English
Gypsy
Gypsy comes from Middle English Egipcian ‘Egyptian’, and goes back to Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ.
- Egyptianc. 3200 BCE–600 CEḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEΑἴγῠπτοςAígŭptos
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEΑἰγύπτιοςAigúptios‘Egyptian’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaegyptius‘Egypt’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaegyptianus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400egyptien
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Egipcian‘Egyptian’
- Englishearliest quotation 1894Gypsy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Egyptianc. 3200 BCE–600 CEḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEΑἴγῠπτοςAígŭptos
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEΑἰγύπτιοςAigúptios‘Egyptian’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaegyptius‘Egypt’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaegyptianus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400egyptien
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Egipcian‘Egyptian’
- Englishearliest quotation 1894Gypsy
Earliest quotation: 1894, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Gypsy Breynton: “Why, good afternoon, Miss Gypsy," said Sir Simms; "I'm…”
The story
A clipping of Gyptian (in Early Modern English roughly /ˈd͡ʒɪp.sɪ.æn/), itself an apheretic form of Egyptian, from Middle English Egipcian (‘Egyptian’) (rarely Gypcian), from Old French egyptien, from Latin aegyptianus, from aegyptius (‘Egypt’), because when Roma first appeared in England in the sixteenth century, they were wrongly believed to have come from Egypt. The Albanian evgjit, Greek γύφτος (gýftos), Italian gitano, Spanish gitano and Turkish Kıpti have the same origin. The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Rom (words related to the Romani people's autonyms) and cognates of tzigane (words derived from Greek); see those entries for more information.
Every English word from Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ
Today it means
noun A member of the Romani people, or one of the sub-groups (Roma, Sinti, Romanichal, etc).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ / Gypsy