non-Christian newcomers ethnicity
as Athingani. The ultimate proof of hatred towards the Athingani sect is an anonymous curse in
ninth century Byzantium, which anathematizes, Athingani teachers in each of the past
generations, those of the present and of the future.
The formula for apostasy of the ninth century more specifically also anathematized those who
invoke specific demons, the bosses being Soron, Socha and Arche. (ibid). Numele demonilor
Soron, Sochan, Arche sunt complet necunoscute n magia romilor.

The demon names of Soron, Sochan, and Arche are completely unknown in Romani magic.
Roma have referred to God with Hindu names, more often than not with the vocative Devla!, a
divine name (Deva, in Sanskrit, Hindi) which is applicable to Hindu deities in India today. It is
worth dwelling on the names of demonic Arche. In monastic tradition there appears the Arhiconi
demons, called rational demons, who are the most skilful in tempting the minds of Orthodox
theologians. About the source of this tradition nothing is known, but the lives of the Orthodox
saints often find references to the Arhiconi demons. In my opinion, the name of the Arhiconi
demons of the Orthodox tradition is rooted in the diety name of the Arche of the Athingani
religion, who were famous magicians, since the same anathematism specifies anathematized
those who resort to divination, witchcraft and magic. . . (ibid). The abdured formula of the ninth
century specifies, also anathematized are those who invoke certain demons, their bosses being
Soron, Socha and Arche. . . It is natural that Orthodox theology knows the names of the
Gnostic Arche deities, and for St. Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-202) who wrote about them in his
work Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses). Also Irenaeus of Lyons writes that the Valentinian
heretics also call deities Arche and Proarchin (2007: 20). If Roma were Athingani, then they
would have kept their Arche deity name in the panthenon, the deity who represented the heretic
Gnosticism in the deeper vision of orthodox theology. Confusion of the Roma with Gypsies was
made in association with Athingani witchcraft. Father Cleophas advised, inspired by St.
Nicodemus:
Also, are anathemized those who chant with thunder, those who bewitch with stars, the
elongatations of clouds, the wizards of guts, those who bewitch the birds. We have all the
ordinances of St. Ioan Gur de Aur. . . .All are charming, taking the hand of the cows with
demonic power. To this they serve some demons, called pythons, who guess the future, and
Arhiconi devils, who know the Scriptures. . . .And those who open books called, ghitii , ie. the
holy sorcerers, of the Greek languageThe charmers, the wizards, and the sorcerers all are
accursed, from Christs Body, which is the Church. . . .Therefore I will tell you not to receive
magicians in your house, gypsies with the cornflower, with playing cards; you would guess
incorrectly and would be decieved.Take a club and say, Run, devil! Get around my house!
(cited by Balan, 2004: 33-34) (emphasis, Blan, 2004: 33-34) (subl. ns., M. N. C).

The Father Cleophas, in specifying that anathemized are those who bewitch the stars, actually
continues the anathematization of the ninth century against Athingani: Anathematized are those
who give the name of the stars of men . . . (Kohen, 2007: 76).The same Byzantine anathematism
adds about Athingani magicians who with the power of the Arche shoot the moon to them and
ask them what they want: Anathematized are those who invoke specific demons, with bosses
being Soron, Socha and Arche, and with their help pull the moon to them and ask what they
want. St. Nicodemus urged Christians not to use the magic services of gypsies. Surely this
precaution was actually continuing the abduration and anathemazation from the ninth century,
superimposed over the Rom people who came from India to Egypt only around the year 1542,
according to informations collected by Andrew Boorde.
Therefore, so as to not distress Jesus Christ grieve because of you and the things you so, do not
show ungratefulness to such a perfect benefactor. Leave, please my brothers, leave the wizards

and witches and gypsies, and when you happen to be sick, seek Christ. . . . (Sfntul Nicodim
Aghioritul, 2003: 8-18) (subl. ns., M. N. C).

The Romanian tradition narrated by Father Cleophas, avoiding mistakenly identifying a witch as
Roma iganc (Cyganka, Old Slavonic), continues the tradition recived by the Byzantine
branch against the Athingani sect received and transmitted by Nicodemus. Father Cleophas but
adds and practices magic with the cornflower, which is specific to Roma.
And those who are called open books, ghitii, wizards with sacred objects, of the Greek
language. Greeks were the essence of orthodoxy. Since the Greek Orthodox faith took so many
countries, and the Russians were Christinaized the millenium from the year 988 to 1988 (cited
Balan, 2004: 33-34).

Let us remember that the Athinganoi lived in Greece, and if the Greek Orthodoxy spread
throughout many countries, then information about the Athingani heresy of all Byzantium came
into the European culture, once named igan in Romanian, zingaro in Italian, zigeuner in German.
It is worth emphasizing in the Old Slavic feminine form, Cyganka, which entered into
Romanian with the same term (iganca).The ethnic identity of Roma, based on magical practices
and anathema issued in the Byzantine ninth century against Athingani, led to confusion in
Europe with Judaized gypsies, ie. witches and heretics, enemies of Christ. It is important to note
that there are no Roma language grammar structures of Hebrew or mystical Kabbalistic origins.
The nominations of the gods of the Roma proto-pantheon are Indian (Devla), and the name of the
evil principle is Beng (devil) are both of Indian origin (of the Dravidian language). If Roma had
belonged to Athingani, they would have been transformed, as a result of contact with the
Christian Orthodox religion within the long endurance of slavery in Orthodox monasteries, to the
names of the gods Arche, Soron, and Sochan, demonic names that became equivalent to notions
of Satan, demon, or devil. But the phenomenon took place in the Roma language from India, the
name of Satan in Romani is Beng, a name that non-Aryan Konda tribes applied to their deities,
demanding bloody human sacrifices called meriah.3 A proof that Roma transformed through
contact with Christian religious vocabulary is the word Trushul, the cross of Jesus, which in
India means Trident of the god Shiva Trishula because the representation of the Hindu trident
Trishula is very close to the Christian cross. It is logical therefore to say that Roma have
witnessed the sacrifices made on behalf of the deities Penka and have assimilated their faith with
absolute evil, Satan. I discovered that Beng, the Rom name of Satan, was the source name of the
blood dieities from the popular Konda religion. Therefore, the identification of Roma as
Athingani, Judaized heretics, is flawed because it is missing identifiers found in the work of Mr.
Elli Kohen. The cessation of the Communion as the supreme punishment given by the Church to
those who in contact with wizards, and especially Athingani Jews, Athinganii being a Judaized
sect, was the main cause leading to their exclusion from society and their association with
absolute evil.4 This exclusion was extended to the Roma, named igani after the canons of the
Byzantine century, influenced by the curses of the ninth century. When Roma first arrived in
Byzantium, they had a Hindu religion, and anyone non-Christian was automatically witch or
gypsy.

