| |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kale, taken inBala, Wales, 1951 | |
| Total population | |
| No reliable data. In Wales, 3,630 identified as Gypsy or Traveller in the 2021 Census.[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| North Wales, Mid Wales | |
| Languages | |
| Welsh Romani language,Welsh, andEnglish | |
| Religion | |
| Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Romanichal,Romanisael,Kaale,Calé |
TheKale (also spelledKalé/kɔ.leɪ/, orWelsh Gypsies;Welsh Romani:Kā̊lē;Welsh:Teulu Abram Wood orSipsiwn Cymreig) are aRomani subgroup predominantly found inWales, particularly in the Welsh-speaking areas. Romani people have been present in Wales since the 16th century.[2]
The Kale are closely related to theRomanichal,Romanisael, andKaale subgroups.[3] The Romani people can trace their origins toSouth Asia, likely in the regions of present-dayPunjab,Rajasthan andSindh.[4][5][6][7]
The Kale were traditionally renowned musicians, and are reported to have introduced thefiddle to Wales.[8][9] They were also known for their distinctive styles of clothing, dance, poetry and storytelling.[8][10][11]
Kalo is theRomani word for "black".[12][13] The north Welsh Gypsies use this word as a self-ascription rather than "Rom."[12][13] Connections toCaló, used for the language spoken by theCalé, and with the Koli clan in Iran remains unclear.[12] Kenrick says,
"Gypsy is not a Gypsy word, and there is no single word for Gypsy in all Romani dialects. Rom (plural Rom or Roma) is a noun meaning “Gypsy,” but not all Gypsies call themselves Roma. The Sinti, Manouche and Kaale in Finland use the word Rom only in the meaning of “husband."[14]
In a glossary, prominent professor Thomas Acton gives"Kalo, Kaalo, Calo plural Kalé, Calé. Black; also used by some Gypsies to mean ‘Gypsy’."[13]Roma has been applied to describe the Welsh Gypsies, notably byYaron Matras[15] and theRomani Cultural and Arts Project[2] and Lovell'sLearn Romani course republished in May 2023 from material dating to the 1990s[16]. It is an umbrella term for the European Union:
The umbrella-term ‘Roma’ encompasses diverse groups, including Roma, Sinti, Kale, Romanichels, Boyash/Rudari, Ashkali, Egyptians, Yenish, Dom, Lom, Rom and Abdal, as well as Traveller populations (gens du voyage, Gypsies, Camminanti, etc.). EU policy documents and discussions commonly employ this terminology.[17]
Kale have been called Gypsies, which originated from people wrongly believing they were from Egypt.[14] This word has origins in the 15th century English termEgyptian[14] and it was used by Shakespeare[14]. The Frenchgitan and Spanishgitano are of the derivation.[14] The first use ofSipsiwn, a Welsh term for Gypsy, is found in a poem byMorris Kyffin at the end of the 16th century.[18]
In the 2021 Census, 0.12% (71,440) of the usual resident population of England and Wales identified asGypsy or Irish Traveller. Of these, 94.9% (67,815) lived in England and 5.1% (3,630) lived in Wales.[19]
Many Welsh Gypsies in the early 21st century lived in houses, with additional families continuing to travel in caravans.[18] The caravan-dwelling figure in Wales in 2007 included Irish Travellers and descendants of marriages between English and Welsh Gypsies in South Wales.[18] Previously in 1996, there were 489 caravans recorded, 36 of which were on unauthorized encampments (i.e., the roadside).[18]
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The first reference to Welsh Gypsies is in 1579.[18] Around 1730 Abraham Wood came to Wales and established the Wood family line. Abraham Wood is often credited with introducing the violin to Wales, and many of his descendants became celebrated musicians.[18] Other families who settled in Wales for generations include the Ingrams, along with certain branches of the Price and Lee families.[18] These groups are recognized today as part of the Welsh Gypsy community.[18]
WithinIn Gipsy Tents, published in 1894, the very first detailed account of the origins of the Welsh Gypsies was given by John Roberts (b. 1818), a great-grandson of Abram Wood.Francis Hindes Groome, the author, recounts:
