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'''Gypsy''' (or ''Gipsy'') is a word that has several overlapping meanings.<ref name=OED-Gipsy>Oxford English  Dictionary 2nd Edition 1989. "Gipsy, gypsy, n."</ref> Initially the word was used to describe a people who called themselves [[Roma people|Romany]] who first appeared in England at about the beginning of the 16th century. Although in certain contexts it is still used to describe the Romany, it also describes those in English speaking countries who live a lifestyle similar to that of the Romany, or as a translation of equivalent words in other languages.

'''Gypsy''' (or ''Gipsy'') is a word that has several overlapping meanings. Initially the word was used to describe a people who called themselves ''Romany'' who first appeared in England at about the beginning of the 16th century. Although in certain contexts it is still used to describe the Romany, it also describes those in [[English]] speaking countries who live a lifestyle similar to that of the Romany, or as a translation of equivalent words in other languages.

==Etymology==

==Etymology==

The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (OED) states that a gypsy is a "member of a wandering race (by themselves called Romany), of [[Hindu]] origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from [[Egypt]]". The OED records the first usage of the word in English as 1514, with several more in the same century, and that both [[Edmund Spenser]] and [[William Shakespeare]] used the word.

The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (OED) states that a gypsy is a "member of a wandering [[race]] (by themselves called Romany), of [[Hindu]] origin, which first appeared in England about the beginning of the 16th c. and was then believed to have come from [[Egypt]]". The OED records the first usage of the word in English as 1514, with several more in the same century, and that both [[Edmund Spenser]] and [[William Shakespeare]] used the word.

The word derives from the word for "[[Egyptian]]" in Latin, the same as the Spanish ''Gitano'' or the French ''Gitan''. It emerged in Europe, in the 15th century, after their migration into the land of the Romani people (aka [Roma people) in that continent. [http://www.radoc.net/radoc.php?doc=art_b_history_1789-2004&lang=en&articles=true Hancock, Ian ''Romanies''] They received this name from the local people either because they spread in Europe from an area named Little Egypt, in Southern Balkans or because they fitted the European image of dark-skinned Egyptians skilled in [[witchcraft]].  During the sixteenth]] and seventeenth centuries it was written in various ways: ''Egipcian'', ''Egypcian'', '' 'gipcian'', '' 'gypcian''. As the time elapsed, the notion of Gypsy evolved including other stereotypes, like [[nomadism]], [[exoticism]].[http://www.radoc.net/radoc.php?doc=art_d_identity_sexualization&lang=en&articles=true Hancock, Ian ''The ‘Gypsy’ stereotype and the sexualization of Romani women'']

The word derives from the word for "[[Egyptian]]" in Latin, the same as the Spanish ''Gitano'' or the French ''Gitan''. It emerged in Europe, in the 15th century, after their migration into the land of the Romani people (aka [Roma people) in that continent. [http://www.radoc.net/radoc.php?doc=art_b_history_1789-2004&lang=en&articles=true Hancock, Ian ''Romanies''] They received this name from the local people either because they spread in Europe from an area named Little Egypt, in Southern Balkans or because they fitted the European image of dark-skinned Egyptians skilled in [[witchcraft]].  During the sixteenth]] and seventeenth centuries it was written in various ways: ''Egipcian'', ''Egypcian'', '' 'gipcian'', '' 'gypcian''. As the time elapsed, the notion of Gypsy evolved including other stereotypes, like [[nomadism]], [[exoticism]].[http://www.radoc.net/radoc.php?doc=art_d_identity_sexualization&lang=en&articles=true Hancock, Ian ''The ‘Gypsy’ stereotype and the sexualization of Romani women'']