Retroflexions in Indian languages

In India, in the Hindi and Punjabi languages, the consonants "r" and "d" are interchangeable in
certain words:
Hindi
Bara - big, adj. masc.
Bari - big, adj. fem.

Punjabi
BaDa - big, adj. fem.
BaDi - big, adj. fem.

This phenomenon is due to the pronunciation of r on the tip of the tongue on the retroflexive
palate, the retroflextion creating a sound of d, when r. In the Punjabi language, the r in
Hindi is pronounced as clearly as the d in Romanian.
Sanskirt kept the noun, Ramni, beautiful woman. The suffix -ni is used throughout India in
the formation of feminine nouns.
Romani
Rom - man, husband

Hindi
Dom the ethnonym for a man of the Dom
caste

Romni - ethnic woman, wife

Romipen Roma congregation
(Romipen)
Dompana Dom
congregation
Roi spoon
Chor thief
Chorni thief

Domni wife

Doi - wooden spoon

Chor thief
Chorni thief

Why Gypsies call themselves igani, but Romani speakers call themselves Rom?
Because of the influence of the first Roma wich decided to renounce to the Romani language.
These were the first Roma who were sedentary, Roma who made objects of wood, like spoons,
troughs, etc. For this reason, their children are named Kashtale ( carpenters) (kashta wood
in Hindi and Romani).This testimony, of how the first sedentary Roma are Kashtale, first appears
in a book published by Mihail Koglniceanu in Berlin in 1837, Sketch of the history, customs and
language of cigains, known in France as the Bohemians, following a collection of seven hundred
cigains words. Kashtale Roma were miners or biei, as known in Banat and Transylvania.
After giving up mining work, they learned to carve wood. Other Roma who do not know the
language because they were coerced or simply chose not to speak, accept with serenity the
exonim IGAN imposed by Romani. Not knowing the language, they had no way of knowing
the traditionally autonomous organization of Indian of Rom/Dom. In the support these origins i
bring equivalents and following comparative evidence:

Romani (with derivative)

Rom ethnic man, husband

Hindu and Sanskrit

Dom/Rom man for the Dom caste

Romavau to be married

Ramate to be mated (Sanskrit)

Romano dives beautiful day

Ramni - very beautiful woman

We know that in Romanian the meaning of the antonym romn does not imply the idea of
marriage. The native romanians say, Im getting married, but do not say, Im Romanian,
which is how Roma gabori and lovari say, Som rome-sa, Som romnia-sa, or Romarau-ma,
which is also how Sinti Roma and Welsh speak. However, Romarau-ma and romavau-ma
have perfect logic in Sanskrit, for ramate means having sex. There is further proof found in the
Hindi word Ramni (beautiful woman).
Ramni beautiful woman, or gorgeous woman, teenage girl
The information appears in Allied Chambers transliterated Hindi-Hindi-English dictionary, page
535, by Dr. Henk W. Wagenaar, SS Parikh, DF Plukker, and Veldhuijzen van R. Zanten. In the
Romani language, this has the same meaning, and some tribes even pronunce Roma ram. As I
said, in India all feminine nouns ending in -ni have corresponding male nouns without -ni.
As such, the masculine form of the noun Ramna is Ram, or handsome man.
An ancient etymology of the word igan.
In Romania, for the word igan, there were some interesting synonymous. They are: gavaon
(antonymn), arapin (exonym), magraon (exonym), cioar (exonym), and dnciuc (exonym).
Synonyms are, for example from Augustin Scriban in Romanian language Dictionary (1939),
derived from the Gypsy word from Zengi-bar, Country of the Ethiopians, and it is considered
that the names came to Romania from Macedonia.
Tigana (old) A igani, -ca s. (Vs. Cyganin, Cyganka, Russian. Cygan nka or Cigny,
German Zigeuner, ngr. Tsiganos, it. Zingaro, words which reduce to Turkish ar. Zeni, Etiopian,
Zeni-bar, Ethopian Zanghebar, Zanzibar. The documents say the oldest are Aigani, which
also shows that the name we came upon is from the [!] Macedonians. Everything thenceforth is
named a heretical Byzantine sect of Aigani). Those who belongs to an Indian nation are
widespread vagabonds in the world today. For instance, the figure of the ordinary man, shameless,
vulgar, wanton, and a stingy thief: Is what? Gypsy! - Gypsies originated in India, and were from a
Indo-European nation. They emigrated in the 6th to 10th centuries as a pariahs into Persia (where
they got their music), into Asia Minor and Egypt, where they stayed for a long time and where
they remained under the the name of the Pharaoh. And so, the Greeks also called them Gfti, and
the Spanish Gitanos, from "Egyptians". Arabs mistook them for Ethiopians ("Harapi" Nubians,
Somalians, Zanzibariens) . . . Being that in Wallachia there are many Gypsies, Turks ironically
6

call those of Wallachian igan (Cinghiane). Likewise, being that the Gypsies have taken
delivery of Wallachian (for they first came into contact with Wallachia), Moldovans ironically
call all Wallachians igan. In popular literature, the Gypsy is treated with the highest sarcazm
[!] and is called numit coar (crow), coro, croncan, balaur (from monster), faraon,
baragladin, Baro, Boro, Garo i Zgaro, and the baby of Gypsy danc (dancer) (with Jewish
epithets). V. Les Tsiganes, Pop erboanu, Paris, 1930; VR. 1908, 8, 174, and book of M.
Kogalniceanu (in French) Berlin 1837. 5

The Gavaons, the third wave of Gypsies, a mysterious population

In the book of Petre Petcut, Rromii. Slavery and freedom (page 33), we find evidence that the
Gypsies slaves call themselves via the word gavaon. However, from the perspective of
background identification, it is more important that we consider the autonomous organization,
not the exonimous. On the same page 33 of the paper, Mr. Petre Petcut read the following
passage:
In a document issued by Prince Alexander in Trgovi te, in January 1617, it is revealed, among
other things, a difference between 'Vlachs' (Romani) and 'Gypsies,' paramount differences if we
were to analyze the reasons for which slavery was possible in the Romanian principalities. But it
does not concern us that the Vlachs were Christians, and the Gypsies nothing of the kind, but the
name of the latter who are saying in their language gavaoni (italics. ns., M. N. C).

