Ethnonyms: Lom, Lomavren, Bosha / Posha, Armenian Gypsies, Hay-Bosha, Çingene
Total population: Unknown
Ethnolinguistic classification: Indo-European → Indo-Iranian → Indo-Aryan
Homeland: Indian subcontinent
Regions with significant populations: Kond, Saritagh, Kanaker-Zeytun, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Şavşat District, Arhavi District, Hopa District, Ardanuç District, Yusufeli District, Borçka District, Oltu, Olur, Ardeşen District, Kars, Ardahan, Trabzon, Samsun, Sivas, Bayburt, Erzincan
Languages and dialects: Lomavren / Bosa / Bosha, Armenian, Eastern Armenian, Karin / Erzurum / Erzerum, Turkish, Georgian, Russian
Religions: the Armenian Apostolic Church, Islam, Sunni Islam, the Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia
The Lom, often called Bosha (and sometimes Posha in neighboring usage), are a small Transcaucasian community usually discussed by scholars as one of the three related branches of the broader Dom–Lom–Rom grouping; in that framework, their ancestral history is linked to the same westward movement of Indo-Aryan-speaking populations whose remote origins are described in northwestern India, with one scholarly overview noting that the third migration stream reached Armenian-speaking regions of the southern Caucasus before the 12th century and that the people in this branch used the self-ethnonym lom. In Armenia, the Bosha are described in Council of Europe reporting as having entered the Armenian highlands at the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century, gradually settling, becoming Armenian speakers, and adopting Christianity; over time, their culture and outward identity became distinct enough from other Roma groups that local Armenians called them “bosha” or “Armenian-bosha.” Their identity is not simple or singular: the same report says many Bosha in Georgia publicly and personally understand themselves as part of the Armenian national minority, while also maintaining a separate community identity, and that in Georgia many self-declare as “Armenians,” which is one reason no clean official census count exists for them there. Linguistically, Lom are associated with Lomavren, a highly endangered mixed language of the Caucasus whose vocabulary preserves substantial Indo-Aryan material while its grammar is strongly shaped by Armenian, and one recent overview notes that the language is now spoken mainly by older Lom in Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey. Socially and economically, they were long known for specialized mobile and artisanal work: Armenian Bosha were historically associated with sieve and basket weaving, musical-instrument making, leather-related crafts, and small retail, while in Georgia Bosha were formerly leather sieve-makers and are now often described as petty or itinerant traders, with some still maintaining small workshops and trading across local and cross-border markets.
