Why are Roma called “Roma”? Where did our endonym come from? / Soske kharasa 'men "Roma"? Kater avelias amaro nav?

(June 2019)

Many absurd and often insulting theories have been put forward for how we came to be called Roma. Most commonly – and this is put forward mainly by gàdje and dromale – the suggestion is that it's something to do with the Roman Empire (usually, they say it's because our first entry into Europe was through the Byzantine Empire, the successor to the Eastern Roman Empire) or else they claim it's “because we came from Romania” – which of course we didn't, we're Indian. And really, the two claims are saying the same thing, because the name “Romania” does come from terra romana (the Roman land/territory).

However, the endonym (the name we call ourselves) “Roma” does in fact come from the Sanskrit caste designation डोम (pronounced ḍoma – with a retroflex d, denoted by the under-dot). However, the retroflex d in Sanskrit or Prakrit words systematically became a retroflex r (ɾ̣) in early Romani and then became either a regular r or occasionally an l in later Romani. And a few surviving dialects of Romani (including mine) still retain the retroflexes. So, for example, where in modern Hindi (one of the closest living relatives of Romani) we have the word डोई (ḍoi – a spoon), Romani has roi, or ɾ̣oi where retroflexes survive. And the Romani word for “I thank”, parikerav(a) or sometimes palikerav(a), comes straight from the Prakrit form paḍikarami – and not only does the dissimilation into r or l in different dialects demonstrate the development of the retroflex r in later Romani, but in older dialects the retroflex again survives: I would say paɾ̣ikerava, the first and second r are audibly different.

And so here is the clinching proof of the origin of the endonym “Roma”: simply listen to how it is pronounced by a speaker of any dialect that retains the retroflex r. The R of “Roma” is very clearly retroflexed.

This is also borne out by the existence of the three related groups of “Gypsies” who came west from India: Rom, Dom and Lom. The three endonyms simply reflect the three possible developments of the original retroflex d of डोम: it can develop into a regular d (Dom), an l (Lom), or an r (with or without retroflex) (Rom).