The document quoted above was issued by a ruler. It was impossible that Prince Alexander
didnt know what Gypsies in his territory were called, especially since the document states that
Gypsies call themselves this name (source of Mr Petre Petcut: Documents on Romani history, B,
Country Romanian, the eighteenth century, vol. III, pp. 87-89). In 1634, another document
records the autonomous organization of gavaon covaci, and in 1636, once again, it appears in the
form sla de gavaoni. Thus it is a word known today. By this same logic, the language of the
Gavaon slaves should be composed at least in part with the entonymn gavaon. In the history of
the Roma, the Roma were never called themselves Gavaon. The Voivod Alexandru specified the
importance that Gavaon call themselves in their language. So it is a case in which the Gavaon
language specifically differed from the Wallachian/Romanian majority.6
Conspiracy Theory and the ethnonym Rom
As we see, in April 1941, the magazine Voice of Roma emerges. Therefore, this ethnonym does
not originate from the first Roma Congress, held in London in 1971. There is a conspiracy
theory purporting that Roma activists trained by George Soros initiated the notion of political
correctness in the use of the term Rom in official documents. Actually this is completely
erroneous. Since the 1800s, as researchers have confirmed, the ethnonym Rom has existed.

For example, one of the first grammars of the Roma language is Romano Lavo Lil, by George
Borrow, published in England in the mid-nineteenth-century.7 Kogalniceanu (1837: 2) states that
in their language the Roma are called Romnichel, meaning sons of Romani women or
simply Romi: The Cigains are called in their language Romnitchel (wife of son) or Rome
(men). Moreover, he plays a formula in use today when he asks a Roma man if Roma: Han
tume Romnitchel? (Are you the chidren of Romni woman?). Romanichel still today is what
Roma call themselves in Greece and England. Since then in the time of Koglniceanu, the term
has had the short synonymn Rom. In Romania, the Roma are asking one another, San/han
Rom? Koglniceanu affirms that they are sacramental words, by which the Roma confirms his
origin, meaning that even if they are antipodes: Roma understood themselves and begin their
dance of joy (ibid, 26).
Final Considerations
It is hard to believe that if the Roma language is entirely Indian, that Roma do not know their
autonomous organization. Numerous etymological compative research of Indian and Romani
language undoubtedly demonstrates that the Roma language is Indo-Aryan, like the sister
languages of Hindi, Punjabi and Rajasthani. If Roma came with their language from India, and
using the same words as Indians for all beings and natural phenomena, it would be difficult to

conceive that the very name of their nation is unknown by them. It is barbaric to force a people
to accept a name ( igan) that does not belong to them and that, due to its traditionally pejorative
nature, they do not want. The name was use to define a Gnostic religious group, described 1415
years ago by Bishop Timothy of Constantinople in the year 600, in Heretical Readmission, as
being Melchizedekian: Now called Athingani, they live in Phrygia, not Hebrew nor Gentile . . .
they keep the Sabbath, but are not circumcised. They will not touch other humans if they are
given food; they ask that it be put on the ground, and then they come and get it. They provide
food to others with the same condition (Timotheus, Presbyter of Constantinople, De receptione
Haereticorum, cited by Cotelier, Monumenta eccles. Graeca, III, 392; P.G., LXXXVI, 34).8 So
Athinganoi is an antonym derived from the practice of untouchability. We read in the book
by Ellie Kohen, a Jewish researcher, that if athinganii were touched, they fled to be ritually
purified as they believed that they became impure by touching people of other religions (Kohen,
2007: 76). The same author asserts that the Athingani sect acquired a kind of power in the
Byzantine Empire and wore the imperial purple, but because their Gnostic religion became
popular, Christians anathematized, Athingani teachers in every generation of the past, present
and future. Finally, it is observed that throughout history Gypsies were named after other
racialized black populations.The best example is the Moor exonym, clearly referring to the
blackness of Arabs, but the motivation is deeper, and namely of religious origin. In the
apophthegm of the Patericon Saints, demons are likened to Ethiopians or Arabs, and later, in
Greece, to Gypsies, because of the Gnostic religion of the Athingani who were excommunicated
in the Ninth Century. Also magraon, as a synonym for igan, is mentioned in One Thousand
and One Nights, where the most powerful wizards are the Maghreb, ie. magrebieni. Witchcraft
being the occupation of Roma women, association with the heretical sect of athinganoi was
common in the Middle Ages.
Roma have never used the divine name of the Athinganoi sect, namely of the dieties Soron,
Socha and Arche (cf. Ellie Kohen). Rather they simply called their God Devla, from the Hindu
name (Deva). Confusing the Roma with Athinganoi was due in part to the black color Maghreb
sorcerers (hence the Romanian exonym magraon), partly due to confusion between the Roma
and Athingani religions, but it is time to understand the difference. If in 1837 Koglniceanu did
not seem ashamed that Gypsies call themselves Rom in their language, then why should it be any
different in modernity? Just because the West is confused Rom with Romanian?! There is a
difference though. One of two letters. In a multicultural Europe, between the ethnonim rom and
the exonim igan, it is necessary to know the difference in orgin between the two. The rom
ethnonim, having a Hindu origin, is autonymously known by all Romani-speaking Roma,
worldwide. The exonimous application of igan on the Roma population of Indian origin, stems
from the medieval mentality, which classified any non-Christian religion as witchcraft, after the
wizard model of Athingani Byzantine sorcery, against whom the Church gave an anathema.
This anathema influenced the thinking of people in past centuries, such that, possibly due to the
wizards of Roma, the Roma population was identified as aigani, or sorcerors, although the
Roma population was not from the Gnostic Athingani Byzantines, but rather Hinduism.
Selective Bibliography
Blan, Ioanichie, Ne vorbete printele Cleopa, vol. 3, Mnstirea Sihstria: Mnstirea Sihstria, 2004
Boorde, Andre, The fyrst boke of the introduction of knowledge, Publisher London, Pub. for the Early
English Text Society, by N.T. Trbner & Co., 1870

