#romanes

[dykepuffs]

For Pride month I am not exactly defining but at least explaining why I use the word dopashengro for myself.

It's a word that makes sense in poggady chib, but I picked it up from a Vlax-group speaking friend in Chicago, who is himself trans and dopashengre (And, obviously, also Kalderash), who didn't coin it himself but who picked it up from other mostly Kalderash queer people. There are lots of Romanes words for queer people but most of them are either unambiguously rude, compare us to predators (being words that can either mean "gay" or "pervert" or even "pederast" ambiguously), or are loanwords from English. One word is "Morfodyke" and I do wonder if that's the origin of "Dyke" in English, but I have no way of digging to find out really.

(There is another word that ambiguously means mixed as in one-parent-is-not-Romany, or means gay, which is really useful for me as someone who is both mixed and gay... Other than that it's a word that is unambiguously also insulting.)

But dopashengre unambiguously puts our queerness into our language, with the *engro being the same as in "Graimengro" ("Expert horseman") or "Kurromengro" ("Boxer") but also as in animals like "Pellengro" ("Stallion") or "Kannengro" (Rabbit") and objects eg "Pekkamengro" (Griddle) - So it can mean "A mastery of a thing" or just "An innate property of a thing" and there is ambiguity there. Then the *pash* or *posh* is the same element as in "poshora" ("half shilling" but idiomatically "loose change") or "poshmiya" (500, half-a-thousand), and the "Do*" is just "Two". So it's "An expert thing of two halves."

It's not quite trans, it's not quite nonbinary it's not quite gay, it's not even unambiguous whether it's a gender-word or a sexuality-word (since the idea of gender and sexuality being untangled from each other is... Not universal! Not culturally ours!) It's not quite queer but it's also not-NOT queer either.

It's its own word and it's one I want to use more.

[starlight-shadowbanned]

@crematedequally actually zhuzh entered english through polari! polari does have yiddish influences, but zhuzh happens not to be yiddish. apparently the origin is unclear but it could be from the romani language

[kami-in-space]

So no one was gonna tell me the Fremen in the books speak Romanes? What the hell?

[silencebunny]

That "Gypsy Magic" spellbook is a FAKE

I don't have one specific book in mind; all of them deserve the same treatment.

A real Romani witch would never share her secrets with strangers on the internet. Or anyone outside her family, for that matter.

Witchcraft is one of the few Romani trades that gets passed down matrilineally. A man, Romani or not, having access to that in any form is seen as incredible bad luck, both for the man and the woman who let him access it.

(Of course, men could be on the receiving end of a spell, they're just not allowed to know the nitty-gritty of it.)

Also, a lot of Romani witches would never share their craft with non-Roma (due to a myriad of reasons, but a lot of traditional Roma still practice cultural self-isolation).

2. Put yourself in the shoes of a witch who knows prosperity spells. Why would she reveal her secret wealth spells so that people may do it themselves rather than coming to her?

For a long time, Romani women had no other choice than to sell their spiritual craft. Be it because it was too dangerous for a woman to work alongside men, discrimination, or because they weren't allowed to be legally educated (by the government, their family, financial troubles, the list goes on).

Nowadays, it's rare to see a Romani witch selling her labor (at least comparatively to past decades). This is due to several factors, among which are increased opportunities, both for women and for the Roma.

Romani women have never willingly shared their craft with anyone outside their family (and it's often performed in extreme secrecy). They see their craft as a blessing that is theirs alone and cannot pass it to anyone besides their daughters, nieces, and female relatives.

They wouldn't forsake the core tenet of their culture for $2.99, or whatever that PDF costs. If you've ever read one of those, you'll quickly realize that it draws inspiration from Wicca and Western Paganism, and Romani witchcraft COULD NOT be more different.

I guarantee you with 100% certainty that the books claiming they're "real gypsy magic" are LYING through their paper teeth. I have read a good amount of them, and every single one was pure bull. Wicca and European Paganism is NOT Romani culture and it will never even come close. They're insulting both by pretending they are even remotely similar.

You're being lied to by a money-hungry gadjikano seller who knows nothing about Romani culture. Spend your money on something else.

[kairunatic]

Like seriously Out of all the people to make Volund a subby bottom it's romanes someone who barely had screen time in this game manage to tame a Sadist bull

Color me impressed rhino man lol

[spale-vosver]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Romani and Jewish solidarity lately, given our similarities.

We're both a diasporic people hated pretty much everywhere we go and blamed for all of the world's problems, especially in Southern and Eastern Europe.

We both have a closed culture that is very difficult to become a part of (from my understanding the only way to become Romani is to be "adopted" by a group of Romani or be born and raised in the culture)

We both have an extensive list of rules for living that are only fully known to the members of our communities and dictate things like diet, hygiene, prayer, etc

We're the two largest victims of the Shoah

We both often speak cultural languages associated with different demographics of the diaspora (Vlax Romani vs Balkan Romani vs Sinte Romani compared to Yiddish vs Ladino vs Arabiya Yahudiya)

We both often adopted the religions of the region in order to survive (forced Jewish and Romani conversion to Islam and Christianity)

I'm sure there's more I've forgotten, but feel free to chime in with your thoughts, and if I've misspoken please feel free to correct me -- since Romani is a wholly closed culture, I only know as much as Romani creators and educators are willing to share.

[dorokora]

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