But, as it was, here sat John in his glory, lovingly hobnobbing with Silvanus, whose eyes were certainly twinkling, although he had not yet sneezed. They had plunged into endless genealogies, dear to your Gipsy as to any dowager, and had proved their cousinship in at least six different ways. Already John must have run over the four children, twenty grandchildren, fifty-four great-grandchildren, and two hundred and odd great-great-grandchildren of Abraham Wood, the founder of the chief Welsh Romani clan, who "came up into Wales about one hundred and fifty years ago or thereabouts," and was "buried at a lonesome quiet little place by the seaside, on the road fromTowyn toDolgelly, in a church that's not been used for a church as long as I can remember." For when I strolled up, he was speaking of the Ingrams, who "with the Woods were the first as came to Wales. And the first place they took a liking to, on account of rivers and other things, was nearLlanidloes,Llanbrynmair, and in the neighbourhood ofMachynlleth; and nearAberystwith some of them bought little estates, and others took to travelling. The Ingrams lived near Llanidloes, and the Woods near Llanbrynmair. They were supposed to be in possession of abundance of gold, when taking these places; they were thought gentlefolks of in those days. But my great-grandfather Abraham, and Sarah his wife, still went about from onegranza or building to another, for he liked the country so well that he would rather travel it than to stop in one place, after he came to find it out that the people were so kind, and that he liked the country food, rough as it was. They were getting plenty of fishing in those days, and the women would have no occasion to go only to a house or two, until they would be loaded with plenty of beef and bacon and flour and potatoes...[20]
The Kale traditionally spoke Welsh Romani, a dialect of theRomani language also known asRomnimus[21] orthe Kåålē dialect.[15]
The Romanichal and Kale spoke differing dialects. By the end of the 19th century, the Romanichal dialect transformed into a mixed language whereas the dialect spoken by the Kale survived until at least the 1950s.[11]
Some English loanwords in Welsh Romani include:yelma ("elm"),glistas- ("to glisten"),hagas ("hag"),masa ("mass"),uglimen ("ugly"),wåntas- ("to want"),určos ("hedgehog"),čimeras- ("to simmer"),ā̊t ("ought"),sekamūra ("sycamore"),lispas- ("to lisp"),slaberīa ("strawberry"),ranǰedō ("rancid") andspīdra ("spider").[22] Some Welsh loanwords in Welsh Romani include:krīavóla ("rowan") from Welshcriafolen ("rowan"),muŋa ("mane") from Welshmwng ("mane"),marbólī ("embers") from Welshmarwor ("embers"),halikōn ("hellhound") from Welshhelgyn ("hound"),tišas- ("to sneeze") from Welshtisio ("to sneeze").[22]
LinguistYaron Matras classified the dialect as belonging to a branch of the Romani language called British Romani,[15] though it is more generally considered part of theNorthern Romani dialects.
Yaron Matras, a prominent Romani linguist, notes:
British Romani, an independent branch, is now considered extinct. The most thorough and extensive description is Sampson’s (1926) monumental grammar of Welsh Romani or the Kåålē dialect, which was still spoken by a number of families until the second half of the twentieth century (cf. Tipler 1957).[23]
Examples are recorded by Derek Tipler inCaernarvonshire in 1957.[23] It went extinct in the 1960s.[24] Manffri Wood, the last known speaker died around 1968.[18]
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Kale traditionally participated in regional and nationaleisteddfodau.[8] John Robert Lewis, the husband of Abram Wood's granddaughter, would win prizes for harping in 1842, 1848, and 1850.[25] Another descendant,John Roberts [cy] (1816–1894),[26] earned the sobriquet "Telynor Cymru", and taught his whole family various instruments. His illustrious career culminated in a performance beforeQueen Victoria at Palé Hall inLlandderfel near Bala on 24 August 1889, on the occasion of the Royal Visit to Wales. John Roberts played with his nine sons, all of them on the harp.[27]
Romanies in Britain often adopted the local surnames when they entered a new area.[11] Each tribe was headed by asero rom.[11]
Based on genome-wide SNP arrays and whole-genome sequences, it has been determined that the Romani people carry approximately 20–35% South Asian ancestry [4,7], and North-West India constitutes the major source of this component [4,7,54] [...] In general, Romani people carry approximately 65–80% West Eurasian (European, Middle Eastern and Caucasian) ancestry, estimated to have been acquired by extensive gene flow.
This population [...] migrated from northern India to Europe over 1,500 years ago [...] The Romani community are genetically diverse, and Romani groups established in different locations are highly varied.
What is the current state of the language? It is used less and less today in Romani communities. The young generation in some localities, such as Humenné, Michalovce, or Trebišov in eastern Slovakia, no longer speak the language at all.
Romská lexika je bližší hindštině, marvárštině, pandžábštině atd., v gramatické sféře nacházíme mnoho shod s východoindickým jazykem, s bengálštinou.[The Romani lexicon is closer to Hindi, Marwari, Punjabi, etc., in the grammatical sphere we find many similarities with the East Indian language, with Bengali.]