Campbell, Sir John, Human Sacrifices in India, Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1986
Hadeu, Bogdan, Petriceicu, Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae, tomul II, Bucureti, 1887
Irineu al Lyonului, Sfntul Sfinit Mucenic, Aflarea i respingerea falsei cunoateri sau Contra ereziilor,
vol I, Bucureti: Editura Teologie pentru Azi, 2007
Agupti, tsingani in Modon, Grecia, igani sedentary shoemakers (Kenrick, 2004: 32).
According to Ellie Cohen, the most important source about athinganoi and their faith is the anonymous
anathema, which he often cites in his work Byzantine Judaizers: The Athinganoi.
3
Meriah, penka, bong in Human Sacrifices in India, by Sir John Campbell.
4
Bogdan Petriceicu Ha deu notes that in 1620, Ion the Priest of Sim-Pietru write in Alexandria that Jews
and Gypsies, in the days of Antichrist, shall come and afflict Christians and eat their babies. The same
author also mentions the writing of the Bucur grammarian in 1702, repeating the same passage written by
Ion Popa of Alexandria (Hadeu 1887 1234). Mihail Koglniceanu also says that Romani are afraid that
gypsies will come together with the Antichrist and eat Christian babies (Kogalniceanu, 1837: 24). This
fear is actually the result of popular association with the Jewish Athingani Byzantine sect, apparently
reaching slaves in Orthodox monasteries. Then this accusation of cannibalism was passed onto Roma, as
the original word igan (heretic) was changed to slave. A parallel case and example with the original
meaning of words which have come to characterize populations is lost with the passage of time is the
word cpcun (ogre), a monster that devours children in Romanian fairy tales. After some etymologies of
the original avaro-tatar being an important rank in the Avar communities (kapgan, Turkish). In Romanian
it has come to be used as an epithet of Tatars (https://dexonline.ro/definitie/c%C4%83pc%C4%83).
5
https://dexonline.ro/definitie/tigan
6
Although Hadeu is not aware of the document Prince Alexander of 1617 which describes the word
gavaon as autonym for gypsy slaves, he recognizes that avan is an enigmatic Romanian word,
commenting extensively for over six pages, linking it to the Serbian gavan, the Albanian gavn, and the
Bohemian hawana.In old Romanian, gavan means heretic. Also, Hadeu possibily and unlikely
remembers, that in Slavic philology this word derives from the name of the Anabaptist sect. Consider that
the proof that Hadeu found, as it stated: Hagan, the Byzantines Hagan, the chronicles of medieval Latin
chaganus, cappanus, caganus, in English Turanik khakan (cfr. Zeuss, Deurchen u. Nachbarstamme p. 729),
was the title of those awful tatar invaders, who came in the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Hun era,
lasting until the Mongols under frightening European century . . . . all brought forth much older
avan=havan=hagan, which had taken on the meaning of the Tyran. Hence the Serbian Gavan, the
Albanian Ganv, and the Bohemian havan are of Romanian origin (Hadeu 1887: 2148-2153). I bring up
that since the completion of gavaon becoming an autonym, it has meant that iganii gavaoni are
actually Tatar decendents of Avars. It is also necessary to remember that Mr. Petre Petcut wrongly
identifies the Roma with iganii gavaoni, based only on the random similarity of the autonomous
organization gavaon with the noun gavutno (ran or peasant in Romani), linking it to the Gavaon
city in India hypothesizing the origin of the Roma (Petcut, 2015: 34).
7
The book can be found at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2733.
8
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10157a.htm
1

10

ANUARUL
SOCIET IIPRAHOVENE
DE ANTROPOLOGIE
GENERAL
Anul 1 num rul1
PLOIETI EDITURA MYTHOS 2015
The Summer Christian Camp of Cultural Anthropology from Maliuc, from the general pages of
Antropologie Reviste

By Bogdan-Costin Georgescu and Sebastian tefnuc

The material by Marian Nuu, Between an Exonym and an Antonym, Or a Medieval

Superimposition, resumes the conference held in Camp Maliuc held one morning in 2012.
The importance and sensitivity of the subject treated, framed in the broad debate about using a
correct ethnonym - rom or igan (for Gypsy), have resulted in an extension in writing of what
was exposed that morning, to the dimensions of an academic article. By way of linguistics,
cultural history, and socio-cultural anthropology (ethnic membership and a good knowledge of
Romani language, recommending him as a socio-cultural anthropologist in the variant of
anthropology at home in ones own culture), the author irrevocably argues that the correct
ethnonym can only be that of rom. The autonomous origin of Rom from Hinduism was replaced
in the medieval period with the igan exonym, associating Roma with the Athingani Byzantine
sect. This replacement was perpetuated until today. This pairing with Athinganoi was not unique;
according to the author this phenomenon has occurred with other populations, tangentially
analyzed to be associated with the gavaons, of avar origin according to the author.
__
Between an Exonym and an Antonym, Or a Medieval Superimposition
ByMarianNu uCrpaci
Translation by Erin McElroy
Roma were always called Rom. 2,500 years ago in India, the caste called Dom/Rom was
excluded from traditional caste (Jati), because Domi dealt with work considered impure, such as
the supply of wood for the mortuary pyres, the removing of dead bodies, sweeping, etc.
Their chief occupation was music, for which they were and are still highly respected in India.
Incidentally, in ancient India, domba meant drummer or musician.
A nation with many exonyms
First mention of the Roma as Egyptians (Gypsy) is found in the book of Andrew Boorde, The
Fyrst Boke of the Introduction Of Knowledge, published in 1547. The first time Boorde met
Roma in Egypt, he collected language from them, comprising the first brief Romani language
dictionary, namely thirteen sentences that can be easily understood by Roma today. Boorde
called Roma Gypsies because he met them in Egypt. In the Orthodox zone, Roma have been
called igani,from the sect name of the pre-bogomile ATHINGANOI. In Old Slavonic it appears

