describes as a 'raging rabble, of brutal and animal propensities,'
(15) are not such as generally abandon their country on foreign
invasion.



THE ZINCALI OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES OF SPAIN - PART I



CHAPTER I



GITANOS, or Egyptians, is the name by which the Gypsies have been
most generally known in Spain, in the ancient as well as in the
modern period, but various other names have been and still are
applied to them; for example, New Castilians, Germans, and
Flemings; the first of which titles probably originated after the
name of Gitano had begun to be considered a term of reproach and
infamy. They may have thus designated themselves from an
unwillingness to utter, when speaking of themselves, the detested
expression 'Gitano,' a word which seldom escapes their mouths; or
it may have been applied to them first by the Spaniards, in their
mutual dealings and communication, as a term less calculated to
wound their feelings and to beget a spirit of animosity than the
other; but, however it might have originated, New Castilian, in
course of time, became a term of little less infamy than Gitano;
for, by the law of Philip the Fourth, both terms are forbidden to
be applied to them under severe penalties.