in the feminine form as Cyganka and in the masculine form as Cyganin. Looking at the
wealth of feminine nouns ending in the suffix -ca in the Romanian language, we conclude that
the pair igan-iganc dates long before Roma emerged in Europe; in Romanian monastery
documents from 1385, there is mention of igani slaves. It is certified that the voivod Dan I gives
forty rooms of A IGANI to the Tismana monestary. It is hard to believe that for 162 years,
between 1385 (the first mention in Romania of igani slaves) and 1547 (first attested in the world
of Romani, via Andrew Boorde), that one of the enlightened people of Europe did not notice the
strange language spoken by a migratory people, and didnt try to obtain some language
specimens of them. Roma are also called agupti, apart from the popular tsingani in Modon,
Greece.1 This observation raises a question because the term igan comes from the old Byzantine.
Why should we have two terms, if only one is supposed to be the name of ethnicity? It's clearly
an epithet, not an autonym. In the Nordic countries, Roma are named tatar or heathen. Old
Romanian has kept the synonyms of arap (arab), magraon (blackamoor), cioar (crow), or more
archaic, gavaon.
Confusing Roma with Gypsy
There are rich bibliographic references about Indian Doms, a caste that exists today. But it is not
known that Athinganoi (lit. untouchables) were a sect theologically based in Melchisedechians
heresy, not as a race, but as a sect described in Teophaness Chronographia as being in collusion
with Paulicians heretical engagement, in support of Nikephoras I., called Logothetes (Kohen,
2007: 75).We are situated in the iconoclastic period of Byzantine Christian history. So we talk
about identification based on religion, not caste/ethnicity. Supporting my last statement, Ellie
Kohen observes that any Athingani family had to accept a Jew or Jewess as master of the house,
business, and spirituality (ibid). Athinganii Byzantines were associated with Novatians heretics
and sabbathals. The sabbathal heretics motto was Do not touch me, for I am pure (ibid, 76).
Against this motto, an anathema against Athingani cited by Ellie Kohen specifies, I
anathematized those who preach under the pretext of purity misanthropy, considering those
outside of their religion impure (ibid).2 (Roma never conceived of reaching across of ethnic
boundaries as indicative of impurity, so again we can say that Roma is an erroneous
identification with Athingani). If this was the case in Byzantium, it is easy to understand
vocalized contempt against the Athingani religion, especially because their Gnostic theology was
contrary to the Christian Orthodox Byzantine court. In the way that it was percieved at that time,
Jews were seen as a cursed race by Jesus as per the parabol of the dried fig tree. Numerous
pogroms against Jews are well known throughout history. It is very likely that the pro-Jewish
Gnostic sect of Athingani could have been the exonomous source igan of the Roma people,
because of magical practices of Roma witches called drabarni (sg. Fem.). In antiquity and in the
Middle Ages, this was a strong religious identity identifier. People of those times, already having
the model of Athingani Gnostic wizards, thus identified any non-Christian newcomers ethnicity
as Athingani. The ultimate proof of hatred towards the Athingani sect is an anonymous curse in
ninth century Byzantium, which anathematizes, Athingani teachers in each of the past
generations, those of the present and of the future.
The formula for apostasy of the ninth century more specifically also anathematized those who
invoke specific demons, the bosses being Soron, Socha and Arche. (ibid). Numele demonilor
Soron, Sochan, Arche sunt complet necunoscute n magia romilor.

The demon names of Soron, Sochan, and Arche are completely unknown in Romani magic.
Roma have referred to God with Hindu names, more often than not with the vocative Devla!, a
divine name (Deva, in Sanskrit, Hindi) which is applicable to Hindu deities in India today. It is
worth dwelling on the names of demonic Arche. In monastic tradition there appears the Arhiconi
demons, called rational demons, who are the most skilful in tempting the minds of Orthodox
theologians. About the source of this tradition nothing is known, but the lives of the Orthodox
saints often find references to the Arhiconi demons. In my opinion, the name of the Arhiconi
demons of the Orthodox tradition is rooted in the diety name of the Arche of the Athingani
religion, who were famous magicians, since the same anathematism specifies anathematized
those who resort to divination, witchcraft and magic. . . (ibid). The abdured formula of the ninth
century specifies, also anathematized are those who invoke certain demons, their bosses being
Soron, Socha and Arche. . . It is natural that Orthodox theology knows the names of the
Gnostic Arche deities, and for St. Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-202) who wrote about them in his
work Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses). Also Irenaeus of Lyons writes that the Valentinian
heretics also call deities Arche and Proarchin (2007: 20). If Roma were Athingani, then they
would have kept their Arche deity name in the panthenon, the deity who represented the heretic
Gnosticism in the deeper vision of orthodox theology. Confusion of the Roma with Gypsies was
made in association with Athingani witchcraft. Father Cleophas advised, inspired by St.
Nicodemus:
Also, are anathemized those who chant with thunder, those who bewitch with stars, the
elongatations of clouds, the wizards of guts, those who bewitch the birds. We have all the
ordinances of St. Ioan Gur de Aur. . . .All are charming, taking the hand of the cows with
demonic power. To this they serve some demons, called pythons, who guess the future, and
Arhiconi devils, who know the Scriptures. . . .And those who open books called, ghitii , ie. the
holy sorcerers, of the Greek languageThe charmers, the wizards, and the sorcerers all are
accursed, from Christs Body, which is the Church. . . .Therefore I will tell you not to receive
magicians in your house, gypsies with the cornflower, with playing cards; you would guess
incorrectly and would be decieved.Take a club and say, Run, devil! Get around my house!
(cited by Balan, 2004: 33-34) (emphasis, Blan, 2004: 33-34) (subl. ns., M. N. C).

The Father Cleophas, in specifying that anathemized are those who bewitch the stars, actually
continues the anathematization of the ninth century against Athingani: Anathematized are those
who give the name of the stars of men . . . (Kohen, 2007: 76).The same Byzantine anathematism
adds about Athingani magicians who with the power of the Arche shoot the moon to them and
ask them what they want: Anathematized are those who invoke specific demons, with bosses
being Soron, Socha and Arche, and with their help pull the moon to them and ask what they
want. St. Nicodemus urged Christians not to use the magic services of gypsies. Surely this
precaution was actually continuing the abduration and anathemazation from the ninth century,
superimposed over the Rom people who came from India to Egypt only around the year 1542,
according to informations collected by Andrew Boorde.
Therefore, so as to not distress Jesus Christ grieve because of you and the things you so, do not
show ungratefulness to such a perfect benefactor. Leave, please my brothers, leave the wizards

and witches and gypsies, and when you happen to be sick, seek Christ. . . . (Sfntul Nicodim
Aghioritul, 2003: 8-18) (subl. ns., M. N. C).

The Romanian tradition narrated by Father Cleophas, avoiding mistakenly identifying a witch as
Roma iganc (Cyganka, Old Slavonic), continues the tradition recived by the Byzantine
branch against the Athingani sect received and transmitted by Nicodemus. Father Cleophas but
adds and practices magic with the cornflower, which is specific to Roma.
And those who are called open books, ghitii, wizards with sacred objects, of the Greek
language. Greeks were the essence of orthodoxy. Since the Greek Orthodox faith took so many
countries, and the Russians were Christinaized the millenium from the year 988 to 1988 (cited
Balan, 2004: 33-34).

Let us remember that the Athinganoi lived in Greece, and if the Greek Orthodoxy spread
throughout many countries, then information about the Athingani heresy of all Byzantium came
into the European culture, once named igan in Romanian, zingaro in Italian, zigeuner in German.
It is worth emphasizing in the Old Slavic feminine form, Cyganka, which entered into
Romanian with the same term (iganca).The ethnic identity of Roma, based on magical practices
and anathema issued in the Byzantine ninth century against Athingani, led to confusion in
Europe with Judaized gypsies, ie. witches and heretics, enemies of Christ. It is important to note
that there are no Roma language grammar structures of Hebrew or mystical Kabbalistic origins.
The nominations of the gods of the Roma proto-pantheon are Indian (Devla), and the name of the
evil principle is Beng (devil) are both of Indian origin (of the Dravidian language). If Roma had
belonged to Athingani, they would have been transformed, as a result of contact with the
Christian Orthodox religion within the long endurance of slavery in Orthodox monasteries, to the
names of the gods Arche, Soron, and Sochan, demonic names that became equivalent to notions
of Satan, demon, or devil. But the phenomenon took place in the Roma language from India, the
name of Satan in Romani is Beng, a name that non-Aryan Konda tribes applied to their deities,
demanding bloody human sacrifices called meriah.3 A proof that Roma transformed through
contact with Christian religious vocabulary is the word Trushul, the cross of Jesus, which in
India means Trident of the god Shiva Trishula because the representation of the Hindu trident
Trishula is very close to the Christian cross. It is logical therefore to say that Roma have
witnessed the sacrifices made on behalf of the deities Penka and have assimilated their faith with
absolute evil, Satan. I discovered that Beng, the Rom name of Satan, was the source name of the
blood dieities from the popular Konda religion. Therefore, the identification of Roma as
Athingani, Judaized heretics, is flawed because it is missing identifiers found in the work of Mr.
Elli Kohen. The cessation of the Communion as the supreme punishment given by the Church to
those who in contact with wizards, and especially Athingani Jews, Athinganii being a Judaized
sect, was the main cause leading to their exclusion from society and their association with
absolute evil.4 This exclusion was extended to the Roma, named igani after the canons of the
Byzantine century, influenced by the curses of the ninth century. When Roma first arrived in
Byzantium, they had a Hindu religion, and anyone non-Christian was automatically witch or
gypsy.

Retroflexions in Indian languages

In India, in the Hindi and Punjabi languages, the consonants "r" and "d" are interchangeable in
certain words:
Hindi
Bara - big, adj. masc.
Bari - big, adj. fem.

Punjabi
BaDa - big, adj. fem.
BaDi - big, adj. fem.

This phenomenon is due to the pronunciation of r on the tip of the tongue on the retroflexive
palate, the retroflextion creating a sound of d, when r. In the Punjabi language, the r in
Hindi is pronounced as clearly as the d in Romanian.
Sanskirt kept the noun, Ramni, beautiful woman. The suffix -ni is used throughout India in
the formation of feminine nouns.
Romani
Rom - man, husband

Hindi
Dom the ethnonym for a man of the Dom
caste

Romni - ethnic woman, wife

Romipen Roma congregation
(Romipen)
Dompana Dom
congregation
Roi spoon
Chor thief
Chorni thief

Domni wife

Doi - wooden spoon

Chor thief
Chorni thief

Why Gypsies call themselves igani, but Romani speakers call themselves Rom?
Because of the influence of the first Roma wich decided to renounce to the Romani language.
These were the first Roma who were sedentary, Roma who made objects of wood, like spoons,
troughs, etc. For this reason, their children are named Kashtale ( carpenters) (kashta wood
in Hindi and Romani).This testimony, of how the first sedentary Roma are Kashtale, first appears
in a book published by Mihail Koglniceanu in Berlin in 1837, Sketch of the history, customs and
language of cigains, known in France as the Bohemians, following a collection of seven hundred
cigains words. Kashtale Roma were miners or biei, as known in Banat and Transylvania.
After giving up mining work, they learned to carve wood. Other Roma who do not know the
language because they were coerced or simply chose not to speak, accept with serenity the
exonim IGAN imposed by Romani. Not knowing the language, they had no way of knowing
the traditionally autonomous organization of Indian of Rom/Dom. In the support these origins i
bring equivalents and following comparative evidence:

Romani (with derivative)

Rom ethnic man, husband

Hindu and Sanskrit

Dom/Rom man for the Dom caste

Romavau to be married

Ramate to be mated (Sanskrit)

Romano dives beautiful day

Ramni - very beautiful woman

We know that in Romanian the meaning of the antonym romn does not imply the idea of
marriage. The native romanians say, Im getting married, but do not say, Im Romanian,
which is how Roma gabori and lovari say, Som rome-sa, Som romnia-sa, or Romarau-ma,
which is also how Sinti Roma and Welsh speak. However, Romarau-ma and romavau-ma
have perfect logic in Sanskrit, for ramate means having sex. There is further proof found in the
Hindi word Ramni (beautiful woman).
Ramni beautiful woman, or gorgeous woman, teenage girl
The information appears in Allied Chambers transliterated Hindi-Hindi-English dictionary, page
535, by Dr. Henk W. Wagenaar, SS Parikh, DF Plukker, and Veldhuijzen van R. Zanten. In the
Romani language, this has the same meaning, and some tribes even pronunce Roma ram. As I
said, in India all feminine nouns ending in -ni have corresponding male nouns without -ni.
As such, the masculine form of the noun Ramna is Ram, or handsome man.
An ancient etymology of the word igan.
In Romania, for the word igan, there were some interesting synonymous. They are: gavaon
(antonymn), arapin (exonym), magraon (exonym), cioar (exonym), and dnciuc (exonym).
Synonyms are, for example from Augustin Scriban in Romanian language Dictionary (1939),
derived from the Gypsy word from Zengi-bar, Country of the Ethiopians, and it is considered
that the names came to Romania from Macedonia.
Tigana (old) A igani, -ca s. (Vs. Cyganin, Cyganka, Russian. Cygan nka or Cigny,
German Zigeuner, ngr. Tsiganos, it. Zingaro, words which reduce to Turkish ar. Zeni, Etiopian,
Zeni-bar, Ethopian Zanghebar, Zanzibar. The documents say the oldest are Aigani, which
also shows that the name we came upon is from the [!] Macedonians. Everything thenceforth is
named a heretical Byzantine sect of Aigani). Those who belongs to an Indian nation are
widespread vagabonds in the world today. For instance, the figure of the ordinary man, shameless,
vulgar, wanton, and a stingy thief: Is what? Gypsy! - Gypsies originated in India, and were from a
Indo-European nation. They emigrated in the 6th to 10th centuries as a pariahs into Persia (where
they got their music), into Asia Minor and Egypt, where they stayed for a long time and where
they remained under the the name of the Pharaoh. And so, the Greeks also called them Gfti, and
the Spanish Gitanos, from "Egyptians". Arabs mistook them for Ethiopians ("Harapi" Nubians,
Somalians, Zanzibariens) . . . Being that in Wallachia there are many Gypsies, Turks ironically
6

call those of Wallachian igan (Cinghiane). Likewise, being that the Gypsies have taken
delivery of Wallachian (for they first came into contact with Wallachia), Moldovans ironically
call all Wallachians igan. In popular literature, the Gypsy is treated with the highest sarcazm
[!] and is called numit coar (crow), coro, croncan, balaur (from monster), faraon,
baragladin, Baro, Boro, Garo i Zgaro, and the baby of Gypsy danc (dancer) (with Jewish
epithets). V. Les Tsiganes, Pop erboanu, Paris, 1930; VR. 1908, 8, 174, and book of M.
Kogalniceanu (in French) Berlin 1837. 5

The Gavaons, the third wave of Gypsies, a mysterious population

In the book of Petre Petcut, Rromii. Slavery and freedom (page 33), we find evidence that the
Gypsies slaves call themselves via the word gavaon. However, from the perspective of
background identification, it is more important that we consider the autonomous organization,
not the exonimous. On the same page 33 of the paper, Mr. Petre Petcut read the following
passage:
In a document issued by Prince Alexander in Trgovi te, in January 1617, it is revealed, among
other things, a difference between 'Vlachs' (Romani) and 'Gypsies,' paramount differences if we
were to analyze the reasons for which slavery was possible in the Romanian principalities. But it
does not concern us that the Vlachs were Christians, and the Gypsies nothing of the kind, but the
name of the latter who are saying in their language gavaoni (italics. ns., M. N. C).

The document quoted above was issued by a ruler. It was impossible that Prince Alexander
didnt know what Gypsies in his territory were called, especially since the document states that
Gypsies call themselves this name (source of Mr Petre Petcut: Documents on Romani history, B,
Country Romanian, the eighteenth century, vol. III, pp. 87-89). In 1634, another document
records the autonomous organization of gavaon covaci, and in 1636, once again, it appears in the
form sla de gavaoni. Thus it is a word known today. By this same logic, the language of the
Gavaon slaves should be composed at least in part with the entonymn gavaon. In the history of
the Roma, the Roma were never called themselves Gavaon. The Voivod Alexandru specified the
importance that Gavaon call themselves in their language. So it is a case in which the Gavaon
language specifically differed from the Wallachian/Romanian majority.6
Conspiracy Theory and the ethnonym Rom
As we see, in April 1941, the magazine Voice of Roma emerges. Therefore, this ethnonym does
not originate from the first Roma Congress, held in London in 1971. There is a conspiracy
theory purporting that Roma activists trained by George Soros initiated the notion of political
correctness in the use of the term Rom in official documents. Actually this is completely
erroneous. Since the 1800s, as researchers have confirmed, the ethnonym Rom has existed.

For example, one of the first grammars of the Roma language is Romano Lavo Lil, by George
Borrow, published in England in the mid-nineteenth-century.7 Kogalniceanu (1837: 2) states that
in their language the Roma are called Romnichel, meaning sons of Romani women or
simply Romi: The Cigains are called in their language Romnitchel (wife of son) or Rome
(men). Moreover, he plays a formula in use today when he asks a Roma man if Roma: Han
tume Romnitchel? (Are you the chidren of Romni woman?). Romanichel still today is what
Roma call themselves in Greece and England. Since then in the time of Koglniceanu, the term
has had the short synonymn Rom. In Romania, the Roma are asking one another, San/han
Rom? Koglniceanu affirms that they are sacramental words, by which the Roma confirms his
origin, meaning that even if they are antipodes: Roma understood themselves and begin their
dance of joy (ibid, 26).
Final Considerations
It is hard to believe that if the Roma language is entirely Indian, that Roma do not know their
autonomous organization. Numerous etymological compative research of Indian and Romani
language undoubtedly demonstrates that the Roma language is Indo-Aryan, like the sister
languages of Hindi, Punjabi and Rajasthani. If Roma came with their language from India, and
using the same words as Indians for all beings and natural phenomena, it would be difficult to

conceive that the very name of their nation is unknown by them. It is barbaric to force a people
to accept a name ( igan) that does not belong to them and that, due to its traditionally pejorative
nature, they do not want. The name was use to define a Gnostic religious group, described 1415
years ago by Bishop Timothy of Constantinople in the year 600, in Heretical Readmission, as
being Melchizedekian: Now called Athingani, they live in Phrygia, not Hebrew nor Gentile . . .
they keep the Sabbath, but are not circumcised. They will not touch other humans if they are
given food; they ask that it be put on the ground, and then they come and get it. They provide
food to others with the same condition (Timotheus, Presbyter of Constantinople, De receptione
Haereticorum, cited by Cotelier, Monumenta eccles. Graeca, III, 392; P.G., LXXXVI, 34).8 So
Athinganoi is an antonym derived from the practice of untouchability. We read in the book
by Ellie Kohen, a Jewish researcher, that if athinganii were touched, they fled to be ritually
purified as they believed that they became impure by touching people of other religions (Kohen,
2007: 76). The same author asserts that the Athingani sect acquired a kind of power in the
Byzantine Empire and wore the imperial purple, but because their Gnostic religion became
popular, Christians anathematized, Athingani teachers in every generation of the past, present
and future. Finally, it is observed that throughout history Gypsies were named after other
racialized black populations.The best example is the Moor exonym, clearly referring to the
blackness of Arabs, but the motivation is deeper, and namely of religious origin. In the
apophthegm of the Patericon Saints, demons are likened to Ethiopians or Arabs, and later, in
Greece, to Gypsies, because of the Gnostic religion of the Athingani who were excommunicated
in the Ninth Century. Also magraon, as a synonym for igan, is mentioned in One Thousand
and One Nights, where the most powerful wizards are the Maghreb, ie. magrebieni. Witchcraft
being the occupation of Roma women, association with the heretical sect of athinganoi was
common in the Middle Ages.
Roma have never used the divine name of the Athinganoi sect, namely of the dieties Soron,
Socha and Arche (cf. Ellie Kohen). Rather they simply called their God Devla, from the Hindu
name (Deva). Confusing the Roma with Athinganoi was due in part to the black color Maghreb
sorcerers (hence the Romanian exonym magraon), partly due to confusion between the Roma
and Athingani religions, but it is time to understand the difference. If in 1837 Koglniceanu did
not seem ashamed that Gypsies call themselves Rom in their language, then why should it be any
different in modernity? Just because the West is confused Rom with Romanian?! There is a
difference though. One of two letters. In a multicultural Europe, between the ethnonim rom and
the exonim igan, it is necessary to know the difference in orgin between the two. The rom
ethnonim, having a Hindu origin, is autonymously known by all Romani-speaking Roma,
worldwide. The exonimous application of igan on the Roma population of Indian origin, stems
from the medieval mentality, which classified any non-Christian religion as witchcraft, after the
wizard model of Athingani Byzantine sorcery, against whom the Church gave an anathema.
This anathema influenced the thinking of people in past centuries, such that, possibly due to the
wizards of Roma, the Roma population was identified as aigani, or sorcerors, although the
Roma population was not from the Gnostic Athingani Byzantines, but rather Hinduism.
Selective Bibliography
Blan, Ioanichie, Ne vorbete printele Cleopa, vol. 3, Mnstirea Sihstria: Mnstirea Sihstria, 2004
Boorde, Andre, The fyrst boke of the introduction of knowledge, Publisher London, Pub. for the Early
English Text Society, by N.T. Trbner & Co., 1870

Campbell, Sir John, Human Sacrifices in India, Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1986
Hadeu, Bogdan, Petriceicu, Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae, tomul II, Bucureti, 1887
Irineu al Lyonului, Sfntul Sfinit Mucenic, Aflarea i respingerea falsei cunoateri sau Contra ereziilor,
vol I, Bucureti: Editura Teologie pentru Azi, 2007
Agupti, tsingani in Modon, Grecia, igani sedentary shoemakers (Kenrick, 2004: 32).
According to Ellie Cohen, the most important source about athinganoi and their faith is the anonymous
anathema, which he often cites in his work Byzantine Judaizers: The Athinganoi.
3
Meriah, penka, bong in Human Sacrifices in India, by Sir John Campbell.
4
Bogdan Petriceicu Ha deu notes that in 1620, Ion the Priest of Sim-Pietru write in Alexandria that Jews
and Gypsies, in the days of Antichrist, shall come and afflict Christians and eat their babies. The same
author also mentions the writing of the Bucur grammarian in 1702, repeating the same passage written by
Ion Popa of Alexandria (Hadeu 1887 1234). Mihail Koglniceanu also says that Romani are afraid that
gypsies will come together with the Antichrist and eat Christian babies (Kogalniceanu, 1837: 24). This
fear is actually the result of popular association with the Jewish Athingani Byzantine sect, apparently
reaching slaves in Orthodox monasteries. Then this accusation of cannibalism was passed onto Roma, as
the original word igan (heretic) was changed to slave. A parallel case and example with the original
meaning of words which have come to characterize populations is lost with the passage of time is the
word cpcun (ogre), a monster that devours children in Romanian fairy tales. After some etymologies of
the original avaro-tatar being an important rank in the Avar communities (kapgan, Turkish). In Romanian
it has come to be used as an epithet of Tatars (https://dexonline.ro/definitie/c%C4%83pc%C4%83).
5
https://dexonline.ro/definitie/tigan
6
Although Hadeu is not aware of the document Prince Alexander of 1617 which describes the word
gavaon as autonym for gypsy slaves, he recognizes that avan is an enigmatic Romanian word,
commenting extensively for over six pages, linking it to the Serbian gavan, the Albanian gavn, and the
Bohemian hawana.In old Romanian, gavan means heretic. Also, Hadeu possibily and unlikely
remembers, that in Slavic philology this word derives from the name of the Anabaptist sect. Consider that
the proof that Hadeu found, as it stated: Hagan, the Byzantines Hagan, the chronicles of medieval Latin
chaganus, cappanus, caganus, in English Turanik khakan (cfr. Zeuss, Deurchen u. Nachbarstamme p. 729),
was the title of those awful tatar invaders, who came in the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Hun era,
lasting until the Mongols under frightening European century . . . . all brought forth much older
avan=havan=hagan, which had taken on the meaning of the Tyran. Hence the Serbian Gavan, the
Albanian Ganv, and the Bohemian havan are of Romanian origin (Hadeu 1887: 2148-2153). I bring up
that since the completion of gavaon becoming an autonym, it has meant that iganii gavaoni are
actually Tatar decendents of Avars. It is also necessary to remember that Mr. Petre Petcut wrongly
identifies the Roma with iganii gavaoni, based only on the random similarity of the autonomous
organization gavaon with the noun gavutno (ran or peasant in Romani), linking it to the Gavaon
city in India hypothesizing the origin of the Roma (Petcut, 2015: 34).
7
The book can be found at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2733.
8
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10157a.htm
1

10